From the National Comedy Center:
The National Comedy Center [located in Jamestown, New York] is proud to announce the acquisition of the archive of ground-breaking comedian Shelley Berman, who passed away in September 2017 at the age of 92.
[Clip]
The Berman archive is the latest acquisition for the National Comedy Center, the first non-profit cultural institution and national-scale visitor experience dedicated to the art of comedy, which already houses a number of archival pieces including the 25,000-piece George Carlin collection, donated in 2017.
The archive was carefully collected and stored in Berman’s home office for seven decades, and spans from the 1940s to the 2010s. It includes hundreds of photographs, contracts, scripts, calendars, scrapbooks, correspondences and rare footage and audio chronicling his wide-ranging career in stand-up, improv, television, film, theater, and comedy writing.
Included in the gift are Berman’s consecutive Gold Records for his two landmark 1959 albums Inside Shelley Berman and Outside Shelley Berman, the first of which was the comedy album first to win a Grammy. Also included is the trademark stool on which he performed his classic routines during live engagements across the country.
Berman’s unique brand of anxiety-ridden observational humor helped to redefine stand-up comedy in the late 1950s and ‘60s. He continued to be a favorite with audiences in his later years for his Emmy-nominated portrayal of Larry David’s father, Nat, on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Read the Complete Acquisition Announcement
Direct to National Comedy Center Website
About Gary Price
