From the most popular routines and the most ingenious physical shtick to the snappiest wisecracks and the most biting satire of the last century, MAKE ’EM LAUGH illuminates who we are as a nation by exploring what makes us laugh, and why. Written by Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor, this companion to the six-part PBS series draws on countless sources to chronicle the past century of American comedy and the geniuses who created and performed it—melding biography, American history, and a lotta laughs into an exuberant, important book.