Excelsior, You Fathead!: The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd

Jean Shepherd (1921-1999), master humorist, invented and remains the doyen of talk radio Considered by many to be the Mark Twain and James Thurber of his day, Shep talked on the radio late at night. He entertained without a script, improvising like a jazz musician, on any and every subject you can imagine Jean Shepherd, the master of talk radio, was also an author, interviewer (notably for the Beatles' Playboy article), the model for the character played by Jason Robards in A Thousand Clowns, and the inspiration for Shel Silverstein's song A Boy Named Sue, made famous by Johnny Cash. Readers will learn the origins of his well-know phrases - inc. Excelsior you fatheadl - and get to know a multi-talented genius by peeking behind the wall he built - a wall to hide a different and less agreeable persona. Through interviews with the great and the good - including Norman Mailer and Hugh Hefner - this book explains a complex and unique genius of our time.