Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four non-fiction books on espionage in literature and the media. Starting in fall 2015, his new six-book science fiction series, The Beta-Earth Chronicles, debuted via BearManor Media.
In 2018, Britton self-published the seventh book in the Chronicles, Alpha Tales 2044, a collection of short stories, many of which first appeared at a number of online venues.
For seven years, he was co-host of online radio’s Dave White Presents where he contributed interviews with a host of entertainment insiders. Before his retirement in 2016, Dr. Britton taught English at Harrisburg Area Community College. Learn more about Dr. Britton at his WEBSITE
Authors: Pat Cooper, Rich Herschlag, Steve
Garrin
Publisher: Square One Publishers
ISBN-10: 075700363X: ISBN-13: 978-0757003639
Click Here To Purchase Pat Cooper How Dare You Say How Dare Me!
One
reason comic Pat Cooper isn’t quite a household name is that he’s
been an odd man out most of his life. Born Pasquale Caputo in 1929,
he grew up in a gruff Italian family in Brooklyn where Cooper didn’t
get much love—or even much acknowledgment that he existed. When he
became an entertainer, the toughness and anger planted in Brooklyn
became the focus of his act, an act fueled by what Cooper saw in the
world around him. For decades, it’s been a world of being a working
professional when the odds were against him, a world of show business
performers and insiders who were friends, pseudo-friends, or those
quick to stab their friends in the back . . . or, at least, this is
the world Cooper perceives.
This isn’t to say Cooper’s
very readable memoir, How Dare You Say How Dare me is a bitter rant
against all the slings and arrows he has faced on and off stage.
Sure, his reputation has always been as a no-holds-barred comedian
who both threw and took his punches, a man who stuck to his own
rules, a man whose Number One comic target was hypocrisy. But he’s
also a man eager to lavish praise on the best talent he’s known,
and he’s known the best—Frank Sinatra, Jerry Seinfeld, Don
Rickles, Tony Bennet, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Johnny
Carson, and many lesser-known names who, in his opinion, should
either be bigger stars or deserved their oblivion. He’s equally as
frank—although frank is too mild a term—with his own screw-ups,
wrong turns, and the results of his well-known stubbornness.
How Dare You
begins with Cooper remembering his childhood and the book keeps to a
chronological flow until his career takes off when he is booked as a
guest on the Jackie Gleason show in 1963. Back then, audiences still
thought he was Jewish as Italians were known as singers, not comics.
From that point forward, his chapters are bundled stories and
anecdotes unified by various themes—working on stage, on
television, on film, interactions with partners and colleagues or
dealings with the behind-the-scenes personalities in the
entertainment business, and a very rough and tumble business it was.
He knew the highest highs—performing at Carnegie Hall—and the
lowest lows, and he believes a pro has to endure them all. In between
the stories, laced with comic wordplay and punch lines, are
transcriptions of Cooper’s on-air conversations with the likes of
Tom Snyder and especially Howard Stern, on whose radio show Cooper
was a frequent guest and where he battled his own family live on the
air. He talks about turning down a bit part in a Martin Scorsese audio interview with author
Charles Fox for the “Dave White Presents” radio program is posted at: film, flying 6,000 miles to Hawaii for a two-minute appearance on the
Don Ho show, sparring with wiseguys, and his self-inflicted unwise
investments with his money and heart.
So
How Dare You is a book chockfull of laughs and the reasons comics use
sadness to create their routines. You don’t have to love—or
hate—or even know who Pat Cooper is to enjoy this insightful look
into popular entertainment. Readers interested in comics of the
old-school, nightclub shows, performing on both small and large
stages, films like Analyze This, will find this one a page-turner. If
you have aspirations of being a performer yourself, here’s an
essential textbook. And if you still don’t know who Pat Cooper
is—here’s your ticket.
Click Here To Purchase Pat Cooper How Dare You Say How Dare Me!
Listen To Dr. Wes Britton's audio interview with author Charles Fox for the “Dave White Presents” radio program posted HERE: