Flip, Kevin Cook
Flip, Kevin Cook
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Flip
The Inside Story of TVs First Black Superstar

Author: Kevin Cook

Narrator: Mirron Willis

Unabridged: 8 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/18/2013

Synopsis

The rags-to-riches story of a groundbreaking, beloved entertainer WhenThe Flip Wilson Showdebuted in 1970, black faces were still rare on television, black hosts nonexistent. So how did Clerow Flip Wilson go from Jersey City grade-school dropout to national celebrity, heralded on the cover ofTimeas TVs first black superstar? Flipis a candid, entertaining biography of a consummate comedian who changed the face of American popular culture. Kevin Cook chronicles Flips meteoric rise through the Chitlin Circuit of segregated nightclubs to his breakthrough on Johnny CarsonsTonight Showto his hit variety show, on which he created such outrageous and hilarious characters as the sassy Geraldine and flock-fleecing Reverend Leroy. As one of the biggest stars of his time, he performed and partied with Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and other stars of the 1970s. Drawing on interviews with family, friends, and celebrities, Cook delivers the inspiring story of a complex man who broke the prime-time color barrier, blazing a trail for generations of African American performers who followed him.

About Kevin Cook

Kevin Cook is the author of the award-winning Tommy's Honor (the basis for the feature film), Titanic Thompson, Kitty Genovese, and most recently The Dad Report: Fathers, Sons and Baseball Families.

He is a former senior editor at Sports Illustrated whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Men's Journal, GQ, Playboy, Smithsonian, Details, and many other publications.

He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pattie on August 23, 2013

I was one of the few people of my age who didn't watch Flip Wilson while I was growing up - one of the main writers for "The Waltons" went to our church, so that's what our family watched - but my husband grew up with "The Flip Wilson Show" and he strongly recommended the book. "Flip" is the deeply......more

Goodreads review by Rick on June 10, 2014

I LOVED THIS BOOK! This book is now in my pantheon of top 5 books I have read all time. This biography is continually compelling and reads like a novel you can not possibly put down. The fact that it is about Flip Wilson, a comedy icon whose memory and relevance is lost to our current generation, ma......more

Goodreads review by Jay on July 19, 2017

I was 7 when Flip’s variety show premiered. While I don’t know if I caught that first episode, I was a fan throughout his 4 year run. I was a dedicated TV watcher, and Flip was one that I watched religiously. He was a king of the catch phrase, which came in handy the next day at elementary school. A......more

Goodreads review by James on September 07, 2013

Terrific biography of the 70s TV superstar. The book is often funny, sometimes sad, and consistently interesting. I listened to the audiobook, which is very well read by Mirron Willis, who, in the sections that quote directly from original comedy material, manages to give a feel of how it might have......more

Goodreads review by Alvin on November 17, 2016

This zippy little bio gives readers the whole scoop on both Flip, the man, and the worlds he inhabited. Something of Flip's almost supernatural likability permeates the book, rendering even his flaws entertaining.......more

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