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Containing recollections from more than 80 of the comedic giant’s closest friends and colleagues, this absorbing biography explores Del Close's old haunts, his sensational past, and the reality behind the tales he told so often. From traveling with a carnival and hanging out with a pre-Scientology L. Ron Hubbard to riding with the Merry Pranksters and using a coven of witches to help him kick a lifelong cocaine habit, Close led an incredibly rich life—one whose absurdity proved great fodder for improv theater. Astute and compassionate, Close influenced improvisational theater’s greatest comedic talents of the last 50 years—Nichols and May, Lenny Bruce, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Tina Fey—and coached the witty masterminds behind such comedic institutions as Second City, Saturday Night Live, Groundlings, and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade.