Drawing on countless hours of in-depth interviews, Doing Time by US comedian JT Habersaat offers a deep dive into stand-up comedy as both a career and an art form.

The new book features extended conversations with comedy names such as Patton Oswalt, Dana Gould, Jackie Kashian, Kyle Kinane, Doug Stanhope, Maria Bamford, David Gborie, Todd Glass, Chris Gethard, the Kids in the Hall, Bobcat Goldthwait, Chad Daniels, Vanessa Gonzalez, Brian Posehn, James Adomian, Kristine Levine, Rory Scovel, Joe DeRosa, Tom Rhodes, Brandie Posey, Henry Phillips, Matt Braunger, Gary Gulman, Mo Alexander, Kristen Becker, Shane Torres, Billy Wayne Davis, Ron Lynch, Carmen Morales and dozens more.

This oral history presents a hilarious, sometimes tragic, and always compelling portrait of what it truly takes to live behind the laugh.

‘That first year I hustled pretty hard … I was branching out anywhere I could find, just yelling my jokes at five people … I had never hustled at anything before. When it’s something you care about, you don’t mind doing the work.’ BRIAN POSEHN

‘When I was nineteen, I saw Sam Kinison and I heckled him. The manager came over to tell me to shut up and eventually said, Open mic is on Sunday. I tried stand-up three weeks later and never really stopped.’ JACKIE KASHIAN

‘I use the stage very aggressively. I will walk to the lip of the stage … and I don’t even do it consciously. My feet will hang over the stage, like, This is MY area. This is my time. You know … alpha dominance. You really have to do it. Audiences can smell fear.’ DANA GOULD

‘In 1993 I made $11,000 doing stand-up, and I had made it. I had succeeded. I didn’t have a day job. I was living with four other roommates, but all I had to do was stand-up. I had won. Everything that has come after that has been gravy.’ PATTON OSWALT

JT Habersaat has toured and worked the road extensively with modern day comedy legends such as Eddie Pepitone (The Bitter Buddha), Brian Posehn (Mr Show), and even underground icon Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus), Habersaat’s observational and sardonic approach to stand-up has made him an uncompromising trailblazer. Doing Time is his third book, following The Altercation Archives and Killing for a Living. When he’s not on the road or at work on a new novel, Habersaat curates the Altercation Comedy Festival, held annually in Austin, Texas, and recently named ‘one of the best comedy festivals in the world’ by Vulture.

Published on July 8. Order here.