Perrin, Dennis

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PERRIN, Dennis

PERSONAL: Married; children: two.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Avon Books, Publicity Department, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer and former stand-up comedian. Former joke writer for television series Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.

WRITINGS:

Mr. Mike: The Life and Work of Michael O'Donoghue, Avon Books (New York, NY), 1998.

American Fan: Sports Mania and the Culture ThatFeeds It, Spike (New York, NY), 2000.

Contributor to periodicals, including Chicago Tribune, Spin, and Mother Jones.

SIDELIGHTS: New York author Dennis Perrin is a longtime observer of popular culture and politics, and has spent years pursuing his interest in comedy, both on and off stage. As a writer, he has contributed to a variety of magazines and newspapers; as a commentator he has appeared on a number of national television and radio shows.

When he was a teenager growing up in the 1970s, Perrin enjoyed watching the fledgling television series Saturday Night Live (SNL), at first to enjoy actor Dan Aykroyd's skits, then to follow the talented writers. Michael O'Donoghue, a writer on SNL at the time, particularly caught Perrin's interest. He followed O'Donoghue's career from afar until 1994, when, after O'Donoghue's premature death, Perrin began working on a biography of his comedic idol.

Mr. Mike: The Life and Work of Michael O'Donoghue describes the life and career of O'Donoghue, who some consider a trailblazer in the genre of comedy for his work on the Evergreen Review, National Lampoon, and Saturday Night Live. While focusing primarily on O'Donoghue's works, Perrin also examines O'Donoghue's personal experiences and influences, including his lonely childhood, his notoriously short temper, and the professional struggles he faced in later years. The book draws its information from extensive interviews with family and friends close to O'Donoghue, and it contains previously unpublished material from the late writer's archives.

Reviews of Mr. Mike have often praised Perrin's efforts to pay tribute to the talent of O'Donoghue. For example, Booklist contributor Ted Levental wrote, "Perrin's book is clever, entertaining, and comprehensive. Be warned: Mr. Mike is strong stuff." However, other reviewers felt that Perrin's admiration for O'Donoghue impeded his ability to be objective about the man. "While expertly exposing his subject's self-manufactured persona, Perrin does little to question it," wrote John Aboud in a Mother Jones review.

Perrin followed up his debut success in 2000 with American Fan: Sports Mania and the Culture That Feeds It. This book offers Perrin's examination and critique of the commercialism of American sports, in particular baseball, football, and basketball. The author focuses on the key parties involved: the fans, the leagues and players, the media, and advertisers. Some reviewers praised Perrin for his insights, but there was criticism as well. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Perrin touches on many good points, but his critique is as wildly undisciplined as it is searing." However, Jim Burns commented in Library Journal that Perrin is correct in showing "how elements like racism, religion, patriotism, and blood lust intertwine with the love of sport."