"Opening Act" is the autobiography of an entertainer who never achieved huge show business success but made a nice living warming up audiences for over one hundred legendary concert stars of the 20th century. Comedian Jack Swersie shares his recollections of having worked with talent as diversified as Perry Como, "Weird Al" Yankovic, the Smothers Brothers, Tim McGraw, Ray Charles, Milton Berle, B.B. King, the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, and Joan Rivers among many, many others.
But OPENING ACT is not just about the great stars with whom he rubbed elbows. Putting his thirty-year career in perspective, Swersie shares the highs and lows of a show business journey where he was always the number-two man in a business where number-one reigns supreme.
Swersie tells it like it was. From his days as a young actor, through the comedy club era, and on to the dreaded Catskill Mountains. From a cruise ship performance debacle to his very successful national television appearances in the mid-1990's. From his first concert work in 1981 all the way up to 2010 when he began to experience what felt like (but ultimately wasn't) the twilight of a long comedy career. Swersie takes the reader along on his emotional roller coaster ride through a tough business called "Show".
Show business, from the often humorous and sometimes bitter perspective of an entertainer who never reached the top of his game but always made a good living doing what he loves.
But OPENING ACT is not just about the great stars with whom he rubbed elbows. Putting his thirty-year career in perspective, Swersie shares the highs and lows of a show business journey where he was always the number-two man in a business where number-one reigns supreme.
Swersie tells it like it was. From his days as a young actor, through the comedy club era, and on to the dreaded Catskill Mountains. From a cruise ship performance debacle to his very successful national television appearances in the mid-1990's. From his first concert work in 1981 all the way up to 2010 when he began to experience what felt like (but ultimately wasn't) the twilight of a long comedy career. Swersie takes the reader along on his emotional roller coaster ride through a tough business called "Show".
Show business, from the often humorous and sometimes bitter perspective of an entertainer who never reached the top of his game but always made a good living doing what he loves.
