"Burning Up The Air" - About the Book

The Cutting Room Floor

Have you ever wondered what gets left out of a book? In the links below, Steve Elman and Alan Tolz share some choice moments that didn't make it into Burning Up the Air :

Some details about Jerry's grandparents, originally in Chapter 2

Two Gag Busters scripts, originally in Chapter 4

A fantasy of what Jerry might have said on WIBG in Philadelphia the night Joe McCarthy died, originally in Chapter 4

A quote from Daniel Webster that Jerry admired, originally in Chapter 5

Jerry tries to work his connections with appliance store owner Chuck Sozio, originally in Chapter 5

Stan Kaplan tries to get Larry Glick to change his name, originally in Chapter 5

Jerry and his daughters survive a Chicago snowstorm, originally in Chapter 6

The Richard Cotten show on WBBM, originally in this unedited form in Chapter 6

Jerry juggles a live broadcast of the Republican Convention and an off-air interview of Henry Morgan at the same time, originally in Chapter 7

Mac Richmond negotiates Larry Glick's departure from WMEX, originally in Chapter 7

The General Manager of WBZ argues with Jerry live on the air, originally in Chapter 7

Jerry sniffs out an anti-Semitic caller, originally in Chapter 7

The F-word on BZ, originally in Chapter 7

Jerry tries to host "Ask President Carter", originally in Chapter 8

Larry Glick hypnotizes Teri, originally in Chapter 8

Bill O'Reilly profiles Jerry and moderates a talkers' roundtable with Jerry and Larry Glick, originally in this unedited form in Chapter 9

Columnist Tom Moroney discovers that Jerry isn't registered to vote in Massachusetts, originally in Chapter 10

Time Snubs Jerry