Your Time Is Now

“I think Sammy Petrillo is fucking Amazing! If he was starring in The Jerry Lewis Story, he would deserve an Academy Award. This is not hyperbole!” — Quentin Tarantino “This book will save America.” — Patton Oswalt Your Time Is Now: The Sammy Petrillo Story is the first full-scale biography of the legendary Jerry Lewis look-alike whose strange, funny, and often heartbreaking life unfolded in the long shadow of one of America’s most famous comedians. With a foreword by award-winning screenwriter Scott Alexander, this deeply researched work of comedy history delivers a rare dual portrait: a parallel biography of Sammy Petrillo and Jerry Lewis, two performers bound together by imitation, rivalry, resentment, and an uneasy mutual awareness that lasted decades. Drawing on original interviews with Petrillo, Lewis, respective family members, show-business insiders, and surviving mid-century comedy figures, the book reconstructs the improbable life of a journeyman comic who both benefited from and was trapped by his uncanny resemblance to a superstar. Blending biography, film history, and cultural criticism, Your Time Is Now explores the strange ecosystem of postwar show business—from live television and burlesque stages to poverty-row film studios and cult movie houses. Readers discover the bizarre making and afterlife of Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Petrillo’s complicated relationship with Jerry Lewis, and previously untold connections to figures such as Barbara Loden and the early development of television comedy culture. The result is a richly detailed, often darkly comic examination of identity, fame, imitation, and failure in American entertainment. Features original cover art by Drew Friedman and dozens of archival and personal photos. Dave Abramson, also known as Dave the Spazz, is a New York City–based writer, radio personality, and cultural historian whose work documents the margins of American entertainment, underground music, and outsider show business. Since 1987, he has hosted Music to Spazz By on legendary freeform radio station WFMU, where his deep knowledge of pop ephemera, novelty records, comedy, and cult culture has earned a devoted international following. Abramson is the editor of The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU, published by Princeton Architectural Press, and a longtime contributor to WFMU’s influential program guide and media ecosystem.