Comedy Writing Secrets, 2nd Edition: The Best-Selling Book on How to Think Funny, Write Funny, Act Funny, And Get Paid For It

Book arrived in good condition as promised. I haven't read it all the way through, but I find it engaging and funny. A good read if you want to get a formalized perspective on comedy and comedy writing.

Anyone toying with the idea of writing comedy or performing stand-up should read this as part of their preparation. After this read "Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy".

Sure, people like dirty jokes or very old, dated jokes, but that's not what I want to learn. Instead, I want to learn how to actually be funny, not just crude or dull. Although I could wade through this book and use the techniques on other subject, I'm choosing to move on to other books on comedy writing written by other authors who actually teach how to write fresh jokes on a wider variety of topics.

I thought this book was a wonderful read that goes about deconstructing what makes people laugh and a collection of techniques to improve comedy writing in all areas of entertainment.

Helitzer provides an effective model for constructing a joke and has even worked out a formula in the same respect Robert McKee discovered the formula for feature film scripts.

Generally comedic writing follows this THREES acronym pathway;
Target
Hostility
Realism
Exaggeration
Emotion
Surprise.

People find something funny because they are generally suprised by the punchline or have a feeling of superioirty whether it is from solving the puzzle of a joke, etc - these brief summaries do not do justice to the level of detail Helitzer goes in understanding the chemistry behind the laugh.

The second edition of this book has a wide range of example jokes inserted from more recent sitcoms such as Everybody Loves Raymond and Arrested Development to classic writers such as Mark Twain and all the nuanced and different humourists in between (George Carlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Seinfeld, Milton Berle, Lewis Black, Bill Maher, The Cos, Woody Allen, Dave Chappelle, Steve Martin, etc...). The goal isn't to make the reader laugh at every joke - but to identify patterns that exist in the material.

This is very much a tome for writers that I would certainly put up there with Robert McKee's Story and there are extensive excercises throughout that develop your skills in structure and force you to remember what's in the book. Particularly, some excercises call for the reader to create a joke file with a collection of ten to twenty of you favourite lines, gags, jokes and to deconstruct their appeal to Helitzer's model - so for anyone who is put off that their favourite comedians are not included in the book can do the grunt work and use their own collection for examples. Other excercises are simply brainstorming techniques that are not intended to force out funny material, but to simply massage out creativity.

A strong book and the best starting point for those venturing into comedy writing or those who wish to sharpen their skills by understanding some solid fundamentals.

This book is a masterpiece. If you are into comedy just like me, you need to get you this book right now. It's not gonna transform you in a stand-up comic right away, but trust me, your humoristic skills will increase. I plan to go over it the summer and do all the required exercises..it is amazing how i make my friends laugh now. Get out there and buy it, it's not a waste of money. Take my word for it