The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
by John Vorhaus
Book Summary Information
Author: John VorhausEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1994-07
ISBN: 1879505215
Number of pages: 191
Publisher: Silman-James Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781879505216
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
Book Review: Spare me the cheerleading and give me the TECHNIQUE! Vorhaus does just that.
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't read all of the books on comedy writing, but I have read more than I care to remember. The unhelpful ones suffer from the same malady as most unhelpful books on creative writing: they come off like a second-rate self-help guru, full of encouragement, platitudes, fluff, and just about nothing in the technique department.
The short and sweet of The Comic Toolbox is this: This book does not wallow in sugar-coated theory and "You CAN do it!" cheerleading (I'm not a teenager, and I don't like to be patronized). It was written by a man who has traveled the world helping people from many countries launch sitcoms, and he has been very successful. He sat down one day to organize his thoughts to share them with a wider audience. And he filled his 185-page long book with more USEFUL AND HELPFUL TECHNIQUES than I have found in any seven other comedy writing books.
Think about it. Have you ever been frustrated in your writing, then bought some highly praised book on "YOUR SHINING CAREER AS A WRITER," gone back to your work full of enthusiasm and encouragement, only to be faced with the very same frustration that made you seek out advice in the first place? That's what lousy writing books do to you; they take your time and money and fill you with bogus encouragement (see my 1-star review of "Writing Down the Bones" if you want to know how I loathe cheap advice).
If you only buy one book on comedy craft, let it be either this one or The New Comedy Writing Step By Step by Gene Perret (also full of technique rather than BS). It won't tell you everything you need to know or turn you into another Jerry Seinfeld. But it will put you on course, telling you the primary characteristics that make comic stories and comic characters successful. It's "Comedy 101" and after reading it, you can watch Frasier, Arthur, Tootsie or read P.G. Wodehouse or Chris Buckley and go, "Aha! That's how it works!" It will give you X-ray eyes to see the interior architecture and mechanics of comedy on its deepest level.
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