Updated and revised, this new edition of the best-selling favorite enables readers to master the fundamentals of humor writing and better understand the demands of the comedic market. Comedy Writing Secrets. With this guide, aspiring comics can learn how to sharpen their comedic talent and turn it into a well-paying pursuit.
Comedy Writing Secrets
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Product Description
About the Author
Mel Helitzer is an award-winning journalism professor and has written comedy material for such stars as Sammy Davis, Jr., Art Linkletter, and Shari Lewis, Mark A, Shatz is a professor of psychology and teaches humour writing.
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First Sentence
THE FIRST STEP IN HUMOR CONCEPTION IS IMAGINATION. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THE FIRST STEP IN HUMOR CONCEPTION IS IMAGINATION. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After the seventh page I found myself skipping the bits written by the author and jumping instead to the quotes. When I did force myself to read the (poor) prose between the quotes, I usually found the gist could be got from the first sentence with the rest of the paragraph mere padding.
Looking from the writing style to the theory and philosophy;
While I am undecided whether the author was the bully or the bullied, I am certain that he is familiar with bullying. In fact, his philosophy of comedy largely revolves around vindictiveness of one type or another and as such provides a charmless and cynical picture of humanity as a whole.
Moving from his philosophy to his theory of getting laughs; I found it distracting when the author used bad definitions of terms and then cited examples that failed to support even his own definition (eg: "malapropism" ... which uses a pun to introduce it in the book before mistakenly citing examples of verbal imbecility as malapropisms).
If you are interested in writing comedy, I strongly recommend against this book in favour of ... something else. For me, "Writing Television Sitcoms" (Evan S. Smith) is a much stronger book with more convincing (better written and informative) arguments and a much less misanthropic view of comedy.
Just my two cents.
Looking from the writing style to the theory and philosophy;
While I am undecided whether the author was the bully or the bullied, I am certain that he is familiar with bullying. In fact, his philosophy of comedy largely revolves around vindictiveness of one type or another and as such provides a charmless and cynical picture of humanity as a whole.
Moving from his philosophy to his theory of getting laughs; I found it distracting when the author used bad definitions of terms and then cited examples that failed to support even his own definition (eg: "malapropism" ... which uses a pun to introduce it in the book before mistakenly citing examples of verbal imbecility as malapropisms).
If you are interested in writing comedy, I strongly recommend against this book in favour of ... something else. For me, "Writing Television Sitcoms" (Evan S. Smith) is a much stronger book with more convincing (better written and informative) arguments and a much less misanthropic view of comedy.
Just my two cents.
106 of 120 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Helitzer's Book on comedy writing is the best book out there on the subject. He has a firm grasp on essential techniques needed to refine your raw material into comedy gold. I recommend this book for anyone seiously interested in the old addage, "if it's funny there's money!" If you perform stand-up, or just write, this is the book to read. His various examples from today's comedians are not only hilarious but keep the reader interested and the book moving along. Helitzer has written the first and best book on the subject. I teach a comedy class and I know I couldn't do it without this book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By R. Lewis
Format:Paperback
Very disappointing. Despite quoting from a few modern American comedians in the book,the comedy being taught here is SO dated. The actual humour techniques described inside might've been useful if you were writing a routine for Bob Hope in the 1950's, but bear little relation to today's comedy. Try using and performing old techniques from this book in a stand-up act like puns,wordplay, malapropisms etc , and you won't get very far in today's market, or get many laughs in the process. Do any of today's most successful comedians like Eddie Izzard, Ricky Gervais,Chris Rock,Dane Cook etc use these ancient comedy methods? Of course not. I give the book 2 stars for one interesting chapter on writer's block and brainstorming ideas, but the rest is a let-down.
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3.6 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but a bit dated
This book gives some good outline for what you need to know to write jokes or anecdotes. It has quiet a lot of quotes from various celebrities that support the various points in... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Colin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really rather good
There are loads of these types of books on sale and most are dire. This one is actually good. It is rather considered in the way it goes about dissecting humour, and funny at the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mt N. Holmes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comedy Writting Secrets
This book guides you on techniques to use if you want to enhance your skills to think and write funny. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Noda
3.0 out of 5 stars
Old hat but solid
This book might be a bit dull but I suspect that's the gap between the excitement we all feel about hearing a great joke and the reality that formal comedy writing requires... Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2010 by Houndog
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great comedy writing guide
A great introduction to comedy writing techniques. Some of them are brilliant. The techniques are easy to do and will a make a huge difference in your writing. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2010 by The Emperor
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Useful Tool
A very goog book on the mechanical aspects of comedy performing and writing, but in a lot of ways the style of comedy today has moved on. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2010 by Jackanory
5.0 out of 5 stars
Many Perspectives, One Book.
I don't have to go through all the trouble of gathering and organizing so many theories of comedy since Helitzer here has done all the hard work for me with his book. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2009 by Deniz Ates
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and Informative
I don't know if it's possible to learn humour, but there are certainly plenty of techniques in this book to help the budding comedy writer or performer hone whatever natural... Read more
Published on 5 July 2009 by Paul Solomons
3.0 out of 5 stars
boring but useful
it was very boring to me but if you can make it all the way through then i guess it would really help. but i would advise getting something else if you can.
Published on 17 Feb 2009 by joker
4.0 out of 5 stars
does what it says on the tin
I found this book both informative and easy to read. The ideas were well presented and give you the meat and two veg of comedy. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2008 by Grahame J. Hadden
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