The Comic Toolbox How to Be Funny Even If You're Not

John Vourhaus has many book worth reading. But if you only read one, or only have time to read one book about comedy, read this one. You’ll be glad you did!

More than just comedy, John Vorhaus is able to weave in advice that is applicable to, lets face it, most aspects of life! Because of this, you have a philosophical deep dive into comedy that goes far beyond just getting a laugh. There's a reason it's such a widely recommend foundational tool. Don't worry though -- this book is perfect for comedians of every level!

I bought this book because I wanted to see if there were guidelines for humor. I like steps, a plan, Rules A, B, C that will insure I achieve the right end result. And the book's byline--"A funny idea is worthless until you understand the mechanics of its construction and execution. Meet Mr. Goodwrench."--made it sound like I'd found my blueprint. Besides being a successful comic writer for most of his life with credits for a variety of sitcoms, Vorhaus taught at a variety of Film-oriented schools including the American Film Institute. What he does in the book is distill his lifetime of comedy writing into a how-to toolkit on creating humor. He starts by analyzing humor, explaining why some lines are funny and others aren't, with lots of examples. You can't get bored reading this book because the moment it starts to feel like a textbook, it breaks out into a joke (What do you get when you cross a Jehovah's Witness with an agnostic? Someone who rings your doorbell for no apparent reason). Here are some hints that made sense to me in my quest for humor: mix truth with pain (A man falls off a cliff. As he plummets to his death, he's heard to mutter, 'So far, so good.') be willing to risk making yourself look stupid for every ten jokes you tell, nine will be trash the comic premise is the gap between comic reality and real reality (for example, in the comic strip Peanuts, there's a gap between Snoopy's 'real' reality--he's a dog--and his 'comic' reality--he's a World War I flying ace humor through exaggeration (Jerry Lewis is the supreme bumbler)--and be bold about it clash of context--a forced union of incompatibles--i.e., lunar golf course, Madonna sings opera the wildly inappropriate response--For example, a backyard barbeque with militant vegetarianism, at a baseball game cheering for the vendors the law of comic opposites tension and release Each chapter, he not only explains the comedic tool, he encourages the reader to practice the tool. For example, in the chapter, The Comic Premise, readers must write a mundane task (i.e., going to a store) and what would make that out of the ordinary (shopping for Uzis). Here's one example I liked: a mundane event--the Magna Carta; out of the ordinary rejoinder--written by e.e. cummings. In a nutshell, Vorhaus breaks comedy down into its bits and pieces. Yes, some people are blessed with the comic gene, a funny bone that turns life into a laugh tape, but the rest of us need help. Since I'm a firm believer that every story goes better with a sense of humor (I get a lot of my funny-isms from my naturally-talented husband), you'll want to spend a couple hours with this book.

I've read a handful of books on comedy writing in the past few months, and this book is the only one worth the money and the time. It is intelligent, insightful, and useful -- which the other books in general were not. Most writing on comedy that I am familiar with is either incredibly obvious (and no help in getting a humorous tale underway) or bafflingly and pointlessly academic (ditto -- and I read philosophers: I do not have trouble with intellectual content per se). This book, by contrast, hits the sweet spot of analysis and how-to, of what-makes-it-go and how-you-can-get-there. Job well done. (It must be said that Vorhaus doesn't understand the Wodehouse magic, specifically the Jeeves-Wooster relationship or what defines the characters of Jeeves and Wooster (who is not, *pace* the author, a class snob -- that's sheer projection and carelessness on the author's part.) I would also have liked more reference to English comedy -- Are You Being Served?, for instance, has been well known to American audiences for about a quarter century -- which would illustrate his points as well as American ones, and underscore the universality of the principles he talks about. Overall, a strong book, and recommended.

An excellent read, er um exercise, um toolbox, yeah that's it, toolbox. I've written for a few comedians and never had access to this information. This book really is a toolbox that takes you step by step in creating comedy, whether you're creating characters or situations. The Toolbox offers helpful exercises to create comedy. If you ever have writers block, this book can help unlock the creativity in you. John writes with a comedic look and comment to his instruction. He had me laughing out loud as I read his anecdotes. This book is a good read, an easy read, and informative read. Do the exercises and you too can learn the process of comedy. I've used his tools and suggestions in creating a funnier script for my movie.

There's basic level info here, but I don't feel that it is well researched or comprehensive. For example, this book warns against making jokes nobody understands. Which is solid advice, but it doesn't touch at all on the concept of audience and knowing who is in your audience. It presents this advice in a way where it telling you to make jokes that relate to everyone, and not for nerds. In reality, there are times when you can have an audience entirely made of nerds and nerdy jokes work well in that arena. This book didn't touch upon that at all. Another example is the section on puns. There is no distinguishment between those phonetic "puns" that just sound like another word, and the authentic double entendre. The double entendre type of pun isn't mentioned and the entire section is ragging on about how terrible those lame phonetic puns are. These kinds of things didn't give me a good impression. I probably could have gotten a better book on the subject.

Great book! Good for starting your understanding about humour's essentials and getting you started to notice what's funny in life. But you _need_ to do the excercises, otherwise it's not a lot of use. And helps on storytelling too. Even after reading Robert McKee's "Story", this book still simplifies storytelling's essence into useful bits out of the box.

Chapter 9 had me laughing! Well written book!

Este libro me fue referido por un amigo con intención de ayudarme a desarrollar mejor mis personajes para ficción y cuentos cortos. La guía es bastante concreta y ayuda con ejercicios y algunas pautas básicas sobre como desarrollar historias y personajes. Aunque el enfoque del texto se centra en la creación de comedia, el contenido no se cierra exclusivamente a este entorno.

Un livre très intéressant pour qui veut travailler avec méthode le comique.

This book formalized my thoughts on being a comic. Now I know better on how to approach a comic situation.