Truth in Comedy

Author: Charna Halpern
Publisher: Meriwether Publishing
ISBN: 9781566080033
Category : Improvisation (Acting)
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description
The 'Harold', an innovative improvisational tool, helped many actors on the road to TV and film stardom, including George Wendt (Norm on Cheers). Now it is described fully in this new book for would-be actors and comics. The 'Harold' is a form of competitive improv involving 6 or 7 players. They take a theme suggestion from the audience and 'free associate' on the theme into a series of rapid-fire one-liners that build into totally unpredictable skits with hilarious results. The 'Harold' is a fun way to 'loosen up' and learn to think quickly, build continuity, develop characterisations and sharpen humour.

The Funniest One in the Room

Author: Kim Howard Johnson
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1569764360
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
Nichols and May. John Belushi. Bill Murray. Chris Farley. Tina Fey. Mike Myers. Stephen Colbert. For nearly a half century, Del Close—cocreator of the Harold, director for the Second City, San Francisco's the Committee, and the ImprovOlympic, and “house metaphysician” for Saturday Night Live—influenced improvisational theater's greatest comedic talents. His students went on to found the Groundlings in Los Angeles, the Upright Citizens Brigade in both New York and Los Angeles, and the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. But this Pied Piper of improv has gone largely unrecognized outside the close-knit comedy community. Del was never one to let the truth of his life stand in the way of a good story—and yet the truth is even more fascinating than the fiction. In his early years, he traveled the country with Dr. Dracula's Den of Living Nightmares, knew L. Ron Hubbard before Scientology, and appeared in The Blob. Del cavorted with the Merry Pranksters, used aversion therapy to recover from alcoholism, and kicked a cocaine habit with the help of a coven of witches. And when he was dying, Del bequeathed his postmortem skull to the Goodman Theatre for use in its productions of Hamlet—a final legend that lives on, long beyond the death of the father of long-form improvisation.

Based on a True Story

Author: Norm Macdonald
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0812993632
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Driving, wild and hilarious” (The Washington Post), here is the incredible “memoir” of the legendary actor, gambler, raconteur, and Saturday Night Live veteran. When Norm Macdonald, one of the greatest stand-up comics of all time, was approached to write a celebrity memoir, he flatly refused, calling the genre “one step below instruction manuals.” Norm then promptly took a two-year hiatus from stand-up comedy to live on a farm in northern Canada. When he emerged he had under his arm a manuscript, a genre-smashing book about comedy, tragedy, love, loss, war, and redemption. When asked if this was the celebrity memoir, Norm replied, “Call it anything you damn like.”

The Humor Code

Author: Peter McGraw
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451665423
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Part road-trip comedy and part social science experiment, a scientist and a journalist travel the globe to discover the secret behind what makes things funny, questioning countless experts, including Louis C.K., along the way.

Stand-Up Comedy

Author: Judy Carter
Publisher: Dell
ISBN: 0307575209
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
If you think you’re funny, buy this book! Whether you dream of becoming a star . . . A better public speaker . . . A more effective communicator . . . A funnier, happier human being . . . You can learn to leave ‘em laughing! David Letterman learned to do it. Jay Leno learned to do it. Roseanne Barr learned to do it. So can you! Now successful stand-up comic Judy Carter—who went from teaching high school to performing in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, and on over 45 major TV shows—gives you the same hands-on, step-by-step instruction she’s taught to students in her comedy workshops. She shows you how to do it: create an act, perform it, make money with it, or apply it to everyday life. Discover: • The formulas for creating comedy material • How to find your own style • The three steps to putting your act together • Rehearsal do’s and don’ts • What to do if you bomb • Ways to punch up your everyday life with humor

The Hidden Tools of Comedy

Author: Steve Kaplan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781615931408
Category : Comedy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A paradigm shift in understanding the mechanics and art of comedy, providing practical tools that help writers translate that understanding into successful, commercial scripts. Kaplan deconstructs secrets and techniques in popular films and TV that work and don't work, and explains what tools were used (or should have been used ).

Impro

Author: Keith Johnstone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136610456
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
Keith Johnstone's involvement with the theatre began when George Devine and Tony Richardson, artistic directors of the Royal Court Theatre, commissioned a play from him. This was in 1956. A few years later he was himself Associate Artistic Director, working as a play-reader and director, in particular helping to run the Writers' Group. The improvisatory techniques and exercises evolved there to foster spontaneity and narrative skills were developed further in the actors' studio then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers, called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections, 'Status', 'Spontaneity', 'Narrative Skills', and 'Masks and Trance', arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the book sets out the specific techniques and exercises which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is both an ideas book and a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity.

The Improv Handbook

Author: Tom Salinsky
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350026174
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 521

Book Description
The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance. First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master-servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone, Neil Mullarkey, Jeffrey Sweet and Paul Rogan. The Improv Handbook is a one-stop guide to the exciting world of improvisation. Whether you're a beginner, an expert, or would just love to try it if you weren't too scared, The Improv Handbook will guide you every step of the way.

Improvisation for Actors and Writers

Author: Bill Lynn
Publisher: Meriwether Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
Far more than simply an overview of improv comedy, this book helps actors, writers and comedians learn the basics as taught in all the major comedy schools. First, the do's and don'ts of the Comedy Improv Commandments. The concepts that, when understood, hit the student like falling anvils: Anvil 1: Collaboration -- Working with the 'Group Mind', Anvil 2: Agreement -- 'Just say Yes', Anvil 3: Foundation -- 'Who, What and Where, Anvil 4: Exploring -- 'Finding the Game'. Successful improv requires the skill of the actor, the talent of the comedian and the ideas of the writer rolled into one. This book tells how it can all be done for performers or teachers.

Russian Optimism

Author: Ben Rosenfeld
Publisher: Bigbencomedy
ISBN: 9780990855200
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up is an illustrated coffee table book of thirty of Russia's most horrifically hysterical nursery rhymes translated for an English speaking audience. Each rhyme is 2-4 lines, with an innocent title and a horrible ending. Each rhyme is accompanied by a brightly colored yet twisted illustration of the scenario described to add humor. Each two-page layout has the illustration on one side, and the title of the rhyme, the English text, the Russian text and the Russian transliteration (using English letters) on the other. For example, The Woods: "A little boy found a machine gun. Nothing lives in the woods anymore." The rhymes are grouped in seven ironically titled chapters: Moral Messages, Parenting Pointers, Classic Cooking, Aquatic Adventures, Close Calls, Cheery Children and Explosive Endings.