How to Be a Stand-Up Comic

How to Be a Stand-Up Comic PDF

Author: Richard Belzer

Publisher: Citadel Press

Published: 2000-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780806513195

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Comedian Richard Belzer promises that he can turn anyone into a stand-up comedian. Here he makes good on that promise and provides a generous helping of laughs in the process. This irreverents and informative book prepares wannabe comedians with tips and inside information from a seasoned veteran. Photographs.

Step by Step to Stand-up Comedy

Step by Step to Stand-up Comedy PDF

Author: Greg Dean

Publisher: Heinemann Drama

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780325001791

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If you think you're funny, and you want others to think so too, this is the book for you! Greg Dean examines the fundamentals of being funny and offers advice on a range of topics, including: writing creative joke material rehearsing and performing routines coping with stage fright dealing with emcees who think they're funnier than you are getting experience and lots more. Essential for the aspiring comic or the working comedian interested in updating his or her comedy routine, Step by Step to Stand-Up Comedy is the most comprehensive and useful book ever written on the art of the stand-up comedian.

Stand-Up Comedy

Stand-Up Comedy PDF

Author: Judy Carter

Publisher: Dell

Published: 2010-03-03

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0307575209

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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

Born Standing Up

Born Standing Up PDF

Author: Steve Martin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-09-04

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1847395848

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Steve Martin has been an international star for over thirty years. Here, for the first time, he looks back to the beginning of his career and charmingly evokes the young man he once was. Born in Texas but raised in California, Steve was seduced early by the comedy shows that played on the radio when the family travelled back and forth to visit relatives. When Disneyland opened just a couple of miles away from home, an enchanted Steve was given his first chance to learn magic and entertain an audience. He describes how he noted the reaction to each joke in a ledger - 'big laugh' or 'quiet' - and assiduously studied the acts of colleagues, stealing jokes when needed. With superb detail, Steve recreates the world of small, dark clubs and the fear and exhilaration of standing in the spotlight. While a philosophy student at UCLA, he worked hard at local clubs honing his comedy and slowly attracting a following until he was picked up to write for TV. From here on, Steve Martin became an acclaimed comedian, packing out venues nationwide. One night, however, he noticed empty seats and realised he had 'reached the top of the rollercoaster'. BORN STANDING UP is a funny and riveting chronicle of how Steve Martin became the comedy genius we now know and is also a fascinating portrait of an era.

Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy

Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy PDF

Author: Jay Sankey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1136555633

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In this engaging and disarmingly frank book, comic Jay Sankey spills the beans, explaining not only how to write and perform stand-up comedy, but how to improve and perfect your work. Much more than a how-to manual Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy is the most detailed and comprehensive book on the subject to date.

Don't Wear Shorts on Stage

Don't Wear Shorts on Stage PDF

Author: Rob Durham

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2011-12-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781468004847

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Rob Durham has written a book on the ins and outs of being a stand-up comic. Hilarious and enlightening, he uses some funny experiences of his own with famous and not-so-famous people to give some great tips on getting started in the biz. "Rob Durham 'gets it' as a performer and a teacher of how to get going in the comedy business. He covers the little things that so many new guys ignore. This is the book I would have written. . . if I had the time, interest, or word-processor." --Jimmy Pardo"I support this book unconditionally!" --Maria Bamford"Read this book before going to your next open mic night." --Tommy Johnagin

Comedy Writing Secrets

Comedy Writing Secrets PDF

Author: Melvin Helitzer

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780898795103

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A comprehensive guide to writing, selling and performing all types of comedy. Includes comments, advice, gags and routines from top comics.

Mastering Stand-Up

Mastering Stand-Up PDF

Author: Stephen Rosenfield

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2017-11-01

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1613736959

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Stephen Rosenfield, founder and director of the American Comedy Institute, the premier comedy school in the United States, has taught literally dozens of major standup comics in North America, and has also pioneered comedy as an academic discipline in many universities, a trend that is rapidly spreading. Mastering Stand-Up draws on Rosenfield's own extensive experience (and those of countless stars like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Rodney Dangerfield, Louis C.K., Steve Martin, Roseanne, and Johnny Carson) to show the reader—and would-be comic—what works, what doesn't, and why. Forty sharply written chapters cover every conceivable angle of the joke and how to tell it. There are a number of books on comedy and how to do it, but none has the breadth and authority Rosenfield brings to his theme. It's not for nothing that the New York Times has described him as "probably the best-known comedy teacher in the country." Rosenfield's book is sure to become the classic text on its subject. And it should help thousands who long to make others laugh to realize their fondest hopes.

How to Be a Working Comic

How to Be a Working Comic PDF

Author: Dave Schwensen

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2013-05-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781484918470

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This truly funny book about being funny is also a serious guide to the business of laughter and how to make it pay off. Comedian Dave Schwensen shows how to get onstage experience and contact bookers, agents, and managers. Illustrations.

The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy

The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy PDF

Author: Patrice A. Oppliger

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-04-10

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 3030372146

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This book focuses on the “dark side” of stand-up comedy, initially inspired by speculations surrounding the death of comedian Robin Williams. Contributors, those who study humor as well as those who perform comedy, join together to contemplate the paradoxical relationship between tragedy and comedy and expose over-generalizations about comic performers’ troubled childhoods, addictions, and mental illnesses. The book is divided into two sections. First, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore comedians’ onstage performances, their offstage lives, and the relationship between the two. The second half of the book focuses on amateur and lesser-known professional comedians who reveal the struggles they face as they attempt to hone successful comedy acts and likable comic personae. The goal of this collection is to move beyond the hackneyed stereotype of the sad clown in order to reveal how stand-up comedy can transform both personal and collective tragedies by providing catharsis through humor.