How to Do It Standing Up: The Friars' Club Guide to Being a Comic, a Cut-Up, a Card, a Character or a Clown [Paperback]

Barry Dougherty (Author), Friars Club (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2002

No one knows more about being funny than The Friars Club, and now they reveal their personal tricks of the trade-and give away their favorite material--in this easy-to-use manual for aspiring comics, comedy writers or just plain show-offs.

The funniest men and women in showbiz discuss the art of being funny, and author Barry Dougherty puts it all together in the first and last Friars Club manual for anyone who wants to be a comedian--or just act like one. The book covers such important matters as What's funny--and what's not; the many forms of comedy: jokes, one-liners, anecdotes, stories, impressions, puns, ad-libs, wisecracks and more; choosing material and putting together a routine; developing a personal style; writing your own material--and much more.

In-depth, personal interviews with a host of well-known comedians punctuate the text, along with lots of examples of their funniest material.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barry Dougherty is the editor of the Friars Club magazine The Epistle. Since 1991, he has been writing for and promoting the Friars events. He is the editor of The Friars Club Bible (BD&L, ISBN 1-57912-166-7) and the author of How to Do It Standing Up (BD&L, ISBN 1-57912-254-X). He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (September 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157912254X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579122546
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,668,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Life on the comedy club circuit, not a guide to being funny, June 16, 2004

By 

saskatoonguy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Do It Standing Up: The Friars' Club Guide to Being a Comic, a Cut-Up, a Card, a Character or a Clown (Paperback)

First of all, what this book is not: It is not about how to be funny, nor is it an analysis of what humour is. The title is blatantly misleading. The book itself is not funny, because these are comedians describing things that happened to them, not attempting to get the reader to laugh.

This is a collection of first-person narratives in which comedians reminisce about performing in comedy clubs, especially at the beginning of their careers when they were unknowns. Their stories are surprisingly similar - struggling for stage time, desperate for money, honing their craft, and so on. The stories are repetitive and, after awhile, seem interchangeable. At times the narrators engage in a bit of introspection about why some things are funny and some are not, but one has to search for those analytical moments. To a large extent, these comedians just kind of "wing it" and have trouble articulating why one joke is hilarious while another leads to dead silence.

Of the 30-plus comedians interviewed for the book, I've heard of about one third of them. The most famous participants are Richard Belzer, Phyllis Diller, and Lily Tomlin.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yeah. I wanna do it standin up, sittin down, on the phone..., October 31, 2002

By 

P. Balmaseda (NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Do It Standing Up: The Friars' Club Guide to Being a Comic, a Cut-Up, a Card, a Character or a Clown (Paperback)

I have a friend who thinks she is funny. She isn't. I think one of the hardest things to do is teaching someone how to be funny. This book comes very close. It's more than just "timing" (that trite often used excuse some use in explaining how to amuse others) and it's more than just having that innate natural ability. Through the many interviews with those that are professionally funny, Mr. Dougherty manages to highlight and tie together the lessons that these jokemasters, prop comics and humorists relate. With their varying comedic styles, Mr. Dougherty successfully documents these truths in a way that they make sense. Comedy is hard. Teaching it is harder. Will this help my comedically-challenged friend? God...I hope so. But it's a good book and I liked it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Standing up by standing out, October 14, 2009

By 

Nancy Lombardo "Comedy Concepts Blog Talk Radio" (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Do It Standing Up: The Friars' Club Guide to Being a Comic, a Cut-Up, a Card, a Character or a Clown (Paperback)

I love this book and I love learning the back story i so many comedians i know and didn't know. but thanks to this book now do. So many up and coming comedians assume whats so hard about stand up? Well for you not a lot as long as you have fifty friends you can bring to your show over and over again. But to get you this far were so many comedians who paved the way. I liked reading about for runners of today's comedy world. If your thinking of becoming a comedian or always wanted to know more about the inside world of comedy its a great read. And for you newbies do your homework buy this book! You'll appreciate the laughs you're getting even more!