Customer Reviews

The New Comedy Writing Step by Step

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had CWSBS back in the '90s...worked my way through the book and I mean worked. Great for someone new to standup or for a pro that wants to brush up on some skills.

I took some classes with Gene and the guy knows his stuff. This is kind of the old style of standup comedy, but he does get your mind thinking...and about setups and surprise punclines.

This is a review of the updated book, but really, it's kind of the same as the old one, but with some thoughts from some new comics.

Nice book, buy it if you are only a beginner. It's good for those people who just want to start. If you are already a comic and you know about writing, I will recommend COMIC INSIGHTS by Franklyn Ajaye, it tells you about view point of other comedians.

This book is just what I have been looking for. Its like a college writting class where you are the only student. Its Hard but fun and it pays off.

Gene Perrett's THE NEW COMEDY WRITING STEP BY STEP has been revised and expanded and includes inspiration and real-world experiences from the comedy profession. From a wealth of comedy-writing exercises to reinforce efforts to keeping a comedy notebook and getting ready to write, beginners new to the field have many tips on how to get started.

I used the original version of this book in the early 90's to take my first steps in comedy so I was very excited to see a new edition. This is though, a re-packaging. There are no new joke writing exercises but there is lots of advice from current and some very famous comics which is always inspiring.
Gene Perret is the God Father of the formalised joke writing method (he used to write for Bob Hope), a lot of his joke writing exercises seem a little basic but I'd challenge any comedy writer no matter how experienced to do the `organised list' and complete it with `opposites'. To do it well takes an hour but whenever I did it I always got a joke from it.

Very inspirational. as you read this book and work through the exercises , your mind will run wild with ideas to write about. Lays out good exercises to get the writing started.

If you want to learn comedy writing from a pro, buy this book! It can be helpful for screenwriters, writers, and stand-up comedians. Another good book is "The Comic Toolbox" by John Vorhaus. But it's mainly for writers and screenwriters.

The New Comedy Writing has been fun to work through. It is easy to understand. The exercises have been challenging but they produce the learning I need to write comedy into my speeches. My favorite part of the book is his encouraging, inspiring tone while telling us in clear ways that the road to success can be long and difficult. Well worth the money and time invested to learn the skill he so artfully explains.

This book is a great tool for anyone looking to learn the fundamentals of comedic writing. Gene Perret does a great job of breaking down a solid process for writing comedy. The writing is simple and straight-forward without being boring.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn the fundamentals of comedic writing or sharpen their skills if they are an experienced writer.

To learn anything, it makes sense to learn it from a teacher who excels in what he's teaching, doesn't it? You don't want to take cooking classes from a starving yogi. Similarly, you don't want to learn how to write comedy from someone who wrote (for example) obituaries all his life. Gene Perry has written for giants of comedy like Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, and Carol Burnett. He's the right guy to learn how to write funny from.

Perret covers almost the whole spectrum of comedy writing, starting from the very basics of amateur comedy writing all the way up to the facts of working as a professional comedy writer and generating regularly a steady volume of high-quality jokes and sketches.

The thing that I especially like about this volume is the fact that not only it dissects the process of joke writing and shows you the how-to techniques, but it also a focuses on comedy writing as a professional career. So this is as much a career guide for those who are just starting out as well as a manual of funny writing.

One chapter that's worth the price of the whole book is where Perret patiently explains how to gather and shape your individual jokes into a monologue routine without which it's hard to get hired by professionals stand-ups. Pros want "routines" not unconnected individual jokes. Watch any pro comedian on stage and the point becomes all too obvious.

Highly recommended for anyone thinking of a career in comedy writing today.