A guy walks into a bar...With this guide, aspiring comics will learn to navigate the complex world of comedy writing. Discover how to tap into your natural sense of humor through real-life examples and hands-on skill-building exercises. Learn the best ways to come up with ideas and write comedy that gets laughs--every time! Mike Bent, an accomplished stand-up comedian and teacher, provides the inside scoop on techniques to jump-start your comedy wr...

A chance encounter while shopping in a northern Spanish fishing port draws delectable, half-French, half-Polish Tamara von Rosenberg into friendship with Martin Haynes, a freelance writer and translator living in a nearby village. Their relationship, kindled through mutual intellectual interests, soon blossoms into caring, passionate affection. Tamara's idyllic holiday in Cantabria is brought to a premature and unhappy end when news reaches her that her widower father is dying following an...

Judy Carter, guru to aspiring comedy writers and stand-up comics, tells all about the biz of being funny and writing funny in this bright, entertaining, and totally practical guide on how to draw humor from your life and turn it into a career.Do you think you’re funny? Do you want to turn your sense of humor into a career? If the answer is yes, then Judy Carter’s The Comedy Bible is for you. The guru to aspiring stand-up comics provides the complete scoop ...

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 sta...

The New Comedy Bible is a step-by-step, no excuses manual for writing, performing, and launching your career as a stand-up comic. Written by Judy Carter, the author of The Comedy Bible (2001), which was called by The Washington Post and Forbes as a "Comedy Essential." This new book, penned in classic Carter's style -- part career coach and part comedy dominatrix -- has 100% new content where you will: - Partake in 48 new exercises to turn your problems into punchlines - Create 60 minutes o...

This entertaining and sharply written guide—for both beginners breaking into comedy and professionals seeking to improve their sets and advance their careers—examines the work of great comedians such as Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, Moms Mabley, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Richard Pryor, and more as a means of illustrating the most important techniques of performing and writing stand-up.Here, Stephen Rosenfield lays out a clear plan for achieving success, candidly ...

Comedy is not magic, not inspiration, not a “gift.” Mostly, it’s simple rules and structures—the logic of the illogical—tools that anyone can use.The Comic Toolbox is a straightforward, often humorous, workbook approach to comedy writing as creative problem solving. In it, veteran Hollywood comedy writer John Vorhaus offers his tools of the trade to writers, comics, and anyone else who wants to be funny. Among these indispensable tools are Clash of Context, Tension and Release, The...

The Must-Have Guide to Humor WritingBring on the funny! With Comedy Writing Secrets 3rd Edition, you can discover the secrets of humor writing that will keep your readers rolling in their seats. Learn the basics of joke construction, as well as in-depth comedy-writing techniques that you can apply to a variety of print and online markets. If your aim is to make 'em laugh--and make a career in comedy writing--then look no further.In this completely revised and refre...

Logan Murray has successfully taught the techniques of stand-up comedy to thousands, and in this book he distills his years of experience into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance. He will help you find your own creative streak and your funny side, build the confidence to deliver, and explain the finer details of stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. There is a full guide to the practicalities, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty...

Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to travel writing as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet and heads for Europe. Travelling with Stephen Katz—also his wonderful sidekick in A Walk in the Woods—he wanders from Hammerfest in the far north, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. As he makes his way round this incredibly varied continent, he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before with caustic hilarity.

Ted Simon is the author of the classic travel book JUPITER'S TRAVELS. It documents his four-year journey round the world by motorbike, travelling through Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia. A number one bestseller in the late 1970s, it is still regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle books - indeed, one of the greatest travel books - ever written.In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his journey, and DREAMING OF JUPITER is the result. It took him ...

'Bill Bryson on two wheels' IndependentScaling a new peak of rash over-ambition, Tim Moore tackles the 9,000km route of the old Iron Curtain on a tiny-wheeled, two-geared East German shopping bike.Asking for trouble and getting it, he sets off at the Arctic winter's brutal height, bullying his plucky MIFA 900 through the endless and massively sub-zero desolation of snowbound Finland.Haunted throughout the journey by the bor...