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The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
A workbook approach to comedy writing as creative problem-solving. It offers tools of the trade such as Clash of Context, Tension and Release, The Law of Comic Opposites, The Wildly Inappropriate Response, and The Myth of the Last Great Idea to writers, comics, and anyone else who wants to be funny.
191 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1994
470 people are currently reading
2224 people want to read
About the author
John Vorhaus
51 books42 followersJohn Vorhaus is known to one and all as the man who brought Radar Hoverlander – con artist extraordinaire – to life in the “sunshine noir” mystery novel, The California Roll, and its acclaimed sequel, The Albuquerque Turkey.
John is also well known as the author of The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You're Not, and its acclaimed sequel, The Little Book of SITCOM, which continue to be definitive sources of information and inspiration for writers from Santa Monica to Scandinavia.
An international consultant in television and film script development, Vorhaus has worked for television networks, film schools, production companies and film funding bodies in 28 countries on four continents. He recently worked in Bulgaria, recruiting and training writers for that country’s adaptation of Married… with Children, and in Tel Aviv, consulting on the Israeli version of The Golden Girls. He also travels regularly to Nicaragua, where he co-created the social action drama Contracorriente to provide positive role modeling for the poor, young and disenfranchised of that embattled country.
And oh by the way, he has written more than three million words on poker, just in his spare time.
Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He has taught at such institutions as Northwestern University, the American Film Institute and the Writers Program of the UCLA Extension. He is the author of a dozen books, including Creativity Rules! A Writer's Workbook, the novel Under the Gun, the Killer Poker series and, with Annie Duke, the bestselling Decide to Play Great Poker.
He sells everything but his soul through his Amazon author page,
http://tinyurl.com/jvauthorpageamazon, tweets for no apparent reason @TrueFactBarFact, and secretly rules the world from www.johnvorhaus.com.
John is also well known as the author of The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You're Not, and its acclaimed sequel, The Little Book of SITCOM, which continue to be definitive sources of information and inspiration for writers from Santa Monica to Scandinavia.
An international consultant in television and film script development, Vorhaus has worked for television networks, film schools, production companies and film funding bodies in 28 countries on four continents. He recently worked in Bulgaria, recruiting and training writers for that country’s adaptation of Married… with Children, and in Tel Aviv, consulting on the Israeli version of The Golden Girls. He also travels regularly to Nicaragua, where he co-created the social action drama Contracorriente to provide positive role modeling for the poor, young and disenfranchised of that embattled country.
And oh by the way, he has written more than three million words on poker, just in his spare time.
Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He has taught at such institutions as Northwestern University, the American Film Institute and the Writers Program of the UCLA Extension. He is the author of a dozen books, including Creativity Rules! A Writer's Workbook, the novel Under the Gun, the Killer Poker series and, with Annie Duke, the bestselling Decide to Play Great Poker.
He sells everything but his soul through his Amazon author page,
http://tinyurl.com/jvauthorpageamazon, tweets for no apparent reason @TrueFactBarFact, and secretly rules the world from www.johnvorhaus.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
October 15, 2019
Want to be funny? Easy thing, just develop the habit of permanently dealing with the worst and most horrible things on earth and bingo! Instant and forever hahaha.
Try to tell a joke without anyone getting hurt, discriminated against, insulted, etc or topics that aren´t bad or controversial. Hard you think? It´s impossible, the whole functionality of any comedy is based on the suffering of one of the participants.
The best habit I developed for myself after reading this great book was to read scripts of the best-rated episodes of wonderful sick and disturbing shows like Rick and Morty, Family Guy, Drawn together, South Park, black comedy in general, etc.
The same, in a much more dense form, can be found in dirty, evil jokes.
So why is this disgusting grit so important? Cause it´s the lowest base of comedy, the pain, the origins we come from, the suppressed sexuality, violence, grievance, cognitive dissonances all humans live with.
Out of this pain and unlogic comes humor in all it´s different stages from low brow to high brow, from toilet humor to Woody Allen.
It seems as if subconscious, taboo topics have immense strength. Cause of political correctness and to avoid killing each other, humans have to lie all day long to, let´s be honest, everyone. Not just to real people, but also to themselves when things don´t seem to fit together and we enter the area of self-deceit, the three monkeys pop up and we suppress those thoughts.
Comedy takes this problem, throws it onto the stage and reliefs us by making it possible to laugh about something we could never mention in real life.
Now, analyze anything seen, heard or read that is funny. A great example is the analyses of Pratchett's work:
Here you can see the underlying main topics that would be boring without the efforts of one of the greatest authors of all time.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe...
I couldn´t find a list with the motives in Englisch, but it is highly recommended to check everything, from a long satire to the shortest joke about the driving engine of sadness, madness and pain behind it. Maybe this is why comedy writers aren´t funny. Enjoy!
I would highly recommend to use Tvtropes, search your favorite comedy books, films and TV shows, analyze the used tools, check the Tvtropes index for lists with comedy topics and see how this whole business of desperately trying to be funny and profound hardly ever works. Lol Rofl Hahaha.
PS: If someone has no humor, can´t laugh about her/himself and tends to be easily offended, it is very often a sign of a conservative and self restricted mind, just thinking in endless repetition: " Yuck, controversial topics, something that criticizes my mentality and makes fun of it =me. Filthy sex, evil violence, etc. To hell with all those sinners." In a certain way, I find this very funny in its own, strange way.
Cause as soon as someone begins to censor her/himself and others it´s an endeavor that is predestined to fail. It´s not really a sign of maturity or merely adulthood to get angry cause others do things that one finds offensive without that anyone is getting harmed by people who are just peacefully trying to live their life. It´s just pitiful.
Try to tell a joke without anyone getting hurt, discriminated against, insulted, etc or topics that aren´t bad or controversial. Hard you think? It´s impossible, the whole functionality of any comedy is based on the suffering of one of the participants.
The best habit I developed for myself after reading this great book was to read scripts of the best-rated episodes of wonderful sick and disturbing shows like Rick and Morty, Family Guy, Drawn together, South Park, black comedy in general, etc.
The same, in a much more dense form, can be found in dirty, evil jokes.
So why is this disgusting grit so important? Cause it´s the lowest base of comedy, the pain, the origins we come from, the suppressed sexuality, violence, grievance, cognitive dissonances all humans live with.
Out of this pain and unlogic comes humor in all it´s different stages from low brow to high brow, from toilet humor to Woody Allen.
It seems as if subconscious, taboo topics have immense strength. Cause of political correctness and to avoid killing each other, humans have to lie all day long to, let´s be honest, everyone. Not just to real people, but also to themselves when things don´t seem to fit together and we enter the area of self-deceit, the three monkeys pop up and we suppress those thoughts.
Comedy takes this problem, throws it onto the stage and reliefs us by making it possible to laugh about something we could never mention in real life.
Now, analyze anything seen, heard or read that is funny. A great example is the analyses of Pratchett's work:
Here you can see the underlying main topics that would be boring without the efforts of one of the greatest authors of all time.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe...
I couldn´t find a list with the motives in Englisch, but it is highly recommended to check everything, from a long satire to the shortest joke about the driving engine of sadness, madness and pain behind it. Maybe this is why comedy writers aren´t funny. Enjoy!
I would highly recommend to use Tvtropes, search your favorite comedy books, films and TV shows, analyze the used tools, check the Tvtropes index for lists with comedy topics and see how this whole business of desperately trying to be funny and profound hardly ever works. Lol Rofl Hahaha.
PS: If someone has no humor, can´t laugh about her/himself and tends to be easily offended, it is very often a sign of a conservative and self restricted mind, just thinking in endless repetition: " Yuck, controversial topics, something that criticizes my mentality and makes fun of it =me. Filthy sex, evil violence, etc. To hell with all those sinners." In a certain way, I find this very funny in its own, strange way.
Cause as soon as someone begins to censor her/himself and others it´s an endeavor that is predestined to fail. It´s not really a sign of maturity or merely adulthood to get angry cause others do things that one finds offensive without that anyone is getting harmed by people who are just peacefully trying to live their life. It´s just pitiful.
September 23, 2013
This book alone won't teach you how to be funny as the title suggests. You gotta start somewhere; be it a natural sense of humor, or a sheer contempt of the human race. But It's a great craft book. A product of meticulous observation & understanding of storytelling. It will help you write better comic characters, pinpoint flaws with your comic writing. And how to use screenwriting elements such as conflict & stakes in a comic world.
April 13, 2012
I bought this book because I wanted to see if there were guidelines for humor. I like steps, a plan, Rules A, B, C that will insure I achieve the right end result. And the book's byline--"A funny idea is worthless until you understand the mechanics of its construction and execution. Meet Mr. Goodwrench."--made it sound like I'd found my blueprint.
Besides being a successful comic writer for most of his life with credits for a variety of sitcoms, Vorhaus taught at a variety of Film-oriented schools including the American Film Institute. What he does in the book is distill his lifetime of comedy writing into a how-to toolkit on creating humor. He starts by analyzing humor, explaining why some lines are funny and others aren't, with lots of examples. You can't get bored reading this book because the moment it starts to feel like a textbook, it breaks out into a joke (What do you get when you cross a Jehovah's Witness with an agnostic? Someone who rings your doorbell for no apparent reason). Here are some hints that made sense to me in my quest for humor:
mix truth with pain (A man falls off a cliff. As he plummets to his death, he's heard to mutter, 'So far, so good.')
be willing to risk making yourself look stupid
for every ten jokes you tell, nine will be trash
the comic premise is the gap between comic reality and real reality (for example, in the comic strip Peanuts, there's a gap between Snoopy's 'real' reality--he's a dog--and his 'comic' reality--he's a World War I flying ace
humor through exaggeration (Jerry Lewis is the supreme bumbler)--and be bold about it
clash of context--a forced union of incompatibles--i.e., lunar golf course, Madonna sings opera
the wildly inappropriate response--For example, a backyard barbeque with militant vegetarianism, at a baseball game cheering for the vendors
the law of comic opposites
tension and release
Each chapter, he not only explains the comedic tool, he encourages the reader to practice the tool. For example, in the chapter, The Comic Premise, readers must write a mundane task (i.e., going to a store) and what would make that out of the ordinary (shopping for Uzis). Here's one example I liked: a mundane event--the Magna Carta; out of the ordinary rejoinder--written by e.e. cummings.
In a nutshell, Vorhaus breaks comedy down into its bits and pieces. Yes, some people are blessed with the comic gene, a funny bone that turns life into a laugh tape, but the rest of us need help. Since I'm a firm believer that every story goes better with a sense of humor (I get a lot of my funny-isms from my naturally-talented husband), you'll want to spend a couple hours with this book.
Besides being a successful comic writer for most of his life with credits for a variety of sitcoms, Vorhaus taught at a variety of Film-oriented schools including the American Film Institute. What he does in the book is distill his lifetime of comedy writing into a how-to toolkit on creating humor. He starts by analyzing humor, explaining why some lines are funny and others aren't, with lots of examples. You can't get bored reading this book because the moment it starts to feel like a textbook, it breaks out into a joke (What do you get when you cross a Jehovah's Witness with an agnostic? Someone who rings your doorbell for no apparent reason). Here are some hints that made sense to me in my quest for humor:
mix truth with pain (A man falls off a cliff. As he plummets to his death, he's heard to mutter, 'So far, so good.')
be willing to risk making yourself look stupid
for every ten jokes you tell, nine will be trash
the comic premise is the gap between comic reality and real reality (for example, in the comic strip Peanuts, there's a gap between Snoopy's 'real' reality--he's a dog--and his 'comic' reality--he's a World War I flying ace
humor through exaggeration (Jerry Lewis is the supreme bumbler)--and be bold about it
clash of context--a forced union of incompatibles--i.e., lunar golf course, Madonna sings opera
the wildly inappropriate response--For example, a backyard barbeque with militant vegetarianism, at a baseball game cheering for the vendors
the law of comic opposites
tension and release
Each chapter, he not only explains the comedic tool, he encourages the reader to practice the tool. For example, in the chapter, The Comic Premise, readers must write a mundane task (i.e., going to a store) and what would make that out of the ordinary (shopping for Uzis). Here's one example I liked: a mundane event--the Magna Carta; out of the ordinary rejoinder--written by e.e. cummings.
In a nutshell, Vorhaus breaks comedy down into its bits and pieces. Yes, some people are blessed with the comic gene, a funny bone that turns life into a laugh tape, but the rest of us need help. Since I'm a firm believer that every story goes better with a sense of humor (I get a lot of my funny-isms from my naturally-talented husband), you'll want to spend a couple hours with this book.
June 13, 2016
This little book is jam-packed with tools that will help any and every writer, regardless of genre. With down-to-earth language, and brief explanations, Vorhaus walks you through a series of processes, tools and rules that simplify rather than complicate writing tasks.
From the rule of nine (out of every ten ideas you write, 9 will be useless, so take risks, keep going and don't judge yourself) to the hill climbing problem (when revising your work, merely good is the enemy of great, so get that editing pen dirty).
As he puts it, "That's the trouble with re-writing. You have to commit to sacrifice with no certain expectation of reward. Yet even absent that guarantee, there's one thing we know for sure: If we don't come down off the hill, we'll never reach the mountain."
His explanation of plot structure is a 9-point list:
* Who is the hero?
* What does the hero want?
* The door opens
* Hero takes control
* A monkey wrench is thrown
* Things fall apart
* Hero hits bottoms
* Hero risks all
* What does the hero get?
If you include all of these points in your story (as he explains one by one), then it will work as any kind of story. This list parallels and expands slightly on the 3-act structure of commercial feature films (inciting incident, Climax 1, 2, 3). The only thing I'd add to his list is that when the door opens, the character walks through it. Because until the character acts in a way that reveals character, the story engine doesn't get in gear.
What's really useful about a tool like this is you can fit the answers to the questions on a single page, so it serves as your pencil sketch, thinking tool, your briefest of outlines, to help you manage the narrative arc of your story. Great stuff.
Since it's a comic toolbox, it covers the comic premise, comic story types, joke types, situation comedy, sketch comedy and more using oodles of easy to understand examples. After introducing each simple tool he encourages you to try them out.
The only thing I don't like about this book is its title and sub-title, The Comic Toolbox: How to be funny even if you're not.
Although the emphasis in this book is comedic, the application of his lessons go so much wider. From his advice on why you need to re-write, how to re-write, how to kill your inner editor and resuscitate them when you need them, this book isn't just about how to be funny, it's about how to write.
Given this, I'd re-title the book, The Writer's Toolbox: From a funny perspective.
From the rule of nine (out of every ten ideas you write, 9 will be useless, so take risks, keep going and don't judge yourself) to the hill climbing problem (when revising your work, merely good is the enemy of great, so get that editing pen dirty).
As he puts it, "That's the trouble with re-writing. You have to commit to sacrifice with no certain expectation of reward. Yet even absent that guarantee, there's one thing we know for sure: If we don't come down off the hill, we'll never reach the mountain."
His explanation of plot structure is a 9-point list:
* Who is the hero?
* What does the hero want?
* The door opens
* Hero takes control
* A monkey wrench is thrown
* Things fall apart
* Hero hits bottoms
* Hero risks all
* What does the hero get?
If you include all of these points in your story (as he explains one by one), then it will work as any kind of story. This list parallels and expands slightly on the 3-act structure of commercial feature films (inciting incident, Climax 1, 2, 3). The only thing I'd add to his list is that when the door opens, the character walks through it. Because until the character acts in a way that reveals character, the story engine doesn't get in gear.
What's really useful about a tool like this is you can fit the answers to the questions on a single page, so it serves as your pencil sketch, thinking tool, your briefest of outlines, to help you manage the narrative arc of your story. Great stuff.
Since it's a comic toolbox, it covers the comic premise, comic story types, joke types, situation comedy, sketch comedy and more using oodles of easy to understand examples. After introducing each simple tool he encourages you to try them out.
The only thing I don't like about this book is its title and sub-title, The Comic Toolbox: How to be funny even if you're not.
Although the emphasis in this book is comedic, the application of his lessons go so much wider. From his advice on why you need to re-write, how to re-write, how to kill your inner editor and resuscitate them when you need them, this book isn't just about how to be funny, it's about how to write.
Given this, I'd re-title the book, The Writer's Toolbox: From a funny perspective.
June 24, 2015
I agree with most reviewers I've read who state that this book is simply not funny. I don't understand why anyone would expect it to be. It is in instruction manual, not a comedy piece itself. The examples within are dated, many of which I had to turn to Professor Google for reference, but the truth of the advice therein are still accurate today. If anyone is on the fence about this book, allow me to offer one morsel of advice: John Vorhaus, while speaking directly to comedy writers, has found a way to outline the storytelling goals for every commercial or genre fiction work other how-to books have attempted in such a way as to make it clear cut and fully understandable. In other words, I would recommend this book to someone just wanting to learn the basics of story structure, even if they weren't interested in the comedy aspect at all. I've read dozens of books on story structure, and while I think "Story Engineering" by Larry Brooks is probably the most in-depth, John Vorhous's "The Comic Toolbox" is the simplest to understand - and you get the same level of information on adding comedy and humor to your work, which is an added bonus. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone.
August 3, 2016
While there is some interesting discussion here of how humour stems from pain, truth and conflict, this is mostly a book for screenwriters. Like Steve Kaplan ' s "The hidden tools of comedy" which I think was better, its cover should have been labeled with the phrase "for aspiring screenwriters". There is not much here for aspiring standup comedians.
April 25, 2023
I read this in 2023, and it was written in 1994. Understandably the references are outdated so I didn't get most of them. The concepts about humor are somewhat still relevant as there are universal truths to comedy, but things have still changed quite a bit since the 90s.
My biggest disappointment was that this book is geared towards screenwriting, which is not what I was expecting. It has some solid useful tools to guide you towards writing a juicy script whether it is humorous or not. I was hoping more for a book that would teach me how to be funnier at social gatherings and on tweets, which this book does not really provide assistance for since it's more for storytelling.
My biggest disappointment was that this book is geared towards screenwriting, which is not what I was expecting. It has some solid useful tools to guide you towards writing a juicy script whether it is humorous or not. I was hoping more for a book that would teach me how to be funnier at social gatherings and on tweets, which this book does not really provide assistance for since it's more for storytelling.
January 17, 2020
The book offers a lot of advice for anyone looking to get better at humor. It breaks down the creative process to from a broad question like 'what is funny' to 'what is the comic perspective of this character', simplifying the process. However, it cites a lot of examples from a lot of movies/shows that people might not have seen. If you aren't familiar with that particular episode of a certain show, the effect of what the writer tries to convey is greatly diminished. Otherwise, good read (no pun intended).
July 29, 2022
Es un libro práctico, con ejemplos y referencias puntuales, es de aclarar que es un libro de apoyo (No esperen salir orquestando una comedia). Tiene ejercicios muy puntuales y que son bastante prácticos para sacar ideas para posibles desarrollos. Incluso tiene herramientas y normas para organizar chistes o comentarios graciosos para los personajes.
December 21, 2018
¡Simplemente maravilloso! Las pautas para estructurar una comedia son claras; la explicación es entretenida, llena de ejemplos reales y que pertenecen a la memoria colectiva; las anécdotas personales enriquecen el texto, y el ánimo que da el autor inspira a escribir. Por supuesto, este no es un manual para calcar ni enseña a ser gracioso, eso está en el trabajo constante de cada uno, el entendimiento y la investigación. Para escribir se necesitan ánimos, y este libro da muchos de sobra, y hasta las instrucciones de cómo hacerlo.
April 11, 2014
Entertaining, practical, nuts and bolts approach to writing humor. His advice on dealing with the "last idea we had is the last good idea we'll ever have" syndrome is worth the price of the book alone.
March 17, 2020
Este libro enseña una cantidad impresionante de cosas, y lo hace de una forma sumamente digerible. Además tiene ejemplos de cada concepto y cubre escenarios para todo tipo de comedia. Creo que será libro de consulta de muy buen rato.
August 4, 2008
Be mindful that after you read this book, watching movies becomes less enjoyable because you become good at guessing plot development.
May 20, 2011
An excellent read; many useful tips about how to be funny in writing. It also gives tips on how to write a good book - funny or not. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in writing better.
June 7, 2012
A must-read for anyone interested in telling stories; not just for comedians.
May 12, 2013
Fantastic, technical advice for how to write funny.
June 10, 2023
My fav quotes (not a review):
-Page 14 |
"I’m such a lousy student, I couldn’t pass a blood test."
-Page 29 |
"In fact, one way to solve this problem is just to think about what is expected and then insert the opposite: Going to church in the nude"
-Page 35 |
"In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin has global conflict (teachers, parents, space aliens, and other authority figures), and local conflict (Hobbes), and inner conflict (uncontrollable flights of fancy)."
-Page 50 |
"For every flaw, there is an equal and opposite humanity. The worse you make some aspects of a comic character, the better you must make others. To make Hannibal Lecter work on a comic level, it was necessary first to make him disgusting, make us revile him, and then pile on the humanity"
-Page 50 |
"One of the surest ways to create humanity is to give your comic character an indomitable will. No character is more compelling, more engaging, than the one who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal."
-Page 65 |
"If the universe is constantly expanding, why can’t I find a place to park?"
-Page 66 |
"Try telling a lie instead: “If this line gets any longer, they’re going to assign it a zip code.”"
-Page 66 |
"Whenever a joke bombed, he’d make a comment or shoot the audience a look that said, in effect, “Well, that joke didn’t work.” Even though the joke didn’t work, the truth he told behind it almost always did."
-Page 67 |
"In shark-infested waters “Now I get my period!”"
-Page 67 |
"On an answering machine “I’m kissing up to someone more important than you right now."
-Page 69 |
"For the rest of you, skootch your chairs a little closer and we’ll explore the wonderful world of comic worlds"
-Page 124
"A fool and his money are soon partying. Close only counts in horseshoes and simultaneous orgasms."
-Page 124
"As an exercise, write down some cliché phrases and see what you can do to twist them around."
-Page 131
"What if the comic makes it clear to his audience that his price of failure is really, really high? “If you heckle me, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and spend my next five days in a closet, my next five years in therapy, and my next ten lifetimes trying to undo the psychic damage you do here tonight.” He’s raised the stakes. He’s built tension. When the inevitable heckling comes, the explosive release of laughter will be that much greater."
-Page 140
"“If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,”"
-Page 164
"Plot logic is outer logic, the sequence of events that you, the writer, impose on your story. Story logic is the inner logic of your characters,"
-Page 14 |
"I’m such a lousy student, I couldn’t pass a blood test."
-Page 29 |
"In fact, one way to solve this problem is just to think about what is expected and then insert the opposite: Going to church in the nude"
-Page 35 |
"In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin has global conflict (teachers, parents, space aliens, and other authority figures), and local conflict (Hobbes), and inner conflict (uncontrollable flights of fancy)."
-Page 50 |
"For every flaw, there is an equal and opposite humanity. The worse you make some aspects of a comic character, the better you must make others. To make Hannibal Lecter work on a comic level, it was necessary first to make him disgusting, make us revile him, and then pile on the humanity"
-Page 50 |
"One of the surest ways to create humanity is to give your comic character an indomitable will. No character is more compelling, more engaging, than the one who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal."
-Page 65 |
"If the universe is constantly expanding, why can’t I find a place to park?"
-Page 66 |
"Try telling a lie instead: “If this line gets any longer, they’re going to assign it a zip code.”"
-Page 66 |
"Whenever a joke bombed, he’d make a comment or shoot the audience a look that said, in effect, “Well, that joke didn’t work.” Even though the joke didn’t work, the truth he told behind it almost always did."
-Page 67 |
"In shark-infested waters “Now I get my period!”"
-Page 67 |
"On an answering machine “I’m kissing up to someone more important than you right now."
-Page 69 |
"For the rest of you, skootch your chairs a little closer and we’ll explore the wonderful world of comic worlds"
-Page 124
"A fool and his money are soon partying. Close only counts in horseshoes and simultaneous orgasms."
-Page 124
"As an exercise, write down some cliché phrases and see what you can do to twist them around."
-Page 131
"What if the comic makes it clear to his audience that his price of failure is really, really high? “If you heckle me, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and spend my next five days in a closet, my next five years in therapy, and my next ten lifetimes trying to undo the psychic damage you do here tonight.” He’s raised the stakes. He’s built tension. When the inevitable heckling comes, the explosive release of laughter will be that much greater."
-Page 140
"“If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns,”"
-Page 164
"Plot logic is outer logic, the sequence of events that you, the writer, impose on your story. Story logic is the inner logic of your characters,"
August 8, 2025
You might not have noticed, but the real title of this book is The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Conflicted Even If You’re Not.
Every line in it adds to your urge to slap the author.
When he explains a concept, the examples are longer than the explanation.
“Oh, like Tom and Jerry! Oh, like Lucy and Goosey! Oh, like this movie, that movie—have you seen this one? Oh, and this other thing…”
Bro, if watching comedy was the key, just say so.
This isn’t a book about how to be funny — it’s about how funny works. Like saying you’ll teach me how to ride a bike, and then spending 200 pages telling me how the bike is made. Nobody needs that.
I swear he was trolling when he wrote it:
“Daddy, how do I ride a bike?”
“First, let me tell you about the color of the brakes. That’s 60 pages.”
“Okay… can I hop on now?”
“No no no. First, let me explain how to sit on the seat without the bike going up your ass. Forty more pages.”
“Daddy, it’s been three hours, are we close yet?”
“Well, first, let me tell you how the neighbor’s kid rode his bike… oh, and your cousin’s bike too—he’s got a red one—”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
And you know what? I finally realized why some people go bald — even their hair just gets tired of their bullshit and quits.
The Premise Gap, buddy — there’s a huge gap between what you promise to teach and what you actually say.
Your book is just yapping disguised as a comedy tutorial.
And for the love of god — stop throwing in random $10 words that make me pause to Google mid-sentence. It doesn’t make you look smart.
Every line in it adds to your urge to slap the author.
When he explains a concept, the examples are longer than the explanation.
“Oh, like Tom and Jerry! Oh, like Lucy and Goosey! Oh, like this movie, that movie—have you seen this one? Oh, and this other thing…”
Bro, if watching comedy was the key, just say so.
This isn’t a book about how to be funny — it’s about how funny works. Like saying you’ll teach me how to ride a bike, and then spending 200 pages telling me how the bike is made. Nobody needs that.
I swear he was trolling when he wrote it:
“Daddy, how do I ride a bike?”
“First, let me tell you about the color of the brakes. That’s 60 pages.”
“Okay… can I hop on now?”
“No no no. First, let me explain how to sit on the seat without the bike going up your ass. Forty more pages.”
“Daddy, it’s been three hours, are we close yet?”
“Well, first, let me tell you how the neighbor’s kid rode his bike… oh, and your cousin’s bike too—he’s got a red one—”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
And you know what? I finally realized why some people go bald — even their hair just gets tired of their bullshit and quits.
The Premise Gap, buddy — there’s a huge gap between what you promise to teach and what you actually say.
Your book is just yapping disguised as a comedy tutorial.
And for the love of god — stop throwing in random $10 words that make me pause to Google mid-sentence. It doesn’t make you look smart.
November 13, 2020
4.5 realmente.
Cuando empecé el año, unos de mis propósitos era leer un libro en Inglés porque nunca lo había hecho. Dio la casualidad de que al buscar libros en español sobre comedia hay muy pocos y viendo a Alex Fernández en YouTube recomendar este libro me atreví a comprarlo y leerlo. La verdad es que estaba algo nervioso si lo dejaría a la mitad o si no iba entender nada, etc. Pero mi sorpresa fue otra y hoy, es un pequeño logro que me da felicidad después de toda la mierda de el 2020 y del algunos eventos de años pasados.
"The comic toolbox" es un libro que te habla acerca de los temas que hacen que las cosas sean graciosas desde la personalidad hasta los eventos en sketch o en comedias de stand up. Este libro me hizo darme cuenta de varios errores que había cometido en un principio cuando traté de escribir el piloto de una serie cómica. Mi realidad no estaba tan alejada pero ojalá hubiera leído este libro antes de hacer lo que hice.
Creo que los últimos 3 capítulos del libro valen mucho la pena y aplican no solo para escribir comedia, si no para más cosas en la vida y en el día a día.
Sin duda terminar este libro me hizo muy feliz, por el propósito cumplido, por la dedicación puesta (ya que es un libro de ejercicios), por entender mejor la comedia y por el final que sin duda también me movió un poco las tripas y el corazón.
Cuando empecé el año, unos de mis propósitos era leer un libro en Inglés porque nunca lo había hecho. Dio la casualidad de que al buscar libros en español sobre comedia hay muy pocos y viendo a Alex Fernández en YouTube recomendar este libro me atreví a comprarlo y leerlo. La verdad es que estaba algo nervioso si lo dejaría a la mitad o si no iba entender nada, etc. Pero mi sorpresa fue otra y hoy, es un pequeño logro que me da felicidad después de toda la mierda de el 2020 y del algunos eventos de años pasados.
"The comic toolbox" es un libro que te habla acerca de los temas que hacen que las cosas sean graciosas desde la personalidad hasta los eventos en sketch o en comedias de stand up. Este libro me hizo darme cuenta de varios errores que había cometido en un principio cuando traté de escribir el piloto de una serie cómica. Mi realidad no estaba tan alejada pero ojalá hubiera leído este libro antes de hacer lo que hice.
Creo que los últimos 3 capítulos del libro valen mucho la pena y aplican no solo para escribir comedia, si no para más cosas en la vida y en el día a día.
Sin duda terminar este libro me hizo muy feliz, por el propósito cumplido, por la dedicación puesta (ya que es un libro de ejercicios), por entender mejor la comedia y por el final que sin duda también me movió un poco las tripas y el corazón.
November 3, 2022
In this down to earth guide, Vorhaus breaks down the mechanisms for creating characters, stories and jokes that are funny. The book itself is funny because the author gives examples of every rule/technique to show you how they work -- and they DO work. Once you read this, you start seeing them at work everywhere: in comedies but also in dramatic books, movies and plays because many of the techniques are just about good storytelling and it's the context or stakes that determine whether it's laughable or tragic. Vorhaus regularly uses Hamlet as an example of a good comic character and he's got good arguments. He also suggests different tools for exercising your comedic muscles and encourages you to try them out on a piece of paper, in a notebook or just scribbled in the margins (he leaves space!). He says "for every ten jokes you tell, nine will be trash" so you should go ahead and start failing as much and as often as possible.
Whether you're a comedy writer, any kind of writer, an actor or just someone who appreciates a good laugh and is wondering why your favorite sitcom gets you every time, this is a great book!
Whether you're a comedy writer, any kind of writer, an actor or just someone who appreciates a good laugh and is wondering why your favorite sitcom gets you every time, this is a great book!
December 21, 2018
¡Simplemente maravilloso! Las pautas para estructurar una comedia son claras; la explicación es entretenida, llena de ejemplos reales y que pertenecen a la memoria colectiva; las anécdotas personales enriquecen el texto, y el ánimo que da el autor inspira a escribir. Por supuesto, este no es un manual para calcar ni enseña a ser gracioso, eso está en el trabajo constante de cada uno, el entendimiento y la investigación. Para escribir se necesitan ánimos, y este libro da muchos de sobra, y hasta las instrucciones de cómo hacerlo.
May 21, 2019
As you might imagine, this book not only tells you how comedy works, it is also written with lots of humor. I like that style and the simpleness of Vorhaus' explanations with lots of easy-to-understand examples (even if most of his popcultural references are too old for me) and you sure get a good understanding for how jokes work and - even more - how storytelling works. Because jokes mostly are stories after all. Some points definitely feel repeated to fill the book, but at least that way they stick better. I definitely learned a few things AND was entertained.
January 19, 2020
It wasn't the Bible of Comedy like some people recommended, but it was still good and with some insights. Some parts were not about comedy but art/writing in general, and it's very much the personal methods of the author, which may not be ideal for some people who would prefer different methods. I'm glad I read it, it's a good introduction to how to think about creating a joke, both specific techniques and modules along with the creative process.
March 16, 2020
Un libro ameno y directo, que habla desde la experiencia y sin teorías complejas, pero con recursos y pistas muy fáciles de aplicar a la hora de enfrentarnos al proceso de escritura de cualquier cosa, aunque especialmente cuando encaramos la redacción de obras humorísticas. Me ha gustado. Es de esos que hay que releer e ir apuntando cositas para luego ponerlas en práctica. De hecho, como con otros manuales del mismo tipo, tiene ejercicios para ponernos a prueba y tal.
September 10, 2020
I liked this short and effective book because it goes beyond formulas for manufacturing jokes, and focuses on comedic writing more broadly (comic characters, situational comedy, comic gap). It does get a bit pep-talky at times, but I'm guessing that's because the author has figured out his audience. People wanting to learn how to write comedy will have gone through many hacky books and tend to be a bit frustrated. Thankfully this is not one of the hacky ones.
December 18, 2022
De klassieker wat non-fictie over comedy betreft. De introductie van het boek alleen al is het lezen waard. Het boek heeft een interessante eigen visie op comedy. Brede analyses van verhaalstructuren worden afgewisseld met hele concrete tips. Nadeel is wel dat - door de leeftijd (1994) - de voorbeelden compleet gedateerd zijn. Ook heeft comedy zich sindsdien verder ontwikkeld. Ondanks dat ik een aardige stapel aan boeken over comedy gelezen heb, vond ik het een interessante toevoeging.
July 7, 2023
Interessante trattato, anche se censurato e tagliuzzato dalla curatrice italiana nella versione italiana appunto (senza un reale motivo, escluso un passaggio in cui si dichiaravano dei cambi di nome di attori probabilmente non conosciuti in Italia in un capitolo) per scrivere di, e in, comico. Magari i tre capitoli tolti avrebbero arricchito, per ora non lo saprò.
Ma aiuta a scrivere anche non comico se si escludono alcune cose.
Ma aiuta a scrivere anche non comico se si escludono alcune cose.
August 29, 2017
Some useful tips for my purposes are in character development. These include:
Comic Perspective - unique world view at variance with normal reality
Flaws - elements that separate him from "real" people
Humanity - unites with the audience
Exaggeration - moves the character further into the comic world, widens gap upon which the comic premise of the character is built
Comic Perspective - unique world view at variance with normal reality
Flaws - elements that separate him from "real" people
Humanity - unites with the audience
Exaggeration - moves the character further into the comic world, widens gap upon which the comic premise of the character is built
December 26, 2018
A great systematic approach to writing--both in comedy and in general. John Vorhaus breaks down stories and humor to some of their most basic elements and presents tools the writer can use to create better work more easily. I've seen most of these things in play before, but it helps to have names for each of them now.
May 14, 2020
A great compilation of tips and tricks to make your piece comical and genuinely funny. The book lays the foundation for comic and dramatic writing with references to some great works (films, series and books) which brings a lot of clarity and structure the writing process. Going through with the exercises makes the experience that much more valuable.
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