What Are You Laughing At?
How to Write Humor for Screenplays, Stories, and More
Published on 9. November 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-1-62153-600-0 (ISBN)
Description
**Winner of the 2022 William Randolph Hearst Award for Outstanding Service in Professional Journalism**
"People have forgotten how to be funny," says Chris Vogler in his foreword to What Are You Laughing at? Luckily, experienced and award-winning humor writer Brad Schreiber is here to remind us all how it's done. If laughter is the best medicine, be prepared to feel fit as a fiddle after perusing these pages. Brad's clever wit and well-timed punch lines are sure to leave you grasping your sides, while his wise advice will ensure that you're able to follow in his comedic footsteps.
With more than seventy excerpts from such expert prose and screenwriters as Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., as well as unique writing exercises for all situations, this comprehensive tutorial will teach you how to write humor prose for any literary form, including screenwriting, story writing, theater, television, and audio/radio. Additionally, readers are given sage advice on different tactics for writing comedic fiction versus comedic nonfiction. Some of the topics discussed include:
Life experience versus imagination
How to use humor to develop theme/setting, character, and dialogue
Rhythm and sound of words
Vulgarity and bad taste
How to market your humor prose in the digital market
Thoroughly revised and updated, and with new information on writing short, humorous films, What Are You Laughing at? is your endless source to learning the art of comedy.
"People have forgotten how to be funny," says Chris Vogler in his foreword to What Are You Laughing at? Luckily, experienced and award-winning humor writer Brad Schreiber is here to remind us all how it's done. If laughter is the best medicine, be prepared to feel fit as a fiddle after perusing these pages. Brad's clever wit and well-timed punch lines are sure to leave you grasping your sides, while his wise advice will ensure that you're able to follow in his comedic footsteps.
With more than seventy excerpts from such expert prose and screenwriters as Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., as well as unique writing exercises for all situations, this comprehensive tutorial will teach you how to write humor prose for any literary form, including screenwriting, story writing, theater, television, and audio/radio. Additionally, readers are given sage advice on different tactics for writing comedic fiction versus comedic nonfiction. Some of the topics discussed include:
Life experience versus imagination
How to use humor to develop theme/setting, character, and dialogue
Rhythm and sound of words
Vulgarity and bad taste
How to market your humor prose in the digital market
Thoroughly revised and updated, and with new information on writing short, humorous films, What Are You Laughing at? is your endless source to learning the art of comedy.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Skyhorse Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62153-600-0 (9781621536000)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2017
Allworth Press
€12.85
Available for download
Persons
Brad Schreiber has worked as a writer in all forms of media. He has sold and optioned screenplays, was nominated for the Kingman Films KASA Award for his script The Couch, and has won awards from the Edward Albee Foundation, the California Writers Club, STAGES Theater Festival, and the National Audio Theater Festival. He teaches humor writing for the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and screenwriting for Columbia College of Chicago at CBS Studio Center. He is also the author of Weird Wonders and Blunders.