Funny: The Book
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy
1st Edition
Published on 1. April 2012
216 pages
978-1-55783-966-4 (ISBN)
Description
Funny: The Book is an entertaining look at the art of comedy, from its historical roots to the latest scientific findings, with diversions into the worlds of movies (Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers), television (The Office), prose (Woody Allen, Robert Benchley), theater (The Front Page), jokes and stand-up comedy (Richard Pryor, Steve Martin), as well as personal reminiscences from the author's experiences on such TV programs as Mork and Mindy.
With allusions to the not-always-funny Carl Jung, George Orwell, and Arthur Koestler, Funny: The Book explores the evolution, theories, principles, and practice of comedy, as well as the psychological, philosophical, and even theological underpinnings of humor, coming to the conclusion that (Spoiler Alert!) Comedy is God.
With allusions to the not-always-funny Carl Jung, George Orwell, and Arthur Koestler, Funny: The Book explores the evolution, theories, principles, and practice of comedy, as well as the psychological, philosophical, and even theological underpinnings of humor, coming to the conclusion that (Spoiler Alert!) Comedy is God.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Basingstoke
United States
Publishing group
Hal Leonard Corporation
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-55783-966-4 (9781557839664)
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
Book
04/2012
Applause Theatre Book Publishers
€39.83
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
David Misch (Santa Monica, CA) has worked in show business for 35 years. He has written and/or produced pilots for NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, UPN, HBO, Showtime, PBS, ABC Family, Disney, Universal, and Lifetime, and was executive producer of Duckman on USA, which won a CableACE Award for Best Animated Series. Misch has taught musical satire at UCLA and the principles of comedy at USC. His website is www.davidmisch.com.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. The History of Ha!: Trickster
- 2. Not in 3-D: Movies
- 3. Leonard, Adolph, Herbert, and Julius: The Marx Brothers
- 4. More History of Ha!: The Ancient World
- 5. Live from Giggles: Standup
- 6. "That Nigger's Crazy!": Richard Pryor
- 7. Even More History of Ha!: Aristotle to Restoration
- 8. Theatuh: The Front Page
- 9. Nights of the Round Table: Prose
- 10. Invisible Rabbits and Fresh Fruit: Harvey/A Thousand Clowns
- 11. More Even More History of Ha!: Music Halls to Vaudeville
- 12. The Jewish Question
- 13. The Immortal Allan Stewart Konigsberg: Woody Allen
- 14. There Is No Chapter 14
- 15. Why We Laugh.Or Do We?: The Evolution of Ha!
- 16. That Wacky Existentialism: Steve Martin
- 17. Me and My Dopamine: The Science of Ha!
- 18. Betty Lou Zombax: Mork and Mindy
- 19. Addition by Subtraction: The Theories of Ha!
- 20. Heard Any Good Jokes?
- 21. Love and Theft: Plagiarism
- 22. Saying It Worse: The Philosophy of Ha!
- 23. When Did You Break Your Collarbone?: Buster Keaton
- 24. Kosmik Komedy: The Purpose of Ha!
- 25. Suffering Is Funny: The Office
- 26. Evolution Is Irritating: Sitcoms
- 27. America the Hilarious
- 28. Kosmik Komedy 2: The Theology of Ha!
- 29. That's All, Folks!
- Links
- Mediagraphy
- Sources
- Photo Credits
- About the Author
