Funny: The Book: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy

by David Misch

Overview

(Applause Books). 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557838292
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2012
Series:	Applause Books
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 The History of Ha!: Trickster 5

2 Not in 3-D: Movies 15

3 Leonard, Adolph, Herbert, and Julius: The Marx Brothers 21

4 More History of Ha!: The Ancient World 29

5 Live from Giggles: Standup 33

6 "That Nigger s Crazy!": Richard Pryor 41

7 Even More History of Ha!: Aristotle to Restoration 45

8 Theatuh: The Front Page 51

9 Nights of the Round Table: Prose 57

10 Invisible Rabbits and Fresh Fruit: Harvey / A Thousand Clowns 63

11 More Even More History of Ha!: Music Halls to Vaudeville 67

12 The Jewish Question 73

13 The Immortal Allan Stewart Konigsberg: Woody Allen 77

14 There Is No Chapter 14 83

15 Why We Laugh... Or Do We?: The Evolution of Ha! 85

16 That Wacky Existentialism: Steve Martin 91

17 Me and My Dopamine: The Science of Ha! 99

18 Betty Lou Zombax: Mork and Mindy 105

19 Addition by Subtraction: The Theories of Ha! 111

20 Heard Any Good Jokes? 117

21 Love and Theft: Plagiarism 127

22 Saying It Worse: The Philosophy of Ha! 133

23 When Did You Break Your Collarbone?: Buster Keaton 139

24 Kosmik Komedy: The Purpose of Ha! 149

25 Suffering Is Funny: The Office 155

26 Evolution Is Irritating: Sitcoms 161

27 America the Hilarious 165

28 Kosmik Komedy 2: The Theology of Ha! 167

29 That's All, Folks! 175

Links 177

Mediagraphy 179

Sources 189

Photo Credits 191

Index 193

About the Author 201