---
product_id: 4539582
title: "The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny"
price: "€ 55.08"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/4539582-the-hidden-tools-of-comedy-the-serious-business-of-being
store_origin: HR
region: Croatia
---

# The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny

**Price:** € 55.08
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## Description

While other books give you tips on how to “write funny,” this book offers a paradigm shift in understanding the mechanics and art of comedy, and the proven, practical tools that help writers translate that understanding into successful, commercial scripts. The Hidden Tools of Comedy unlocks the unique secrets and techniques of writing comedy. Kaplan deconstructs sequences in popular films and TV that work and don’t work, and explains what tools were used (or should have been used).

Review: The Best Book on Comedy - I bought this book for myself (early birthday present!) because I am working at making the transition from amateur comedian to professional. I’ve spent the last year reading books to help me grow in my writing and performing. I’ve done stand up, improv, sketches, short films and tons of writing. I even sold a couple of short web episodes to a major cable network. Hands down, ‘The Hidden Tools of Comedy’ has done more to help me grow as a writer and performer than anything else I’ve read. My previous career had an emphasis on academic study and I can tell you that this book should be the primary text for anyone learning comedy. The book is well researched, extremely well written and structured to make the learning as easy as it is fun. Kaplan shows a tremendous respect for comedy and his knowledge and experience make this book a unique and essential offering for those who are serious about making people laugh. What makes this book so essential? First, I would say the experience. Kaplan has put in his 10,000 hours and it shows. This book contains years of experience in film, theater and T.V. and close intentional study of comedy condensed into eight easy to understand tools for making better comedy. You could spend your whole life studying comedy or you can take a massive short cut and read this book. The tools found in the book apply to comedy writers, performers, directors and producers in theater, T.V. and film. Second, the tools are easy to use. Kaplan makes the eight tools easy to apply to what you are working on right now. I took his straight/line wavy line tool and applied it to a skit I was working about a snake bit cowboy. The skit went from getting chuckles at rehearsal to the actors laughing so hard they couldn’t get through the skit. On a sitcom pilot I’m working on I got stuck at the start of act three. I used the positive action to get my protagonist moving and the rest of the episode pretty much wrote itself. The tools come from experience and they just plain work. Third, the focus is on the true nature of comedy. What’s the difference between funny and comedic? Why does it matter to those who want to make people laugh? What are the myths of comedy and why are they myths? How is comedy different from drama? Why does it matter? Kaplan asks questions I didn’t even know I should be asking. He shows the importance of comedy in telling the human story and shows the beauty of telling the truth. This book isn’t about tricks to get laughs. It’s about celebrating the artistry comedy and becoming better artists. If you are building a comedy library to further yourself as an artist, or if you just want to get better at getting people to laugh, I would build it in this order to form the foundation. The Hidden Tools of Comedy - Steve Kaplan (Comedy) Improvisation for Theater - Viola Spin (Writing, Acting) Step by Step - Greg Dean (Stand Up, Jokes) Days and Nights at The Second City - Bernard Sahlins (Review Theater, Irony) Growth takes both theory and practice. Great musicians continue to practice their scales, they don’t just show up and play symphonies on the weekend. Do your work. Learn your theory and and perform! Learning the theory has helped me grow tremendously as an artist. And I get lots more laughs too. Don’t make this the only book you read on comedy but certainly make it the first.
Review: A book with heart and soul and smarts! - Let's tack another five star review up here! This is one of the very best books I've read about comedy, about what it is, about it's value, about how to produce it intentionally. This book is bigger than just comedy, it's also a philosophy or orientation towards life itself. In a world of spin, of propaganda, of pundits and experts endlessly pontificating and selling us a hollow vision of polly purebreed tripe, so nice to see this author speak the truth. Life is messy, it's messed up, it ain't pretty, often, we don't have a clue what to do or how to act and this folks is the truth of the human condition. But this is a hopeful book, given those existential truths, we strive to make our lives better against all odds. Comedy is about telling the truth about life and our response to it, our as Steve writes in his definition of comedy - Comedy is the art of telling the truth about what it's like to be human. Take it a step further with his comic equation - Comedy is about an ordinary guy or gal struggling against insurmountable odds without many of the required skills and tools with which to win yet never giving up hope. It's so very rare to hear this truth expresses in so clear a manner, this comes from love and care of comedy and of humanity itself. No phoney optimism or cheer needed, the author demonstrates a deep respect for comedy and real people and real life. His writing is filled with a humane quality, a knowing and understanding, and perhaps I detect a bit of disdain of those preachers of false cheerfulness, those salesmen that everything is just perfect. His words have a bit of a bite and edge to them, which is what I like because comedy is the language, the poetry perhaps of the common and ordinary person. He has the heart and spirit of a teacher and mentor, his writing is infused with a generosity of giving and sharing. This book also made me go back and think about the films and tv shows and the characters in them more closely and why they resonated with me. This book helped me understand myself a little better. There is no defense against comedy and it holds great power. I'm hoping to become a stand-up comic and this book isn't really a how-to book for comics, but it helps me understand humor and comedy better than I ever have, especially about telling the truth and maintaining that element of hope. I come from a counseling background and see strong parallels between comedy and counseling, maybe the only two places where we can speak the truth. This is a great, great life-affirming book! I like to say: Misery is the river of life and comedy is a canoe. Comedy gets us through it folks!

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #565,345 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #237 in Comedy (Books) #374 in Performing Arts (Books) #2,368 in Movies (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 620 Reviews |

## Images

![The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81jVeQoRfVL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Best Book on Comedy
*by A***R on June 2, 2016*

I bought this book for myself (early birthday present!) because I am working at making the transition from amateur comedian to professional. I’ve spent the last year reading books to help me grow in my writing and performing. I’ve done stand up, improv, sketches, short films and tons of writing. I even sold a couple of short web episodes to a major cable network. Hands down, ‘The Hidden Tools of Comedy’ has done more to help me grow as a writer and performer than anything else I’ve read. My previous career had an emphasis on academic study and I can tell you that this book should be the primary text for anyone learning comedy. The book is well researched, extremely well written and structured to make the learning as easy as it is fun. Kaplan shows a tremendous respect for comedy and his knowledge and experience make this book a unique and essential offering for those who are serious about making people laugh. What makes this book so essential? First, I would say the experience. Kaplan has put in his 10,000 hours and it shows. This book contains years of experience in film, theater and T.V. and close intentional study of comedy condensed into eight easy to understand tools for making better comedy. You could spend your whole life studying comedy or you can take a massive short cut and read this book. The tools found in the book apply to comedy writers, performers, directors and producers in theater, T.V. and film. Second, the tools are easy to use. Kaplan makes the eight tools easy to apply to what you are working on right now. I took his straight/line wavy line tool and applied it to a skit I was working about a snake bit cowboy. The skit went from getting chuckles at rehearsal to the actors laughing so hard they couldn’t get through the skit. On a sitcom pilot I’m working on I got stuck at the start of act three. I used the positive action to get my protagonist moving and the rest of the episode pretty much wrote itself. The tools come from experience and they just plain work. Third, the focus is on the true nature of comedy. What’s the difference between funny and comedic? Why does it matter to those who want to make people laugh? What are the myths of comedy and why are they myths? How is comedy different from drama? Why does it matter? Kaplan asks questions I didn’t even know I should be asking. He shows the importance of comedy in telling the human story and shows the beauty of telling the truth. This book isn’t about tricks to get laughs. It’s about celebrating the artistry comedy and becoming better artists. If you are building a comedy library to further yourself as an artist, or if you just want to get better at getting people to laugh, I would build it in this order to form the foundation. The Hidden Tools of Comedy - Steve Kaplan (Comedy) Improvisation for Theater - Viola Spin (Writing, Acting) Step by Step - Greg Dean (Stand Up, Jokes) Days and Nights at The Second City - Bernard Sahlins (Review Theater, Irony) Growth takes both theory and practice. Great musicians continue to practice their scales, they don’t just show up and play symphonies on the weekend. Do your work. Learn your theory and and perform! Learning the theory has helped me grow tremendously as an artist. And I get lots more laughs too. Don’t make this the only book you read on comedy but certainly make it the first.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A book with heart and soul and smarts!
*by J***. on August 17, 2013*

Let's tack another five star review up here! This is one of the very best books I've read about comedy, about what it is, about it's value, about how to produce it intentionally. This book is bigger than just comedy, it's also a philosophy or orientation towards life itself. In a world of spin, of propaganda, of pundits and experts endlessly pontificating and selling us a hollow vision of polly purebreed tripe, so nice to see this author speak the truth. Life is messy, it's messed up, it ain't pretty, often, we don't have a clue what to do or how to act and this folks is the truth of the human condition. But this is a hopeful book, given those existential truths, we strive to make our lives better against all odds. Comedy is about telling the truth about life and our response to it, our as Steve writes in his definition of comedy - Comedy is the art of telling the truth about what it's like to be human. Take it a step further with his comic equation - Comedy is about an ordinary guy or gal struggling against insurmountable odds without many of the required skills and tools with which to win yet never giving up hope. It's so very rare to hear this truth expresses in so clear a manner, this comes from love and care of comedy and of humanity itself. No phoney optimism or cheer needed, the author demonstrates a deep respect for comedy and real people and real life. His writing is filled with a humane quality, a knowing and understanding, and perhaps I detect a bit of disdain of those preachers of false cheerfulness, those salesmen that everything is just perfect. His words have a bit of a bite and edge to them, which is what I like because comedy is the language, the poetry perhaps of the common and ordinary person. He has the heart and spirit of a teacher and mentor, his writing is infused with a generosity of giving and sharing. This book also made me go back and think about the films and tv shows and the characters in them more closely and why they resonated with me. This book helped me understand myself a little better. There is no defense against comedy and it holds great power. I'm hoping to become a stand-up comic and this book isn't really a how-to book for comics, but it helps me understand humor and comedy better than I ever have, especially about telling the truth and maintaining that element of hope. I come from a counseling background and see strong parallels between comedy and counseling, maybe the only two places where we can speak the truth. This is a great, great life-affirming book! I like to say: Misery is the river of life and comedy is a canoe. Comedy gets us through it folks!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fun and Educational for Specific Writers
*by K***Y on November 15, 2015*

I bought this book thinking I would get tips on how to make my blog funnier and more engaging. That's not what this is about at all. His focus is on writing funny stories for movies, sitcoms and theater. How to create an engaging character in a funny situation. I can now articulate why I think some tv shows are funnier than others, but I don think I'm going to write a funnier blog as a result of this read.

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*Last updated: 2026-07-16*