Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook8 hours
The Hidden Tools of Comedy: The Serious Business of Being Funny
Written by Steve Kaplan
Narrated by Steve Kaplan and Sean Pratt
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
This book offers a paradigm shift in understanding the mechanics and art of comedy, along with the tools that help translate that understanding into successful scripts.
Author
Steve Kaplan
Steve Kaplan has been the industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy writing and production for years. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale, and other top universities, he created the HBO Workspace and the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and artistic director of Manhattan’s Punch Line Theatre. He's consulted for companies such as DreamWorks and Disney and has worked with producers and production companies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, London, Ireland, and Sweden.
Related to The Hidden Tools of Comedy
Related audiobooks
28 Stand-Ups: Best Tips, Bits & Bombs The Actor's Mindset: Acting as a Craft, Discipline and Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMastering Stand-Up: The Complete Guide to Becoming a Successful Comedian Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Your Comedic Voice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Be A Stand Up Comedian: Your Step by Step Guide To Be A Stand Up Comedian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Musical Theatre For Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlaywriting 101: A Quick Guide on Writing and Producing Your First Play Step by Step from A to Z Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'll Be in My Trailer: The Creative Wars Between Directors and Actors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Story, Well Told!: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Something Wonderful Right Away: The Birth of Second City - America's Greatest Comedy Theater Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStory: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Pri Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Act: The Modern Actor’s Handbook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Acting Teachers and Their Methods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improv Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Matt Besser: Besser Breaks the Record Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Authentic Actor: The Art and Business of Being Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Improv for Indie Filmmakers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Series Development Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Making Sh!t Up: Using the Principles of Improv to Become an Unstoppable Powerhouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Actors Anonymous: A Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The TV Showrunner's Roadmap: Creating Great Television in an On Demand World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Performing Arts For You
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5NPR Funniest Driveway Moments: Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Save the Cat! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Myth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice From a Professional Clown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Words: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet: The Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way I Heard It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julius Caesar: A Fully-Dramatized Audio Production From Folger Theatre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death of a Salesman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pure Drivel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related podcast episodes
Cinematic Legend Walter Murch on Editing, Sound Design, and His Unique Methods 0% found this document usefulAnthony Meindl: Solving Problems Creatively & Failure as an Option - #258 0% found this document usefulAdventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman: Simon Garfield, author of The Wrestling, The Nati… 0% found this document usefulYour Character's Ethics 0% found this document usefulRobert Mckee: Master the Art of Storytelling - #232 100% found this document usefulPatsy Rodenburg: Patsy Rodenburg, renowned voice coach, is interviewed by Kirsty Young. 0% found this document usefulThe Actor’s Contribution 0% found this document usefulHow to Shoot a Feature Film for Only $7000: With only $7K, fourteen days, and no crew, Alejan… 0% found this document useful
Related articles
What John Hughes Taught Me About the Importance of a Name Literary HubArticle
What John Hughes Taught Me About the Importance of a Name
Apr 4, 2019
6 min readLiev Forever The RakeArticle
Liev Forever
Apr 5, 2019
15 min readAn Oral History of 'Broad City' NewsweekArticle
An Oral History of 'Broad City'
Mar 15, 2019
17 min readIs Standup Comedy Dead? Exploring The Future Of Funny Post-Kevin Hart, Louis CK And Nanette The GuardianArticle
Is Standup Comedy Dead? Exploring The Future Of Funny Post-Kevin Hart, Louis CK And Nanette
Jan 19, 2019
7 min readWhen Novelists Become Method Actors Literary HubArticle
When Novelists Become Method Actors
Jul 31, 2019
5 min readHow Do I (Quickly) Write a Screenplay? Writer's DigestArticle
How Do I (Quickly) Write a Screenplay?
Apr 12, 2021
A majority of budding screenwriters toil away for years on a screenplay and wonder if there is an end in sight. They’re lost in plot and character and have written themselves into a corner. Their first 20 pages are a slog, the second act is vapid, an
5 min readMadelyn Kent: How to Write Without Ambition and Resistance Guernica MagazineArticle
Madelyn Kent: How to Write Without Ambition and Resistance
Oct 19, 2017
12 min readLess Is More on the Page Writer's DigestArticle
Less Is More on the Page
Aug 16, 2021
Screenplays are meant to be transformed to a visual medium, such as into a movie, a television show, a web series, or a short film—at least that is the dream for us hopeful scribes. However, when it comes to writing a screenplay, less is more on the
5 min readRules With A Velvet Glove New Zealand ListenerArticle
Rules With A Velvet Glove
Feb 28, 2021
3 min readI’m A Scientist Studying Laughter – And It’s Funnier Than You Might Think | Sophie Scott The GuardianArticle
I’m A Scientist Studying Laughter – And It’s Funnier Than You Might Think | Sophie Scott
Apr 15, 2019
3 min read‘You Must Have The Courage To Be Bad. To Risk It All’ The RakeArticle
‘You Must Have The Courage To Be Bad. To Risk It All’
Aug 16, 2019
6 min readIt’s Time To Act! Dance AustraliaArticle
It’s Time To Act!
Mar 21, 2020
4 min readBeat Sheet Or Cheat Sheet? Writing MagazineArticle
Beat Sheet Or Cheat Sheet?
May 5, 2022
If you’ve not yet encountered the Save the Cat! books you will, because the original book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005) proved so successful it led to a franchise which now includes at least seven volumes, inclu
8 min readBoJack Horseman’s Diane Problem Is Now an Industry Problem The AtlanticArticle
BoJack Horseman’s Diane Problem Is Now an Industry Problem
Jul 21, 2020
6 min readComedy Community Mourns The 'End Of An Era' As UCB Closes New York Locations NPRArticle
Comedy Community Mourns The 'End Of An Era' As UCB Closes New York Locations
Apr 27, 2020
4 min readScreenplay Story Structure Writer's DigestArticle
Screenplay Story Structure
Oct 30, 2019
5 min readTo Write Funny, You Must Think Funny Writer's DigestArticle
To Write Funny, You Must Think Funny
Apr 12, 2021
“I can’t write humor because I’m not funny.” The main obstacle to writing humor is the self-assigned label of not being funny. The assessment might be accurate, which would explain why you only have 13 Instagram followers. But the core assumption is
4 min readDavid Jason The Big IssueArticle
David Jason
Dec 5, 2022
6 min read60 SECONDS That changed My life... Men's Health AustraliaArticle
60 SECONDS That changed My life...
Sep 5, 2021
DATE: February 22, 2001, 8:30pm NAME: HARLEY BREEN FEAT: A would-be actor accidentally discovers his life-long vocation as a stand-up comedian THE MAIN REASON I got into stand-up comedy was because I was no good at anything else. When I was 18, I wan
2 min read‘My Characters Are Outlets For Embracing The Outrageous’ Woman's WeeklyArticle
‘My Characters Are Outlets For Embracing The Outrageous’
May 18, 2022
2 min read‘I’d Have So Much Adrenaline I’d Go And Shoot Guns At The Arcade. Then Go For Gelato’ The RakeArticle
‘I’d Have So Much Adrenaline I’d Go And Shoot Guns At The Arcade. Then Go For Gelato’
Dec 6, 2019
4 min readThe LAST LAUGH Indianapolis MonthlyArticle
The LAST LAUGH
Oct 25, 2019
8 min readChelsea Peretti On Her Directorial Debut 'First Time Female Director,' Premiering At Tribeca The IndependentArticle
Chelsea Peretti On Her Directorial Debut 'First Time Female Director,' Premiering At Tribeca
Jun 9, 2023
4 min readWhy Are Comedians So Sad? You Asked Google – Here’s The Answer | Adam Riches The GuardianArticle
Why Are Comedians So Sad? You Asked Google – Here’s The Answer | Adam Riches
Feb 21, 2018
4 min readSetting the Stage Garden & GunArticle
Setting the Stage
May 23, 2022
5 min read‘It Can Be Easy To Be Cynical… But Art Should Be A Call To Arms’ The RakeArticle
‘It Can Be Easy To Be Cynical… But Art Should Be A Call To Arms’
Apr 14, 2022
5 min readHey You, Prestige Television Fan: Here's Why You Should See A New Play NPRArticle
Hey You, Prestige Television Fan: Here's Why You Should See A New Play
Apr 18, 2017
5 min readJoel Jeske Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and childrenArticle
Joel Jeske
May 1, 2023
4 min readFor Tiffany Haddish And Six Unsung Comedians, Netflix's New Special Is Worth Crying Over Los Angeles TimesArticle
For Tiffany Haddish And Six Unsung Comedians, Netflix's New Special Is Worth Crying Over
Aug 13, 2019
LOS ANGELES - Inside the Netflix headquarters on Sunset Boulevard, one of the most in-demand comedians in Hollywood is fighting back tears. Tiffany Haddish is set to premiere her own special on the streamer later this year. But it's her other project
7 min readHow Making a Movie Made Me Fall in Love with Writing Novels Again Literary HubArticle
How Making a Movie Made Me Fall in Love with Writing Novels Again
Jun 7, 2017
5 min read
Reviews for The Hidden Tools of Comedy
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews