Having developed a two-day "Comedy Intensive" workshop that is attended by writers and other show business professionals, Kaplan here distills his lessons on "the tools that make comedy work." Throughout, the lessons described (e.g., "positive action," "active emotion," "comic premise," etc.) are augmented by illustrative excerpts from television and cinematic scripts. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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).