Tag Archives: standup

BOOKS: “Be Funny or Die” by Joel Morris

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Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It MattersBe Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters by Joel Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author Site

Release date: Sept 4, 2025 [paperback, hardcover is already out]

This is a comedy writer’s guide to how humor is crafted. It’s a bit popular psychology and a bit of a how-to guide. If one is expecting, because it’s on comedy and humor, a book that is a laugh riot on every page, this isn’t the book for you. That’s not so say Morris doesn’t pepper the book with witty commentary and humorous examples, but it’s ultimately a book about how the sausage gets made and is, thus, somewhat analytic — if in a readable style.

At the core of Morris’s theory of comedy is a three-component structure: construct, confirm, and confound. Other major ideas are the fundamental tribalism of comedy and the connections between comedy and music. It wouldn’t be a present-day book on comedy if there wasn’t some discussion of the idea of offense and the “limits” of what can be said.

I can’t say all of Morris’s ideas found immediate resonance with me, but even when I didn’t fully buy the argument, I did find the presentation thought-provoking. For example, I don’t know that I buy Morris’s argument about the importance of tribality to comedy. I do agree that one needs a common language and some overlap of experience, but all of humanity has a domain of overlap of experience. Yes, one may have an easier time the more extensive that overlap is, but ease doesn’t necessarily mean one can’t get big laughs from an audience whose worldviews and experience are radically different from one’s own. [Of course, I may just be being overly sensitive as a traveler in a tribal world.]

For writers, the end of the book has a few chapters that are more about story than comedy – per se, and – while these chapters compare and contrast comedy and drama writing – they provide information useful to any writer engaged in storytelling.

I’d highly recommend this book for any readers interested in comedy writing, be it of standup material, scripts, or other content.

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BOOKS: “The Comedians” by Kliph Nesteroff

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The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American ComedyThe Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This book presents a fascinating history of standup comedy and the various ancillary activities that comedians have taken on to make ends meet, to advance their careers, and – in a surprising number of cases – to pay for drugs — e.g. from writing to radio and television performances to hosting interview shows. The book’s exploration runs from the days of Vuadville to today’s world of Twitter and podcasts.

The book reveals a great deal about which readers may be unaware. If you, like me, watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and wondered whether the mob was really that involved in the entertainment industry, turns out, they were. In fact, Nesteroff addresses the violence and threats experienced by comedians in a way that is much more explicit than in that TV show. There are tales of early insult comedians running afoul of wiseguys who were in the audience unbeknownst to the comedian. There is even a chapter devoted to the building of Las Vegas to meet certain needs of organized crime, as well as discussion of the mob’s decline (or, perhaps, legitimization) in the industry.

Another discovery that was interesting to me was how wild some of the early comedians were, both in their stage and in their personal lives. There were a number of names that were familiar to me from re-runs of highly censored network television programs. I’d wrongly assumed that these individuals were as bland and wholesome as their on-air personas. Buddy Hackett is a prime example of someone who wasn’t at all what I expected.

It’s remarkable to see how many ups and down standup comedy has had in its relatively short life span — cycles of boom and bust.

If you’re interested in standup comedy and how comedy has progressed as a form of entertainment in America, I’d highly recommend this book.

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