It’s a big call. The Big Bang Theory, E=MC2, and now ‘On Jokes’, a book that promises to algorithm-ise comedy. That’s the promise made by Amanda Baker, Abi Grant and, the well-dressed, crude comedian Jimmy Carr.
So do they? Do they take, what seems like a jumble of words, timing, and emphasise, within a primordial soup of humour and crack the code?
Yeah, they do.
What ‘On Jokes’ aims to be is more than just a joke-writing book. It also aims to be about joke-identifying, joke-developing, joke-dissecting and joke-performing. (That last goal might be a bit of a stretch, since stage time is really the only way to get better at performance).
Most importantly about this book is it’s claim, “That joke problems are technical, not magical.” And that means joke writing, polishing and performing can be taught.
“Well…yeah. We know that!”, you might say. But, there used to be naysayers. A decade ago, when the Hard Knock Knocks Comedy School was born, some in the industry claimed stand-up comedy couldn’t be taught. In fact, ‘On Jokes’ quotes Jerry Seinfeld who said, ‘if we ever teach stand-up comedy, which we never will because it cannot be done…’.
Clearly Jerry Seinfeld was wrong about teaching comedy. He’s also wrong about Palestine, but that’ another story. The point is, if Jimmy Carr says it can be taught, so who are we to disagree. Plus we’ve got over 900 graduates as evidence.
So back to ‘On Jokes’. This book is divided into three parts. Part One is the Field Guide. It’s about identifying the different joke structures and why they work. Part Two is about Assembly, allowing the reader to start experimenting. And Part Three is a User Manual, focusing on polish, and moving from the note pad to the stage. This is the chapter that claims to be able to generate bigger, longer and uncut laughs.
The book also repeats a lot of what we’ve been saying for quite some time. For example, that ‘hard work beats talent’. We believe that’s the number one quality of a successful comedian, and it would appear that Jimmy does too. But he’s quick to highlight that this book isn’t going to make you star overnight or even over months. In fact he slips in that with his book and lots of practice ‘two to five months’ is the ultimate prognosis, which is a little disappointing.
And a bit of a warning for those thinking of buying the book. Jimmy Carr is Jimmy Carr, and he hasn’t changed his spots just because he’s got two co-authors, Amanda Baker and Abi Grant. Expect to be reading joke examples referencing “paedophiles” (he’s using British English), babysitter’s bosoms, and fellatio. But what did you expect? In fact, that’s probably why you’d buy the book, you creep!
Still interested in buying the book? Well, click here.