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“Teach Yourself Stand-Up Comedy” Book Review

It struck me as strange, the idea that you could produce a book like this, teaching people how to perform stand-up comedy. It is such a visual and oral medium, how could you possibly gain anything other than very basic advice from a self-help book?

Logan Murray has succeeded. The highly experienced stand-up and comedy course tutor, has written a very useful guide to starting out as a Stand-up comedian. There have been a few books on this subject before, but originating from the US, where the “stand-up – sketch show – funny sit-com neighbour – own sit-com” route is still prevalent. This book is from a UK perspective and from a person who sees comedy as an art form, rather than just funny business.

The chapters cover the whole process from “Where do jokes come from?” and “Comedy ground rules” to “Unlocking your creativity” and “stagecraft”. There is even advice for those comedians who move on from doing open-spots and want to go to Edinburgh, or get an agent.

Despite covering a huge amount of content in the book there are some sections that I feel were lacking, for example I wanted to know more about the rant joke form, how to generate it, and what are the comedy boundaries, but these weren’t covered. This is only a minor gripe as the main purpose of the book is to give you guidelines as to how to be a “proper stand-up”.

One of the strengths of the book is the large number of group and solo exercises covering everything from writing jokes, feeling comfortable on stage, to dealing with the inevitable hecklers. The fact that group exercises are included hint at the fact that you really do need to do more than just read this book to learn the art.

Will it work, will it make a stand-up virgin into a confident performer? It all depends on the person, but everything contained in the book will not only give that person a chance, but also let them know if they just don’t have the skills.

Recommended.