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Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy

franklyn ajaye louie anderson richard belzer elayne boosler george carlin

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Designed for anyone who wants to build a stand-up comedy career, this book includes advice and information on all aspects of stand-up and also features a large section of interviews with a number of top comedians, including: Louie Anderson, Roseanne, George Wallace and Paul Reiser.

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1,2001

This edition

Format
280 pages, Paperback
Published
September 1, 2001 by Silman-James Press
ISBN
9781879505544
ASIN
1879505541
Language
English

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About the author

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franklyn ajaye

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Franklyn Ajaye is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He released a series of comedy albums starting in 1973 and has acted in film and television shows from the 1970s through the present, including as a primary character in the 1976 ensemble comedy Car Wash and a supporting role in Sam Peckinpah's Convoy (1978).

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 21 votes)
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21 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
calcraw
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Great perspective on he business and art of comedy from those that live it

This book was insightful and fun. As a collection of interviews, it is a good read since the variety of subjects acts as point and counterpoint. Rather than try to teach you comedy, the author illuminates this challenging subject with real insights from real people.
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Peevish
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Great read, another stripe for the learning tiger 8)

Great insight and interviews. Each one of these comedy books adds to the big picture of what I want to do with comedy.
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Willowtry
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Prose/Readability: 4
Commitment to Objective/Unbiased Truth: 3
Interesting Content: 5
Perspective Shift: 4
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Pwnerbrad
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Okay, I don't want to launch a career as a stand-up comic. Not hardly. But I've always been fascinated by the craft, and so far this book has been incredibly adept at laying bare the machinations of amazing routines I've long enjoyed and admired.
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Kashikikatoka
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Well written overview of the craft of stand-up comedy. FA maintains his objectivity throughout interviews with many of his heroes. Nice conversational tone makes this an enjoyable all the way around.
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Elle_D
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A pretty good book that has good bits and pieces as well as advice from comedians about stand-up comedy. Definitely worth a read if you're an aspiring comedian.
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OniNoYami
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I'm between "liked it" and "really liked it." This is inside stuff on the art of stand-up comedy and, as such, it's illuminating. The first fifty pages are Ajaye's views, organized and focused. The lion's share of the book consists of interviews conducted by Ajaye with 17 famous comedians (Jay Leno, Chris Rock, Jonathan Winters, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.) and 4 people who look for talent (agent, manager, club owner, etc.). Most of the interviews are about 8-10 pages. While there were minor differences in opinion among the comedians, most agree that a stand-up's performance needs to be honest, you should tape and analyze all your performances, and there should be transition between bits. Being yourself and filtering the humor through your point of view is perhaps more important than the jokes themselves. I recognized some similarities between a stand-up and a teacher. With most of the information coming in the form of interviews, there was some repetition, and some spontaneity at the expense of depth and organization. This is a fast but enjoyable and enlightening read (written in 2002).
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Ignatia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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We all have heard their routines, but I found it interesting to hear top comedians like Barr, Carlin, Jeni, Seinfeld and Shandling describe how they think about writing and performing standup. That stuff is timeless.

Also great to hear perspectives from club owners and agents, although that section may be a bit more dated in the Internet age. The book was published in 2002 but some of the interviews were done as early as 1987.

This is not at all a how-to book, but I liked the author's suggestion that aspiring comics deconstruct a few routines from their favourite performers to understand why we find them funny.
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