Table of Contents
1. Start At The Start
- Hello1
- Don't Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before5
- I Hope This Book Isn't The First Symptom Of A Brain Tumour8
- Fear Of Robots10
- Laughing Matters13
- What Is Comedy?14
2. Not Funny
- A Kick In The Balls17
- Plato's Ideal Cave Of Comedy18
- The Higgs-Boson Of Punchlines21
- A Joke By Any Other Name25
- Butterflies28
- Stand Up Would Be So Much Easier If I Could Just Tickle You29
- Sincerity32
- Monkeys Who Can't Find The Remote36
- Surprise!40
- The Alpha Comedian (read online) 43
- Thinking Inside The Box53
- Survival Of The Funniest59
- Two Plus Two Equals Funny66
- The Comedy Savant68
3. The Brain
- Let's All Just Agree It's Amazing72
- Making Up Your Mind74
- Patterns Of Behaviour75
- The Stars Of The Show77
- Plasticity82
- Survival Of The Connected87
- Quick Thinking91
- Memory94
- Colouring Outside The Lines97
- Speaking Generally About The Brain105
- Review107
4. Humour
- Goldilocks And The Three Jokes108
- Inside The Black Box116
- Sense Of Humour123
- Surprise! ... Again128
- It's Never The Same River Twice130
- Patterns Of Patterns Of Patterns Of...131
- I Don't Get It137
- But... Why?140
- Don't Stand So Close To Me145
- Gotta Get Me Some Of That148
- He Who Laughs Last153
- With Great Comedy Comes Great Responsibility155
- Our Brains Get Along Better Than We Do157
- Truthiness161
- Back Up A Sec163
- The Offensive Cart Before The Unfunny Horse167
- Fuck172
- Comedic Uranium177
- Giggling At Funerals180
- Roots184
- A Little More Than 5 Words189
5. Timing
- Are We There Yet?192
- Microtiming (read online) 193
- Mesotiming196
- Callbacks198
- Open Mikes And The Myth Of The Long Set Up201
- Always Leave Them Wanting More207
- Comedian Hell212
- Macrotiming216
- Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time217
- Timeless Jokes221
- Another Term For "Not Funny Anymore"225
- Zeitgeist (read online) 231
- And Now, The News239
6. The Comedian
- What Makes A Good Comedian?243
- The Perfect Comedian249
- Friend Funny Versus Stage Funny251
- Hack Humour253
- Two Types Of People Walk Into A Place And Say A Thing255
- What If Richard Pryor Was From The Suburbs?258
- Women265
- Zaniness271
- The Outsider274
- The Worst Comedian I Have Ever Seen276
- Irony281
- Cheesiness287
- You Can't Blame The Audience291
7. The Audience
- The Stepford Audience295
- Improv300
- You Can't Make Me Laugh304
- Please, Have Another Drink309
- Hecklers312
- The Rarely Seen Heckler In Japan318
- Five Minutes Of Grace321
- Eureka!326
- You Had To Be There328
8. Playing With The Idea
- The Perfect Joke331
- A Finite Number Of Jokes In The Universe?334
- A Computer That Can Be Programmed To Tell Jokes338
- Will Aliens Have A Sense Of Humour?341
- Would Comedy Exist In Utopia?345
- Making You Laugh... With Science!350
9. How To Be Funny
- The Bottom Line354
- Connoisseurs Of Comedy357
- Kings Of Comedy364
- How To Be Funny With Your Friends366
- How To Learn371
- Knowing What Works378
- It's All In The Delivery...?383
- New Audiences For Old Jokes385
- How To Be Good At Improv389
- Being Boring, Improv Style396
- The Comedian You Want To Be And The Comedian You Are400
- Comedians Need You More Than You Know405
- How To Be Funny412