Screenwriting : Screenwriting books (or other resources) for writing comedy by Greg Wong

Greg Wong I don't write comedy but I did want to add comedic scenes to some of my work so I took a MasterClass from Steve Martin. If anything, it was inspiring.

Leonardo Ramirez The Steve Martin, as in Roxanne, The Jerk, LA Story etc? Wow if so!

Steve Martin is also an expert banjo player. Music and comedy, wow. Love that Master Class.

Greg Wong The same. And Michelle Howe is right...he's an amazing banjo player!

Wow, does he still run these? I'm in London, so the chances of being able to attend one are pretty slim in any case!

Michelle Howe Do you write comedy? Any resources/books you could recommend?

Greg, I like to listen to comedy albums...and most of what I listen to is by comics such as Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman, George Carlin, Jackie Mason, Jerry Clower, Flip Wilson, Mort Sahl, Moms Mabley, Redd Foxx, Justin Wilson, Dick Gregory, the Smothers Brothers, Lily Tomlin, and Jonathan Winters.

It's mainly from the 1950s to the 1990s...but it's a start.

Glad you posted this...and here's wishing you all the VERY BEST (especially in your own comedy endeavors)!

Greg Wong Hey Greg - these are online. Just search for "MasterClass". Also, check with Sydney at edu@stage32.com. She should be able to help with suggestions.

Steve Martin's masterclass is great!

Greg Wong, I'll toss in one book that breaks down comedy characters and how to blend them into a story. It's called, The Eight Characters Of Comedy by Scott Sedita.

Id also strongly suggest Steve Kaplan's books on Writing Comedy!!

Danny Manus thanks, so far, that’s the only book I’ve managed to find. I just ordered that yesterday

I would totally check out saved by the cat by Blake Synder! A total life saver and very informative step to step guide through the world of screenwriting for someone who was throw into the wolves by it!!! It’s on Amazon for 12 dollars! Definitely check it out!

Dan MaxXx Thanks, very interesting! Mostly British writers I would guess.

Ty Strange Thanks, just ordered one.

Natí Feliciano-Soto One of the first 10 books I bought when I started writing. It's not particularly comedy oriented but certainly helped my drama writing.

I just googled Masterclass, it all makes sense now. The BBC have been running a similar education platform called Maestro, watched a few of those from Lee Child to Alan Moore. It's not as well developed as Masterclass. I'll give them a go. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

Hi Greg Wong, I am taking Corey Mandel's course from his website that he just released to video this month. He has several exercises to make a writer better. One of the things that I have picked up on that never been taught anywhere effectively (until now) is authentic/organic characters and thier motivations. Corey's class is very real for the moment.

I loved "And Here's the Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft", not 100%. focused on screenplays but it's full of great conversations.

Also enjoyed "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!"

Paul Rivers I didn't know about Corey Mandell,. That Lesley Paterson is one of his students is awesome. Her All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the most complete, well structured and incredibly paced movies I have seen for a long time. Only recently, amongst the short film I was part of, were we discussing the bookend imagery of that film.

Hey Greg Wong! One of the best tips I ever got for writing comedy was to watch late night show monologues, and whenever the host delivers the set up, pause the video and write down five versions of what the punch line could be. They could be variations of the same one or completely different, but this way you get the cadence or writing jokes. And then for writing comedy narratives, it's the same as writing drama, but you're making the situations and reactions funny. The right "reaction" from a characters lets the audience know if they're supposed to laugh or not. But by looking at it this way, you can take a look at all the same books on structure and storytelling as anyone else because they're following many of the same patterns. I would ALSO recommend checking out Stage 32 Education because there are some amazing classes and labs on comedy writing

Hi Greg Wong a couple of tools that have helped me writing comedy is identifying my audience's boundaries like a stand up comic does.

These tools gives us storytellers an opportunity to get and be outrageous.

One opener that works 90+% of the time is play on what your intended audience already accepts. Use your audiences' presumed stereotypes, bias, and prejudices in your favor. Keep the comment intellectual, the audience will feel uncomfortable and they will laugh at themselves.

If what I am writing is beyond the limits of what my intended will expect, tolerate, or anticipate, then I will need to have my character tell a self-depreciating joke about themselves that is well below the expectations, tolerance or anticipation of the audience.

if my intended audience laughs, this opens up almost all your intended audiences boundaries and inserts your Character in command of the situation. Almost every topic your character reveals about themselves is now open for a full on belly bursting laughs but test it first, but there are few exceptions that can fail big time.

Good Luck Greg.