Comedy Techniques

Improv(e) Your Conversations teaches the ingenious rules of improv comedy that allow performers to turn boring prompts into memorable interactions worthy of standing ovations. This means there are real frameworks and templates to escape interview mode small talk – and start connecting and building rapport from the moment you say “Hello”. This book goes through over 15 of the most helpful and insightful improv comedy techniques with countless real-life examples to make you a great talker.

Does your mind blank in conversation and create awkward silence? Do you run out of things to say and struggle to keep dialogue flowing? (A) Conversation isn't scripted, (B) it's 100% unpredictable, and (C) it can be terrifying at times. How do you prepare for such a thing? By learning how to apply improv comedy techniques to roll with any punch and improve your conversations and social interactions.

Improve Your Conversations teaches you how to use the ingenious framework from improv comedy and apply it directly to your everyday social interactions and conversations...and can't we learn something from the greatest improv comedians in the world, like Tina Fey and Will Ferrell? Improv comedy and memorable conversations have almost everything in common, from their premise to what makes them great to their end goals.

While other books give you tips on how to “write funny,” this book offers a paradigm shift in understanding the mechanics and art of comedy and the proven, practical tools that help writers translate that understanding into successful commercial scripts. The Hidden Tools of Comedy unlocks the unique secrets and techniques of writing comedy. Kaplan deconstructs sequences in popular films and TV that work and don’t work and explains what tools were used (or should have been used).

Whether you’re looking for tips on how to make your friends laugh or trying to become a paid comedian, How To Be Funny has something for everyone. This book is packed with funny anecdotes and expert advice to help you take your sense of humor from okay to outstanding!

The Grim, the post-mortem chaperone who collected me, is the crankiest Death in the greater Kansas City area. Understandable, since her job is to bag the souls of the worthless and rotten. Apparently I'm so crummy they made me her apprentice. There are so many other kinds of Death, and of all of them, I get lassoed to Miss Buzzkill, who loves to remind me I'm hers with her big green gargoyle finger, pointing and giving me her spooky come-hither. As the Grim's new involuntary Lackey, some of the rules are easy.