Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay

by Andrew Horton

Whoever wrote "Make 'em laugh!" knew that it's easier said than done. But people love to laugh, and good comedy will always sell. With the help of this complete and entertaining guide, writers and would-be writers for film and television can look forward to writing comedy that goes far beyond stereotypic jokes and characters. In Laughing Out Loud , award-winning screenwriter and author Andrew Horton blends history, theory, and analysis of comedy with invaluable advice.

Using examples from Chaplin to Seinfeld, Aristophanes to Woody Allen, Horton describes comedy as a perspective rather than merely as a genre and then goes on to identify the essential elements of comedy. His lively overview of comedy's history traces its two main branches―anarchistic comedy and romantic comedy―from ancient Greece through contemporary Hollywood, by way of commedia dell'arte, vaudeville, and silent movies. Television and international cinema are included in Horton's analysis, which leads into an up-close review of the comedy chemistry in a number of specific films and television shows.

The rest of the book is a practical guide to writing feature comedy and episodic TV comedy, complete with schedules and exercises designed to unblock any writer's comic potential. The appendices offer tips on networking, marketing, and even producing comedies, and are followed by a list of recommended comedies and a bibliography.

Genres: Writing, Comedy

230 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 1999

Reviews

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the beginning chapters which give a theoretical overview and history of comedy, and those are precisely the chapters that people looking for a "how to" book would probably find least interesting. Another plus is that Horton looks beyond the US to comedy films from Europe, and the bits about Czech and Yugoslavian cinema are great... but he seems to be missing the huge film industries of Mumbai and Hong Kong and also his African films are South African when there's fantastic comedy coming out of Nigeria. Horton's heart is with the more subversive comedies and his references to off-beat quasi-documentaries are terrific, but jamming everything into either "anarchistic" or "romantic" comedies gets monotonous. As the film and television analyses wore on, and then the last few chapters which are just the assignments sections from university courses he taught... precisely the bits that people looking for a "how to" book would find most interesting... I got more and more bored. I won't be doing his writing exercises or prompts. The appendices: lists of movies and TV shows to watch are cool, and apropos of nothing there's the menu from the big dinner in Big Night. All in all, it's a kooky read, but for every refreshingly kooky aspect, there's an obnoxiously kooky aspect. Obnoxiously kooky can work wonderfully in a film but it didn't work for me in this book.

[Brian Misakian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a boring read. It was 30% screenwriting help and 70% history lesson. It should really market itself as a book on the history of comedy entertainment (and now go write your own comedy, kids!). The screenwriting part was pretty helpful (and good enough for me to give this book two more stars than it deserves), but it still doesn't make up for the fact that I wasted my time reading the rest of it.

[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I wish to make the most comfortable member of the cinema audience feel that he is not living in the best of all possible worlds." - Luis Bunuel

[Jeffrey Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for school. It's not a bad book on writing comedy screenplays. I wouldn't just pick this up to learn comedy though. I think it's more of a textbook than a how-to.

[Inky]

This was a school book I read a few months ago but I forgot to include. I forget the actual date I read it so I'm just putting in today's date.