The single best way to get better at stand-up comedy is by getting on stage and performing – and the second best way is by watching or listening to other people do stand-up. But there’s much more to the craft than that. Learning how to write jokes, how to build your persona, how to practice, and all about why people laugh can help you add direction to your sets and mature into a more knowledgeable and skilled comic. On top of that, learning the history of art as well as some more esoteric stuff about joke theory can give you the edge over the other two-dozen people ahead of you in line at the open mic.
As a comedian who also writes a lot about comedy, I’ve read big piles of stuff by comedians, about comedians, and about how to become a comedian. Here are my very best picks – the books I return to over and over again, and the books that helped me understand everything I know about jokes and joking.
‘The Serious Guide To Joke Writing’ By Sally Holloway
Let’s start off with a book that’s extremely great for beginner joke writers and that’s also filled with lots of good exercises that you can do even when you have a much bigger tool box and much more experience: The Serious Guide To Joke Writing by Sally Holloway. Holloway doesn’t just have experience as a stand-up, she has also taught comedy in a classroom for years, which sets her book apart from a lot of the other instructional texts.
In addition to having an extremely practical chapter on how to write timely/current event jokes based off of specific newspaper articles, as well as the best section I know of that explains surreal comedy writing, it also contains information about the Hadron Joke Collider, one of the most useful brainstorming exercises I’ve come across – and one I still use regularly when punching up jokes.
‘Truth In Comedy’ By Charna Halpern, Del Close, and Kim “Howard” Johnson
Long known as the bible for improvisors, stand-up comedians should also have a dog-eared copy of Truth in Comedy on their shelf, even if they’ve never uttered “Yes, and…” in their lives. Why? Improvising is a vital skill for stand-ups. It not only allows you to improve your jokes on stage, in the moment, but it also makes you more real and believable to the audience. And it helps you in the common case of something odd happening during your set (like hecklers) or if you want to wade into crowd work. On top of all that: it has some really great, timeless lessons about comedy in it, from the rule of threes, to the difference between a situation and a joke, to how to get laughs just through character.
‘The Comedy Bible’ By Judy Carter
You might think it’s pretentious to call something the Comedy Bible, but Judy Carter’s tome is so thorough and step-by-step that it’s totally warranted. I love how she takes you day-by day through writing your first stand-up set as well as through writing spec script. And it’s filled with tidbits of advice from famed comics, super-practical exercises, and simple checklists.
The book also has mountains of information about the business of comedy, including how to land gigs, how to brand and market yourself, and how to get paid for your jokes at the end of the day. God bless this practical, no-frills guide.
‘And Here’s The Kicker’ By Mike Sacks
If you want to learn comedy from the best, one of the smartest places to start is with And Here’s The Kicker by Mike Sacks, which is a collection of 21 in-depth interviews with some of the best living humor writers around, from Dave Barry to Allison Silverman, to Jack Handey. These interviews are filled with delightful anecdotes that will thrill anyone interested in comedy history, but at the same time they dive deep into matters of craft, from famous comedians’ writing processes, to what some of our greatest minds think laughter is all about.
If you like this book, you’ll also certainly like Sacks’ sequel, Poking a Dead Frog, in which he interviews another boatload of other comedy writers. Seriously, get your highlighter out.
‘Born Standing Up’ By Steve Martin
Every stand-up comic should read a good stand-up comedy memoir, and perhaps the best one out there is Born Standing Up, by comedy legend Steve Martin. Even if you’re not a fan of his style of humor, the story of his journey, and his insights into performance and persistence, are worth the read.
Like, how real is this?
“My most persistent memory of stand – up is of my mouth being in the present and my mind being in the future: the mouth speaking the line, the body delivering the gesture, while the mind looks back, observing, analyzing, judging, worrying, and then deciding when and what to say next. Enjoyment while performing was rare – enjoyment would have been an indulgent loss of focus that comedy cannot afford.”
And, if you like Steve Martin and his comedy, you should also own his weird classic, Cruel Shoes.
‘Bossypants’ By Tina Fey
The other required memoir for comedy writers is Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which follows the 30 Rock comedian from her childhood to her head writing role at SNL. One of the things that makes the book so great is that it’s about comedy, but it also contains a huge number of jokes, too, so you can learn about comedy life while also watching one of our best living comedians at work.
It also has great advice for women in comedy who are facing barriers as they make their way up the ladder. Here’s just a tidbit:
“So, my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism, or ageism, or lookism, or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: ‘Is this person in between me and what I want to do?’ If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you’re in charge, don’t hire the people who were jerky to you.”
‘The Code Of The Woosters’ By PG Wodehouse
Stand-ups shouldn’t just read about stand-up comedy. Comic novels can help you learn tons about joke writing, character, comedic situations, and pacing. One of the best writers to learn from is P.G. Wodehouse, who wrote the timeless series about Wooster and his very patient valet Jeeves. All of the books in the series are extremely funny and fun and fast-moving, but my favorite is The Code of the Woosters. Reading any of the books can help you get into the right mood and mindset to write your own original material. At the very worst, even if you don’t get inspired, you get to take in humor from one of the all-time greats.
‘How To Write Funny’ By Scott Dikkers
Written by one of the founding editors of The Onion, this slim volume contains a really solid foundation for how to structure a joke and what makes funny things funny. Unlike a lot of other comedy manuals, How To Write Funny has no fat or filler: Scott Dikkers gets right to the point and then moves to the next one. At the heart of the book are the eleven “funny filters” – the main ways that jokes are funny, from wordplay to hyperbole to parody. It’s essential knowledge.
If you liked this pick, be sure to read the sequel, How To Write Funnier, which goes into more depth.
‘Impro: Improvisation And The Theater’ By Keith Johnstone
Impro is the other book about improvisation that I think is also extremely useful for stand-ups. Again, there are large parts of the book that speak directly to theater work, like the section on masks, but those are easily skipped so that you can focus on the super-important information it has about status and spontaneity. If one of your problems is not being able to be loose on stage or stray from your scripted jokes, this read is a good place to start to fix that issue. If you want to dip your toe into crowd work, or less structured sets, or getting that heckler to shut up, this has some great pointers and ideas.
‘Hysterical’ By Linda Mizejewski and Victoria Sturtevant
Do you really need a super academic text about women in comedy that’s almost 500 pages long? Yes, you probably do. Yep, even if you’re a dude. Maybe especially if you’re a dude.
With chapter titles like, “Whoopi Goldberg in Hollywood: Queering Comic Genre Genealogies” and “Ellen DeGeneres’ Incorporate Body: The Politics of Authenticity,” you might feel like you’re taking a college class, but the lessons and history contained within Hysterical will make you a better, smarter, more aware comedian. And if you’re a male comedian with little interest in exploring women’s comedy, consider that half of your audience is female, as well as a rapidly growing number of your bookers, promoters, collaborators, and co-workers.
‘Thank You For Coming To Hattiesburg’ By Todd Barry
Like many of the books on this list, Thank You For Coming To Hattiesburg serves a duel purpose: it contains tons of sharp comedic writing by king of sarcasm Todd Barry, and it also paints a super-realistic picture of what it’s like to be a full-time touring comedian (the answer: it’s not exactly like being in a rock band).
Barry is extremely likable, even when complaining, and his stories from his extensive tours are filled with tips on how to handle shows, travel, and keep your spirits up night after night. You’ll learn valuable information about booking gigs, finding a place to stay, and getting paid, all while getting to laugh at him describing road meals and bombs.
‘The Comic Toolbox’ By John Vorhaus
Written by television writer John Vorhaus, The Comic Toolbox is angled toward writing stories and scripts, not stand-up comedy. But it still contains dozens of pearls of wisdom that can easily translate to the stool and stage. Think about your bits as story or scenes (you’ll be surprised by how often that’s really what they are) and almost all of the content is both applicable and helpful.
The book is also filled with examples of comic situations and storylines from movies, so it’s a treasure trove of film recommendations that can help you learn even more about humor.
‘The Joke And Its Relation To The Unconscious’ By Sigmund Freud
Many of these book delve into that big question: why do we joke and laugh? Sigmund Freud thought a lot about it, and decided that it’s because joking allows us to talk about our unconscious desires in ways that we normally can’t. The Joke And Its Relation To The Unconscious ends up being a lot like his dream analysis, except with jokes (many of which, honestly, are a little baffling, maybe due to translation issues).
No, this isn’t the best theory on jokes out there, or the most clearly and succinctly explained. But it’s super interesting and different, an it’s an important slice of joke theory history.
‘The Stench Of Honolulu’ By Jack Handey
Former SNL writer Jack Handey is one of the best joke writers who ever lived, and his only novel, The Stench of Honolulu, is dense with one-liners, callbacks, and runs. I love to read a few random pages of this book before I get down to my own writing, since Handey’s timing and pacing and voice is so inspiring and strong. Another exercise I do with the book? Sitting down and typing out a page of it word for word. I swear it works to teach you joke structure!
I also have every other book that Handey has written in my library. The other must-have is What I’d Say To The Martians.
‘Shrill’ By Lindy West
Shrill is best known as a super-popular comedy series on Hulu these days, but it all started as a book of essays by writer and comedian Lindy West. While it covers a ton of topics, three of the chapters, “Chuckletown, USA, Population: Jokes,” “Death Wish,” and “It’s About Free Speech, Not About Hating Women,” focus specifically on stand-up comedy, sexism, rape jokes, and shock comedy. They are, as far as I’m concerned, required reading for anyone who steps on stage, no matter their gender. Her main point about offensive comedy is too complex to cover in a short book review, but it’s extremely smart, thoughtful, and foolproof.
In addition, the book is super funny – and West can teach you a few things about humor writing by example on every page.
The television series, while fictionalized, is also hilarious.
‘Sick In The Head’ By Judd Apatow
From probably the most famous and successful comedy nerd out there comes a very big and long book of interviews with famous comedians: Sick In The Head. Like Mike Sacks’ books, they offer mountains of advice, ideas, and theories from the people we look up to most, intertwined with stories from their lives and careers. These interviews can be seriously inspiring in moments when you feel like giving up, and they can be hugely insightful if you’re stuck on a project or suffering from writer’s block.
Apatow also has another book called I Found This Funny, which is a super-diverse compilation of short pieces of humor that he’s liked over the years.
‘Mathematics And Humor’ By John Allen Paulos
This slim volume explores concepts about humor through math as well as how we can apply formulas to funny things. Filled with illustrations, graphs, and Venn diagrams, it’s a fascinating, weird read that touches on topics like unexpected incongruity, deduction, riddles, irony, paradoxes, and reversals. If you’re not a complete geek, you can skip this one, but if you’re interested in thinking about some of the more quantitative aspects of jokes and humor, you’ll appreciate what it has to say.
‘The Hidden Tools Of Comedy’ By Steve Kaplan
Like the Comic Toolbox, The Hidden Tools of Comedy focuses on story and script writing as opposed to stand-up comedy writing. But also like Toolbox, it contains tons of lessons about what makes things funny and how to develop those ideas into full-fledged narratives. Kaplan is a long-time teacher of comedy, and it shows in this book, which is structured well and filled with examples from real scripts. It can get a tiny bit repetitive at times, but as long as you’re comfortable skimming through fluff every now and then, it’s a worthwhile read and a resource that you’ll return to while you write.
‘We Killed: The Rise Of Women In American Comedy’ By Yael Kohen
We Killed is a 60-year oral history of women’s comedy, from stand-up to television. Why is it important for everyone of all genders to read? Because it clearly outlines the barriers and challenges that women have faced in comedy as well as covering how far we still have to go, and that’s important for all comics to thoroughly understand. Filled with amazing insights, fun trivia, and hundreds of great anecdotes, this is a lesson in history and feminism and comedy and work, all at once.
It also fills in a lot of the unfortunate holes that exist in The Comedians.
‘The Comedians’ By Kliph Nesteroff
The Comedians is a pretty straightforward history of comedy in the United States, from roughly 1900 on. In 350 pages, author Kliph Nesteroff takes us from Vaudeville to SNL, offering all of the biggest stories and events from the very best comedians. It’s a great overview of how comedy developed over the last hundred years, and a good map to see where we might go next. It’s not quite as engaging as the other comedy histories I listed, and at times it feels like a parade of straight white men (which… well, it often was, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cover other stuff). This is a great reference (it has a wonderful index) and a great way to discover notable comedians of the past that you might not be familiar with.
‘The Humor Code’ By Pete McGraw And Joel Warner
A big part of learning about humor is figuring out how to make people laugh. But to learn that, you should also look into what makes people laugh in the first place: why do we do it, and why do we like it?
To answer the question, we turn to Dr. Peter McGraw, who runs something called the Humor Research Lab, which is just as cool as it sounds. Teamed up with journalist Joel Warner, the pair embark on a journey to find out, through science, how humor works. The Humor Code is a light, fun, interesting read, and it offers insights that go beyond joke structure and status changes.