Be a Great Stand-Up: A Teach Yourself Guide


Book Description

Logan Murray's techniques of stand-up comedy distilled into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance Be a Great Stand-Up helps you do everything from finding your own creative streak, securing an agent, building the confidence you need, and dealing with hecklers.




Teach Yourself Stand-Up Comedy


Book Description

Don't get heckled! Take charge of the stage and make 'em laugh every time! Teach Yourself Stand-Up Comedy gives you advice on everything from securing an agent and scheduling gigs to dealing with props and hecklers. It is perfect for amateurs just starting in the business.




Get Started in Stand-Up Comedy


Book Description

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AND PERFORM STAND UP COMEDY. A new edition of Be A Great Stand-Up, now fully revised and updated with new material on setting up and running a comedy night and mining almost any subject for jokes. Logan Murray has successfully taught the techniques of stand-up comedy to thousands, and in this book he distills his years of experience into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance. He will help you find your creative streak and your funny side, build the confidence to deliver, and explain the finer details of stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. There is a full guide to the practicalities, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty of valuable hints, tips and advice. Drawing on Logan's years of teaching and his own successful stand-up career, with top tips from some of the most well-known people in the business, it is guaranteed to bring a smile to both your face and that of your future audience. As well as full updates throughout the book, this new edition contains fresh material on how to set up and run a comedy night, mine any subject for jokes and advice on festivals. ABOUT THE SERIES The Teach Yourself Creative Writing series helps aspiring authors tell their story. Covering a range of genres from science fiction and romantic novels, to illustrated children's books and comedy, this series is packed with advice, exercises and tips for unlocking creativity and improving your writing. And because we know how daunting the blank page can be, we set up the Just Write online community at tyjustwrite, for budding authors and successful writers to connect and share.




Be a Great Stand-up


Book Description

Logan Murray has successfully taught the techniques of stand-up comedy to thousands, and in this book he distills his years of experience into the essential skills for a great and enjoyable performance. He will help you find your own creative streak and your funny side, build the confidence to deliver, and explain the finer details of stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. There is a full guide to the practicalities, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty of valuable hints, tips and advice. Drawing on Logan's years of teaching and his own successful stand-up career, with top tips from some of the most well-known people in the business, it is guaranteed to bring a smile to both your face and that of your future audience. NOT GOT MUCH TIME? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. AUTHOR INSIGHTS Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. TEST YOURSELF Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGE Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of stand-up comedy. FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBER Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. TRY THIS Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.




The Tao of Comedy


Book Description

There are a lot of stand-up comedy books out there. This book is like none of them. It is about the Art of Comedy, the Zen of Comedy, the Tao of Comedy. It is comedy from the soul instead of the head. It is about Ego-less comedy. Don't Act. Be. You don't do standup comedy; it does you.




Teach Yourself to Sleep


Book Description

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR QUALITY SLEEP 'In her brilliant new book Mikhail delivers accessible science to help you take back control of your bedtime and your sleep' Psychologies Are you suffering from chronic insomnia, an erratic sleep pattern or do you simply feel that your sleep isn't as deep and restorative as it should be? Then struggle no more. Teach Yourself to Sleep is the new, sustainable solution that you have been waiting for. After decades of trying traditional methods to cure her poor sleep, the chance reading of a book by her great-great uncle, a pioneer in cognitive therapy and clinical hypnosis, led chronic insomniac Kate Mikhail to research the science of sleep and the mind-body loop, and develop the tried-and-tested methods that have finally enabled her to take control of her sleep and wake up feeling rested and energised. In Teach Yourself to Sleep, Kate shares her approach, blending first-person experience with accessible sleep science and interviews with leading doctors, scientists and academics, as well as highly effective sleep 'scripts' provided exclusively for this book by sleep experts. Teach Yourself to Sleep will help you to view sleep in a wider, deeper context by revealing that its quality is inseparably woven into the way you spend your day - not an add-on that comes out of nowhere as night descends. Considering sleep from every angle - from the role of biology-based self-talk in reinforcing better sleep habits, to fixing your sleep-wake cycle through the right balance of light and darkness, and when, what and how to eat for the best sleep possible - this book will help you to understand your sleep better and give you the tools to take control and finally begin to get the sleep you need.




Teach Yourself to Live


Book Description

Teach Yourself To Live is a self-help classic from a very distant age. Then, as now, the self-help world was dominated by energetic Americans preaching the secrets of limitless achievement. But from the off this delightfully dry, wise and pragmatic book offers something quite different - a sober, somewhat stern, but ultimately generous guide to living in a world blighted by modernity and taxes. Nostalgic, funny and charming, this book somewhat bad-temperedly insists the reader not get ideas above his or her station - yet it ends up delivering a bracing, empowering guide to knowing yourself and living well (despite it all). Oliver Burkeman called this book "a place of stability and solid ground amid the rushing omnibuses". Full of fascinating and unexpected revelations, Teach Yourself To Live flips self-help on its head and provides a marvellous insight into the way we used to feel about life and how to live it. Since 1938, millions of people have learned to do the things they love with Teach Yourself. Welcome to the how-to guides that changed the modern world.




Mastering Stand-Up


Book Description

Stephen Rosenfield, founder and director of the American Comedy Institute, the premier comedy school in the United States, has taught literally dozens of major standup comics in North America, and has also pioneered comedy as an academic discipline in many universities, a trend that is rapidly spreading. Mastering Stand-Up draws on Rosenfield's own extensive experience (and those of countless stars like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Rodney Dangerfield, Louis C.K., Steve Martin, Roseanne, and Johnny Carson) to show the reader—and would-be comic—what works, what doesn't, and why. Forty sharply written chapters cover every conceivable angle of the joke and how to tell it. There are a number of books on comedy and how to do it, but none has the breadth and authority Rosenfield brings to his theme. It's not for nothing that the New York Times has described him as "probably the best-known comedy teacher in the country." Rosenfield's book is sure to become the classic text on its subject. And it should help thousands who long to make others laugh to realize their fondest hopes.




Stand Up Comedy


Book Description

Fancy yourself as a comic but unsure where to start? This new guide to the art of stand-up comedy gives all the tools necessary for a great and enjoyable performance. It covers the history of humour and what makes us laugh, helps readers find their own creative streak and their funny side, builds the confidence to deliver, and offers plenty of practical advice on stagecraft, from dealing with hecklers to coping with props. It offers a full guide to the business side of your hobby, from finding gigs to securing an agent, with plenty of valuable hints, tips and advice. Authored by a comic with over 20 years' touring and performing experience, and with top tips from some of the most well known people in the business, it is guaranteed to bring a smile to both your face and that of your future audience.




Comedy Writing Secrets


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to writing, selling and performing all types of comedy. Includes comments, advice, gags and routines from top comics.