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Books : Music, Stage & Screen : Performing Arts : Comedy & Stand-up
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As far back as he can remember James Corden has only ever wanted to be in one place: in front of you, doing something to make you cry, shout, scream or giggle uncontrollably; whether it's entertaining the congregation at his baby sister's christening at the age of four, clowning around in class, or snogging Sue Barker in front of thousands of people at Sports Relief.But it wasn't that easy getting there. Growing up, his dad would drive him up and down to London for auditions, sometimes three or four times a week, only to be met with constant knockbacks. Even the teenage distractions of girls, forming his own pop group, attempted (and failed) shoplifting, or the endless detentions he'd get from exasperated teachers didn't put him off. He knew where he wanted to be and he'd keep on trying until he got there.May I Have Your Attention Please? Is the story of how it all happened. From his time as one of the founding players of his school's first ever rugby team to nationwide fame as the loveably loud Smithy in the award-winning Gavin and Stacey, this is a tenderly - and very funnily - told story of what it's like to try, try and try again and get there in the end.
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Brace yourself, Frankie’s back, and he’s more outspoken and brilliantly inappropriate than ever.
There are fears that this year could see the start of a double-dip recession, or worse still a double-dip-with-misery-sprinkles and f**k-where’s-my-job?-sauce. Why not chuckle into the howling void as taloned fingers reach up to consume you with Frankie Boyle’s new book, Work! Consume! Die!
In Work! Consume! Die! stand-up comedy's favourite pessimist, Frankie Boyle, offers his outrageous, laugh-out-loud, cynical rant on life as he knows it. He describes your reality as viewed through a bloodshot eye pressed against a shit-smeared telescope, focused on hell:
• ‘Charlie Sheen’s life consists of going on huge drug benders with groups of porn stars. If he straightened himself out he could have a really mediocre career as a bit-part Hollywood actor. Playing the role of Martin Sheen’s corpse. He’s crazy like a fox! And also actually crazy. What a tragic waste, not being Charlie Sheen is. How majestic it will be for him to die, possibly quite soon, knowing that when they make a movie of his life, it will be a porno.’
• ‘The X Factor will be allowed to show product placements. That’s powerful advertising. Last series I realised that looking at the judges alone had made me subconsciously buy a gnome, a scrag-end of mutton, a vacuous mannequin and a suspected gay.’
• ‘The Taliban are running out of bullets. Operation ‘Get our troops to absorb them with their bodies’ is finally paying off. The Taliban are finding it impossible to get hold of essential supplies – at last we’re fighting on equal terms. But let’s not get complacent. Just because they’re running out of bullets we mustn’t assume our boys won’t get shot. Remember, the US troops have still got plenty.’
A no-holds-barred tour de force of comic writing, Work! Consume! Die! is Frankie Boyle at his brutal, taboo-busting best. This is nothing more or less than the clanging call to arms of a dying mechanical God.
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Absolutely histerically funny! Original Island Records 1976, all 13 sketches remastered.
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Only Fools and Horses - The Official Inside Story takes us behind the scenes to reveal the secrets of the hit show and is fully authorised by the family of John Sullivan, the show's creator and writer.
The book is based on dozens of one-to-one interviews conducted by author Steve Clark with the show's stars including Sir David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst and key members of the production team. It also contains material from the BBC archives and reveals how the show was rejected when it was first offered to the BBC, how David Jason nearly missed out on the starring role and the tragedy of the death of one of its stars during filming.
Steve Clark was the only author on set for the filming of Only Fools and Horses, spin-off The Green Green Grass and prequel Rock & Chips and his book gives a fascinating and unique insight into this legendary series. Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis a long-time fan of the series - has written a foreword to the book, which also includes rare photographs and other exclusive material.
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How to write Comedy Characters is a guide to the professional practices needed to set up a television sitcom or sketch show written by a commissioned sitcom writer. Using personal stories from the industry, entertaining and insightful techniques as well as exercises, a range of case studies and helpful examples this book will assist you in...
- finding inspiration for amazing comedy characters.
- adding layers and dimension to your characters as well as giving them longevity.
- setting up your characters to produce jokes with minimal effort.
- using various exercises to help you to get to know your characters at an intimate level.
- beating writer's block and the need for redrafting by ensuring that you make the right choices before you put pen to paper.
Writing jokes is a serious business. Producers and commissioners looking for the next big thing are easily put off by characters that feel inconsistent or unremarkable. By putting in the effort in character construction early on you will put yourself miles ahead of the competition and get your script noticed. This book will give you the know how. Paul has over ten years experience in writing and is now sharing his secrets gained from his time as a commissioned sitcom writer. His methods are fun, engaging, often challenging and written with passion and expertise.
“What Paul did for my writing and comedy characters has been amazing. His industry experience has given me a step by step recipe for creating amazing comedic characters. After taking his course and using his development services I was able to take my ideas, which existed as notes on paper, and turn them into a script and then a filmed pilot sketch show. Absolutely no chance this could have been done without Paul’s one to one mentoring and advice.”
Ryan McCrostie, London
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An exploration of the principles and practice of physical comedy by a leading practitioner and teacher. This work contains hundreds of games and exercises useful to teachers and performers.
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Toby in London and Paris, and by the Greek sea.
Part of the Toby series; includes "Attack of the Giant Feminists" and "The Fat Girls Contest."
Sophisticated humor in three novella-length adventures of tutor / tour guide / gigolo Toby Tucker (wherein Toby moons the Queen), featuring characters from Foreign Matter, Total Moisture and The Cad.
"This was the most hilarious book I have ever read. I laughed out loud again and again. I kept thinking this is the craziest book I have ever read and why I am reading it and then I would hit another part that had me laughing some more. I was kind of sad when I finished it."—Pat Thompson, customer review of Foreign Matter (Goodreads)
"I could easily recommend FOREIGN MATTER for its laugh-out-loud plot, characters, and dialogue, but MacLean's true mastery lies simply in his love of language and his endlessly inventive and amusing turns of phrase...MacLean also knows how to present physical comedy sequences that are on par with the best of Chaplin and Keaton."—jon zelazny, customer review
From the editorial reviews of Foreign Matter:
The West Coast Review of Books:
Unlike so many humorous novels of today that are either bitter and biting or so outrageously silly that it leaves the reader feeling empty, this one’s truly a very, very funny book…Robert MacLean writes as a true humorist with witty observations and illuminations that wrap themselves warmly around the funny bone. Yet he is not above writing a hilarious slapstick when the need arises. MacLean’s observations on such everyday matters as flying, sleeping, eating and life in general are alone worth the price of the book. However, the addition of a wild and unpredictable plot with characters so wonderfully rich and eccentric, makes the book even more of a joy.
Kirkus Reviews:
The high jinks of a loveable ne’er-do-well expatriate—in an often very funny novel in the style of P.G. Wodehouse or Kingsly Amis. Toby Tucker is an amiable, quite lazy young man in his late 30’s who has left New York with numerous collection agents on his tail: “Most of them couldn’t make it as thugs, and they’re bitter about it.” An energetic comedy of errors…fighting his way through blinding hangovers to somehow blunder through victoriously—but he’s enormously enjoyable while he’s at it.
Publishers Weekly:
Toby Tucker is the feckless, likeable hero of this comic tale of modern undirected life. After supporting himself in Europe as a tour guide, Toby takes up with Marcie, a young American widow whose allowance from Hazelton Harding, her wealthy father-in-law, guarantees a lifestyle Toby is sure he was born for. When Haze threatens to cut off Marcie so she’ll move back to the States with her daughter—a precocious youngster Toby warily refers to as “the child”—Toby alternately falls and steps into a plot to reestablish the status quo…a happy ending for nearly every one of the vivid characters who cavort across the pages of this fresh and spirited first novel.
Books in Canada:
Engaging and stylishly written. A happy self-indulgent fugitive from the “it-isn’t-doing-you-any-good-unless it hurts society”…The characters are drawn well, the locations (Greece) are convincingly detailed, the prose is witty and polished. As light entertainment, the book is a complete success; this is the funniest first novel I’ve read so far.
Montreal Gazette:
An unapologetic, unpretentious romp...Foreign Matter works because of MacLean’s ability to build an internal comic logic into even the most preposterous episodes. Toby is irrepressible and irredeemable, a delightfully comic creation whose most exasperating quality is also his most endearing: the more we get to know him, the less we expect from him.
Ebook design by 52 Novels
Cover by Peter Ratcliffe
The cover shows a detail from The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens
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Three short comedy stories for you to enjoy, each of them very different.
Starting with Lock Up Your Females, hapless Albert thinks he has become a stud of some standing after gaining high seduction skill qualifications through an internet course. Unfortunately the course did not carry any teachings on the difference between fantasy and reality. Once you have been introduced to Albert; you will never forget him.
You Don't Know Half Of It is the second story, which as the title suggests may very well surprise you. What do you think couples who have been living together a long time get up to once they close their curtains at night? Their children have left home so perhaps they fall asleep reading the papers or watching T.V.? Not this couple, for Randy and Henrietta it is time to further their education. They soon discover things they were never taught at school, and that the practical side of it can be most enjoyable.
Backstage completes the trio of stories, and there is quite a bit of truth in this tale. Young budding stars of stage are given contracts for the pantomime season. Hopefully it will lead to bigger things, but they take what they can, when they can. This is a humorous insight into the roles of the bit players, who are always there with the scenery at the back of the stage.
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How To Write Jokes for Fun & Profit This comprehensive joke writing masterclass has been devised for beginners and experienced joke writers alike. The techniques you will learn can be used again and again to write funny and original material for: Stand-up comedy; Speeches; Political satire; Monologues; TV, Stage & radio; Witty articles & blogs; Comedy sketches; Sitcom scripts; Cartoons & Comic-Strips; Business Presentations. You hold in your hands the key to unlocking your inner comedy genius. When you read this book you will discover... * Simple yet powerful ways to write hilarious material on any subject * Insider tricks professionals use to get going and keep going * Where jokes really come from and why this makes writing easier * Techniques for creating simple puns and wordplay for laughs * How to tap into a continuous stream of comedy consciousness * Creative tools such as Joke-Webbing and the Hadron Joke Collider * How to mine newspapers and headlines for topical comedy gold * Ways to take jokes in weird and wonderful directions with surrealism * How to hone your jokes to maximise laughs and minimise memorisation If you want to write comedy of any kind this book is for you...
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FEATURES
• Includes beautiful artworks and illustrations
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Check out ngims Publishing's other illustrated literary classics. The vast majority of our books have original illustrations, free audiobook download link at the end of the book, navigable Table of Contents, and are fully formatted. Browse our library collection by typing in ngims or ngims plus the title you're looking for, e.g. ngims Gulliver's Travels.
Free ebooks on the web are not organized for easy reading, littered with text errors and often have missing contents. You will not find another beautifully formatted classic literature ebook that is well-designed with amazing artworks and illustrations and a link to download free audiobook for a very low price like this one. The nominal price of this ebook covers the time and effort in formatting the materials and putting everything together in one place for your convenience. As a reader, you would want everything readily available at your fingertips because you many not have the time, interest or know where to look for your favorite book.
The Importance of being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, the play is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, father of Lord Alfred Douglas, an intimate friend of Wilde, planned to present Wilde a bouquet of spoiling vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Soon afterwards the feud came to a climax in court, and Wilde's new notoriety caused the play, despite its success, to be closed after just 86 performances. After imprisonment, he published the play from Paris but wrote no further comic or dramatic work. The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere and adapted for the cinema on three occasions, in 1952, 1992 and 2002. (Wikipedia)
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Hundreds of fantastically funny jokes, plain and ribald … culled from a joke-bank that has taken half a lifetime to assemble. The Best Joke Book includes one-liners such as “Employers can avoid hiring unlucky people by tossing half the CVs they get into the bin” and “Bisexuality is the way to go – it doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night”. However, most of the jokes are quarter to half a page long and are ideal as attention grabbers in a pub or late night soiree.
But a word of caution is necessary: some of these jokes are extremely funny and you could be knocked out just by reading them … remember, though, if you wake up breathing, you’ll have been given another chance.
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By the author of Diary of a Teenage Serial Killer.----------------------------------------------------------Possibly the moment when I was standing in my serial killer evil twin's murder house in the middle of the afternoon in my pink Victoria's Secret bra -- just possibly -- that was the low point of my life up to that moment. Of course, the day was still young.The newspapers call him the Blue Valley Killer. I call him my own personal nightmare.
He takes his victims right under our noses, blinking them out of existence as they're walking down the sidewalk or getting the mail. Then they're found dead a couple of weeks later. He doesn't kill them right away. Sick bastard. He's killed four girls in the last 18 months: two college co-eds and two high-school students. He just keeps coming back for more.
At 17 and living in the center of the Valley, I'm smack dab in the middle of this psycho's demographic.
At this point, it's hard to believe he can snag another victim. Every girl I know between the ages of 12 and 20 goes nowhere without at least three friends and a six-pack of mace. Every parent in four counties has their daughters on 24/7 lockdown.
Even the college campuses -- of which there are two in the dead zone -- a
UK NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING COMEDY NOVEL
"Actually had me crying with laughter at certain points, well written and the plot just keeps unravelling. A fantastic read all round, Highly recommend!!!!"
"This is truly the best book I have read in ages. It is not for children but has a great ( and sinister) story line. The black homour had me rolling with laughter in places. Read the book in a day; it was that compelling."
'Bloodwrath' is a very black, modern-day comedy thriller in which the principal character finds that ‘slaying’ is much harder and far messier than expected when he uses a decorative sword to kill a burglar. Then another burglar. Then a drug-dealer...
Blackmailed into further gruesome slayings, things get more complicated - and funnier.
'Bloodwrath' is not a ‘who-done-it’ (Roger did it); it is NOT set in Scandinavia (so all the names can be read ) and has no moral message at all. It is just for fun.
Set in modern-day Chard, England, this story contains some rather gruesome scenes and 54 instances of the ‘f’ word but nothing worse and definitely no ‘rude stuff’ to slow the plot. Not for small children.
Chris Lane's style has been compared to Terry Pratchett (without the wizards) or Tom Sharpe (with more blood). He is best known as the writer of award-winning comedy drama, in constant production on stages all over the world.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON: 'Swipers' - a Cotswold village is waiting to greet a new family. Big mistake!
A very funny book giving a modern twist to the great British comic novel. Mild 'rude' words and humour but nothing too strong and no nasty violence, but not suitable for small children, so it is also available in a Junior Version: 'The Swipers'.
‘Bloodwrath 2’ is already being written (and that IS going to be violent)
Features the essential information every would-be teleplay writer needs to know to break into the business, including: examples from contemporary shows such as '30 Rock', 'The Office and South Park'; shifts in how modern stories are structured; how to recognize changes in taste and censorship; and, the reality of reality television.
