Show Me the Funny!: At the Writers' Table with Hollywood's Top Comedy Writers

by Peter Desberg, Jeffrey Davis

Enjoy a unique glimpse into the intelligent and quirky inner workings of the comedic mind! Show Me the Funny! presents 28 top comedy screenwriters from the revered figures of television's “Golden Age” to today's favorite movie jokesters. Authors Desberg and Davis put an innovative spin on the traditional each writer was given the same loosely structured comedic premise and asked to develop it in any way he or she wanted-no rules, no boundaries, no limits! The result is a hilarious and illuminating look at the comic process.

o Leonard Stern (co-creator of Get Smart ) o Sherwood Schwartz ( Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch ) o Peter Casey (co-creator of The Jeffersons, Cheers, Wings, Frasier ) o Phil Rosenthal (co-creator of Everybody Loves Raymond ) o Ed Decter (co-writer of There's Something About Mary ) o and many more!

Genres: Comedy, Writing, Nonfiction, Humor

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2010

Reviews

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that was not an easy read. I found myself having to force myself to read a bit more each time I picked it up. But like medicine, even though the taste was bad the outcome was that I feel I have a lot more insights into the script writing process. The idea of the book is interesting - give 20+ TV writing veterans the same premise and see what they come up with. It is a great idea because instead of just asking them how they write we get to see them in the midst of the creative process. So why was it so hard to read? Well, first and foremost - the premise they give the writers is so boring and cringe worthy it put me off. One writer spends his time just ripping into the interviewers saying how stupid the premise and the process is (he actually gave a great suggestion - just show the writers a photograph and ask them to come up with a premise from there - it would have left the starting point more open ended). Admittedly, from this horrid start the writers come up with some neat ideas and they are told they are free to discard and improve on the starting point however they wish. Second, I don't know most of the writers so the process lost its wow factor for that reason. I wish there had been some better known writers. I know in their field they are well known but not to me. Third, while I applaud the fresh interview approach I really only became interested when the writers gave general insights into writing, the writer's room and their creative approach...so maybe a more straightforward interview would have been better. I would have loved to read real stories about how they overcame script difficulties in the past. I think this book is a great book to read for aspiring writers...but from an enjoyment stand point and from the POV of someone who isn't planning on writing a sitcom it was only of a mild interest.

[Emily Koenig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great idea, hard to get through. I love reading about writing and I love sitcoms, but this didn't hold my attention. The premise is that they talk to around twenty hardcore awesome writers (from like, Frasier, The Cosby Show, etc.) and give them all the same basic premise for a pilot episode. Then they let the writers spitball about where they would take it from there, what kinds of questions they would try to answer to figure out the characters, etc. I thought it would be fascinating but I think the basic premise was SO basic and unappealing that I couldn't get very far through it. Mostly I was hoping to find some esteemed writer who would say "This premise is crap. I'd make a different show."

[Jeff Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a way you could skip the MFA in fiction and just read this book really carefully. It's a clever premise - the editors offer a bunch of Hollywood comedy writers a very basic (and kinda lame) premise for a show and then just ask them what they would do with it. The ensuing interviews are pretty surprising - some go with the lame presence (a spoiled and outrageous mom in her 50's moves in with her uptight daughter) and make it interesting, some throw out almost all of the premise just to focus on the strain they like, and one guy just gets angry at the editors for even offering up the lame premise in the first place. The biggest take home (and surprise) is to hear how deeply paid writers in Hollywood think about character and what "seems real" and not necessarily what works as a plot. Most all of them insist that plot comes out of interesting characters and the reality of how they might act in a given situation. It's fascinating to hear veterans who worked on the Cosby Show a few pages from the guy who wrote "Dinner With Schmucks" essentially focused on the same thing: make the characters interesting, make sure their actions feel consistent and "real," then (last) figure out the plot.
A really terrific read.
My only complaint is that eventually you get pretty sick of the premise, and might skip a few paragraphs to get to the philosophies and/or insider stories that the writers inevitably tell.
Jeff

[Zora · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the heels of reading another book about the craft of TV comedy writing, I looked at what else my library had on the topic, and they had this as an e-book. It is not exactly a craft book, but you learn a lot about the craft by reading it. It doesn't have many reviews here, and clearly some people hated it , but I'm in the other camp. I found this a page-turner.

Here's the setup: the authors take a bare-bones, clichéd sitcom premise to several well-known comedy writers, (including two teams) and asked them what they would do with it. And on the fly, these writers start verbally developing the character, the conflict, and changing it to make it their own. The authors of this book also ask a number of questions, such as "how do you feel about the writers' table" and "how did you get your start?"

They talk to fairly young writers and to older writers, including Leonard Stern, who died about a year after this book was published. You probably couldn't have gotten that information on his thought process any other way, and so this book will remain a peek into these writers' minds after they die off.

I got a pleasant nostalgia hit from the reference to He And She , which I loved as a kid, but haven't thought about for ages.

[Leila Cohan-Miccio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the conceit of this book (interviews with comedy writers during which they develop the premise for a TV show or movie), but the interviewers and their James Lipton levels of fawning really brought me down.

[Mark Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. The concept was good with all the writers having to create a film or sit-com from the same circumstances. During this we got to find out more about the writers themselves.

[S.A. Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very well written and funny. I would recommend it to anyone who want some good laughs and to be entertained.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing, I think the only way that you can understand how writers in any field, especially comedy perfect their craft, is to let them at it. Very good, of course I liked some ideas better than others but I'm hopeful that one of them actually make the sitcom at some point.

[Thurston · Rating 1 out of 5]

thought i was going to love it, couldn't get through 2 'interviews'