Best products from r/StandUpComedy

We found 27 comments on r/StandUpComedy discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 73 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/StandUpComedy:

u/comedyroutine · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

This question has a lot of complex parts to it. Mainly because we as a species don't know why exactly we laugh.


"Because something is funny."


Yeah, I get it. However, laughing in and of itself does not mean something is funny. There are different forms of laughter. Such as when tension from a scary situation occurs or maniacal laughter from an evil villain. These are some cases where laughter doesn't mean something is funny, but it still occurs. There are a few books written on the topic (my top two would be Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why by Scott Weems and Laughter: A Scientific Investigation by Robert R. Provine.)


Some have speculated that laughter is a very primitive sign that lets others around us know that every is all clear. Which makes sense when a comic builds tension and then releases that tension with a punchline. But it doesn't make sense when we laugh at the misfortune of others, or why we laugh at someone else who is laughing, or why a comedian can do the same joke over and over and get different variants of laughter every time he/she does it.


Anyway, I laugh out loud on some comedians just because they are so fun to watch, but since starting stand-up (4.5 years ago) it has become less frequent to do so when I am alone because I'm not only watching for entertainment value but to study. Their writing, their performance, their hair style, their clothing, the lighting, the stage, their emotions, their facial expression. There is so much to learn from any given special that I sometimes lose the humor when I'm alone because I'm thinking about so many other things.


tl;dr We don't know why we laugh. Read "Laughter" by Robert R. Provine and "HA!" by Scott Weems. I do laugh out loud when watching/listening to stand up alone, but less now that I am a comic.

u/Chakosa · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

From a science-y point of view, I'm reading a book about this now. From the description:

>Some things are funny -- jokes, puns, sitcoms, Charlie Chaplin, The Far Side, Malvolio with his yellow garters crossed -- but why? Why does humor exist in the first place? Why do we spend so much of our time passing on amusing anecdotes, making wisecracks, watching The Simpsons? In Inside Jokes, Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams offer an evolutionary and cognitive perspective. Humor, they propose, evolved out of a computational problem that arose when our long-ago ancestors were furnished with open-ended thinking. Mother Nature -- aka natural selection -- cannot just order the brain to find and fix all our time-pressured misleaps and near-misses. She has to bribe the brain with pleasure. So we find them funny. This wired-in source of pleasure has been tickled relentlessly by humorists over the centuries, and we have become addicted to the endogenous mind candy that is humor.

Essentially, non-obvious information makes something funny, whether that be a non sequitur or a clever pun or an unexpected turn in a story.

u/bromemeoth · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

Comedy at the Edge is a great book for any aspiring comic. It really gives you great insight about how comedy changed in the 70's, and what life was like for a comic of the era. Seriously, it's a really good read and will probably inspire you to give comedy a shot. Not to mention, some of the best comedians of all time give out little tidbits, so I'm certain you'll learn something.

u/BryanTriesComedy · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

Anthony Jeselnick actually took Greg Dean's comedy classes and is one of the more popular students from that school. This school of comedy teaches you how to write that style of one liners, the delivery and dark humor of Jeselnick is just his personality.

If you are interested you can read Gregg Dean's book, i highly recommend it if you are starting out or want a good book on comedy.

u/coohhwip · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

Despite your warning I listened to the revisionist history episode about this called Hallelujah. Loved it!! Saving up to buy the original book it was based on. This makes so much sense for comics. To me someone like Burnham or Sloss = Cezanne & Louie or Burr = Picasso.

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Masters-Young-Geniuses-Creativity/dp/0691133808

I agree good doesn’t equal successful but regardless of the talent the 4 years rule seems to hold steady. I should have specified - I’m talking about the big guns. The people who make it huge. The ones on my original list. Those types usually break in 4 or under.

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/StandUpComedy

The Comedy Bible is super cheesy. Very oldschool, setup-punchline approach. Picture a guy making fun of a hack comic, and that's the sort of stuff in the book.

I got Teach Yourself Stand-Up; it was better. Some good exercises in there to get you started. But I agree with gunnarrambo's comment. Look first and see what clicks based on your approach.

u/imsorekt · 2 pointsr/StandUpComedy

Greg Dean's "Step by Step" is a good, short introduction to mostly just the basic formulas of joke writing with not a lot of bullshit about "what makes a good comedian". Once you learn the basic setup/punch formula and the handful of different additions to that (tag, callback etc.) the real secret is just to write 10,000 jokes until you write a really funny one... Then write 10,000 more. It's time, repetition and getting on stage that does the magic after you learn the basics.

Link because if you're a comedian there's a good chance you're also really fucking lazy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0325001790?pc_redir=1406445869&robot_redir=1

u/FlortationDevice · 2 pointsr/StandUpComedy

This is great. Not particularly scientific, but it has a lot of great ideas about why we laugh.

Comedy Writing Secrets

u/DietJay · 3 pointsr/StandUpComedy

Comedy Writing Secrets is definitely a good book to read to learn about joke mechanics and stuff. I also recommend Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy.

u/katarokkar · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

Buy A Great Stillness.

He's a sweet man off stage and I am always happy when I see him on TV.

u/Emerson73 · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

BY far my favorite out of all the people posted in this thread. So glad I was able to be at his documentary film premeire last eyar for his movie The Bitter Buddha which you can get on itunes or through amazon. I recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about a "Comic's comic" and seeing some behind the scenes about coming into fame later in a career.

..also some touching scenes with his dad.

u/redson · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

Jackie Kashian's last album "It's Never Going to be Bread" is fantastic. I just saw Amy Schumer live, who's really excellent, she has an album coming out in a week or so. Up & Comer Hailey Boyle is staggeringly hilarious. Also Maria Bamford, Natasha Leggero, Sarah Silverman, Tig, Morgan Murphy.

u/markovich04 · 3 pointsr/StandUpComedy

'If You Prefer a Milder Comedian Please Ask For One'


How I Escaped My Certain Fate

I think it was Richard Herring, on one of his podcasts, talking about how Stewart Lee wanted to write a book that couldn't be read on a Kindle because of all the footnotes. It's funny, because footnotes work very well on a Kindle.

u/Cavalogan · 7 pointsr/StandUpComedy

I’ve read a few books on comedy and none of them really stuck with me, it want until I read and listened to Neil Thornton talk about his method was I really able to start writing jokes myself, I’m not particularly funny so my jokes aren’t great but none the less this writing work book really helped me, you can find more from him around the web but this stuck out to me the most.


http://www.neilthornton.com/workbook


This book did not help me particularly write jokes but months after reading it I realized that it made me understand the structure and what happens in a brain to get from premise to the funny

https://www.amazon.com/Serious-Guide-Joke-Writing-Something/dp/1907498370

u/admiral_bringdown · 15 pointsr/StandUpComedy

It looks like a fictionalized take on the 2010 book I'm Dying Up Here which is a sorta-biography of the origins of The Comedy Store. It's an amazing read.

u/QuickPhix · 2 pointsr/StandUpComedy

Some of that (guess which parts!) was from his album I don't mean to insult you but you look like Bobcat Goldthwaith

Some good stuff on there.

u/mts87 · 2 pointsr/StandUpComedy

I used Comedy Writing Secrets

I was very happy to find this when I first started out. I think it teaches some very good skills and techniques.

u/video_descriptionbot · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy
SECTION | CONTENT
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Title | Bo Burnham - Salt and Vinegar (Make Happy)
Description | Bo Burnham jokes about white people. I do not own any of the content in this video. Artist: Bo Burnham Album: Make Happy Year: 2016 Label: Netflix Watch Bo's other shows! Words, Words, Words (2010) : http://www.amazon.com/Bo-Burnham-Words/dp/B003YJFAKE http://www.cc.com/episodes/i6buv7/stand-up-library-bo-burnham--words--words--words-season-1-ep-101 what. (2013) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejc5zic4q2A Make Happy (2016) : https://...
Length | 0:01:00






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u/ThePointyBird · 6 pointsr/StandUpComedy

Well, he's not really quiet, but Brian Regan is a breath of fresh air in stand up. Works clean without being in any way sterile.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/reviews/1929243154/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_see_rcnt?ie=UTF8&s=sd&sortBy=sd&pageNumber=2

u/angelpuff · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

When I was in high school I read in a comedy writing book that said comedians should wait until they are famous to get personal because then people will know who they are. Which I think is really dumb.

I love Bill Burrs and Louis ck old stuff, but now-a-days with 80 percent personal, their material really sticks with me and resonates on a much deeper level.



Said comedy book: http://www.amazon.com/Comedy-Writing-Secrets-Best-Selling-Edition/dp/1582973571

u/JohnnyConatus · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

If you like this checkout his book that fully explains how he builds his sets and his career.

TL;DR - he found his niche and he owned it rather than trying to play to everyone.

u/juliantheguy · 1 pointr/StandUpComedy

For stand up, Zen and the Art of Stand Up Comedy was a pretty simple approach to joke writing and what you’re sort of aiming to do. Easy read, structured but not rigid