Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and practical book on comedy.
Review: Probably the most useful book on stand up comedy I've read so far and i've been looking around. What amkes this book so great is the fact that it is so detailed. most stand up books give vague insights into the creation of comedy material often suggesting that comedy is like magic but Carter actually gives insight into the creation of effective comedy material. i would recommend this book to those who wish to learn how to write and perform more effectively. This book is a good guideline but you already have to have a comic mind to be good.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a barrel of laughs and is great for knew comics
Review: The book is a great book for wanabe comics or those who want sparse up the social life, a woderful for everyone
Rating: 
Summary: bad book ,bad classes
Review: The book reads ok, but really doesn't portray current comedy styles. May have been good in the 80's, but not now. Her classes are not current either.
Rating:
Summary: The best tool to have if you are wanting to be a stand up.
Review: The book was a guide that helped me understand the basics of standup comedy. I performed stand up for eight years, and the book gave me the foundation that took me from open mic nights to the Improv. So if you want to be a standup this is a good first step. I still use her book in my marketing business.
Rating:
Summary: Finally--a Writing How-To That Really Works!
Review: This book must surely be one of the few writing how-to texts I've purchased that's really worth the money. Though too narrow in focus to work for prose writers, this text actually gets down into the nitty-gritty of creating material that is on-target, marketable, and interesting. Though incomplete in its examination of the potentials of comedy, it gives students a thorough grounding in the creation of humorous content for the stage.Carter shies away from telling you too much on how to do topical material, instead coaching the novice comic to focus on the one thing you know more about than anyone else--your own fool self. By simply starting with having you talk about what's on your mind, she presents you with an inexhaustable source of content. This is mother's milk comedy, of course, but if you want something punchy like Foxworthy's "Redneck" routine or Margaret Cho's ethnic commentary, that will come with experience. The stand-up comedy Carter coaches you on in this book has little to do with the joke-telling of Jack Benny or Henny Youngman. Instead, you're presented with what seems a modern form of Native American storytelling, with the focus on the self. This will not appeal to all up-and-coming comics, and some might find this book rather trying. Starting out, however, most new comics will find good grounding in the stylistic tactics of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Finally--a Writing How-To That Really Works!
Review: This book must surely be one of the few writing how-to texts I've purchased that's really worth the money. Though too narrow in focus to work for prose writers, this text actually gets down into the nitty-gritty of creating material that is on-target, marketable, and interesting. Though incomplete in its examination of the potentials of comedy, it gives students a thorough grounding in the creation of humorous content for the stage. Carter shies away from telling you too much on how to do topical material, instead coaching the novice comic to focus on the one thing you know more about than anyone else--your own fool self. By simply starting with having you talk about what's on your mind, she presents you with an inexhaustable source of content. This is mother's milk comedy, of course, but if you want something punchy like Foxworthy's "Redneck" routine or Margaret Cho's ethnic commentary, that will come with experience. The stand-up comedy Carter coaches you on in this book has little to do with the joke-telling of Jack Benny or Henny Youngman. Instead, you're presented with what seems a modern form of Native American storytelling, with the focus on the self. This will not appeal to all up-and-coming comics, and some might find this book rather trying. Starting out, however, most new comics will find good grounding in the stylistic tactics of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Comedy skills that don't stop at stand-up
Review: This book was a fun read that I finished the day after my order arrived. Humor is something we could all use more of in our lives. I'm guessing most people who get this book aren't really going to quit their day job and try to make it in stand-up; this book is worth it anyway. Anybody who deals with other people, in your work or otherwise, will find humor a useful skill to develop. I teach and do radio work, both of which require trying to keep my audience awake, and humor, even if it isn't quite ready for "Seinfeld", is one of the best ways to achieve that. In this book you'll learn about the structure of humor, and how to use any experience from your own life, good or bad, to be funny - or to develop other kinds of material, like short stories or radio drama, though you will have to make these kinds of connections yourself. I find Carter's approach much more useful than just trying to memorize and retell jokes from a book - which very likely don't apply to yourself and your potential audience anyway. If you live in another country and culture, for example, jokes assuming you grew up in the United States are likely to be puzzling to your listeners at best - in any case not funny. Shared experience is an essential for any kind of writing and humor, and identifying and drawing on that shared experience requires the kind of specific skills you can learn about in this book. To be honest, I didn't laugh at all the jokes in the book, but my admiration for Carter as an effective *teacher* grew as I read on. Her approach is strictly hands-on - she includes practical exercises in each section - and she makes each step perfectly clear along the way. Not everybody who can do something can teach it (and the reverse applies as well!), but Carter's pedagogy is solid. I especially liked the parts on comparisons, similes and mimicking - all of which my students respond to warmly in class. Learning the importance of "attitude" in joke telling was a useful insight; also why one should avoid "telling stories", regardless of how funny *you* think they are. Though Carter says it can't be taught, she does offer some good hints regarding timing, which is at the core of every successful joke. Other useful topics include how to develop a persona, the importance of feedback, and how to deal with failure. I enjoyed the comments, with photos, by big names in the field, some of whom I didn't know before, like Margaret Smith, Dale Gonyea, Paula Poundstone, and Richard Lewis, along with more familiar ones, like Ellen DeGeneres, Roseanne Barr, Jerry Seinfeld, and Steven Wright. One thing I would have appreciated in this book is an *index*. I found myself thumbing through the whole book to find bits I wanted to reread. The table of contents helps, but isn't quite enough. If you want more specific and detailed information on how to really do comedy professionally, I'd suggest Carter's _The Comedy Bible_, which took me a bit longer to read, but is correspondingly richer in solid information. For a sample of what to expect in both books and to hear what Carter sounds like in person, there's a recorded interview with her at talktotara.com.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...to a point...
Review: While the book takes you through the basics of developing your skills and an act, it can be lacking in areas. If you get stuck at one of the steps, and nothing will work for you, it's practically impossible to go onto the next step. All the workshop sections are built off each other, so it's hard to skip one if you're having trouble. Other than that, it's an excellent book for the price.
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