The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Comedy Writing, by James Mendrinos
Are you an idiot for even trying to read this large book?
While you think about that, lie face up on your bed, hold this book in your hands, throw it straight up in the air, and try to catch it in your mouth.
Who’s the idiot now?
It’s a big book written by a familiar name; James Medrinos. So familiar, I misspelled it. It’s James Mendrions.
No, that’s still not right.
The size of the book means there’s a fair amount in it. About comedy. It’s not going to about exercise or bird watching.
Its largeness is brought somewhat under control as it’s broken down into 5 parts. All the parts get regular subsections to further ease the pain of consuming all those letters.
Maybe reading isn’t for you.
The book starts off by exploring the different genres comedy can be applied to. But the word ‘exploring’ is a bit misleading, because it’s more a broad sweep through different things.
Chapter 2 steps things up a bit; you can use the information from pages 16–24 to help you start writing.
Mendrinos continues with the best places to find comedy ideas. He doesn’t mention watching Netflix, or playing ducks versus boats in the bath.
The book moves on with ways you might examine a topic. He gives you two questions to open up subjects to try and improve the amount of funny inside them.
I know. All those pages and only two questions.
Stick with it, as even though they don’t push you in any particular direction, it does leave you in complete creative control.
The section on Type of Comedy is run of the mill stuff, before the excitement of Part 2 comes along. This is where things take off, like a man in a changing room near a nudist beach.
Part 2, Basic Comedy Construction, is, for me, the most interesting part of the book. It starts things off with Building a Laugh.
Anyway, here comes the author’s joke formula. To not give it away, my explanation of it is below:
a + b + c = joke
Thousands of combinations could be loaded into a or b, with a set of cs — shown in this book — to choose from, giving about 73,493 total joke combinations. That’s why comedy films are regurgitating ideas and you have no hope as a comedy writer and should definitely quit now.
Anyway, with that encouragement, Mendronis offers a system, that if you can use it, any situation and event can be made funny.
Mendrinos talks you through the formula, but doesn’t offer any immediate examples. So you might be wondering how to use it properly.
Then, a few pages after he introduces it, and to show you he doesn’t know how to use it either, he gives you a one liner about a Honda and deer hunting. It doesn’t seem to fit the formula, which could be a problem.
Thankfully, the concept isn’t finished with.
Before you get back to it, the author wanders into advice giving mode. There’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s clear and well written.
Next comes a chapter on people’s view points. You’ll either enjoy it, hate it, or feel indifferent.
Elsewhere, the author reminds you to be knowledgeable in your stand up topics, while he gives you a number of ways to reach the punchline.
In the intro pages before the book gets going, Mendrinos mentions hidden gems. True to his word, he’s put some in. There’s a three line piece that explains how to combine truth and lies in comedy. Another diamond encrusted piece of silver gold is when he shows the very first line he wrote for his stand up act, and how he improved it.
Jokes aside, it was nice to see, and illustrates a point about finding ways to refine your work.
Part 3 of the book — The Art of Comedy Writing — starts out well. It begins with Long-Form Comedy, with his ideas on how to flesh out subjects. Thing go off course a little as the chapter discusses stories. The advice is fine, but the scope of the book leaves little time for proper detail.
On other things; page 107. It says there isn’t a big demand for individual jokes, then by page 116, it says Rodney Dangerfield strings them into a story. So there is a demand for them.
Yes… a lovely bit of pedantry by this reviewer.
Now……….. back to Menidon’s book.
The table on page 108, which relates to POVs and beliefs, is confusing. A proper explanation on its layout would help.
After that comes some sound advice on your material and your audience. Mendrinos discusses how to be careful with edgy material while being able to break it in.
And already, that means Part Four of the book is upon you. You did chuck it in the air, didn’t you?
Well, it landed here, and it covers editing, with a shock revelation that Henny Youngman may not have been responsible for the famous wife joke.
Take my fork out the toaster, please!
There’s some editing on long form pieces. Again, good advice, but because the book wants to cover more aspects, there isn’t time to stick around.
As the book progresses, by your deft hand turning the pages, you’ll read about updating jokes and relating to your audiences. It feels like the book’s been here before, and some of chapter 17’s content could have been in chapter 12, but the short chapter styles make it forgivable.
A bit like when your neigbour runs over your favourite pet dog, and buries him far away so you don’t know about it. Then when you do find out, the punch in the face is forgivable.
The book continues, either on its own, or with your hand, and once again, more sensible advice follows. Pointers for saleable comedy, people you need to work with in the industry, things to look out for when you make the sale.
It’s all well written information, even though greater detail gets missed with the book’s cover all format. Even so, there are some good points to consider and solid information is packed in.
Finally, the final part of the book awaits.
Part 5. But it ain’t the last chapter.
A few good jokes start off before it goes in and out of vagueness. It moves to the next item, mentions some worthwhile points, but might leave you hanging.
The main cartoon contributor to this book, Yvonne Mojica, and the way she approaches cartoon strips, is explained in about 3 sentences. It’s great insight.
On the other hand, when Mendrinos covers the five elements of fiction, he talks about writing them and having them balanced in percentage terms, but never discloses a figure. This isn’t your pay cheque, James!
All that’s left to look at are sitcoms, ensemble comedy, solo comedy, speeches, and the ins and outs of each one. It’s only 55 pages.
Like the earlier parts of the book, it can never go into enormous detail, because the thing would grow to thousands of pages long.
And who wants a heavy Kindle?
Despite that, Mendrinos does well, and he fits in a good amount of useful information for each topic. Even though the subjects whip along, there are things you’ll find useful, or simply have a good place to start if you’d like to find out more.
Except the final 33 pages, that’s the book.
These are covered by appendices A-D.
After the glossary, there’s a list of 366 items, with something for writers to do on every day of the year.
Another appendix lists a good number of books and references.
Finally, there’s an excerpt of an annotated excerpt script for a show called Taina. A nice touch, but the script’s four and a bit pages are a little measly. The accompanying notes are clear and concise.
Ta-da! You’ve reached the end.
Verdict
A book to read more than once. Give this model time to sink in. Another way of getting to the funny is always handy.*
The accompanying information that goes either side of the formula is sensible advice. There’s hardly anything new for anyone a little seasoned, but you’ll find the odd thing here and there you’ll be able to use.
It’s all good information for newcomers to digest.
- (The formula and its way of constructing jokes hasn’t landed with me yet. Not the first time. See Greg Dean’s book and method.)
Recommended for:
Another mental model for joke construction. If it works for you, you can apply it to nearly anything.
Not for:
Depth on the contained genres. Having said that, it still does well in the space it has.
Other thoughts
It would have been nice to see examples of jokes plugged into the formula. It doesn’t even really try.
Length
A bit of a longer read. 328 pages are listed.
Take off 40 for blank pages, and the index, while the remaining 288 are broken up with many subheadings and paragraph spacings, along with cartoons and little information boxes here and there. In essence, the page count is still exaggerated.
Call it 230+
Quicker readers will be through it in 2–3 days.
Slower, dedicated readers, will be done in 2–3 weeks.
