The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide 
Do you want to turn your sense of humor into a career?
If the answer is yes, then Judy Carter's The Comedy Bible is for you. The guru to aspiring stand-up comics provides the complete scoop on being -- and writing -- funny for money.
If you've got a sense of humor, you can learn to make a career out of comedy, says Judy Carter. Whether it's creating a killer stand-up act, writing a spec sitcom, or providing jokes for radio or one-liners for greeting cards, Carter provides step-by-step instructions in The Comedy Bible. She helps readers first determine which genre of comedy writing or performing suits them best and then directs them in developing, refining, and selling their work.
Using the hands-on workbook format that was so effective in her bestselling first book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book, Carter offers a series of day-by-day exercises that draw on her many years as a successful stand-up comic and the head of a nationally known comedy school. Also included are practical tips and advice from today's top comedy professionals -- from Bernie Brillstein to Christopher Titus to Richard Lewis. She presents the pros and cons of the various comedy fields -- stand-up, script, speech and joke writing, one-person shows, humor essays -- and shows how to tailor your material for each. She teaches how to find your "authentic" voice -- the true source of comedy. And, perhaps most important, Carter explains how to take a finished product to the next level -- making money -- by pitching it to a buyer and negotiating a contract.
Written in Carter's unique, take-no-prisoners voice, The Comedy Bible is practical, inspirational, and funny.
Reviews
I have a lot of friends who are pro comics on the NY circuit, and every one of them is aware of, and owns, this book.
It won't make you funny, it you are fundamentally not funny.
If you are occasionally funny, or regularly funny, then this book will help you structure you work, and tells you how to develop your work into a pro set that can get you noticed.
It tells you what not to do, it guides you on what works.
I own a fair set of comedy books, but this is one that keeps it's number one spot consistently. Even with year and years of practice, the comedians I know still know exaclty where their copy is!
If the pros own it, why don't you?
You get a lot of laughs for the money, and some hints on making your own humor as well. Similar to John Vorhaus' The Comic Toolbox. But, if you have the cash, Stanley Lyndon's How to be Funny! at howtobefunny.net is the best buy for $49, as that tells you the complete techniques of generating humor. And these are the other two books, by the way.
Nevertheless, I greatly recommend this book and John Vorhaus' for all those on a budget as they provide good hints on the humor techniques and at the same time providing great laughs for the time you are reading the book.
I give it 3.5/5.
