Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Sacred Art of Joking
- Narrated by: James Cary
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
The Sacred Art of Joking
Buy Now for £11.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Every few weeks a politician, pundit or soap star causes a media storm by making a gaffe or tweeting a joke that some people do not find funny. Comedy is very hard to get right and yet we think it's important to have a sense of humour and not take yourself too seriously. On the other hand, a sense of humour failure can lead to losing your friends, your Twitter account, your job, your career and, in some cases, your life.
James Cary knows about this. He is a sitcom writer who's written jokes about bomb disposal in Afghanistan (Bluestone 42), defended comments about Islam by Ben Elton on Newsnight, been on a panel with radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, sits on the General Synod of the Church of England and somehow managed to co-write episodes of Miranda. An odd mix, but one that makes him very listenable. This entertaining, breezy book explains how comedy works (with jokes and quotes) and gives much-needed insights into the controversy surrounding humour.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Having worked for many years at the coalface of comedy, sorting the dross from the combustible, James Cary is uniquely qualified to write this book." (Milton Jones, comedian and panellist on BBC2's Mock the Week)