The Complete Comedy Script Toolkit - my new book!
- Chris Head
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
"The best book of this type available. The advice manages to be thorough and insightful - yet also digestible and easily applicable. It's very helpful, and so I would highly recommend it to any writer or comedian." Alex Bruce, BAFTA winning comedy writer
The best comedy looks effortless, but behind every rollicking joke and every frolicsome scene (thanks Thesaurus dot com) is a whole toolkit of techniques. Often these are used unconsciously, but over many years of working with writers, I’ve developed ways of making these tools consciously accessible and usable — and after many requests, I’ve finally put them all in one place.
This summer my latest book The Complete Comedy Script Toolkit was published. I’m writing about it on my blog in November, not exactly perfect comic timing!
Drawing on years of my years of experience teaching comedy for BBC Writers, the British Library, Bath Spa University, and mentoring writers with former BBC Head of Comedy Commissioning Lucy Lumsden, I distil my knowledge of comedy scriptwriting into an inspiring, accessible resource. It's a lively and practical guide packed with creative techniques and exercises to help all you writers craft sharper, funnier, and more original comedy scripts.
The Complete Comedy Script Toolkit takes a “profound plunge” (as I like to put it) into what makes comedy tick: creating flawed and compelling characters, crafting punchlines and comic dialogue, building hilarious scenes, and structuring stories. Packed with examples from classic and contemporary comedies, along with dozens of writing exercises, it helps you not just understand comedy but actually do it better.
Whether you’re writing sitcoms, comedy dramas, sketches, screenplays, comedy plays, or anything else funny, this book gives you the tools you need to write your sharpest and funniest work.
Various people have praised my knack of demystifying comedy without killing the frog:
“His understanding of comedy is captivating, encyclopaedic.” — Will Gompertz, former BBC Arts Editor
“Head’s style is refreshingly breezy and simultaneously substantial.” — Choice, USA
“The ideal person to nurture new talent.” — The Guardian
