Review of "The New Comedy Writing Step by Step" by Gene Perret

As the cliche goes, it all starts with the writing. Gene Perret is an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer of legend. His career includes stints with Bob Hope, Carol Burnett and other comics, and was a writer and producer of the 1970s TV shows "Three's Company" and "Welcome Back, Kotter". He's written several books on comedy writing and with this revised version of "Comedy Writing Step-By-Step" he updates his 25 year-old classic to show aspiring writers the fundamentals of humor. He dissects humor with examples from current greats and the legends of yore, like his idol and mentor, Bob Hope. The book starts out with career advice. That is, how to structure your life so that you can feed yourself while you're learning the business and honing your skills. But the heart of the book is the "How Tos" and exercises that force you to understand how jokes are written, why you have to write differently for different venues, and to develop the patience to make your good stuff even better.