We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
Publication Date: 17 Jan 2019 |
---|
Publisher: SPCK Publishing |
Page Count: 160 |
Author: James Cary |
ISBN-13: 9780281080922, 9780281080939, 9780281082254 |
The Sacred Art of Joking
A funny, informative book that gives the reader an insight into how comedy works and reveals why it’s so easy to get wrong (especially in the realm of religion)
In stock
ISBN-13
9780281080922-grouped
Summary of The Sacred Art of Joking
Related Posts 2
Press Reviews
An elegant treatise on how [the church] could lighten up its image.
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.
Marvellous potential . . . for opening up conversations and avenues of thoughtful debate
[On Death by Civilization]: A wonderful cascade of sage snippets . . . fit to grace bedside tables and smallest rooms in the greatest houses
A truly brilliant debut book
‘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
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 readable. This entertaining, breezy book, explains how comedy works (with jokes and quotes) and gives much-needed insights into the controversy surrounding humour.