If you’re looking to hone your wit, to develop some jokes of your own, or if you like to have a nice library of riffs to keep in your head for the next party, it’s not a bad idea to actually decide to grab a joke book or two. By studying the classics, you can study how to develop your own material by seeing how it operates, what gets the biggest laughs etc. Some you might want to consider studying.
The Classic Comedians
The classic stand up comics have put out some interesting work, both as biographers and in simply collecting their favorite jokes. Recommended would be How to Tell Dirty Jokes and Influence People by Lennie Bruce in terms of non-fiction goes, while anything with jokes by Rodney Dangerfield or Don Rickles is ideal for humor’s sake. Anything by Steven Wright is gold, too.
Standard Joke Books
These can be pretty hit and miss, so you usually want to go with a niche category to be able to find some good stuff. 100% Blond Jokes is a nice good one method to a good book that includes a lot of “Stupid People” material you could reword to be about your duller friends, and is often cited as among the best in its niche.
Comedy on DVD
This can be helpful for studying delivery. The golden rule is that: The joke is is what’s funny, not you. A bad comic can ruin a good joke, but it’s the rare comic who can save a bad one. Check out a few of the works of Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby for some excellent delivery. Mitch Hedberg is another one who has mastered delivery and can take full advantage of some pretty corny (but still quite funny) material. It’s all in the delivery, so study up.
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