Disclaimer - 1

Comedy is Important - 3

PART ONE: COMEDY IS HUMAN

The Funniest Joke in the World - 11

Human Laughter - 14

Human Comedy - 19

Freud Never Played Glasgow Empire - 25

What Clever People Have Reckoned - 32

Surprise! - 39

What’s Brown and Sticky? - 45

No Harm Meant - 49

Play-Fighting - 57

Typing ‘5318008’ on a Calculator - 61

Pretty Patterns - 66

The Rule of Three - 73

PART TWO: COMEDY IS MUSIC

The Rhythm of Comedy - 81

The Music of Comedy - 84

The Comedy Keyboard - 89

Comedy Piano For Beginners - 95

Confuse: The Bum Note - 102

The Howl of Confusion - 108

Shaggy Dogs - 115

Sheer Nonsense - 120

The Lure of the Brillig - 126

The Bucket - 132

PART THREE: COMEDY IS US

Laughing Together - 141

Mike is a Wanker - 147

Laughing Together - 151

The Tribe - 157

Anyone in From 1991? - 162

The Specifics - 169

These Robots Are Funny - 174

Shared Values - 178

Reading the Room - 183

Dangerous Laughs - 189

Only Teasing - 197

Comic Relief - 202

Woke Me Up Before You Go Go - 207

Raise the Right Flag - 211

PART FOUR: COMEDY IS CHARACTER

Comedy is Fractal - 221

I Haven’t Learned a Thing - 230

Confirmation Bias - 234

I Wouldn’t Do That, If I Were Me - 239

A Dramatic Pause - 243

Patterns of People - 247

Character Pieces - 252

Double Act - 256

Marge & Dorothy & Velma & Ringo - 259

PART FIVE: COMEDY IS STORY

Building the Clown Car - 271

The Shape of Story - 278

The Straight Story - 285

The Big Questions - 291

Is This the Right Room For an Argument? - 296

An Incredible Story - 303

Plot vs Story - 311

. . . AND THE PUNCHLINE

The Secret of Comedy - 319

A Joke Amongst Friends - 322

Comedy is Big and Clever - 329

Hack Comedy - 331

Her Majesty - 334

Acknowledgements - 337

Epigraph Sources - 341

Resources - 349

A Note on the Author - 359

Supporters - 361