"Creating Comedy Narratives for Stage and Screen"
"A Director's Guide to the Art of Stand-up"
Published on 11th February 2021, my second book covers sketch, sitcom and comedy drama, alongside improvisation and stand-up, bringing together a panoply of tools and techniques for creating short and long-form comedy narratives for live performance, TV and online - including material you won't find anywhere else.
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“Chris Head's book does something very important, by showing how comedy can be built into long and satisfying stories. He offers clear and helpful advice which will be particularly useful for budding sitcom writers, but also relates to other forms like stand-up and improvised comedy. I know I'll be recommending this to my students.” – Oliver Double, University of Kent, UK
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“Chris not only takes apart comedy, but - thankfully - he puts it back together again. This is a great cross-genre guide for all comedians confidently exploring different styles, structures and inspiration.” –Katy Schutte, Improviser and Theatre-Maker, UK
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Published in July 2018, my book on stand-up covers developing your persona, writing (and-re-writing) jokes, writing routines, telling stories, timing and performance, developing and structuring full-length festival and touring shows, sharing personal pain in stand-up, and how stand-up and theatre influence each other.
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“Head’s style is refreshingly breezy and simultaneously substantial. He offers practical insights: for example, audiences do not laugh at material, they laugh with or at the performer who discovers a compelling comedic self. In this remarkable manual, Head demonstrates what Horace Walpole once observed, namely that life is a comedy to those who think. And Head helps each comedic persona think.” - CHOICE (United States)
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"It opened up a world that I didn't know before and haven't stopped exploring since. I hope this book does something similar for you."
From the foreword by Will Gompertz, BBC Arts Editor
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My "Creating Comedy Narratives" book was launched on 11th February 2021 with British Comedy Guide and British Library workshops - on Zoom. Both events were great but not very photogenic so here are photos from the 'A Director's Guide to the Art of Stand-up' book launch at Soho Theatre, 22nd September 2018. Featuring readings and acts directed by Chris Head, all of whom feature in the book. Starring Richard Lindesay, Katia Kvinge, Helen Wood and Steve Whiteley as Wisebowm.
