You're Funny

For Writers Who Can’t Get Their Acts Together
By D.B. Gilles

Book Review
By Ann Baldwin


D.B. Gilles has taught comedy writing in The Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for nearly 20 years. He also taught comedy in The Dramatic Writing Department at NYU, the Graduate Film Department at Columbia, and The Comedy Institute in New York City. He’s a screenwriter, playwright, script consultant, and writing coach. He is also the author of The Screenwriter Within and The Portable Film School. He has a popular blog titled Screenwriters Rehab: For Writers Who Can’t Get Their Acts Together. In his newest book, You’re Funny Turn your SENSE OF HUMOR into a lucrative new career (Michael Wiese Productions May 2011), D.B. examines the varied types, forms, and aspects of comedy, gets you in touch with your own sense of humor, and explores all the avenues for comedy writing.

All of us laughed, before we could speak and while every one of us has a different kind of funny bone (sense of humor), laughter is a universal language. D.B. says “History tells us that when times are tough, people want to laugh. They need to laugh.” With the current economic downturn, which is trying so many lives with the loss of their jobs and homes, it’s no wonder comedy writers are in great demand all over the world. Laughter is one of the best ways to reduce and relieve stress (lighten the load), help us heal, make us smile, and add happiness into our life.

D.B. gives you a close-up look at all kinds of comedy writing jobs out there from short humor, parody, and satire with sites like The Onion, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post to television sketches, sitcoms, and late night using shows like David Letterman, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, The Office, Cheers, and 30 Rock to screenwriting for comedy websites like Funny or Die and feature films like Legally Blonde and The Hangover. He gives you an inside look at not only writing for a stand-up comic, but what it takes to be one as well. He includes some very helpful samples of comedy writing and shares a wealth of resources.

The irony of laughter is it not only heals us, it’s contagious, and when something is really funny, it brings tears to our eyes. I highly recommend You’re Funny for all writers who would like to add more humor, joy, happiness, and healing energy into our world.

To learn more about D.B. Gilles you can visit him at http://www.screenwritingwithdbgilles.com/ and purchase a copy of You’re Funny at Michael Wiese Productions, Amazon, The Writers Store, & Barnes & Noble.