David Misch

Longtime television comedy writer David Misch (How longtime? He worked on Mork and Mindy, which went off the air in 1982) turns his attention, here, to comedy in general. Among the book’s many short chapters, there are discussions of the history of comedy (from the ancient Greeks to modern stand-up), profiles of significant comedians, and explorations of comedy’s intersections with mythology, biology, philosophy and even theology.

Misch is a clear, fluid writer—and, as you’d imagine, a funny one--—so all this goes down easily, but the book lacks a sense of purpose or even of organization. The chapters seem to come in random order and, despite periodic cross-references in the text, the they feel very loosely knit together. There’s no sense of a larger point being made, or of any rationale for why Misch chose some subjects and not others to write about. Even the individual chapters on specific comedians (Steve Martin, the Marx Brothers, Richard Pryor) don’t feel like comprehensive overviews so much as brief dips into their lives and work.

Trying to get around the problem of including video clips of performances in an ink-on-paper book, Misch inserts numbered call-outs in the text that direct the reader to a list of links in the back of the book. Paste the link into your web browser, and you’ll see the routine that Misch is talking about in the text. It’s a brave attempt at innovation, but ultimately it doesn’t work: Having to find the relevant link and type the string of nonsense characters that make up its address into your web browser breaks concentration too much, and what would feel natural on the electronic page fails miserably on the printed one.

Funny could easily have been subtitled: “A bunch of random cool stuff I found out about comedy—with added jokes.” Adjust your expectations accordingly and enjoy.… (plus d'informations)