Exercise 46: Not Done Yet
Exercise 47: Killing Dead Time
Part Three: Writing for Your Mentor
Exercise 48: Pick Your Mentor
Exercise 49: The Best of Your Mentor
Exercise 50: Let Your Mentor Mentor
Exercise 51: You’ve Been Hired
Exercise 52: Waste Not, Want Not
Exercise 53: Find the Right Formula
Exercise 54: Hello, Good-bye
Exercise 55: Tailor-Made
Exercise 56: Dedicated Chunk
Exercise 57: Where Did That Come From?
Exercise 58: Strengthen the Weaknesses
Exercise 59: Strengthen the Strengths
Exercise 60: Let It Sit
Exercise 61: Special Appearances
Exercise 62: On the Couch
Exercise 63: Talk Spot
Exercise 64: Become Your Mentor
Exercise 65: Make It Tighter
Exercise 66: Make It Tighter Still
Part Four: Sketch Writing
Exercise 67: Where Did It Come From?
Exercise 68: That’s Where It Came From
Exercise 69: My Life Is Made Up of Sketches
Exercise 70: At the Movies
Exercise 71: And the Story Goes
Exercise 72: Classic Jokes
Exercise 73: Words of Wisdom
Exercise 74: That Really Bugs Me
Exercise 75: Develop One
Exercise 76: Hog-Tied Guests
Exercise 77: Book Your Guests
Exercise 78: Bigger Than Life
Exercise 79: Boob Tube
Exercise 80: Commercial Writing
Exercise 81: There’s More to It Than That
Exercise 82: Oh That’s Good
Exercise 83: The Road Runner Sketch
Exercise 84: The Silent Sketch
Exercise 85: Words, Words, Words
Exercise 86: All Good Things Must Come to an End
Exercise 87: Curtain and Applause
Part Five: Sitcom Writing
Exercise 88: Pop Quiz
Exercise 89: Open-Book Test
Exercise 90: Who Says What?
Exercise 91: What Could Possibly Happen?
Exercise 92: Same with Sitcoms
Exercise 93: Get Your Story Straight
Exercise 94: Get Your Story Changed
Exercise 95: Get Your Story Straight—Again
Exercise 96: Another Questionnaire
Exercise 97: Add Some Funny
Exercise 98: Keep That Story Moving
Exercise 99: Put Another Bump in the Road
Exercise 100: On the Set
Exercise 101: Make It Shorter
Exercise 102: Write the “Bible”
Exercise 103: Write Your Own “Bible”
Exercise 104: Turn the Tables on Your Characters
Exercise 105: It Can’t Get Any Worse
Exercise 106: What’d You Say?
Exercise 107: Switch
Exercise 108: A Good Old Story
Exercise 109: A Good Joke
Exercise 110: A Good Old Cliché
Exercise 111: That Really Irks Me
Exercise 112: Finished Project
Exercise 113: “A Martian Wouldn’t Say That”
Exercise 114: “A Different Martian Wouldn’t Say That, Either”
Exercise 115: Just Do It
There are no shortcuts to success. After I won America’s Got Talent in 2007, people kept describing me as an overnight success while conveniently forgetting to mention I had spent over twenty years on the road working on my ventriloquism, singing and comedy.
But trust me, I wasn’t born throwing my voice. It’s an ability I developed, but it took a long time. Luckily I had a master to learn from and a book he had written—it was Paul Winchell’s Ventriloquism for Fun and Profit. When I was ten years old I checked it out of the library and started learning about ventriloquism. So thanks to Paul I became a ventriloquist. But that’s only half the story. As I worked on my act I noticed that having the skill to throw your voice is one thing; having something funny to say is another. Luckily I found another book. I know what you’re thinking—someone in show business actually read two books! But it’s true. It was by Gene Perret and it was called Comedy Writing Step By Step. I started doing the exercises, learning from the master, and added comedy to my act.
