About the Book:

Love making people laugh? Perfect your technique with Mastering Stand-Up by Stephen Rosenfield, who The New York Times heralded as "the best known comedy teacher in the country." Marc Breslin, owner of Yuk Yuk's, the largest chain of comedy clubs in Canada, said "Stephen Rosenfield is the best stand-up comedy teacher in North America."

His entertaining and sharply written book Mastering Stand-Up will guide you through the process of becoming an undeniably funny and successful comedian. It is a journey that begins with your sense of humour and then takes you on a tour of comedy performed by the great masters of stand-up: including Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Eddie Izzard, Moms Mabley, Hannibal Buress, Louis C.K., Richard Pryor, and more. By deconstructing how they do what they do, Mastering Stand-Up passes along to you the most important techniques of their comedy and opens up to you new possibilities for performing and writing your own stand-up.

Like all epic journeys you will end up where you started, with your own sense of humour. But things will be different: You will know the techniques of the great stand-up comedians. Mastering Stand-Up lays out a clear plan for achieving success, candidly explaining what works, what doesn't, and why. Including a 12-item "Successful Comedian's To-Do List," Stephen Rosenfield states, "Get undeniably good at each of these and you can kiss your day job good-bye. You will be a pro."

Mastering Stand-Up will give both beginners breaking into comedy and professionals seeking to improve their sets and advance their careers, as well as comedy writers and comedy lovers, a system to perform and write comedy handed down from the masters of stand-up. These insights will empower you to take your stand-up to the next level and beyond.

What people say:

"Steve has taught many of the great comics that perform on our stages. This is an invaluable guide." — Chris Mazzilli, owner of New York City's famed Gotham Comedy Club

"There is nobody like Steve. He has accelerated so many careers, including mine. Without him it would be much more difficult to move ahead in stand-up comedy." — Ted Greenberg, stand-up comedian and Emmy Award–winning writer for Late Night with David Letterman

"An absolutely essential instructional guide and reference for anyone aspiring to a career as a comedian." — Midwest Book Review

"This entertaining guide by the founder of the American Comedy Institute makes a solid stand-in for learning to humor your way into an audience's heart ... Rosenfield's techniques of performing and writing are just as useful in the classroom or the boardroom." — Stanford Magazine

About the Author:

Stephen Rosenfield is known as one of the best comedy teachers in the US. His alumni include some of today's most prominent comedians and comedy writers, such as Lena Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Eric Slovin, and Jessica Kirson. He has directed, coached, and/or written for these and hundreds of other comedians. As a pioneer in the field of teaching comedy, he is a Professor Emeritus of stand-up and sketch comedy at William Paterson University and founded of the American Comedy Institute, the premier stand-up comedy school in the United States, in 1989.