Download or read book The Five Elements of Humor written by Zac Toa and published by . This book was released on 2012-08-05 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to condense humor into five elements. Here are the elements that make something funny. A- The element of surprise - Something unexpected is funny. B- The element of audacity - Someone who is inconsiderate or shameless is funny. C- The element of obsession - Someone who acts absurd or inflexible is funny. D- The element of relief - Making light of a frustration is funny. And E- The element of ego - Making yourself (and/or the people and things you like) superior is funny. This book lists 100 joke techniques primarily based on these five elements. The techniques include joke examples (181 in total) which come from varied sources, including popular sitcoms like The Simpsons and The Office, and popular comedians like Christopher Titus and the PhilosoRaptor. This short reference may be the only one you'll ever need to understand and create humor. UPDATE June 3, 2014: The bad reviews for this book are a bit puzzling, and seem to show a lack of understanding about the purpose of the book. That may be due to mistakes in marketing or preconceived expectation in the readers. So to make the purpose of the book clear: It's just a toolbox of joke techniques. When you use a tool (such as an electric screwdriver), you don't need to know how the tool works; you only need to know how to use it. So in the book, you get the joke technique, followed by an example or two that uses it. If you want to know why the technique works, you know it has something to do with the specific element of humor it's listed under. When it comes to learning how to write jokes, the names and examples of joke techniques and the basic underpinning of those techniques is all you need to create humor. Almost everything else is hogwash.