Comedy is not magic, not inspiration, not a “gift.”  Mostly, it’s simple rules and structures—the logic of the illogical—tools that anyone can use.

The Comic Toolbox is a straightforward, often humorous, workbook approach to comedy writing as creative problem solving.  In it, veteran Hollywood comedy writer John Vorhaus offers his tools of the trade to writers, comics, and anyone else who wants to be funny.  Among these indispensable tools are Clash of Context, Tension and Release, The Law of Comic Opposites, The Wildly Inappropriate Response, and The Myth of the Last Great Idea.

Readers will learn that comedy = truth and pain (the essence of the comic situation), that fear is the biggest roadblock to comedy (kill your ferocious editor within and rich, useful comic ideas will flow), and much, much more.

With Vorhaus’ tools in hand, anyone can be funny.

"Vorhaus keeps things moving briskly, and Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen fans should be pleased."--"Publishers Weekly" After pulling world-class cons in California and New Mexico, Radar Hoverlander and his crew, including girlfriend and grift artist Allie Quinn and their hapless buddy Vic Mirplo, are back in action, this time in Austin. So many rich fools to bamboozle--but is Radar having a crisis of conscience? A smart, fast-paced, funny work--crime caper fiction at its best. John Vorhaus introduced the charming con man Radar Hoverlander in the novel "California Roll," followed by "Albuquerque Turkey"; "The Texas Twist "is the third Radar novel.