‘Having worked for quite some time on the coalface of humor, sorting the dross in the combustible, Adam Cary is uniquely qualified to create this publication.’ Milton Jones, comedian and panellist on BBC2’s Mock the Week

Every few weeks a politician, pundit or soap star causes a media storm by causing a gaffe or tweeting a joke that some people do not find funny. Comedy is quite hard to obtain right and yet we think it is critical to have a sense of humour rather than take yourself too seriously. In the various other about The Sacred Artwork of Joking hand, a feeling of humour failure can result in losing your friends, your twitter accounts, your job, your career and, in some instances, your life.

James Cary is aware of this. He is a sitcom article writer who’s written jokes about bomb removal in Afghanistan (Bluestone 42), defended remarks about Islam by Ben Elton on Newsnight, been on a panel with radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, sits on the General Synod of the Chapel of Britain and somehow managed to co-write shows of Miranda. An unusual mix, but one that makes him extremely readable. This enjoyable, breezy book, points out how comedy functions (with jokes and quotes) and gives much-needed insights in to the controversy encircling humour.