# On Jokes *Jimmy Carr with Amanda Baker and Abi Grant. Quercus, 22 October 2026.* > This note was assembled from the publisher's page, Google Books, the authors' own sites, a fan-run blog that has read the book, one reviewer and interview pages. The book was published ten days before this note, and I did not read its text. The chapter outline therefore comes from a single secondary source (the fan blog's contents listing) and is marked as such. ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *On Jokes (or, why everything you know about comedy is wrong): The Hidden Mechanics of Funny* | | Authors | Jimmy Carr (stand-up comedian), Amanda Baker (comedy director) and Abi Grant (comedy writer), as described in the publisher's blurb | | Publisher and date | Quercus (a Hachette imprint); on sale 22 October 2026 per the [Quercus page](https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/jimmy-carr/on-jokes-or-why-everything-you-know-about-comedy-is-wrong/9781529454222/) and [Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/On_Jokes_or_why_everything_you_know_abou.html?id=UVPxEQAAQBAJ) | | ISBN | 978-1-5294-5422-2 (hardcover, £25), from the Quercus page. Two other ISBNs appear in secondary sources and are unverified: 978-1-5294-5423-9 (the fan blog) and 978-1-5294-5534-2 (in a Waterstones link on Amanda Baker's site). They may be other editions; I could not check | | Pages | 384 per Google Books. The fan blog says 400, and its contents listing runs to page 360 plus an epilogue. Treat the count as unconfirmed | | Formats | Hardcover and e-book (Quercus); audiobook (see section 2) | | Cover | None linked. A cover lookup by ISBN returned 404 and I did not check other sources | **Where it came up.** - Video: [Jimmy Carr: Stop Overthinking Your Life & Fix Your Anxious Mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE), *High Performance*. - Mentions: [16:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE&t=1004s) (he says he has written a book about how jokes work), [39:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE&t=2375s) (comedy is teachable; he wrote the book for this reason), [41:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE&t=2467s) (a story from the book) and [62:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE&t=3743s) (the main discussion, naming his co-authors; the chapter begins at 62:07). - Vault note: [[Video Summaries/High Performance/Jimmy Carr - Stop Overthinking Your Life & Fix Your Anxious Mind]]. ## 2. Book resources **Reference pages** - Publisher: [Quercus book page](https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/jimmy-carr/on-jokes-or-why-everything-you-know-about-comedy-is-wrong/9781529454222/) (blurb, price, retailer links; no page count or contents) - Google Books: [listing](https://books.google.com/books/about/On_Jokes_or_why_everything_you_know_abou.html?id=UVPxEQAAQBAJ) (384 pages, no preview or e-book) - Authors' pages: [Amanda Baker's On Jokes page](https://amandabakerdirectslive.com/) and [Abi Grant's site](https://abigrant.net/); [Jimmy Carr's site](https://www.jimmycarr.com/product/on-jokes/) - Fan blog with contents and news: [The Carr-Tell, On Jokes](https://thecarrtell.blog/on-jokes/) (unofficial) - Goodreads: [by ISBN](https://www.goodreads.com/book/isbn/9781529454222) (link responds; not read) - Open Library: no record found. The site was unreachable when I checked, so this is unchecked rather than absent. - WorldCat: not checked (it blocks automated requests). **Where to get it** - **Print and e-book:** [Amazon UK](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jokes-everything-about-comedy-wrong/dp/1529454220) (the link on Amanda Baker's site; the page would not load readable text for my script, so price and availability are unchecked). The Quercus page also lists Blackwell's, Bookshop.org, Foyles, Hive, Waterstones, TGJones and Wordery. The fan blog says the book was available in the US from 20 October; I could not confirm that from a publisher source. - **Audiobook:** the fan blog says it is on Audible, read by all three co-authors, 7 hours 56 minutes, recording completed 4 September 2026. I did not open an Audible page, so treat length and narrators as unverified. - **Libraries (free to members):** [Libby/OverDrive](https://libbyapp.com/search/query-jimmy%20carr%20on%20jokes) and [Hoopla](https://www.hoopladigital.com/search?q=jimmy%20carr%20on%20jokes). These are search links; availability was not confirmed, and a book this new may not yet be in library catalogues. - **Internet Archive lending:** not checked (Open Library was unreachable). - **Free full text:** none. The book is in copyright and I found no legal free copy. ## 3. Author biography **Jimmy Carr** ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carr)): - British and Irish comedian, presenter and writer, born 15 September 1972 in Isleworth, London. Diagnosed with dyslexia; read and wrote below the expected level until about ten or eleven. - Studied social and political science at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (first-class honours, 1994), then worked in marketing at Shell. He took voluntary redundancy in January 2000 and did his first paid stand-up gig that month. He has said a course in neuro-linguistic programming helped him see his mind was holding him back. - TV: *The Big Fat Quiz of the Year*, *8 Out of 10 Cats*, *8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown*, *I Literally Just Told You* and, from 2025, *LOL: Last One Laughing UK*. - Earlier books: *The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes* (2006, with Lucy Greeves; US title *Only Joking*) and *Before & Laughter* (Quercus, December 2021). - Public criticism of some jokes and events is recorded in the Controversy section of the same article (for example the 2009 soldiers joke, the 2021 Netflix special joke condemned by the Auschwitz Memorial, and the 2025 Riyadh Comedy Festival appearance). These are about his act, not about this book, and I did not weigh them. **Amanda Baker** ([her About page](https://amandabakerdirectslive.com/about/)): stand-up comedy director who says she has written, script-edited and directed hundreds of shows since 1999, with a background in music and an upbringing in the evangelical world that she says taught her what comics and preachers share. The fan blog says she gave Carr feedback on *Before and Laughter* and directed his audiobook recording. Self-described; not independently verified. **Abi Grant** ([her site](https://abigrant.net/)): comedy writer. The book's dust-jacket text, as quoted by the fan blog, says she sold her first joke at 18 and has written for sketch shows, West End musicals and BAFTA-nominated TV. The fan blog's [Amanda and Abi post](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/10/15/amanda-and-abi/) lists credits including *Hale and Pace*, *Spitting Image* and *Alas Smith and Jones*. These are secondary and unverified. ## 4. Author interviews and talks - [Jimmy Carr: Stop Overthinking Your Life & Fix Your Anxious Mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE), *High Performance*, the source video (title confirmed by YouTube's oEmbed record). The vault note summarises it. - [“We’re At The Beginning Of A Revolution” - Jimmy Carr \| Chris Williamson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAxNYd01I6E), *Modern Wisdom*. The fan blog says it was recorded on 13 July 2026 and that at about 1:24 he discusses teaching someone to write jokes ([blog post](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/08/10/modern-wisdom-2026/)). I did not watch it. - [JIMMY CARR: "Jokes Are Pleasure Bribes" \| Breaking Down The Science Of Comedy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rBY95PDZW8), Virgin Radio UK clip (title confirmed by oEmbed). The full Chris Evans interview, recorded 12 October 2026 per the [fan blog](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/10/13/chris-evans-radio-2026-10-12/), is on the [Acast episode page](https://shows.acast.com/chrisevansvirginuk/episodes/the-one-with-jimmy-carr-again), whose description says he discusses On Jokes, drama in schools, and "what a joke is". I did not listen to either. - Press: [The Mirror, 26 October 2026](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/jimmy-carr-comedy-drama-schools-37809135), quoting him that comedy "is a teachable skill" and should be taught in schools as part of drama. ## 5. Summary **Thesis.** The blurb frames the book as a "fully unified theory" of what makes jokes funny: how to identify families of jokes, decode their building blocks and learn "the real – and brand new – secret to comic timing". It is pitched as a manual for aspiring comedians and states that the book "can make anyone funny" ([Quercus](https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/jimmy-carr/on-jokes-or-why-everything-you-know-about-comedy-is-wrong/9781529454222/)). A reviewer summarises the book's claim as "joke problems are technical, not magical" ([Hard Knock Knocks](https://hardknockknocks.com/jimmy-carrs-on-jokes-up-there-with-einstein-but-still-down-in-the-gutter/)). A statement the fan blog attributes to Carr puts it as "It's not alchemy it's chemistry". **Structure** (from the fan blog's contents listing, which gives page ranges; I could not check it against the printed book): 1. **Part One: Jokes – A Field Guide** (pp. 17–118). Identifying jokes by "type versus function": misdirection, exaggeration, comparison, breakdowns, doubling down, reinterpretation, logic, wordplay, and a final family titled "Barefoot Incestuous Cousins" (imagine-if jokes, known jokes and phrases, lies, feats). 2. **Part Two: Jokes – Assembly Instructions** (pp. 119–262). Components: set-ups, punchlines and developments, a section on "hack" jokes, and longer forms (long-form jokes, compound jokes, routines). 3. **Part Three: Jokes – A User's Manual** (pp. 263–360), subtitled "performance is an act of faith". Pace, metre, breathing, key words and colour words, space, and rhythm, including rhythmic patterns for set-ups and punchlines ("comic timing" in the blog's wording). 4. Epilogue ("The Curse") and acknowledgements. The Hard Knock Knocks review gives the same three-part division (Field Guide, Assembly, User Manual). The fan blog adds that the book credits jokes to the comedians who wrote them and carries an over-18 warning; the review also warns that the joke examples are crude. **Key ideas.** - Comedy can be taught: the same claim Carr makes in the High Performance interview, where he says the book exists for that reason. - Jokes have identifiable structures (for example set-up, misdirect, punchline, tag) that can be separated and varied. - Timing is treated as learnable through pace, metre, breath, space and rhythm. In the video he says speech has a rhythm and an audience tunes into it. - Practice is still required. The Hard Knock Knocks reviewer reports a "two to five years" horizon in the book. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **mixed**. The publication facts are well sourced. The book's headline promises (a unified theory, a new secret to timing, "can make anyone funny") are marketing claims I could not test, and some supporting stories from the interviews do not check out. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | Quercus published *On Jokes* on 22 October 2026 with Carr, Baker and Grant | Supported | [Quercus](https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/jimmy-carr/on-jokes-or-why-everything-you-know-about-comedy-is-wrong/9781529454222/); [Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/On_Jokes_or_why_everything_you_know_abou.html?id=UVPxEQAAQBAJ) | | Subtitle is "The Hidden Mechanics of Funny" | Mixed | Google Books and the video note give this; the Quercus page shows no subtitle; the fan blog's book-details line says "The Secret Science of Making People Laugh" while its own heading says "Hidden Mechanics". Unresolved | | 384 pages | Unverified | Google Books says 384; the fan blog says 400 | | Audiobook: 7 h 56 min, read by all three authors | Unverified | Single fan-blog source; Audible not opened | | A "fully unified theory" of jokes and a "brand new" secret of comic timing | Unverified | Publisher blurb. A reviewer from a comedy school says the book delivers; that reviewer has a commercial interest in teaching comedy. I found no independent academic assessment | | "Can make anyone funny" | Unverified | Blurb. No study I found tests the book's method; the book itself says it takes years of practice (per the review) | | Stand-up comedy can be taught | Contested; no study found | Carr's position is repeated in the [Mirror](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/jimmy-carr-comedy-drama-schools-37809135). The Hard Knock Knocks reviewer, who runs a comedy school, agrees and cites more than 900 graduates, which is self-reported. The video note records Carr citing Seinfeld and Doug Stanhope as sceptics. The Seinfeld quotation ("if we ever teach stand-up comedy, which we never will because it cannot be done") appears in the Hard Knock Knocks review as quoted in the book; I found no primary transcript or recording | | Pope Gregory standardised church music, "11th century or whatever", giving chant and notation (told in the High Performance interview as a story in the book) | Inaccurate as stated in the video | Gregorian chant developed mainly in the 9th–10th centuries, and legend credits Gregory I, but scholars say he compiled melodies at most; the consensus is a Carolingian-era synthesis around 750 ([Wikipedia: Gregorian chant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_chant)). I do not know whether the book's own text repeats the error, since I did not read it | | Speech has a rhythm of 92 beats a minute with "a word every two and a half seconds" | Unverified | Said in the interview (vault note flags it as internally inconsistent: 92 beats a minute is about 0.65 s per beat). I did not check it against the book | | Carr read social and political science at Cambridge (first-class, 1994) and left Shell in 2000 for stand-up | Supported (single source) | [Wikipedia: Jimmy Carr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carr); I did not find the primary records | | Amanda Baker and Abi Grant's career claims | Unverified | Self-descriptions and dust-jacket text quoted by a fan blog | ## 7. Citations and references - Quercus Books, [On Jokes book page](https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/jimmy-carr/on-jokes-or-why-everything-you-know-about-comedy-is-wrong/9781529454222/). - Google Books, [On Jokes listing](https://books.google.com/books/about/On_Jokes_or_why_everything_you_know_abou.html?id=UVPxEQAAQBAJ). - The Carr-Tell (fan blog), [On Jokes](https://thecarrtell.blog/on-jokes/), [Amanda and Abi](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/10/15/amanda-and-abi/), [Chris Evans Radio 2026 10 12](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/10/13/chris-evans-radio-2026-10-12/), [Modern Wisdom 2026](https://thecarrtell.blog/2026/08/10/modern-wisdom-2026/). - Hard Knock Knocks, [REVIEW: Jimmy Carr's On Jokes](https://hardknockknocks.com/jimmy-carrs-on-jokes-up-there-with-einstein-but-still-down-in-the-gutter/). - Amanda Baker, [About](https://amandabakerdirectslive.com/about/); Abi Grant, [site](https://abigrant.net/). - The Mirror, [Jimmy Carr says comedy is a 'teachable skill'](https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/jimmy-carr-comedy-drama-schools-37809135), updated 26 October 2026. - Wikipedia, [Jimmy Carr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carr) and [Gregorian chant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_chant). - Video: [Jimmy Carr: Stop Overthinking Your Life & Fix Your Anxious Mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CotzNJNLEkE), *High Performance*.