what are some essential books to read for understanding/writing

>>9365534
Give up now.
If you don't intuit what's funny, there will be no way to teach you. Most stand-up routines and sitcoms rely on a single ruse: you think one thing is going to happen, but then tangentially related other thing happens –– and the juxtaposition of the two is funny.

>>9365543
I dont want to be taught I want to refine my skills

>>9365534
read screenplays for comedy movies

Comedy comes from something being unexpected and clever, which is why jokes become less funny the more they're repeated. It's nigh impossible to tell if something you're writing is genuinely funny because you wrote it, it's not unexpected and you can't tell if it's clever.

Literally just write something you think is funny and see if people laugh, then workshop it.

>>9365534
Infinite Laugh

>>9365645
what are you trying to tell me? practice until I get it right, making a complete ass of myself and humiliating myself in front of friends and strangers?

>>9365668
>practice until I get it right, making a complete ass of myself and humiliating myself in front of friends and strangers?
That's exactly what you have to do. You will fail a lot. It sucks but it's part of the process.