Humor Writing Resource

Everybody likes to laugh. It’s therapeutic. It’s nonfattening. It’s fun! Even more satisfying than laughing yourself is the ability to make others do so. –from The Everything Improve Your Writing Book by Pamela Rice Hahn

Like so many things in life, humor is a skill. Perfecting a skill takes work — and, in this case, study. Before you put your personal humor-writing abilities into practice, it helps to learn and understand the theories and concepts on what makes something funny.

	The Comedy Bible: From Stand-Up to Sitcom: The Comedy Writer’s Ultimate How-To-Guide by Judy Carter (2001) Fireside In this book, Carter gives you the step-by-step instructions necessary to hone your skills regardless of your humor-writing goals: creating your own stand-up routine, writing a spec sitcom, providing jokes for radio, or selling one-liners for greeting cards.
	Comedy Writing Secrets by Melvin Helitzer (2005) Writer’s Digest Books This book will teach you the theory behind what can make your writing funny.
	How to Write Funny: Add Humor to Every Kind of Writing by John B. Kachuba (Editor) (2001) Writer’s Digest Books In this book, 28 humorists teach you the business of being funny. It’s like getting personal instructions from such heavyweights as Dave Barry, P.J. O’Rourke, Jennifer Crusie, Tom Bodett, Bill Bryson, Joe R. Landsdale, Roy Blount, and others.
	Business Humor: Jokes & How to Deliver Them by Gene Perret (1998) Sterling Publications If you plan on doing any public speaking, you need this book!
	Comedy Writing: Teach Yourself by Jenny Roche (1999) McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books In this book, you’ll learn the nature of comedy, plus plenty of practical humor-writing exercises — and outlets for your results, including markets you may have overlooked like copywriting, radio, and spot cartoons.
	The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You’re Not by John Vorhaus (1994) Silman-James Press Lots of 5-star reviews on this book that will teach you the skills necessary to be a great comedy writer. Especially useful for those who want to write humor for television or film.
	Damn! That’s Funny!: Writing Humor You Can Sell by Gene Perret
	Laughing Out Loud: Writing the Comedy-Centered Screenplay by Andrew Horton (2000) University of California Press
	New Comedy Writing Step by Step by Gene Perret (2007) Quill Driver Books This book was originally published in 1982. The last edition had useful, but dated, examples — from shows that you can catch in syndication like Happy Days and older comedians like Phyllis Diller.
	What Are You Laughing at: How to Write Funny Screenplays, Stories, & More by Brad Schreiber (2003) Michael Wiese Productions Multiple 5-star reviews for this book!
	Writing Humor: How to Write Funny Articles, Columns & Letters for Profit & Pleasure by Ken Pearson (1998) How to Books Ltd (Note: Out of print; limited availability)
	Writing Humor: Creativity and the Comic Mind by Mary Ann Rishel (2002) Wayne State University Press This is a college textbook that will teach you the basics of humor writing — from comedy to a satirical essay to a joke monologue.
	Writing the Comedy Film: Make ‘Em Laugh by Stuart Voytilla, Scott Petri (2003) Michael Wiese Productions
	Writing the Romantic Comedy by Billy Mernit (2001) HarperResource

Index for the Improve Your Writing Pages

Related posts:

1. Letters and Thank You Notes — Letter-Writing Resource

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.