The Unofficial Comedy Writing Resource Guide
The resources that were key to my improvement in my first year of comedy
The Short of It - TLDR
The Comedy Bible : From Stand-Up to Sitcom--the Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How to" Guide By Judy Carter
The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How To Say Something Funny About Anything by Sally Holloway
Comedy Writing for Late Night TV by Joe Toplyn
How To Write Funny: Your Serious, Step-By-Step Blueprint For Creating
Incredibly, Irresistibly, Successfully Hilarious Writing by Scott Dikkers
The Long of It
Friends have been asking me how I got started performing and what helped me write. Having gone through multiple versions of this post through text, one friend recommended that I put it together for the rest of the world to see. So, here we are.
I read a lot of theory but, the books alone won’t make you a better comic. I like the blended approach of improving in comedy through reading theory, writing, and going on stage to practice what I read or wrote.
Mind you, I’m writing this without hubris and with the total awareness I’m only one year in and have miles and miles to go before I’m even considered to be an ‘okay’ writer/comic. Shameless plug of my material here.
With that in mind, these resources helped me get better at writing humor pieces and writing for stand up.* I’ve provided them in the order that, if I had to do it all again, I would read them in:
*I DO NOT GET PAID IF YOU BUY FROM THE LINKS. I don’t care if you buy from where I’ve linked! I’ve provided the links as a way to save you the extra search and money - I linked the cheapest deals.
The Comedy Bible : From Stand-Up to Sitcom--the Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How to" Guide By Judy Carter
Biggest take away is the simple formula you can start with - I feel emotion towards subject. Ex. I’m confused about there being so many different types of towels. Are there different types of wet? You would keep adding onto this and maybe do an act out and tag tag tag tag.
It’s an extremely simple formula that is in every. single. stand-up special. Don’t believe me? Check, watch all of them, I dare you. Consider it the training wheel formula that helps share your funny thoughts and amplify them with emotion.
The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How To Say Something Funny About Anything by Sally Holloway
IMO offers the best framework to explore premises - the joke web. I make a joke web every time I write. Spending about an hour visually diagramming a joke really has really helped me explore the nooks and crannies of a topic and has helped me find tags where I didn’t know they’d be. The emotion piece from Judy’s + the joke web = gold when it comes to comedy writing.
Here’s a great review of the book by David Mend. It’s what originally put me onto the book and David does it way more justice than I do.
Comedy Writing for Late Night TV by Joe Toplyn:
My favorite book overall. Although written for the intention of landing a TV job, the book serves as a great how-to on writing different genres of comedy - monologues, sketches, and desk pieces (think Weekend Update).
I like the comparison exercise on exploring a topic. Joes was great in offering references alongside the concept he was covering. It was great to be able look up footage and see how the concept played out on TV.
How To Write Funny: Your Serious, Step-By-Step Blueprint For Creating
Incredibly, Irresistibly, Successfully Hilarious Writing by Scott Dikkers:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Funny-Step-Step/dp/1499196121
I didn’t find it to be extremely applicable to stand up but it is great when in regards to writing for humor pieces. Really made me think about the limited scope of funny characters and I often go back to their definition of a premise.
I’ve included an honorable mention at the end - Gulman’s tweets/tips. The tweets/tips are great pieces of advice on how to pursue comedy - one of the most ambiguous, choose-your-own-adventure-esque things I’ve ever done - from a GOAT veteran comic.
That’s it. That’s what’s helped me. I’m not great, I’m not even okay (you be the judge, shameless plug of my own material here), but I think those resources helped me go from hot trash to recyclable trash. If you read them, let me know what you think and if they helped you!
Honorable mention
Gulman’s tweets/tips:
https://www.vulture.com/article/gary-gulman-comedy-tips.html
The first two Gulman tips are in the top two of all time tips:
Tip No. 1: Record Every Set. Listen to it, and transcribe everything you want to say again.
Tip No. 2: Write out a favorite joke word-for-word one sentence at a time. After completing each sentence, analyze each word. Why does it work? How do the syllables of the words create rhythm? How do the sentences build to the punchline? What’s the grammar of comedy? You can do [Tip No. 2] at any stage, but probably it’s best early on in your career. If it sounds daunting to write out entire jokes, you should know that the immortal Hunter S. Thompson transcribed The Great Gatsby word-for-“w-o-r-d.”
Great writing examples
Brian Regan is the man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40Cob10FI0
Nate Bargatze SNL: