How to Write, Think, and Be Funnier
  • Welcome! (Don't Panic! This is Going to Be Fun!)
  • Let's Tackle the World's Big Myth About Humor (Yes you CAN learn to be funnier!)
  • How to Study Humor (Without Slipping Into a Stupor of Drooly Boredom)
  • Slither Into the Brains of Your Favorite Humorists and Harness Their Brilliance
  • The Universal Rule for Absolutely Everything That's Funny
  • Finding Funny: Humor is Everywhere. You Need This Important Tool to Capture It
  • Section One "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.
  • Free Workbook: Exercises to Accompany Each Section
  • Free E-Book: "Read at Your Own Risk" (Humor columns referenced in this course)
Set-Ups and Punch Lines
  • The One-Two Punch: The Two Key Components to Being Hilarious
  • The One-Two Punch in Action: "Almost Live" and "Saturday Night Live" clips
  • Punching at the Right Moment: Why Good Jokes Flop -- And How to Fix That
  • Your Hero Up a Tree: Professional Humorists Use This Formula to Craft Wild Tales
  • The "Hero Up a Tree" Technique in Action: SNL's "Luvahs in the Hot Tub" sketch
  • Tweaking Your Words: How Specific Details Can Take You from Bland to Hilarious
  • Comedy Lab: Rough It!
  • Section Two "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.
Beginnings, Silly Putty, and Endings
  • Blast Off! - How to Reel In Your Readers Immediately
  • Dive In!
  • Shaping Your Hot, Hot Body ... with Silly Putty!
  • The End: Spiders Down the Drain & How to Take Advantage of Short Attention Spans
  • Section Three "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.
Twelve Techniques for Making Things Funny (And Funnier)
  • The Twelve Techniques: Your Bag of Tricks to Draw From When Writing Punch Lines
  • Parallels: The Fine Art of Incongruity
  • Binky the Rat
  • Parallels in Action: Eddy Izzard's Death Star Canteen (The Lego Edition)
  • Takes-of-Three and U-Turns: How to Yank Your Audience Where They Least Expect It
  • Bad Math: Why Some Numbers are Funnier than Others
  • The Fine Art of Telling Lies (Dave Barry's Not Making This Up?)
  • Twisted Interpretations: How to Get Your Readers Naked
  • Uh-Oh! (How to Build Comedic Tension)
  • For Better or Worse: Superiority, Inferiority and False Bravado
  • Superiority in Action: Glove and Boot's "Vertical Video Syndrome"
  • False Bravado in Action: Stephen Colbert vs. Google
  • Repetition and Callbacks: Lessons From the Soup Nazi
  • Repetition in Action: Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" episode.
  • Section Four "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.
Tightening and Pacing
  • Don't Drown Your Jokes! - Why Fewer Words Mean More Laughs
  • Prune Your Words and Tighten Your Tales for Maximum Impact
  • Why You Should Always be Willing to Throw Away Your Best Joke
  • Timing is Everything: How to Use Comedic Pauses in Both Spoken and Written Humor
  • How to Scream: Crank Up the Volume in Your Punch Lines!
  • Survival Tips for Public Speakers: What to Do if Your Audience Doesn't Laugh
  • Section Five "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.
Expose Yourself!
  • Where, Why, and How to Publish Your Humor
  • Dot-Comedy: Launching Your Humor Writing Career on the Internet
  • Publishing Your Humor in Newspapers and Magazines
  • How to Play the Odds and Get Published
  • Go Be Funny! This is Your Final Lesson but the Party is Just Getting Started!
  • Section Six "Cheat Sheet" Summary: A one-page review of what we've learned.