Overview

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” – Mel Brooks

“Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and put a little curlicue at the end.” – Sid Caesar

“Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested, and the frog dies of it.” – E.B. White

“Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.” – Steve Martin

“Patty Marx is the best teacher at Columbia University.” – Patty Marx

One of the above quotations is false. Find out which one in this humor-writing workshop with widely published writer Patricia Marx, designed for writers at all levels who want to expand their comedic skills and portfolio. We’ll read, listen to, and watch comedic samples from both famous and under-the-radar humorists. How could you not have fun in a class that watches and critiques sketches from Monty Python, Nichols and May, Key and Peele, Mitchell & Webb, Amy Schumer, Mel Brooks, and more? The focus, though, will be on your own writing. Students will complete weekly and in-class assignments designed to build the element of surprise—the kind that leads to laughter, not heartbreak. We’ll explore irony, irreverence, hyperbole, misdirection, subtext, wordplay, the rule of three, paraprosdokians (look it up), and, of course, repetition. And repetition.