How to Write Funny
WRIT S4810 - 3 POINTS
WRITING
SUMMER 2024
SESSION A: MAY 20–JUNE 28, 2024 - PATRICIA MARX
TUES THURS, 1:00PM–4:10PM - IN PERSON
This class tends to fill early, but spots can open up as students' plans change. Interested students who cannot register because the course is at capacity should visit Student Services Online (SSOL) regularly to check for new availability.
A workshop for funny people who want to write funnier, un-funny people who want to write funny, and everyone else. We will read, listen to, and watch comedic samples from well-known and semi-known humorists, including Mark Twain, James Thurber, S.J. Perelman, Dorothy Parker, Charles Portis, Ian Frazier, Paul Rudnick, Steve Martin, Woody Allen, Nora Ephron, Roz Chast, David Rakoff, Fran Lebowitz, Bruce Jay Friedman, Calvin Trillin, Dave Barry, Sloane Crosley, George Saunders, Donald Barthelme, Maria Semple, Monty Python, Key and Peele, Mitchell and Webb, French and Saunders, Nichols and May, Saturday Night Live (to name a few!) Despite E.B. White’s analysis of humor analysis (“…like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it”), we will try to figure out why these works—and yours—succeed or fail to make us laugh. There will be in-class exercises and weekly writing assignments. Students already working on projects are welcome to develop them here.
Columbia students do not need to apply, but they do need to register. All visiting students will need to apply to the School of Professional Studies and register upon acceptance.