And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft
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Mad's Greatest Artists: The Completely Mad Don Martin — Don Martin
Nonsense Novels — Stephen Leacock
Diary of a Flying Man — Randy Cohen
Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays; Naked; Me Talk Pretty One Day; Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim; and When You Are Engulfed in Flames — David Sedaris
Et Tu, Babe — Mark Leyner
Getting Even; Without Feathers; Side Effects — Woody Allen
Lolita; Pale Fire — Vladimir Nabokov
Stern; The Collected Short Fiction of Bruce Jay Friedman — Bruce Jay Friedman
Shock Value; Crackpot — John Waters
Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead Is Purely Coincidental; Warts and All — Drew Friedman and Josh Alan Friedman
The Blade: Shellville High School Yearbook; The Lazlo Letters — Don Novello
Home Land: A Novel — Sam Lipsyte
The Office: The Scripts, Series One and Two — Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant
Being There (both the book and the screenplay) — Jerzy Kosinski
The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Screenplays, Volume 2 (includes Network) — Paddy Chayefsky
Jenny and the Jaws of Life: Short Stories — Jincy Willett
The Complete Crumb Comics: Volume 1 through 17 — Robert Crumb
Brain Droppings; Napalm & Silly Putty; When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? — George Carlin
Daddy's Boy: A Son's Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father — Chris Elliott and Bob Elliott
Write If You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray; From Approximately Coast to Coast: It's The Bob & Ray Show; The New! Improved! Bob & Ray Book — Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding
The Shroud of the Thwacker; Into Hot Air: Mounting Mount Everest — Chris Elliott
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments — David Foster Wallace
In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash; Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters; A Fistful of Fig Newtons — Jean Shepherd
The Good Times Are Killing Me — Lynda Barry
Most of the Most of S.J. Perelman — S.J. Perelman
Dispatches from the Tenth Circle: The Best of the Onion; Our Dumb Century: 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source — The Staff of The Onion
“The Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of O.C. and Stiggs,” National Lampoon, October 1982 — Ted Mann and Tod Carroll
The Complete Far Side: 1980–1994 — Gary Larson
Cruel Shoes; Pure Drivel — Steve Martin
A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Re-examined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations — Cintra Wilson
You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Hero! — Bob Powers
Rock On — Dan Kennedy
We All Die Alone — Mark Newgarden
Mass Historia: 365 Days of Historical Facts and (Mostly) Fictions — Chris Regan
Ghost World; David Boring; Twentieth Century Eightball — Daniel Clowes
Ghost World: A Screenplay — Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff
The Time Machine Did It; Dead Men Scare Me Stupid; How I Conquered Your Planet; The Exploding Detective; Double Wonderful — John Swartzwelder
Boring Postcards USA — Martin Parr
A Practical Guide to Racism — C.H. Dalton
The Best of Scharpling and Wurster (CDs) — Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster
Apocalypse How: Turn the End-Times into the Best of Times! — Rob Kutner
Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, Health-Inspected Cartoons by Roz Chast, 1978–2006 — Roz Chast
Elementary Education — Mark O'Donnell
Oh, the Humanity!: A Gentle Guide to Social Interaction for the Feeble Young Introvert — Jason Roeder
What I'd Say to the Martians and Other Veiled Threats — Jack Handey
Now Dig This: The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern (1950–1995) — Terry Southern
Author's Notes
Thanks and love …
To Cindy, Kevin, Brandon, Carli, Bonnie, Howard, Aunt Reeves, Ken, Jamie, Lauren, Stacey, Alex, B.J., Scott, Bess, Chris, Marisa, Stacey, Bob, Alan, Sarah.
To Gloria Ayalde.
To John Banta, Robert Walsh, Carol Mann, Jim Windolf, Chris Scott, Pria Narayanan, John Fahey.
To my friends: Elaine Trigiani, Eamon Lynch, Todd Pruzan, Kathryn Belgiorno, Lisa Fragner, RJ, Mike Hogan, Julian Sancton, Dana Brown, John and Janine, Frank Santopadre, Doug Stumpf, Bruce Handy, Corey and Cheryl Spound, Justin Bishop, Jane Herman, Melanie Berliet, Adam Laukhuf, Dave Katz, Brian Gallagher, Jane Borden, Will Tracy, Rob Kutner, Mr. and Mrs. Catfish, Andy Tepper and Shona Shakravartty, Steve Whitesell, Marie Warsh, Steve Bopp, Brad Engelstein, Sohaila Shakib, Sarah Hepburn, Dana Spivak, Callie Wright, Alison Forbes, Helen Vera, Walter Owen, Pat and Rosemary, David Brody, Brad Engelstein, Mary Flynn, David Gendelman, Ben Kalin, the Ayaldes, Jabari Asim, Buzz Bissinger, Leigh Cheng, Linda and Andrea, Chris Strompolis, Marlena Bittner, Frank Ahrens, Chris and Jen Hickman, the Wolfes, Mike Batistick, the Leus, the Pengs, Linda, Aliyah and Donald, Whitney Pastorek, the other Mike Sacks, Dave Reidy, Tanner Colby, Sarah Lichtman, Rachel Kueny, Noah, Lane Addonizio, Kerry Breen, Bill Bradley, Elyse Kroll, Louis and Nadia, Dan Bova, Claire Zulkey, Steve Delahoyde, Brad Shore, Michelle Longo, Mark Miester, Strath and Emily, John and Jan Anderson, Cynthia Baughmann, Katie I., the library at Montgomery Community College in Rockville, Jeff Cooper at Radio Hut, the upstanding citizens of the planned community of New Granada (“Tomorrow's City … Today”), and Natalie & Alison (I'm sorry).
Lastly … for Charlie Cocoa, Fritzy the Bumblebee, and The Professor, 143.
About the Author
Mike Sacks has written for such publications as The Believer, Esquire, GQ, Maxim, McSweeney's, The New Yorker, Premiere, Radar, Salon, Time, Time Out New York, Vanity Fair, Vice, and Women's Health. He has worked at The Washington Post and is currently on the editorial staff of Vanity Fair.
Additional interviews can be found at www.andheresthekicker.com.
More Great Resources From Writer's Digest Books
THE WRITE BRAIN WORKBOOK
366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing
by Bonnie Neubauer
This one-of-a-kind guide provides a full year of writing exercises and games designed to get thoughts brewing and the pen moving across the page. Turn on the right side of your brain to stimulate creativity and generate work, painlessly leading yourself into new writing every day. You'll never have to face a blank page again.
ISBN: 978-1-58297-355-5 • paperback; 384 pages • #10986
THE ART AND CRAFT OF STORYTELLING
by Nancy Lamb
A good story flows from a solid understanding of writing and structure, along with a confident grasp of character, plot, and dialogue. This book covers those fundamentals and more. Whether writing a traditional novel, a children's picture book, or an experimental genre work, all writers will find a firm foundation in classic storytelling techniques with this helpful guide. The gift for storytelling is more than just instinctive; it's a craft, and this book is the guide to honing it.
ISBN: 978-1-58297-559-7 • paperback; 272 pages • #Z2494
COMEDY WRITING SECRETS, 2ND EDITION
by Mel Helitzer, with Mark Shatz
Updated and revised, this new edition of the best-selling favorite draws upon a broad base of comic talent, including contemporary comedians such as Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, to help you master the fundamentals of humor writing. You'll gain instruction on a wide variety of techniques — from writing one-liners and standup routines to finding a market for your work. This book will teach you how to think, write, and act funny and then laugh all the way to the bank with the pay you'll receive from your talent.
ISBN: 978-1-58297-357-9 • paperback; 352 pages • #10988
Table of Contents
More Great Resources From Writer's Digest Books
Foreword, by Adam McKay
Afte
rword to the First Foreword, by Jim Windolf
Introduction
BUCK HENRY (Get Smart, The Graduate, Catch-22, To Die For)
STEPHEN MERCHANT (The Office, Extras)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part One: Getting Hired as a Sitcom Writer
HAROLD RAMIS (National Lampoon's Animal House, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Two: Getting Humor Published in Magazi
DAN MAZER (Da Ali G Show, Borat, Bruno)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Three: Finding a Literary Agent for Yo
MERRILL MARKOE (Late Night with David Letterman)
PAUL FEIG (Freaks and Geeks, Kick Me, Superstud)
IRVING BRECHER (The Wizard of Oz, At the Circus, Go West, Meet Me in St. Louis)
BOB ODENKIRK (The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David)
TODD HANSON (The Onion)
MARSHALL BRICKMAN (The Tonight Show, Annie Hall, Manhattan, The Muppet Show)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Four: Getting Your Humor Piece Publish
MITCH HURWITZ (Arrested Development)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Five: Acquiring an Agent or Manager fo
DAVID SEDARIS (Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day)
GEORGE MEYER (Army Man, The Simpsons)
AL JAFFEE (Mad's Fold-In, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions”)
ALLISON SILVERMAN (The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Colbert Report)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Six: Getting a Job as a Writer for Lat
ROBERT SMIGEL (Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, “TV Funhouse”)
DAVE BARRY (Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex)
DICK CAVETT (The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show)
LARRY WILMORE (In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show, The Daily Show, The Office)
JACK HANDEY (Saturday Night Live, The New Yorker)
LARRY GELBART (Caesar's Hour, M*A*S*H, Tootsie)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Seven: Getting Your Comic Book or Grap
ROZ CHAST (The New Yorker)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Eight: Getting a Book of Humor Publish
DANIEL HANDLER (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Nine: Selling Your Movie Script to a S
BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN (Stir Crazy, Splash)
DANIEL CLOWES (Ghost World, Esquire, New York Times Magazine)
Canned Laughter: A History Reconstructed
Recommended Reading
Table of Contents
More Great Resources From Writer's Digest Books
Foreword, by Adam McKay
Afterword to the First Foreword, by Jim Windolf
Introduction
BUCK HENRY (Get Smart, The Graduate, Catch-22, To Die For)
STEPHEN MERCHANT (The Office, Extras)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part One: Getting Hired as a Sitcom Writer
HAROLD RAMIS (National Lampoon's Animal House, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Two: Getting Humor Published in Magazi
DAN MAZER (Da Ali G Show, Borat, Bruno)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Three: Finding a Literary Agent for Yo
MERRILL MARKOE (Late Night with David Letterman)
PAUL FEIG (Freaks and Geeks, Kick Me, Superstud)
IRVING BRECHER (The Wizard of Oz, At the Circus, Go West, Meet Me in St. Louis)
BOB ODENKIRK (The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David)
TODD HANSON (The Onion)
MARSHALL BRICKMAN (The Tonight Show, Annie Hall, Manhattan, The Muppet Show)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Four: Getting Your Humor Piece Publish
MITCH HURWITZ (Arrested Development)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Five: Acquiring an Agent or Manager fo
DAVID SEDARIS (Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day)
GEORGE MEYER (Army Man, The Simpsons)
AL JAFFEE (Mad's Fold-In, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions”)
ALLISON SILVERMAN (The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Colbert Report)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Six: Getting a Job as a Writer for Lat
ROBERT SMIGEL (Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, “TV Funhouse”)
DAVE BARRY (Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex)
DICK CAVETT (The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show)
LARRY WILMORE (In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show, The Daily Show, The Office)
JACK HANDEY (Saturday Night Live, The New Yorker)
LARRY GELBART (Caesar's Hour, M*A*S*H, Tootsie)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Seven: Getting Your Comic Book or Grap
ROZ CHAST (The New Yorker)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Eight: Getting a Book of Humor Publish
DANIEL HANDLER (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Quick and Painless Advice for the Aspiring Humor Writer, Part Nine: Selling Your Movie Script to a S
BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN (Stir Crazy, Splash)
DANIEL CLOWES (Ghost World, Esquire, New York Times Magazine)
Canned Laughter: A History Reconstructed
Recommended Reading