The Fun of the Story: Humor Writing

In this generative workshop, we will study a variety of comedic forms and styles including satire, parody, sketch and joke writing. We’ll think about how comedy comes simply from finding the fun in the story we want to tell. We take our fun seriously, thinking about how comedy can be used to challenge constructs of identity and power. How can humor be illuminating?  How can humor be feminist? How can humor be intersectional? How can humor help us tell the hard truths?  Can we laugh at oppression without laughing it off? The fun of the story is sometimes a good joke, sometimes it’s simply that we’ve lived to tell. Coursework will include in-class writing exercises and short pieces through which students will develop a research question that they will work into a final research presentation.