Last week I taught a comedy writing workshop through Talia Stone’s The Story Lounge. It was so fun. As I’m sure you know, I love teaching workshops, and digging down into the art and science of comedy writing was top-tier. I had three hours and although the time flew by, I still had time to get deep into the weeds and explore some fruitful side roads to get to our destination.
For example, did we watch a Kids in the Hall sketch? You bet we did!
And I think everyone was similarly enthused by the subject matter, and by taking their own weird ideas and crafting them into something more. And contributing inputs and punchlines for other people’s weird ideas. So, all in all, a complete win.
But the coolest thing was perhaps that I noticed as we went on, that there were overarching lessons that extended well beyond comedy itself.
Quantity is a type of quality
The first thing we did was tell our inner censor to take a seat. In fact, we all had a chance to say “Fuck it!” out loud, ideally to give ourselves the permission to follow our impulses and intuitions. And it seemed to work.
The important part is this: good stuff comes on the other side of a bunch of mediocre ideas. Don’t wait for brilliance. Just get going.
An example I used which I think is very appropriate is that comedy writing is like mining. You don’t swing your pickaxe once and knock a gem out of the rock wall. You gotta dig. You sift. You swing that pickaxe a hundred times. Then you sift through the rubble and maybe you find something worth polishing.
And then, once you’ve got a nugget, that’s when the real work begins: sanding, refining, cutting, reworking, polishing. Again and again.
This principle applies to any creative work. The blank page intimidates because we’re hoping that our first attempt is somehow incredible. But that doesn’t happen; quantity creates the raw material that quality emerges from. Write the bad jokes to get to the good ones. Draft the clunky sentences to have the raw material to make the clean ones.
Mechanics matter (and so does vocabulary)
I brought a handout breaking down premise, set-up, punchline, tags, and heightening and a few other key bits of terminology. It felt like opening a toolbox for people who’d only been using their bare hands for DIY projects. They had what they needed to do the jobs they were working on.
One participant said having the terms gave her a way to “name the fog”— and that’s exactly it. You can’t fix an engine if you pop the hood and all the parts are just “that whatsit” or “the long snakey thing.”
Having language for your craft unlocks your ability to improve at that craft. When you can identify what’s not working, you can fix it. When you can name the techniques that do work, you can repeat them.
This extends beyond comedy. Every field has its vocabulary of tools and techniques. Learning the names gives you power over the process.
Group mind is real-time magic
After one writing exercise, I had people share ideas and get input from others. It evolved into an incredibly productive mini writer’s room. People had jokes they couldn’t quite crack, and others offered succinct punchlines or surprising comparisons that closed the circle.
Someone had a weird-but-promising premise—ballpits on airplanes—that people jumped on and helped shape into something stronger and weirder. Laughs were exchanged. Jokes got sharper. The energy crackled.
Being in the same room and building ideas without ego creates magic. Individual creativity is powerful, but collective creativity is explosive. People trusted each other enough to share half-formed ideas. Magic happened.
The aftermath
I left feeling energized. Part of it was spending the evening teaching about something I love. But I also got to lead a writers’ room, which reminded me why I fell in love with collaborative creativity in the first place.
Comedy is a muscle – make sure to exercise it.
There’ll be another workshop in the fall. Keep an eye out if you want to experience that kind of creative electricity for yourself.
Oh, and that Kids in the Hall sketch I mentioned? It’s a little classic called Citizen Kane. Here you go.
