And Here's the Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft

Every great joke has a punch line, and every great humor writer has an arsenal of experiences, anecdotes, and obsessions that were the inspiration for that humor. In fact, those who make a career out of entertaining strangers with words are a notoriously intelligent and quirky lot. And boy, do they have some stories.

In this entertaining and inspirational book, you'll hear from 21 top humor writers as they discuss the comedy-writing process, their influences, their likes and dislikes, and their experiences in the industry. You'll also learn some less useful but equally amusing things, such as:

• How screenwriter Buck Henry came up with the famous "plastics" line for "The Graduate."
• How many times the cops were called on co-writers Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer during the shooting of "Borat."
• What David Sedaris thinks of his critics.
• What creator Paul Feig thinks would have happened to the "Freaks and Geeks" crew if the show had had another season.
• What Jack Handey considers his favorite "Deep Thoughts."
• How Todd Hanson and the staff of The Onion managed to face the aftermath of 9/11 with the perfect dose of humor.
• How Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais created the original version of "The Office."
• What it's really like in the writers' room at SNL.