Author Scott Dikkers will show you how to write jokes. He's a master joke writer, founder of the world's most popular humor site TheOnion.com, #1 New York Times and #1 Amazon best-selling humor author, and successful cartoonist. Scott created and leads the "Writing with The Onion" training center at the famed Second City in Chicago. His students have been hired for the top comedy writing jobs in TV and won dozens of Emmy Awards. He's consulted for top entertainment companies like NBC, Comedy Central, and Pixar.
This easy-to-follow guide lays out a clear system and simple formula for how to write a joke that will get big, milk-coming-out-of-your-nose laughs, reliably and repeatably. You'll learn...
* The 3 sure-fire ways to generate material
* The 11 different kinds of jokes and how to tell them
* The secret to overcoming writer's block--permanently
* And many more tips, tricks, and techniques
Table of Contents
1 IntroductionUse the techniques in this book to reliably create top-notch humor writing (page 11)
2 Your Brain's Comedy EngineAccess both hemispheres of your brain to eliminate writer's block and tap an endless reserve of comedy ideas (page 21)
3 The Humor Writer's Biggest ProblemOvercome this one devastating obstacle to reach the widest possible audience (page 29)
4 How To Get LaughsUnderstand the different kinds of laughs, and how to generate the best one (page 43)
5 The Secret IngredientInfuse your humor with this vital component to create writing that makes people laugh (page 57)

6 The 11 Funny FiltersCreate any joke using the 11 fundamental building blocks of humor (page 67)
Funny Filter 1: Irony (page 68)
Funny Filter 2: Character (page 70)
Funny Filter 3: Shock (page 76)
Funny Filter 4: Hyperbole (page 80)
Funny Filter 5: Wordplay (page 83)
Funny Filter 6: Reference (page 88)
Funny Filter 7: Madcap (page 92)
Funny Filter 8: Parody (page 90)
Funny Filter 9: Analogy (page 100)
Funny Filter 10: Misplaced Focus (page 104)
Funny Filter 11: Metahumor (page 106)
7 Using The Funny FiltersLayer the building blocks to create increasingly hilarious jokes (page 113)
8 Process OverviewMaster this simple system to become a prolific humor writer (page 137)
If you've wondered how you can start writing jokes, how to tell jokes to your friends, how to add humor to your writing, how to add jokes in a speech, or how to add humor to your presentation, this book spells out the simple joke writing formula professionals use.
