A book whose aim is to teach anyone to write funnier, from short humor and satire to essays and memoir to psychiatric intake forms. Each chapter has technical and practical instruction to turn comedy outsiders into insiders and non-funny readers into funny writers. Included at no extra cost: brainstorming and writing exercises, prompts, and pep talks that will take your writing from nonexistent to shitty first draft to award-deserving. The book covers the basics — finding topics to write and joke about — and actually writing jokes and joking about what you “shouldn’t” joke about.
The authors interviewed almost 100 professional comedians, published authors, screenwriters, and speechwriters and those are sprinkled throughout the book. Part writing guide, creativity bible and therapy session, Inside Jokes tells secrets most writers learn through trial, error and professional humiliation.
About the WashU author
Elissa Bassist, AB ’07, is the author of the memoir Hysterical, a semifinalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor, and the creator of the “Funny Women” column on The Rumpus. She’s worked in media and publishing since 2007, as a managing editor, an associate editor, an assistant editor, a TV and film writer’s assistant, a producer, a performer, a speaker and a barista. Her humor and sad essays have appeared in over 30 publications and anthologies, and she’s taught for over 20 writing programs. Bassist was profiled in WashU Magazine in 2024. She lives in Brooklyn and is probably her therapist’s favorite.