Personal Development

Write Funnier: An Online Comedy Writing Course

By July 11, 2018No Comments
write funnier online comedy writing course

Welcome To Write Funnier! An comedy writing course that’ll help take your skills to a new level. I’m super excited you are here.

What is the goal of Write Funnier?

The goal of Write Funnier is to help you expand your comedy writing tool belt. Only good things can come from having a funnier mindset and becoming a funnier writer.

Who Am I?

I’m Rob Cressy, the Founder of Bacon Sports, and I’ve studied comedy across the nation from some very talented teachers. This includes learning at Second City in Chicago, the same place that produced Tina Fey, Steven Colbert, and Chris Farley to name a few. While at Second City I took the Writing For The Onion classes taught by Scott Dikkers, one of the Co-Founders of the Onion, as well as Humor Writing For the Internet classes taught by David Wolinsky. I took copious notes during every class because I didn’t want to forget a single thing. I give credit to both of them for teaching me this information that I’m now sharing with you. I also recommend checking out more of Scott’s writing HERE and if you are in Chicago taking comedy writing classes at Second City.

My goal of taking classes at Second City was to acquire the comedic skills and knowledge that would help me become a better creator, marketer, and entrepreneur. That way my work & brand could stand out more, and I could make the world a better, funnier, and happier place.

You can follow me on social media: Twitter: @RobCressy and Instagram: @Rob_Cressy

Welcome to the Big Leagues

We’ll be talking about some high level comedic concepts with this online comedy writing course. One thing I hope to do is train you to think and write jokes like the best. The days of creating low grade humor are over.

It takes work to improve. This course will give you the knowledge, but that’s only half the battle. You’ve got to take this knowledge, and run with it. Make it a point to get better by writing headlines, jokes, ideas, scripts, or articles. Lots of them!

If you don’t grasp all of the concepts on the first try then I recommend going back over things.

“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” -Zig Ziglar

Foundation

It all starts with building a solid foundation, a comedic knowledge base that allows you to continue building and improving. It’s like building a home, you’ve got to understand the basics before you can add a sweet addition and swimming pool. To get you started, here are 21 Comedy Writing Tips that’ll be foundational to the way you think and write moving forward.

In Write Funnier one of the concepts is using funny filters to write jokes. Here is a condensed written version of all 11 Funny Filters that you can use for future reference. I like to have this open when I’m writing as it helps me write jokes easier and in different ways.

Lesson One

Title: Introduction to Write Funnier

Description: In Lesson One we set expectations and foundations for the course. Who is Rob Cressy? What is the goal of this course? We also talk about stepping up to the Big Leagues of comedy, defining your voice, and the two halves of the brain.

Lesson Time: 3 minutes

Lesson Two

Title: Comedy Writing Fundamentals

Description: In Lesson Two we talk about comedy writing fundamentals. Before you can build an awesome house of comedy you first have to know the fundamentals. These principles are the foundation that we’ll build upon.

Lesson Time: 4 minutes

Lesson Three

Title: Subtext

Description: In Lesson Three we talk about subtext. Understanding subtext is super important in taking your comedy writing to the next level. It’s the underlying theme of your joke.

Lesson Time: 3 minutes

Lesson Four

Title: Now It’s Time To Talk About Funny Filters

Description: In Lesson Four we talk about funny filters. There’s 11 of them and they can be used to create something funny. I learned about funny filters during my Writing For The Onion courses at Second City. The class was taught by Scott Dikkers, one of the Co-Founder’s of The Onion. Funny filters will make creating jokes easier and higher quality for you. Pay Attention!

Lesson Time: 2 min

Lesson Five

Title: Funny Filters: Reference, Shock, Hyperbole

Description: In Lesson Five we talk about the next three funny filters: reference, shock, and hyperbole.

Lesson Time: 4 minutes

Lesson Six

Title: Funny Filters: Parody, Wordplay, Analogy

Description: In Lesson Six we talk about the next three funny filters: parody, wordplay, analogy.

Lesson Time: 3 minutes

Lesson Seven

Title: Funny Filters: Madcap, Misplaced Focus, Metahumor

Description: In Lesson Seven we talk about the next three funny filters: madcap, misplaced focus, metahumor

Lesson Time: 3 minutes

Lesson Eight

Title:  Process & Structure

Description: In Lesson Eight we talk about process and structure. Things you can put in place to make your comedy writing life easier and better.

Lesson Time: 4 minutes

Lesson Nine

Title: Comedy Writing Tips

Description: In Lesson Nine we talk about comedy writing tips. Things that’ll make you a funnier writer.

Lesson Time: 3 minutes

Lesson Ten

Title: Closing Time

Description: In Lesson Ten we wrap everything up and give some final words of wisdom.

Lesson Time: 2 minutes

NOW GO MAKE IT HAPPEN!

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If you enjoyed this online comedy writing course then I recommend you sign up for the Bacon Sports newsletter. In it we drop comedy writing tips, plus ways to grow your personal brand.

Rob Cressy

Rob Cressy

Sports loving free throw specialist and yinzer living in Chicago who is awesome most of the time, has run with the bulls in Spain, and is a graduate of Second City's Improv program.