What Are You Laughing At?

**Winner of the 2022 William Randolph Hearst Award for Outstanding Service in Professional Journalism**

“People have forgotten how to be funny,” says Chris Vogler in his foreword to What Are You Laughing at? Luckily, experienced and award-winning humor writer Brad Schreiber is here to remind us all how it’s done. If laughter is the best medicine, be prepared to feel fit as a fiddle after perusing these pages. Brad’s clever wit and well-timed punch lines are sure to leave you grasping your sides, while his wise advice will ensure that you’re able to follow in his comedic footsteps.

With more than seventy excerpts from such expert prose and screenwriters as Woody Allen, Steve Martin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., as well as unique writing exercises for all situations, this comprehensive tutorial will teach you how to write humor prose for any literary form, including screenwriting, story writing, theater, television, and audio/radio. Additionally, readers are given sage advice on different tactics for writing comedic fiction versus comedic nonfiction. Some of the topics discussed include:
 

• Life experience versus imagination
• How to use humor to develop theme/setting, character, and dialogue
• Rhythm and sound of words
• Vulgarity and bad taste
• How to market your humor prose in the digital market


• Thoroughly revised and updated, and with new information on writing short, humorous films, What Are You Laughing at? is your endless source to learning the art of comedy.

Brad Schreiber has worked as a writer in all forms of media. He has sold and optioned screenplays, was nominated for the Kingman Films KASA Award for his script The Couch, and has won awards from the Edward Albee Foundation, the California Writers Club, STAGES Theater Festival, and the National Audio Theater Festival. He teaches humor writing for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and screenwriting for Columbia College of Chicago at CBS Studio Center. He is also the author of Weird Wonders and Blunders.

"At last. A how-to book by someone who actually knows how to." —Larry Gelbart, M*A*S*H (TV), Tootsie

“Brad Schreiber has the rare gift of demonstrating the art of comic writing even as he teaches it. He’s like one of those professors whose class you couldn’t sleep through. Laugh and learn.” —Phil Proctor, writer, performer, cofounder, The Firesign Theatre

“From stand-up to The Simpsons to comedic fiction, Brad Schreiber weaves a tapestry of humor to wrap the imagination around.” —Dr. James Ragan, director, USC Professional Writing Program

“With the delicacy of a lover with a twitch, Brad Schreiber lifts the skirts of comedy and bares her naked truths.” —Paul Guay, co-screenwriter, Liar Liar, The Little Rascals, Heartbreakers

“Brad Schreiber has taken the very serious business of humor writing and made it accessible, instructive and, above all, humorous. His range of knowledge on the subject is impressive—whether citing Franz Kafka or George Carlin—and there’s much to be learned from his book even without all the great jokes.” —Jane Heller, novelist, The Secret Ingredient, Lucky Stars, Female Intelligence

“Do not buy this book. Do not read this book. Refuse to accept this book if given to you. I have enough competition.” —Jim Kouf, screenwriter, Rush Hour

“Okay, I know what I am laughing at: What Are You Laughing At? Schreiber nails the essentials of writing comedy.” —Marybeth Menacer, president, National Writers Union

“A book that’s as thoughtful and personal as it is a hoot to read.” —Leo Chu,Vice President, creative affairs,
Walt Disney Feature Animation

“In What Are You Laughing At?, Brad Schreiber has written a highly amusing, practical and useful book for all writers — not just those trying to write comedy.” —Bettina Moss, Managing Story Editor, Home
Box Office, chairwoman emeritus, Scriptwriters Network

“Brad does a magnificent job of breaking down the elements of comedy.” —Jason Clark, Sprocketdyne, producer, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2

“Wise, witty and wonderful. A great book.” —Raynold Gideon & Bruce A. Evans, screenwriter-producers, Stand by Me, Jungle 2 Jungle

“Brad Schreiber knows funny.” —Jon Winokur, editor, The Portable Curmudgeon, Advice for Writers

“Schreiber has written a guidebook on the kingdom of comedy that is actually entertaining to boot.With nods to the Greeks, Paddy Chayevsky, Woody Allen, James Thurber, Hunter Thompson and other writing icons, Schreiber leads us on a merry, but instructional romp, imparting knowledge and wisdom which should prove invaluable whether you’re a novelist, scriptwriter, playwright or poet.” —Kathie Fong Yoneda, story/development specialist, author of The ScriptSelling Game

“What Are You Laughing At? is a bracing read — succinct, unsparing and underneath the wry prose, quite serious. Sentence one snapped my mind to attention and then kept me intentionally off kilter to drive home the skewed angle of approach that is the nature of humor itself.” —Phil Scanlon, film programmer, Austin Film Festival

“Writers of all types and genres are well-advised to discover What Are You Laughing At?” —John Tulles, codirector, Maui Writers Conference

“Some people are just plain funny. Some people don't know funny when it bites them in their collective ass. For the rest of us in the middle, this book might help. That is if funny is your idea of a good time.” —Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller

"Attention, aspiring writers! You'll learn so much about the craft from Schreiber's book that you can skip school altogether and spend your tuition on sex and drugs." —Tom Robbins, novelist, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume

"Fast, fresh, fun to read, and of enormous value not for screenwriters alone but all writers, and not for comedy alone but all genres. Here is a truly original and worthy new contribution to the field." —Professor Richard Walter, screenwriting chairman, UCLA Film School