AMES, Iowa – There is a science to crafting a good bit and delivering a one-liner that sets off a roar of laughter from the audience. And like any skill, Peter Orazem and Gavin Jerome believe it’s one ...

A funny actor is born funny. Writers are a little different. We might have a funny face (a lot of us do) but that doesn’t help. A writer has to learn to be funny, and here rules apply. Let’s start ...

Over his decades-long career as a late-night comedy TV writer, Joe Toplyn has crafted jokes for the likes of David Letterman and Jay Leno. He has instructed adult-level courses on comedy writing and ...

A joke is a very simple thing. It has only two moving parts: the setup and the punchline. And if you write jokes for a living, as I have done for 35 years, you learn that the basic rule of comedy is ...

Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in "Hacks" (Photo Credit: Max) It was inevitable that Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) was going to flirt with cancellation in the world of “Hacks.” So when it finally ...