News archive
APRIL/MAY 2008
Stories about the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
WRITTEN BY A BOMBECK...
SEVEN THINGS I LEARNED AT MY
GRANDMOTHER'S WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Eleven-year-old Eva Bombeck, Erma's granddaughter, writes about her first experience at the workshop and reveals which speakers she thought were "hilarious." Read more.
WRITTEN BY FACULTY...
USA TODAY: I'm here today to talk to
you about...oh, dear! by Craig Wilson
Participants at the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop at the University of Dayton, her alma mater, carried notepads. Some appeared to be taking down my every word. A few scribbled so furiously, I was tempted to stop my talk and ask them to read back what I had just said since I didn't have a clue what I had just said. Read more.
UNEXPECTED BENEFITS
by Carolyn Howard Johnson
Because unexpected benefits are, well . . . unexpected, I'll tell you about one in particular that came about when I was speaking at the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop this spring. Read more.
FROM NEWSPAPERS...
DAYTON DAILY NEWS: GIVING
WAY TO YOUNGER GENERATION by Mary McCarty
Eleven-year-old Eva Louise Bombeck — Matt's daughter — is an aspiring writer. (The middle name is the same as her celebrated grandmother's.) Michael Bombeck, not quite 2, ran around like he owned the place. Read more.
BRAIN DROPPINGS by Ron Rollins
Speaking of smart guys, if you ever get a chance to catch Garrison Keillor on one of his visits to the area, take it. Thursday night, April 3, he opened the University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop with his dry growing-up-Minnesotan stories that hilariously mix understatement and overstatement. Read more.
FLYER NEWS: DREAM COMES TRUE by Amy Tiedge
Luckily for me, I was awarded one of 19 student scholarships from the National Alumni Association to attend the workshop. During the weekend, I attended sessions like “The Renegade Writer’s Guide to Breaking into Magazines,” “Book Proposals and Literary Agents” and “How to Survive and Thrive Through the Creative Process.” Read more.
FROM MEDIA WEB SITES...
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: Garrison Keillor on
Writing and Erma Bombeck
"My advice to writers is to get out," said the radio host, author, and Tribune Media Services columnist. "Writing is an obsessive activity. Walk for two or three miles everyday -- rapidly if necessary -- and get out and look at the world. When writing loses touch with the beautiful surface of the world, it loses its way." Read more.
NATIONAL SOCEIETY OF NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS: Fresh from the Bombeck Workshop
Talk about a great conference! The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop featured almost 30 experts with advice on writing, publication, promotion, networking and staying inspired. About 325 humor and general interest writers attended the two-day conference held at the University of Dayton on April 3-5, 2008. Read more.
ST. LOUIS WRITERS' GUILD by Mary Menke
Hey, I just got back (okay, I got back Sunday) from the Erma Bombeck Humor Writers Workshop in Dayton, Ohio and I’d like to share some of the things I learned. Read more.
WRITTEN BY ATTENDEES...
MISERABLE ENOUGH?
by Sally Sheklow
The great humorist stood on the stage in his trademark red sneakers, red socks and matching red tie, and extolled the importance of an unhappy childhood for good humor writing. Read more.
TALES FROM THE CONFERENCE
by Danny Gallagher
Since I waited too long to get a direct flight, I had to catch three puddle jumpers from Dallas to Kansas City to Hades and then to Dayton.Read more.
IS CAMEL MILK THE NEXT BIG THING?
By Lara Bricker
So there I was on the way to the Erma Bombeck Humor Writing Conference last week in Ohio. I had hopped a taxi from the airport and was chatting with the little foreign cab driver. Eventually the conversation turned to what I wrote about. Well, I told him, I just had a book published called "How Do You Milk a Moose Anyway?" Read more.
TREND HUNTER MAGAZINE
by Rosa Capacola
I thoroughly enjoyed this event, which is near and dear to my heart, as I practically grew up reading Erma Bombeck, who left us too soon on April 22, 1996. I can’t help thinking how much she would have enjoyed all of the wonderful tributes given to her by the attendees and event speakers this year. Read more.
I MADE OUT WITH GARRISON KEILLOR
by Kelly Epperson
When it was my moment, I handed my camera over and had someone snap a photo. “Right here,” I pointed to my cheek. (I’d had a couple glasses of red.) Read more.
WRITER TRIES TO AVOID REALITY
by Stephanie Fellenstein
I felt like I was back in college. Days centered on me. Heading out in shorts in the definitely chilly, but sunny, spring air just because it was the first time in months the temperature actually rose above 50. Read more.
I'M FUNNY HOW?
by Michael Mackie
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop in lovely Dayton, Ohio. Good thing …because my job mandates me to write things that are clever and catchy. Read more.
DEAR ERMA
by Lynda Zielinski
I’m not giving up though. I know you got discouraged too, even stopped writing that first year in college. It took one special man, someone you admired and respected, to come forward and say those three magic words. No, not those. The important words: You can write. Read more.
DENA HARRIS' BLOG
Just back from the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writer's Conference in Dayton, my old stomping grounds. It was cold and gray when I arrived but the dirt was brown, as earth is supposed to be (not this red clay stuff forced upon us in North Carolina). Laughed a lot, made new friends, and even managed to learn a thing or two despite my best intentions to only drink wine, eat free desserts, and take guilt free long, hot showers. Read more.
HUMORIST'S GHOST INSPIRES LAUGHS IN DAYTON by Lois Swagerty
Overall, the conference was worth its price in laughs.And as for ending up Erma, a girl could do worse. Read more.
PAT COAKLEY'S BLOG
I heard Pulitzer Prize winning speakers, expert professional speakers–all over the past several days and this spontaneous comment–this is what I remember most. Read more.
GINGER TRUITT'S BLOG
The highlight of my evening, and I'm sure the highlight of this trip, was meeting Garrison Keillor! Read more.
PHOTOS...
VIDEO...
FIND YOUR VOICE
Humorist Garrison Keillor shared his advice on how to be a successful writer at the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. Read and watch video clip.
STAND-UP COMEDY NIGHT!
Watch ten minutes of clips from attendee stand-up comedy at the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. Watch it now.
INVOCATIONS...
Many attendees requested copies of the prayers given before each night's dinner. Here they are!
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2008
GOODMAN WINS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist from the Boston Globe, is the 2008 recipient of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Read more.
THE DIGBY REPORT
Comedian Horace Digby has some great interviews with top humorists. Here are just a few:
HOW-TO BOOK FOR COLUMNISTS
Suzette Martinez Standring's new book, The Art of Column Writing, is just published. It includes "Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill, and Other Great Columnists." Read more.
WAYOUT TV
Damon Wayans is betting people will fire up their computers to watch videos about an African American leprechaun pimp, a thieving airport security guard and an adulterous Burger King. Read more.
CLEAN COMEDY
Teresa Roberts Logan imports clean headline comedy acts from around the country. Read more.
WRITERS' STRIKE LEADS TO BURST OF TV SHOWS FOR THE WEB
Striking writers have created dozens of professional-grade shows for the Web. An extended strike could bring hundreds more. Yes, hundreds. Read more.
HOW STAND-UP IN THE 1970s CHANGED AMERICA
In the rock ’n’ roll 1970s, a new breed of comic, inspired by the fearless Lenny Bruce, made telling jokes an art form. Richard Zoglin gives a backstage view of the time, when a group of brilliant comedians ruled the industry and changed it. Read more.
NEW ONLINE SHOW FOR COLUMNIST RAY HANANIA
Self-syndicated columnist Ray Hanania, who's been doing online TV interviews for about two years, is producing a new show. Read more.
COMEDY WRITERS STRIKE A NERVE
Writers from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” hosted a debate on Capitol Hill…No, really, they did.. Read more.
NOVEMBER 2007
COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS
There's a lot of books out there claiming that they contain the secret to being funny, but only the authors of Comedy by the Numbers actually know how to crack a joke. Read more.
THE ONION GOES GLOBAL
The Onion releases its second book, Our Dumb World. Read more.
COMEDY FANTASY CAMP
Would you like to spend two days as a sitcom writer?. Read more.
CLEANING UP IN COMEDY
Teresa Roberts Logan is a 'clean comedian' who hosts a monthly Clean Comedy Night. Read more.
COMPETITIVE STREAK HELPS "30 ROCK" SURVIVE
A year ago few people would have bet Tina Fey’s show, “30 Rock,” would last an entire season, let alone take the best-comedy award at the Emmys. Read more.
WILL ROGERS WINNER
Peggy Sanders , a farm-ranch wife and writer from Oral, S.D., won first place in the 2007 Will Rogers Writing Contest. Read more.
OCTOBER 2007
DAVE BARRY ON DIGBY REPORT
Dave Barry appeared on The Horace J. Digby Report to discuss humor, writing, Art Buchwald, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, sex change operations, Dave Barry's History of the New Millennium (So Far), why it is perfectly legal for you to mail cash directly to Dave Barry, Dave's snappy answers to listeners' questions and much much more. Listen now.
BLURBOLOGY 101
John Hershey shares how to promote your writing through shameless name dropping. Read more.
THE SECRET LIFE OF WRITERS
Ernie Witham, who teaches at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, had his students write a column as a group. Here it is.
JOE KEENAN WINS THURBER PRIZE
Joe Keenan, the Emmy winner and former executive producer for Frasier, has won the 2007 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel, My Lucky Star. Read more.
NEW NATIONAL LAMPOON SPOOF
Kevin Dillon (Entourage) is starring in National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas, a spoof of swords and sandals movies 300, Troy, Gladiator, and Braveheart. Read more.
WEB CHANGES HOW COMEDY IS WRITTEN
The Web has changed the way comedy is written, says John O'Farrell, by empowering unknown writers to collaborate wiki-style with established names. Read more.
THE LOVE BOAT
Thirty years ago this fall, ''The Love Boat'' set sail. In this oral history, the Pacific Princess crew fondly recall their decade on a TV classic. Read more.
TINA FEY IS ON TOP
How did Tina Fey go from a recent college graduate who moved to Chicago in 1992 to do improv to the reigning queen of TV comedy? Read more.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2007
CAN YOU LEARN TO BE FUNNY?
Suzette Martinez Standring goes over the Barry basics. Read more.
OPEN THE BOX
Lynn Colwell's client recognized how tuned out he had been to life. Suddenly, it became clear to him that he had been keeping writing in a separate box. He began to merge it with his life. Read more.
THURBER PRIZE FINALISTS ANNOUCED
Here's a funny one: Bob Newhart, Joe Keenan and Merrill Markoe are the finalists for the annual Thurber Prize for American Humor. Read more.
WHITEHOUSE HOPEFULS TURN UP THE HUMOR
Did you hear the one about the presidential candidates trying to be funny? Read more.
NEW YORK UNDERGROUND COMEDY FESTIVAL GOES GLOBAL
The 2007 New York Underground Comedy Festival will take place September 28th through October 7th in all five New York boroughs; Australia; Ireland, South Africa, and China (at the only comedy club in the nation of 1.4 billion people). For the first time in the festival’s five-year history, the entire world will be able to watch NYUCF comedy shows via real-time updates on New Media Comedy’s Web site. Read more.
GIVING SITCOMS A FIGHTING CHANCE
For decades, multi-cam comedies have been a prime-time staple as much for their hit-making potential as for the relatively cheap production costs, but the shows, filmed before live studio audiences, have fallen out of fashion. Read more.
UNLIKELY BOOK HITS #1 ON HUMOR BESTSELLER LIST IN CANADA
How did an unknown writer and unknown publisher team up to reach #1? Quality, tenacity, and originality. The book appeals to a broad audience and has a unique, welcome approach. Read more.
WELCOME BACK, POTTER
What do you get when you cross "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Harry Potter?". Watch the video.
JUNE/JULY 2007
MAKE 'EM LAUGH
The director of Bruce Almighty—and now its sequel, Evan Almighty—says laughter is theologically good medicine and making comedies is a high calling. Read more.
MY BOOK DEAL RUINED MY LIFE
For those who think they have a book inside them just waiting to be written—and, really, isn’t that pretty much everyone?—landing a book contract would be like winning the lottery. Dreams would come true; doors would open. Anything could happen. Read more.
LAYOFFS INSPIRE PRE-DIGITAL SATIRE
Dave Astor provides "a look back to a time when journalists allegedly used mashed potatoes, paper cups, and phonograph records in strange ways." Read more.
POLITICIANS WORK TO WIN WITH LAUGHS
Some people are naturally funny. And some politicians are a lot like people. Read more.
BOOKSELLERS TRADE PAPER FOR
FILM TO PUT AUTHOR ON TOUR
As with many bookstores, Powell's is heavily invested in author appearances to generate sales and -- even more important -- to build and maintain a community of readers. Yet many authors don't do full-fledged book tours, whether by choice or for lack of publisher support. Read more.
FROM SCHOOL HANDOUT TO CHAPTER BOOK SERIES
How a chemistry professor became a children's book author. Read more.
ER STANDS FOR ETERNITY ROOM
Jerry Zezima's column creates confusion on Martha Vinyard. Read more.
WRITER-PERFORMERS STAGE BALANCING ACTS
After more than 30 years on "Saturday Night Live" and its numerous movie spinoffs, perhaps no producer alive has more experience with comedy writer-actors than Lorne Michaels, who is working with Fey on "30 Rock." Read more.
"KNOCKED UP" DIRECTOR AND
HIS ACTRESS WIFE GET CREATIVE
Judd Apatow is the hottest comedy writer/director/producer in Hollywood, with one major movie success under his belt (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) and a second (“Knocked Up”) expected to hold its own against the summer sequels. His wife of 10 years, Leslie Mann, has been toying with a career as a comic actress (“Big Daddy,” “George of the Jungle,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) while raising two children, 9 and 4, but her career should kick into high gear with a breakthrough role in her husband’s new film. Read more.
MAY 2007
WHAT MAKES A BEST SELLER?
“It’s an accidental profession, most of the time,” said William Strachan, editor in chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers. “If you had the key, you’d be very wealthy. Nobody has the key.” Read more.
VARIETY REPORTS "COMEDY WRITERS WANT WGA SUPPORT"
About three dozen writers on six Comedy Central skeins have asked to be repped by Writers Guild of America and are seeking a network-wide deal that would cover all future programming. Read more.
REINHARDT'S NEW BOOK INCLUDES CHAPTER ABOUT BOMBECK WORKSHOP
Susan Reinhardt, who gave a keynote address at the 2006 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, included a chapter about her experience in her new book, Don't Sleep With A Bubba: Unless Your Eggs Are In Wheelchairs. The Chicago Sun-Times says the book is "Like hanging out with your bluntest, most mischievous friend, the one who never fails to crack you up." Read more.
SITCOMS ARE DEAD! LONG LIVE SITCOMS!
A recent study showed that the average American television-watching household increased its comedy watching to four and a half hours a week this season, up from less than four hours in the 1993/4 television season. Read more.
MAN vs. CHILD
Intrepid science fiction author and podcaster, Tee Morris, takes on a two-year-old to teach you how to survive. The short video is a spoof of the Discovery Channel's show Man vs. Wild. Watch it.
A WINNER IN MY BOOK
Fourteen-year-old Caroline Beauregard Shinkle didn't win this year's Erma Bombeck Writing Competition but she's not letting that get her down. She's finishing a novel and a screenplay, and looking for an agent. Her essay, Last in Translation, struck a chord with me because I've spent a lot of time on Cape Cod. Read more.
THE SECRET LIFE OF MIKE MYERS
Mike Myers swears he has been keeping busy. And he understands that he has got a lot of convincing to do. Read more.
NATIONAL LAMPOON LAUNCHES ONLINE VIDEO NETWORK
The National Lampoon Video Network joins the National Lampoon Humor Network, the most-trafficked humor sites on the Internet, as key tentpoles of National Lampoon’s online and digital media strategies. Read more.
COMEDIANS GONE WISE
Slightly serious sayings from stand-up's biggest stars. Read more.
MARCH 2007
YOU TUBE CELEBRITIES
Shmuel Tennenhaus, an aspiring comedy writer who gained a modest following on YouTube for his droll question-and- answer clips and other spots featuring his grandmother "Bubby," is being wooed by the site's competitors, including Metacafe, ManiaTV and others. Read more.
FUNNIEST FAKE NEWS ONLINE IS FROM NEW JERSEY
HUMOR ME
When it comes to being funny, Conan O'Brien can't help himself. Read more.
TV WRITER ALLEN RUCKER CONFRONTS DISABILITY WITH HUMOR
Award-winning television writer Allen Rucker's book, The Best Seat in the House: How I Woke Up One Tuesday and Was Paralyzed for Life, talks about his rare condition called transverse myelitis. Rucker describes how at age 51 he became paralyzed from the waist down in the course of an hour and a half. Read more.
COMEDY WRITERS ON SERIOUS TRACK
TV scribe Joe Keenan spent most of his career writing for multi-camera half-hour comedies -- and even exec-produced one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the past decade, "Frasier." But when CBS unceremoniously dumped his followup, the under-rated "Out of Practice," Keenan knew the writing was on the wall. Read more.
COMEDY ARTS FESTIVAL NAMES STEPHEN COLBERT AS PERSON OF THE YEAR
Three-time Emmy award recipient, Stephen Tyrone Colbert, was named Person of the Year at HBO's Comedy Arts Festival held March 2nd in Aspen. Read more.
"CAVEMEN" ADS EVOLVE INTO TV PILOT
Those Geico “cavemen” shouldn’t be so upset after all – they may get their own TV series. Read more.
FEB. 2007
STORIES ABOUT ART BUCHWALD...
Buchwald Announces Own Death In First 'NYT' Online Obit Video Read the story.
Buchwald's Farewell Column, Written to Be Released at Death Read more.
Dave Barry: "I'll Miss Art Buchwald's Calls and Friendship" Read more.
Read an excerpt from Art Buchwald's book, Too Soon to Say Goodbye. Read more.
Hear Readers Digest's touching recent interview with Art Buchwald. Read more.
A Life and Death Experience With Art Buchwald Read more.
OTHER NEWS...
GET YOUR COPY OF THE ERMA DOCUMENTARY
For a $100 donation to ThinkTV, you can get a DVD of the documentary, Erma Bombeck: A Legacy of Laugher. Read more.
WHEN IT COMES TO BEING FUNNY,
CONAN O'BRIEN CAN'T HELP HIMSELF
From the moment Conan O'Brien walks onto the set of his late-night talk show, it's clear he's a geek. Read more.
ERMA WRITING CONTEST
The due date for this year's Erma Bombeck Writing Competition is February 18, 2007. Read more.
JEWISH HUMOR PUSHES LIMITS ON STEROTYPES
In the last generation, Jewish humor has become part of mainstream American comedy, achieving an acceptance that allows some of the brightest stars, from Jon Stewart to Jerry Seinfeld, to be open about their identity in their work, something Milton Berle and others of his era were less inclined to do. Read more.
YEAR OF VONNEGUT
Indianapolis has declared 2007 "The Year of Vonnegut" in honor of native son Kurt Vonnegut, whose latest book was just released. Read more.
GOOGLE OPENS DIALOGUE WITH BOOK PUBLISHERS
To anyone who thinks digital content is a threat to the book-publishing market, Google wants to tell you two things: first, you're wrong; second, its Google Book Search product is the solution, not the problem. Read more.
HUMOR ARTICLE LEADS TO
CONVICTION OF 2 IN MOROCCO
A Moroccan court convicted a magazine editor and a reporter on charges of defamation for printing heard-on-the-street jokes about religion and politics. Read more.
WILL ROGERS WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Don't miss the fun in Oklahoma City, March 15-18, 2007 at the Renaissance Convention Center. Writers from 21 states have signed up and registrations are still being accepted. Read more.
DEC. 2006/JAN. 2007
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE CAPTION CONTEST
Seated in a small cubicle 20 floors above Times Square, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate named Zachary Kanin sifts through submissions for The New Yorker's caption contest. Read more.
INTERESTING STATS
Fifty-nine percent of customers plan to purchase a specific book when entering a bookstore, according to the Book Industry Study Group. On average, a bookstore browser spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds looking at the back cover of a book. Read more.
THE BEST LAID PLANS
How often do we make plans, passionately engage in them, feel fired up, then are stopped dead in our tracks by some unforeseen circumstance? Life tends to get in the way of our plans. Read more.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR OKLAHOMA CITY WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
Don’t get caught up in the end-of-year rush and miss out on savings for the Will Rogers Writers’ Workshop in Oklahoma City in March 2007. The earlybird registration deadline is December 31, 2006. You’ll get a $25 discount if you register by that date, and you can apply the savings to your Christmas shopping. Read more.
FOR AUTHORS, WRITING'S JUST HALF THE JOB
It's not enough to write a great book. Authors are now expected to play an active role in book marketing and promotion. In this brave new world of always-on media, scribes are expected to either pursue or make themselves available to every potential reader. Read more.
NSNC CONFERENCE OPEN FOR REGISTRATION
The 2007 National Society of Newspaper Columnists Conference is taking registrations. Speakers include Dave Barry, Bill O'Reilly, Clarence Page and Robin Givhan. Read more.
EXCOMMUNICATED FROM TV LAND
Danny Gallagher joined an elite and special group of people in the funnyhaha universe. He lost a TV deal. Read more.
BOMBECK BIOGRAPHY NOW IN E-BOOK FORMAT;
PROCEEDS SUPPORT WRITERS' WORKSHOP
HUMOROUS ADVICE ABOUT COLLEGE
As Chef said on “South Park,” “There’s a time and a place for everything. It’s called college.” Read more.
SEDARIS THROWS A GREAT PARTY
Playwright and comedienne Amy Sedaris has written the book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. In a recent interview she was asked, "What's your first hostess memory?" Her answer: "I was in seventh grade, and my mom let me invite all my friends over. I made Rock Cornish hens, wild rice and lemon tarts, served in the basement." Read more.
DAVE BARRY WRITES A CHRISTMAS STORY
The award-wining humor writer tackles the holidays in The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter,the Christmas Miracle Dog. Read an excerpt.
ACTORS, WRITERS SWITCH ROLES TO KEEP 'THE OFFICE' RUNNING
If the NBC comedy The Office the actors and writers are often the same people. Read more.
TAKING BACK CRACKED
Monty Sarhan, the corporate lawyer-turned Editor-in-Chief of the humor mag Cracked, on brilliantly written court decisions, Michael Ian Black, the over-ratedness of the Big Lebowski, and how he made The Funniest Magazine in History funny again. Read more.
NO JOKE
A reluctant comic discovers firsthand that doing stand-up is easy. For some people. Read more.
NOVEMBER 2006
WILL ROGERS CONTEST WINNERS
California freelance columnist George Waters captured the style of one of the most successful communicators of all time to become the top prize winner in the Will Rogers Writing Contest sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Read more.
INTERVIEWING DAVE BARRY
Virginia Armstrong shares her experience interviewing one of the greatest humor writers of all time. Read more.
MARQUETTE BANS DAVE BARRY QUOTE FROM OFFICE DOOR
"As Americans, we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless," the sign stated. "I refer, of course, to the federal government." Read more.
TURNING BOOK SIGNINGS INTO PROFIT CENTERS
To offset tour costs, events become more elaborate. Read more.
STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD
In an interview with Mike Durrett, "Weird Al" Yankovic discusses the comic process. Read more.
FINDING YOUR INNER COMEDIAN
Five great tips for making people laugh. Read more.
ZWEIBEL GETS THURBER HUMOR PRIZE
Author and former "Saturday Night Live" writer wins. Read more.
WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT COMEDY SCHOOL
The toughest crowd Jerry Seinfeld ever faced taught him the true meaning of stage fright. Read more.
NBC UNVEILS BROADBAND COMEDY CHANNEL
NBC Universal has launched a new comedy broadband channel, Dotcomedy, that will host original Web shows as well as video from TV programs including "Late Show with David Letterman," "Saturday Night Live," and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Read more.
FROM GILLIGAN TO THE STAGE
Sherwood Schwartz -- creator of hit TV shows 'Gilligans Island' and 'The Brady Bunch' -- trades sitcoms for stage. Read more.
OCTOBER 2006
A PEEK AT THE PEAK OF THE PUBLICITY SUMMIT
Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop attendee, DC Stanfa, shares her experiences from the National Publicity Summit, where you can personally meet top journalists and producers face-to-face. Read more.
PASSION MAKES IT EASY
Lynn Colwell asks, "If your passion isn’t propelling you, what will?" Read more.
NOT ARTSY FARTSY
Can you find writing work through your state arts or humanities councils? C. Hope Clark shows how. Read more.
SOMETHING'S FUNNY ABOUT THIS ROUTINE
The one-liners flow with the java and jabs every Sunday as a regular gang of writers, musicians and stand-ups holds its weekly sit-down. Read more.
WHOSE PUNCHLINE IS IT ANYWAY?
From the historical humorists to the modern mirth-makers, comedy can turn the ordinary into the original and make the painful more palatable. Take this quiz to see if you know which wit is responsible for each quote. Read more.
THE FUNNY FACTOR
Why smart brains take humor seriously. Read more.
NAVIGATING THE QUAGMIRE OF
HUMOR & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
Confused is how many people feel when it comes to the whole idea of political correctness and workplace humor. Read more.
SECRETS OF WRITING A KILLER JOKE
Need the nuts and bolts of how to write stand-up comedy material? Read more.
SEPTEMBER 2006
WILL ROGERS WRITING CONTEST ANNOUNCED
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists is sponsoring a Will Rogers Writing Contest, which is open to writers everywhere who are interested in the writings of Will Rogers, the philosopher-humorist whose words are still as alive as when he kept America laughing, and thinking, in the 1920s and ‘30s. Read more.
HUMOR WRITER LAUNCHES BOOK
CAMPAIGN FOR SOLDIERS
Sharie Derrickson, award-winning humor writer and author of No Bad Deed Goes Unpublished, is determined to bring laughter to U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division Soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Read more.
BEST-SELLING AUTHORS FEATURED AT
DAYTON ’S PEN TO PAPER LITERARY SYMPOSIUM
Dan Poynter and Vickie Stringer will speak at the third annual Pen To Paper Literary Symposium on Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7, 2006. Read more.
ONLINE VIDEO AT THEONION.COM
Catching up with the online video craze, satirical newspaper and Web site the Onion has launched a Web video initiative.. Read more.
SECRETS TO GOAL SETTING
Prior to committing to any serious goal, we need to understand what going for it really means to us and whether we are willing to “pay the price.” Read more.
THE PERFECT PITCH
Sue Fagalde Lick shows how to make your 10-minute session with an agent or editor at a writers' workshop pay off. Read more.
HUNGRY HAMSTERS
