Applications are Required. Apply Now!

Acceptance decisions are made on a rolling basis. Individual start dates will be scheduled after you are accepted.

Important: Please do not pay for the mentorship until you receive a formal acceptance notification via email.

Click HERE to Apply. Early applications are encouraged as space is limited.

Any questions about this mentorship? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Caitlin Kunkel's writing has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, and on public radio. She co-founded the comedy site The Belladonna, created the online satire writing program for The Second City, and co-created the Satire and Humor Festival. Her first co-written book, NEW EROTICA FOR FEMINISTS, was published by Penguin Random House and named one of the 10 best comedy books of the year by Vulture (NY Mag). Her second book, INSIDE JOKES: A COMEDY AND CREATIVITY GUIDE FOR ALL WRITERS, is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing in October 2026. 

Who is this one-on-one mentorship for?

This mentorship is built for writers ready to take their comedic writing to a professional, publishable level via personalized feedback, technical instruction, and guidance over a structured three-month process. Mentees will draft and rewrite short humor and/or satire pieces aimed at outlets such as McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Points in Case, The Belladonna, and "Shouts and Murmurs" in The New Yorker. 

This mentorship is best suited for writers who have already taken Caitlin's introductory seminars Mine Your Life for Funny Ideas, Comedy Writing for Non-Comedians, and/or How to Write a Short Humor Piece, or have taken other comedy writing classes (i.e., sketch comedy).

Note: Caitlin's program is not for total beginners to comedy writing.

What to expect:

Over three months, you'll work directly with satirist and comedy craft book author Caitlin Kunkel to generate and vet ideas for short (800 words or less) humor and satire pieces, write and/or rewrite six pieces, and refine your specific, personal, and surprising comedic voice. In tandem, you will study the technical tools of comedy through reading and analyzing the work of other writers (via a reading list created by Caitlin, tailored to you) to train your personal taste as a writer, and learn how to write for specific outlets and tailor submissions for publication. Caitlin's main goal is to help you draft and refine the comedic pieces only you can write.

One thing Caitlin makes clear from the start: no mentor can guarantee publication. Editors exist, and their tastes are their own. What this mentorship does instead is refine the skills and technical tools that are under your control. 

In your first meeting, you and Caitlin will build a rubric together: a concrete set of learning objectives and goals for the three months, written down, measurable, and entirely within reach. You'll work toward those together.

What are the writing goals?

In this mentorship, students will produce six drafts (either all new, or a mix of new drafts and rewritten pieces) of short humor and/or satire pieces across three monthly rounds. Each month you'll turn in two drafts, ten new ideas, and a short letter about your process (applying the Balanced Critique method), receive written feedback from Caitlin, and brainstorm and work on continued skill development with her in a one-hour Zoom call.

By the end of the three months, you'll have up to six pieces ready to send out, a working rubric, a method for generating, drafting, and revising that you can run on your own, beat topics you can return to, additional vetted ideas to write next, and a realistic understanding of the submission landscape for short humor and satire.

Click HERE to Apply.

What kind of feedback will students receive?

Students will receive overall written feedback on each piece as well as line notes. Caitlin will also respond to ten additional ideas to practice the skill of comedic premise generation. Notes, new ideas, and the reading will be discussed in an hour-long Zoom each month. At the end of the mentorship, Caitlin will write you a letter about your development and personal comedic voice.

Caitlin will come to each session with a written agenda (shared with students before the call), but students are encouraged to be active participants in their own learning. Calls can be molded to focus on specific skill development or trouble areas.

Readings

Readings will include short humor and satire from sites such as "Shouts and Murmurs" in The New Yorker, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Belladonna, Slackjaw, Weekly Humorist, Reductress, and The Onion, and selected chapters from INSIDE JOKES (provided by Caitlin). Caitlin builds your reading around what your own ideas reveal about your sensibility, adding writers in your register as your work develops across the three months.

Click HERE to Apply.

COURSE OUTLINE

The mentorship runs in three monthly rounds. Each round you turn in two drafts, ten new ideas, and a short letter about your process; each round you get written feedback back and an hour-long Zoom working session with Caitlin.

ROUND ONE

Caitlin sends introductory brainstorming activities and idea generation exercises by email. A week later, your first hour-long Zoom working session covers your ideas and the selection of two premises to draft, a review of best drafting practices for short humor and satire, and the creation of your personalized rubric of learning objectives and goals. You'll also receive your first set of reading exercises. You then turn in two written drafts between 500 and 800 words, ten additional ideas, and your process letter.

ROUND TWO

Written feedback comes back on everything from Round One: overall notes on skill development, line notes and suggestions for rewrites, and initial feedback on your ten new ideas. Your Zoom working session reviews that feedback, discusses your new ideas and which two to draft next, and sets new reading exercises. You then turn in two new drafts, ten new ideas, and process letter.

ROUND THREE

Your Zoom working session covers feedback on Round Two, discussion of your ten new ideas, submitting and publication tips, suggested next steps, and goal setting. For your final turn-in you can write two new pieces, or one new piece and one rewrite of a prior piece, alongside a letter about your process. Final written feedback arrives with a personal letter from Caitlin on your development, submission guidance, and suggested next steps for after the mentorship ends.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Finish six short humor pieces of 800 words or less, polished to the point where you'd send them out

• Build a personal rubric of concrete learning objectives and measure your progress against it

• Understand a comedic premise, develop your own beat topics, understand take for humor and point of view for satire, practice heightening and writing on the line level with comedic tools

• Develop the editorial judgment to know which publication a given piece actually belongs to and how to tailor a piece to submission

• Study a personalized reading list as an active craft practice

• Learn to trust your own comedic instincts and refine your comedic voice to set yourself apart from other writers

• A personalized letter from your mentor about your development, strengths, and continued areas of focus following the mentorship period.

Tuition Payment:

Full Tuition for the 3-month program is $2,400 USD. Accepted writers must commit to the full three months and meet all assigned deadlines. You can pay the tuition in full or opt for equal monthly payments by selecting Shop Pay or Affirm at checkout. If you decide to create a monthly payment plan using Affirm, you can do so once you add "Full Tuition" to your cart, enter your contact information, and are on the payment page.

Click HERE to Apply. Early applications are encouraged as space is limited.

Additional Program Information:

• Instructor: Caitlin Kunkel

• Enrollment is open on a rolling basis; you and Caitlin will determine a start date that works best for your schedule

• This is a 3-month one-on-one mentorship conducted via Zoom

• Tuition is $2,400 USD.