by Writing Workshops Staff
A day ago
What do intelligence briefings and McSweeney's pieces have in common?
More than you'd think, says Tom Ellison. A DC-based humor writer and satirist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and McSweeney's, where he authored two of the most-read pieces of 2025.
Ellison spent the first chapter of his career as a CIA analyst, producing writing that was, in his words, "about as unfunny as a thing can be, second only to Bill Maher." That unlikely path from classified reports to comedic prose is exactly what makes him the ideal guide for writers looking to make the leap from serious to funny.
In his upcoming seminar, Seriously Funny: Humor Writing for Serious Writers, Ellison will help participants discover which professional writing skills—clarity, structure, precision of language—translate directly into humor writing, and which ingrained habits need to be deliberately broken for comedic effect.
Through interactive exercises, example pieces from McSweeney's and The New Yorker, and plenty of candid discussion, students will leave with practical tools to navigate between their "serious" and comedic writing lives.
Whether you're a lawyer, journalist, analyst, or academic who's always been the funny one in the room, this two-hour Zoom seminar offers a rare chance to learn from someone who's walked the exact path you're on.
Here is our Meet the Teaching Artist interview with Tom:
Writing Workshops: Hi, Tom. Please introduce yourself to our audience.
Tom Ellison: Hi, audience! I'm Tom, a humor writer and satirist based in DC. By day, I work on issues of climate change, disinformation, and international security. By other parts of day, I write short humor for places like McSweeney's, and I have a satire of alpha male influencers publishing in November 2026 called MANTHOLOGY, by Chud Buffly. By night, I sleep.
I'm from California, have a dog named Bobo, and was an intelligence analyst and a personal trainer in former lives.
Writing Workshops: What made you want to teach this specific class? Is it something you are focusing on in your own writing practice?
Tom Ellison: I wanted to teach this class because there are a lot of people like me: "serious" writers branching into humor writing. Lawyers, reporters, scientists, analysts, and the like are extremely smart and often very funny! But it can be hard to know how to translate back and forth between "serious writing" and humor.
This was central to my experience backing my way into comedic writing, having spent the first part of my career as an intelligence analyst. In that role, you are extensively trained to produce writing that is clear, concise, relevant, persuasive. It's about as unfunny as a thing can be, second only to Bill Maher. Similar kinds of non-creative, nonfiction writing exists in news, law, and other fields. I had absolutely zero background in performance, comedy, or creative writing of any kind. I just liked being a smartass.
I've learned that certain concepts and skills from that background are unexpectedly helpful for humor writing. Others are unhelpful, and I've grown more aware of them and more comfortable deliberately breaking them for comedic purposes. But I still work on stretching my wings into more wacky or illogical comedic premises. I'm looking forward to sharing what I've learned switching between serious and comedic writing, and hearing how others approach it!
Writing Workshops: Give us a breakdown of how the course is going to go. What can the students expect? What is your favorite part about this class you've dreamed up?
Tom Ellison: The course will be a two-hour virtual workshop. We'll do introductions to the topic and hear from participants about where they are coming from in terms of "serious" writing and humor. Next, we'll go over some "serious" writing skills and principles that apply to humor writing, with discussion of an example piece and a short exercise. Then, we'll go over common pitfalls and constraints from "serious" writing training that should be rejected or used with caution in humor, in a similar format. Finally, we'll wrap up with a summary, key takeaways, and resources to apply these lessons, with time for Q&A/discussion.
Students can expect an informal and participatory atmosphere, like a graduate seminar with more swearing. I'm looking forward to hearing more about all the different backgrounds students are coming from!
Writing Workshops: Who was your first literary crush?
Tom Ellison: Probably Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes. If anyone thinks that doesn't count as literature, I'm happy to settle the disagreement in The Melee Pit.
Writing Workshops: What are you currently reading?
Tom Ellison: Right now, I'm reading two. The first is 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin, a narrative nonfiction book about the people involved in the stock market crash that kicked off the Great Depression. The second is Sky Daddy by Kate Folk, which is a bizarre and funny novel about a woman who is romantically and sexually infatuated with airplanes.
Maybe embodying the duality of this class, I'm often alternating between one "serious" nonfiction book and one funny/comedic/strange novel.
Writing Workshops: How do you choose what you're working on? When do you know it is the next thing you want to write all the way to THE END?
Tom Ellison: Something nice about short humor writing is how, well, SHORT it is and how quick the write/submit/publish cycle can be compared to a book. So a topic doesn't have to become your whole life for months or years.
For humor, I record everything, like many peers. I have a 100+ page running Google doc called "Humor writing ideas" made up of fragments of funny thoughts, experiences, strong opinions, and potential premises for writing. When I'm sitting down to write I have a menu of ideas to brainstorm formats or start drafting. When that process flows well with a certain idea I lean into it, or if not, leave it for later and pick up something else.
With longer works, I'm still figuring it out. With my humor book MANTHOLOGY, the fun of the narrator character Chud Buffly and the infinite absurdity in alpha male culture kept me engaged. With novel ideas I'm working on, I'm trying to clearly outline the story structure before I dive in too deeply, as a bit of reassurance before sinking into drafting something so much longer.
Writing Workshops: Where do you find inspiration?
Tom Ellison: I get most inspired when I can combine a comedic character with a humorous or satirical point about a larger topic I know well. It's not something I plan, but a lot of my McSweeney's pieces are cooking up a comedic character (biohacker bro, Instagram dog, a personified Wikipedia, Teddy Roosevelt's ghost) as a way to make jokes about a larger topic (health anxiety, the influencer economy, misinformation, male overconfidence, etc.). Same goes for my book MANTHOLOGY and other ideas I'm working on.
I'm a very introspective guy with a constant inner criticism going on about my politics, my values, my masculinity, my health, etc. I'm drawn to buffoonish male characters that embody something I don't like about the world and/or myself, in settings I know or feel strongly about (politics, fitness culture, espionage, etc.)
Writing Workshops: What is the best piece of writing wisdom you've received that you can pass along to our readers?
Tom Ellison: The best piece of wisdom I've found is to connect with other writers for community and feedback. Especially as someone outside New York or LA and not coming from the arts, taking classes has been a great way to connect with other writers and get into a couple writing groups. I've also been shameless about just emailing or DMing humor writers I like and admire, and usually find people are extremely nice and generous with their time.
Writing Workshops: What is the worst piece of writing advice you've received, read, or heard?
Tom Ellison: I think there's a lot of overly rigid writing advice about habits or schedules or productivity. Get up every day at 5 am to write before work. Block off this amount of time on your calendar to write. Write X number of words in Y number of days. Do morning pages for 30 minutes every day. Get this many acceptances/rejections in a year. So much depends on what kind of writing you're doing, what your writing goals are, where those fall in relation to your life circumstances, etc. Some periods I've written for hours per day, others I haven't written for weeks.
Unless you are Stephen King, actually writing is probably nowhere close to your 9-5. Maybe you have a day job. Maybe you also teach or perform. Maybe you have caregiving responsibilities. Maybe all of the above. Maybe some of them now, but different ones a year from now. I think all that advice should be considered ideas to take or leave. I find it a lot like advice about the "best" workout plan, as if the answer is the same for an Olympic athlete, stay-at-home parent, CEO, or retiree. The best writing or workout "practice" is the one that 1) will move you in the direction you want and 2) you'll actually do.
Writing Workshops: What is your favorite book to recommend on the craft of writing?
Tom Ellison: For humor writing, I'll recommend two. One is How to Write Funny by Scott Dikkers, of The Onion. There are various parts of the book but what I remember about it is the very clear breakdown and explanation of different types of humor (Irony, Character, Hyperbole, etc.). It also has a good explanation of what he calls "Clown Brain" vs. "Editor Brain," which is relevant to the topic of this class.
The second I'll recommend is Inside Jokes by Elissa Bassist and Caitlin Kunkel, also of WritingWorkshops.com. At the time of writing, it hasn't come out yet. But I've been in touch with them about it a bit, and Elissa and Caitlin are such good writers and teachers I have no qualms about pre-designating it as a must have. They are taking an accessible and inclusive approach to the comedy writing world that I think is valuable. I've already pre-ordered!
Writing Workshops: Bonus question—what's your teaching vibe?
Tom Ellison: You know that scene in Alien where the xenomorph bursts through John Hurt's sternum? Not that.
If Tom Ellison's journey from intelligence analyst to celebrated humorist proves anything, it's that your "serious" writing background isn't a barrier to being funny—it's a secret weapon. His Seriously Funny: Humor Writing for Serious Writers workshop on May 2nd, 2026 is the perfect place to discover which of your professional skills translate to comedy and which habits to cheerfully abandon. Seats are limited for this two-hour interactive Zoom seminar, so sign up today and start putting your smartass instincts to good use.
