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Mine Your Life for Funny Ideas Generative Zoom Seminar with Caitlin Kunkel, Sunday, March 2nd, 2025
Regular price
$ 1,549.00

Mine Your Life for Funny Ideas Generative Zoom Seminar with Caitlin Kunkel, Sunday, March 2nd, 2025


Unit price per

Sunday, March 2nd, 2025

Live Seminar via Zoom from 1:00PM - 3:00PM ET

Now Enrolling!

Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. All enrolled students will receive a link to watch the recording, which will be available for 30 days.

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) 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).

Q: How do you come up with a wealth of ideas for funny parodies, satires, essays, novels, memoirs, or out-of-office replies? 

A: You mine absurdities, specifics, images, and more from your everyday life, then use comedic tools to spin them into premises for pieces.

In this two-hour interactive and generative workshop, satirist and comedy craft book author Caitlin Kunkel will lead students through a series of lists and brainstorming prompts to gather specifics and interesting ideas hidden in plain sight. Come to class ready to write and get weird.

After generating the raw material, students will experiment with comedic foundations and tools like exaggeration, templates, and twists to create premises and titles for future funny writing. Everyone will leave class with a clear, repeatable process on how to mine and refine comedic ideas into publishable writing.

The end of class will focus on creative work strategies to draft, get feedback on, rewrite, and submit work on a (reasonable) schedule–because we’re funny, yes, but also professional.
 

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
  • A practical, repeatable method to identify and develop humorous material from your daily life.
  • Strategies for pushing everyday observations into surprising, laugh-out-loud premises.
  • Techniques for testing and refining comedic angles, from parody and satire to personal essays.
  • Tips for balancing bold comedic choices with clarity and structure in your writing process.
  • A roadmap for turning rough comedic ideas into polished drafts ready for submission
TAKE THIS CLASS IF:
  • You’re ready to unlock unconventional sources of inspiration to spark comedic ideas.
  • You want to move beyond clichéd humor and discover fresh twists on familiar topics.
  • You seek a supportive environment to experiment with comedic voice, style, and format.
  • You’d like to learn how to juggle humor-writing projects alongside other professional commitments.
  • You’re excited to workshop your comedic premises and hone them into shareable, publishable pieces.
STUDENTS LOVE CAITLIN:

“Caitlin is an outstanding teacher. The time FLEW by because I was so engaged. So much amazing information and I feel energized to go write.”

"Such a great class! It was helpful, fun, and pitched at a really accessible level for experienced writers and novice writers."

"Thanks so much for the amazing class, Caitlin! I really learned a lot about humor in general, as well as what interests me specifically. I only recently started writing humor, and your focus on premise and format were insanely helpful. So thank you, seriously, for such an informative and fun class; I'll be taking so much of what you taught us into my future work!"

“Caitlin’s an excellent teacher. Her enthusiasm is infectious, her experience broad, and her generosity appreciated. I always look forward to a class with her.”

"Thank you so much Caitlin! You packed a huge amount of information into a very compact period. I’m very impressed with your follow-up as well. Way above and beyond."

"I thought Caitlin was amazing. She packed a lot of knowledge into the two hours, and I highly recommend it. The discussion of the impact of comedy writing across all types of industries was super interesting, and I loved the reading and website suggestions. I can't say enough great things about Caitlin."

"You are a gifted teacher – a lot of energy, insight and expertise come through. I am the one who teaches Creative Thinking at Harvard (and other places) and I was struck by how aligned your techniques are with the ones we teach in our class. Kinda’ cool. But we don’t follow up with materials half as well as you do."

"Caitlin was engaging, entertaining, and provided an excellent intro into comedy writing."

"I loved the parallels between my writing life and my experience as an athlete. I found the "warmup" routine idea very useful and I'm eager to implement this. I also thought it was helpful to frame my writing life in terms of seasons or quarters."

"The entire approach of applying sports preparation and performance techniques to developing the skill of writing. Caitlin was generous with her examples without having them take over the entire course. Very well done.It was jam-packed with content, but the fast pace and depth of information was part of what was so good about it."

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $75. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.
  • Class is on Sunday, March 2nd, 2025 via Zoom from 1:00PM ET - 3:00PM ET 

  • Note: If you can't attend live, this class will be recorded. All enrolled students will receive a link to watch the recording, which will be available for 30 days.
  • Tuition is $75.

If you have questions, please use the Chat Button or contact us via email HERE.