Inside Jokes

A step-by-step practical guide to all types of comedy writing, filled with invaluable advice, exercises, interviews, tools, and jokes that will turn anyone into a funnier writer and person, from authors/editors/teachers/perfect 10s Elissa Bassist and Caitlin Kunkel.

INSIDE JOKES is a masterclass in a book on how to write anything funnier, from short humor to essays to psychiatric intake forms. Each chapter has technical and practical instruction to turn comedy outsiders into insiders and non-funny readers into funny writers. Included at no extra cost: interviews with professional comedy writers, brainstorming and writing exercises, prompts, and pep talks that will take your writing from nonexistent to shitty first draft to award-deserving. 

Basically, INSIDE JOKES is The Artist’s Way for the funny soul. 

Part writing guide, creativity bible, and therapy session, INSIDE JOKES tells secrets most writers learn through trial, error, and professional humiliation. It’s for: 

• People who are funny already 

• People who worry they can never be funny 

• Writers who work across genres—fiction, nonfiction, long, short, serious, absurd—or would like to 

• Anybody who wants the confidence to make fun of themselves and society

“I guess it’s not enough that Caitlin and Elissa are both monstrously talented, hilarious writers; apparently they have to stick it to the rest of us by also being warm, big-hearted educators with a knack for breaking down the dark art of joke craft in a way that even a dummy like me can understand. Did I mention they’re both hot? RUDE.” ―Emily Flake, cartoonist for The New Yorker and author of That Was Awkward: The Art and Etiquette of the Awkward Hug

“I felt every emotion reading this book by Elissa Bassist and Caitlin Kunkel: joy, bliss, euphoria, horny, cheese-hunger, gigglefits, delirium, horny. Work wives Elissa and Caitlin are true comedy masters, alongside French clowns and a dog looking directly into the camera.” ―Janine Brito, writer and actor on Girls5Eva and Mr. Mayor
 

• “Elissa and Caitlin are incredibly knowledgeable and giving. I loved their classes. I’ve taken writing classes before, but theirs was the most inspiring and real-world helpful. I love that they’re bringing their skills to a wider audience. No one should live without this book.”
  Sarah Cooper, comedian and author of Foolish
• “I absolutely, 100%, would not have sold my book without Caitlin's guidance and advice. My editor and agent both were like, ‘Wow your proposal was so great!’ and I was like, ‘I truly cannot take credit…’” 
  Taylor Kay Phillips, Emmy Award-winning writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and author of A Midwestern Guide to Conversation
• “I guess it’s not enough that Caitlin and Elissa are both monstrously talented, hilarious writers; apparently they have to stick it to the rest of us by also being warm, big-hearted educators with a knack for breaking down the dark art of joke craft in a way that even a dummy like me can understand. Did I mention they’re both hot? RUDE.”
  Emily Flake, cartoonist for The New Yorker and author of That Was Awkward: The Art and Etiquette of the Awkward Hug
• “I felt every emotion reading this book by Elissa Bassist and Caitlin Kunkel: joy, bliss, euphoria, horny, cheese-hunger, gigglefits, delirium, horny. Work wives Elissa and Caitlin are true comedy masters, alongside French clowns and a dog looking directly into the camera.”
  Janine Brito, writer and actor on Girls5Eva and Mr. Mayor
• “It is easy to know when something is funny (man falls down, a dog wears those weird socks for the snow, that painting of Jesus that Spanish lady “restored”). It is much harder to craft something funny. I can’t think of anyone funnier, better, or kinder to break down the unholy mix of alchemy, science, and necromancy required to craft a funny thing than Caitlin Kunkel and Elissa Bassist.”
  Felipe Torres Medina, Emmy Award-winning writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert