Humor Writing Workshop with Chris Brethwaite

Everybody has a sense of humor. Some more so than others. But like all creative talents, being funny is a skill. One that can be significantly enhanced by understanding why we find something humorous, and combining that with the craft of structuring a joke so that it garners the biggest laugh possible.

So whether your goal is add a little extra humor to your writing, include more levity in your public speaking, try your hand at stand-up, or make your friends laugh so hard they wet themselves, this workshop is for you.

We’ll start off with an overview of the psychology of humor, and briefly examine some of the leading theories on why we find certain things amusing. Then delve into the tips, tricks, and techniques that professional humorists use to take a funny thought or idea and skillfully craft it into a smile, guffaw, or rib-tickling belly laugh.

Finally, we’ll spend a considerable amount of time writing jokes, quips, one liners, and memes. We’ll read our writing aloud, and see if we can’t make each other bust a gut laughing. Spoiler alert – we will!

Chris Brethwaite Bio:

Chris is a cum laude graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Additionally, he possesses a master’s degree in liberal arts with an emphasis in film from Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies.

After graduating from ASU in 1987, Chris was hired by Hallmark Cards to write for their new humor line – Shoebox Greetings. In 2003 he was assigned to be lead writer for Hallmark’s popular character, Maxine. During his time in that role he started her Facebook page and oversaw its growth from 3500 fans to 1.6 million. 

Chris also worked closely with Hallmark’s streaming video service, Feeln.com (since renamed Hallmark Movies Now), which produced three of his short films. Additionally, he has taught screenwriting in-house, and as a special interest class through UMKC’s Communiversity.

Since retiring in 2015, he has done freelance humor writing, and most recently wrote a screenplay adaptation for the book “Angels in the OR” by Tricia Barker.