Funny Bones: the structure of comedy
a craft workshop for genre authors
- Format: available in lengths from one to six hours.
- Technical requirements: projector/screen if available.
Class Blurb:
FUNNY BONES with Damon Suede
Being funny is a serious business. Even in the darkest books a dash of humor can make your scenes sizzle because audiences love to laugh. Careful comic plotting and characterization can turn “meh” into mesmerizing. Defy gravity! We’ll tackle the ins–n–outs of making folks smile with tips and tricks that will help you find the rib ticklers underneath your romance.
Class Description:
Funny Bones is a craft workshop looking at comic theory and tools for writing humor in all kinds of genre fiction. Covering history, technique, and project planning, this session explores:
- the mechanics of comedy
- recipe for a comic beat and humorous rhythm/pacing
- the power of rhythm and pace
- comedic characters and the role of jokers in the genre plot, and the possibilities of a comic ensemble
- Applications of wit and schtick to leaven your manuscript regardless of genre
Though this class operates primarily as a lecture, there are exercises throughout to provoke relevant discussion and experimentation.
Takeaways:
- A comprehensive theory of humor and the craft of evoking
laughter.
- A dissection of joke construction and humorous beats
- An analysis of comic characters and the power of ensemble comedy casts
- Exercises and references to develop your own comic voice.
Presentations:
- "Funny Bones" workshop for the Crazy Scribes in Nashville, TN (June 2025)
- "Comedy of Manners" seminar online for MSC Writers Collective in New York, NY (February 2021)
- "Funny Bones" masterclass for NECRWA Conference in Burlington, MA (April 2019)
- "Funny Bones" for the Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers in Harrisburg, PA (November 2018)
- "Rom–Com Toolbox" for Dreamspinner Author Weekend in Orlando, FL (March 2016)
- "Funny Bones" for the Long Island RWA in South Huntingdon, NY (March 2015)
Recommended reading:
CRAFT
- Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, & Matt Walsh – Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual
-
Greg Dean – Step by Step to Standup Comedy
-
Dan Decker – Anatomy of a Screenplay
-
Larry Gelbart – Laughing Matters
-
Keith Giglio – Writing the Comedy Blockbuster
-
Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson – Truth in Comedy: the manual for improvisation
-
Steve Kaplan – The Hidden Tools of Comedy: the Serious Business of Being Funny
-
David Nihill – Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker
-
Mike Sacks – And Here's The Kicker
-
Sol Saks – Funny Business: the craft of comedy writing, 2nd edition
-
Scott Sedita – The Eight Characters of Comedy: a guide to sitcom acting and writing
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Athene Seyler – The Craft of Comedy
-
John Vorhaus – The Comic Toolbox: how to be funny even if you're not
THEORY
- Maurice Charney – Comedy High and Low: an introduction to the experience of comedy
-
Albert Cook – The Dark Voyage and the Golden Mean: a philosophy of comedy
-
Robert Corrigan – Comedy, Meaning and Form
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Jessica Milner Davis – Farce
-
Wes D. Gehring – Romantic vs. Screwball Comedy: charting the difference
-
Richard Janko – Aristotle on Comedy: towards a reconstruction of Poetics II
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Sister Miriam Joseph – The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
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Walter Kerr – Tragedy & Comedy
-
Roger Kreuz – Irony and Sarcasm
-
Harry Levin – Playboys and Killjoys: an essay on the theory and practice of comedy
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Garry Marshall – Wake Me When It’s Funny
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John Martineau (ed.) – Trivium: The Classical Liberal Arts of Grammar, Logic, & Rhetoric
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Wylie Sypher (ed.) – Comedy: essays by George Meredith & Henri Bergson
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Giles Taylor & Philip Wilson – Dramatic Adventures In Rhetoric: A Guide for Actors, Directors and Playwrights
-
Walter Watson – The Lost Second Book of Aristotle's Poetics
HISTORY
- Maria Aitken – Style: acting in high comedy
-
Stuart E Baker – Georges Feydeau and the Aesthetics of Farce
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Albert Bermel – Farce
-
J. Douglas Canfield – Tricksters & Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy
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Anthony Caputi – Buffo: The Genius of Vulgar Comedy
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Penelope Gilliatt – To Wit: Skin and Bones of Comedy
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David G. Grote – The End of Comedy: the sitcom and the comedic tradition
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David L. Hirst – Comedy of Manners
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R.L. Hunter – The New Comedy of Greece and Rome
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Harold C. Knutson – The Triumph of Wit: Moliere and Restoration Comedy
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Charles Ludlam – Ridiculous Theatre: Scourge of Human Folly
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Doris Milberg – The Art of the Screwball Comedy: madcap entertainment from 1930s to today
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Lance Olsen – Circus of the Mind in Motion: Postmodernism and the Comic Vision
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Bari Rolfe – Commedia dell'arte: a scene study book
-
Mark Rubinfeld – Bound to Bond: gender, genre, and the Hollywood romantic comedy
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John Rudlin – Commedia Dell'Arte: an actor's handbook
-
Lewis Salingar – Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy
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Leslie Smith – Modern British Farce: A Selective Study of the British Farce from Pinero to the Present Day
-
Charles W. Stein – American Vaudeville As Seen by Its Contemporaries
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J.L. Styan – Restoration Comedy in Performance
If you'd like to book
Damon to come present a workshop for your group, chapter, coven,
or posse,
just give a holler.