“Dying is easy, comedy is hard”, says the swashbuckling character Alan Swaan, portrayed by Peter O’Toole in the film My Favorite Year, written by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo. The course Funny Ha-Ha: The Art of Comedy, is a deep dive into the risky business of being funny and how great comedic writing can help people from all cultures cope with life’s difficulties. This course will examine the Elizabethan and Greek comedies for a greater understanding of the current comedic styles of shows like Seinfeld and Abbott Elementary. The course will examine the socio-political comedic contributions in the works of George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Jon Stewart and Dick Gregory and the plethora of masterful Jewish comedy writers like Mel Brooks, and Amy Schumer who have contributed much to contemporary American entertainment. The course will examine how African-American comedies like Martin, A Different World and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air influenced pop culture by bringing Black culture to primetime. The class will also confront the changing cultural tastes in comic writing to understand what is not funny. Are jokes about gender, race, and disabilities still funny? We know laughter is great medicine for the soul, so why are some of the lives of comic writers filled with tragedy and sadness? The class is designed to help all writers find their comedic thread from their own personal experiences to enhance their writing in all genres.

“Dying is easy, comedy is hard”, says the swashbuckling character Alan Swaan, portrayed by Peter O’Toole in the film My Favorite Year, written by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo. The course Funny Ha-Ha: The Art of Comedy, is a deep dive into the risky business of being funny and how great comedic writing can help people from all cultures cope with life’s difficulties. This course will examine the Elizabethan and Greek comedies for a greater understanding of the current comedic styles of shows like Seinfeld and Abbott Elementary. The course will examine the socio-political comedic contributions in the works of George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Jon Stewart and Dick Gregory and the plethora of masterful Jewish comedy writers like Mel Brooks, and Amy Schumer who have contributed much to contemporary American entertainment. The course will examine how African-American comedies like Martin, A Different World and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air influenced pop culture by bringing Black culture to primetime. The class will also confront the changing cultural tastes in comic writing to understand what is not funny. Are jokes about gender, race, and disabilities still funny? We know laughter is great medicine for the soul, so why are some of the lives of comic writers filled with tragedy and sadness? The class is designed to help all writers find their comedic thread from their own personal experiences to enhance their writing in all genres.