12 Writing Tips From My Favorite Comedians

Here are some tips on how to be a better storyteller from some of my favorite comedy writers.

I’ve always loved funny things.

Part of it is because I grew up in a big family full of jokesters. Another part of it is because my family loves comedies.

When I was a little kid, I spent a lot of time with my uncles because, like most immigrants, my parents spent most of the day working or at school.

So, after I did my 9–3 at school, I went home and my young uncles, who lived with us (also an immigrant thing), babysat me.

And one of the things they did a lot of was pranking me. They would get me to do all sorts of stupid things to satisfy their humour.

I remember one time, I was maybe 8, they made me dress up like an ancient Chinese mystic with a fake beard made of BBQ charcoal so that they could record a parody music video.

It was like they were trying to be YouTubers (waaaaay) before it was even a thing.

Anyhoo…

After they were done humiliating me, we would often times rent and watch comedies or watch sitcoms together.

We would watch the movie (or show), add in our own little jokes, act out certain scenes that made us laugh the hardest, and re-tell the funniest scenes a day after we finished the movie.

It was a blast! But most of the time, it was just them making the jokes.

I would try to get in my own jokes but they always ignored me. And being the youngest in the house, I didn’t like this one bit because I wanted all of the attention.

So, as time went by, I started to pay attention to the funniest jokes in the movies so that I could:

I did this so frequently that it became part of who I am.

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