Matthew McKeague, communication professor, presented “Comedy Writing Crash Course: 10 Quick Tips to Craft Funny Material.” in the Ross Library on Monday.
“Get over thinking that you’re not funny… Funny is subjective. Comedy is objective,” McKeague said, kicking off his seminar. He shared that anyone can be comedic, but being funny is what follows after.
The primary piece of advice was to draw from your own life. McKeague believed this kind of comedy is timeless, unlike pop culture jokes which have an expiration date. The recommended way to draw from your life experience was to write down your thoughts and feelings about everything. No inconvenience was too small to write about.
“It [the presentation] was a funny time and I learned to be more confident about my comedic presence,” Cassie Keller, a communication major, said.
McKeague ended with this piece of advice: just get started and get to revising. In his experience, the hardest part is starting. Then the content gets better after a few rounds of editing and thought.
McKeague has over a decade of experience in the comedy field from working on sketch shows to teaching advanced comedy writing at Kutztown University. He has written three books in the “dark comedy” genre.
There were eight attendees from students to community members in attendance.
