Today I’m bringing you a guest post from comedy writers Ginny Hogan and Carlos Greaves about formulating ideas for satire pieces. I picked up some good tips from reading it and am sure you will too!
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—Julie
Hello!
We’re Ginny Hogan and Carlos Greaves, and we’re both comedy writers who write a lot of political satire for places like McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, The Borowitz Report, and more. Our latest project is a book we co-authored called Obey in Advance: How to Survive (and Thrive) Under Authoritarianism, a satirical (but ultimately hopeful) guide for making the most out of this current moment.
Comedy writing, and satire in particular, can feel like a skill people either have or they don’t. But we’re both big believers in the idea that humor is a skill that can be learned like any other (unless you’re Elon Musk). So we thought we’d share our approach to writing satire and try to demystify the process a bit.
Generating Premises
CARLOS: Whenever I come across a news story that’s particularly infuriating (which happens often), I try to break it down into steps and think about why it makes me so mad. Who is the antagonist of this news story? What is their point of view? Why is their point of view flawed? What recurring themes or trends does this story make me think of? How can I ridicule their point of view in a way that ties into those recurring themes?
GINNY: My premises usually start with language. I’m obsessed with the phrases that get repeated until they’re meaningless – “mistakes were made,” “in these unprecedented times,” “both sides,” etc. Sometimes it’s politicians saying them, sometimes it’s the media or commentariat. If you hear people repeating the same phrase over and over, that can be a really good premise. I love to try to pull them apart and take them to their logical conclusion.
In one of the pieces in the book, If FDR Did It, It Can’t Be That Bad, I try to extend on the idea that Trump isn’t that unprecedented, because FDR ran for a third and fourth term (something people really were saying back when Trump was teasing a third term). Typically, the phrase exists to avoid saying the true thing, so the satire premise is almost always just: what’s the true thing this phrase is protecting? In that case, the true thing is that sure, Trump isn’t that unprecedented. He’s like a lot of other world leaders – dictators, fascists, etc. The misused phrase often functions as a loose thread, the piece pulls on it to unravel it.
Generating Jokes
CARLOS: Once I have an idea for how to satirize it, I’ll read as many articles as possible about the news story in order to gather as much material as I can to later spin jokes out of. I’ll also jot down as many ideas as I can think of about the theme I’m connecting the piece to. Then I look for parallels between the news story and the theme.
GINNY: My strategy is similar. Once I have the premise, I make two lists. One is real details from the news story – the funniest line in any satire piece is often one that’s just true. The other is the mundane details of whatever format I’m using. I also try to write the last joke first – I want to know where the piece escalates to, because I want to make sure it doesn’t stay at an even level of absurdity.
Advice for Brainstorming
CARLOS: I find that the best ideas come to me when my mind has time to wander. This is usually when I’m doing something mindless like doing the dishes or going for a walk. If I sit down and just try to think of ideas, I rarely come up with my best stuff. So getting into the habit of absent-mindedly brainstorming rather than intentionally brainstorming can be helpful. In other words, think about comedy idea generation more like daydreaming than brainstorming.
GINNY: I try to write twice as much as I’m actually going to use, if not more. The good jokes don’t show up until the obvious ones are out of the way. I also read the comments on the news stories you’re satirizing. It’s bad for my mental health but good for research. The way people defend the indefensible in comment sections can really help with brainstorming. I also find that my best premises come when I’m angry but on a deadline for something else – so I guess my brainstorming advice is to get another assignment.
Thanks, Ginny and Carlos! Learn more about them here:
Ginny Hogan is a stand-up comic & writer. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Nation, Cosmo, and more. Her debut stand-up special REGRESSION is available on Amazon Prime. And yes, she was once featured on a Fox News list of insensitive “liberal” posts about the Titan submersible implosion.
Carlos Greaves is a former electrical engineer turned comedy writer – a career move that haunts his parents to this day. He is the topical satire columnist for the humor site McSweeney’s and writes the humor newsletter Shades of Greaves. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, NPR, The Borowitz Report, and The Onion. His first book, Spoilers: Essays That Might Ruin Your Favorite Hollywood Movies, was highlighted in Vulture’s Best Comedy Books of 2023.
Thanks for reading Humor Me, a newsletter featuring funny stuff and writing tips. In case you’re new here, I’m a humor writer and freelancer whose work has appeared in New Yorker Shouts, McSweeney’s, Real Simple, and more. Find out more about me at julievick.com.
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You've sold me! Buying OBEY IN ADVANCE as a gift for my husband who is even more overwhelmed than I am about everything that's happening in the world. Humor--yes, please!
Thank you for this amazing post Julie, Ginny and Carlos! As a newbie to humor, I'm so grateful for the tips. I need them!!