Lesson 1 - Premise & Escalation
Choosing a funny premise that attracts readers and escalating that premise to hilarity
Each month, a different instructor takes over this Substack account to release a writing workshop in their area of expertise.
When their month ends, we bundle their teachings into a self-paced workshop for writers to enjoy whenever they like.
We include the exercises and comments generated during the month it ran, so you can benefit from seeing what other writers produced, their questions/thoughts on the material, and any additional expertise shared in the comment section.
Enjoy!
Today we learn:
What a premise is and how to make a good one
The carinal sin of comedy writing
How to escalate and build upon an idea
The minimum requirements of a viable humor piece
Welcome, writers. Are you here to write humor? If so, congrats, you’re in the right place.
If you were looking for the workshop on how to write a spelunking memoir, that’s down the hall in the other Substack.
This workshop is all about how to write and publish short humor pieces.
I’m Alex Baia, and I’ll be your instructor and guide through this strange and wonderful land of humor writing.
The pieces we’re learning here are the ones you might read in humor publications such as The New Yorker’s “Shouts and Murmurs.” McSweeney’s, Points In Case, Slackjaw (a humor site on Medium that I edit), and other literary and comedic publications.
These types of humor pieces are typically around 300-1,000 words. They are often called “premise-driven humor pieces” or “conceptual humor pieces” because they are based on a comedic concept or comedic premise. The author gets in quickly with a funny idea, makes you laugh, and then we’re done. These pieces are tons of fun to read and write. Tons, I say!
By the way, the pieces we’re learning to write are humorous fiction.
Nonfiction humorous essays are nice. And so are fake-news humor pieces à la The Onion. I support those things. But those are not on the menu in this workshop.
Longer humorous works—traditional short stories, novels, etc.—are great too, but we’re focusing on short pieces.
Now, a quick overview of this workshop
We will have 8 lessons total: 2 per week for 4 weeks total.
In the first three lessons we’ll cover the core essentials of writing the humor piece: premise & escalation, writing from a headline, and self-editing and feedback. (Keep in mind that editing from feedback is essential if you want to shine as a published humor writer.)
I’ve designed the first three lessons to get you writing as quickly as possible. You will be writing headlines from the get-go (starting today), and you will be writing a first draft starting in lesson 2, on Thursday.
In lessons 4-8, we’ll cover the most common humor writing mistakes that make your pieces less hilarious (and less publishable). Then we’ll get deeper into an analysis of joke writing, voice, and specifics. Finally, we’ll talk about the habits and practices that lead to actually publishing your work and getting readers. That’s the rough plan.
Every lesson will have three parts:
A short written guide.
Reading: a few recommended humor pieces that illustrate some ideas from the guide (or are just damn fun to read).
Exercises: At least one humor writing exercise.
By the time this workshop is over, we’re each going to have written (and revised) one to two short humor pieces. If you’re in this workshop, I want you to be fully in. Commit to getting those pieces across the finish line. I want to read them.
Also, the exercises will require you to post in the Substack comments quite a bit. I will be reading those comments.
Right now, I want you to shout, “I commit!”
Did you do it?
You didn’t, did you.
Okay, seriously, shout: “I commit!”
Thank you. That was beautiful.
Ready? Let’s dive in. Today we are starting with humor writing essentials: premise & escalation.
To get lessons sent to your inbox as Alex publishes them, make sure you’re subscribed
1. Choose a crystal clear premise
The number one thing you’ll typically find in a good, short piece of humor is a clear comedic premise. Here are some good ways to define “the premise” of a humor piece:
The main joke or idea of the piece.
The main thing that is funny about the piece.
The primary idea being comedically heightened in the piece.
Think of the premise as the humor vehicle: it’s the concept the author uses to drive the comedy.
In a typical humor piece, the premise is communicated directly from the title (the headline) of the piece. Or, at the very least, the premise is suggested or hinted by the headline.
Let’s explore a few humor premises, starting with some popular pieces on Slackjaw:
→ Ernest Hemingway At The Taco Bell Cantina by Jude Flannely
In this Hemingway parody by Jude Flannely, the humor premise is that Ernest Hemingway is narrating his experience of getting drunk inside a Taco Bell that serves alcohol. That’s it! Simple.
When you have a good, clear humor premise, you should be able to explain it in one sentence. And the premise, as conveyed by the headline, should make your ideal reader want to read it. Here’s another popular piece from Slackjaw:
→ New — It’s Adjunct Barbie™! By Katie Burgess
In this fake product advertisement piece by Katie Burgess, the humor premise is that Barbie’s makers have created a new type of doll: an adjunct professor Barbie.
Here are a couple more great premises from other humor publications. In Jack Handey’s New Yorker piece, “Job Rejection,” the premise is that a mean person repeatedly rejects a job applicant with a series of over-the-top, weird rejection letters.
In Wendi Aarons McSweeney’s piece, “Airplane Passengers as Explained By Their Pants,” the premise is that you can infer surprising and funny things about an airline passenger from their pants. This is the unusual thing that Wendi Aarons heightens in this piece.
Here’s a key point about premise: each of these humor pieces has one clear humor premise, not two or three or seven.
A common mistake in writing short humor and satire is to cram multiple big ideas into one piece. Don’t do that. When you write a premise-driven humor piece, a single, clear premise is your best friend.
To test whether you have one clear premise, ask yourself two questions:
(a) Can I describe my humor premise in a single sentence?
(b) Is the premise revealed (or at least strongly hinted at) by the headline? And is the premise immediately reinforced within the start of the article?
2. Make sure your premise is fresh and original
If the premise or execution of a humor piece feels too familiar, or too similar to other stuff that’s out there, then it’s not funny. “I’ve already seen this idea” = Not funny.
In humor, and in all comedy generally, originality is essential. You don’t want to repeat humor premises or concepts that other people have already written.
What is the cardinal sin of bad comedy writing? It’s relying on clichéd jokes. A clichéd joke is any joke that has become common through repetition in the culture. It’s easy to think of examples:
“That’s what she said!”
“Sir, this is a Wendy’s.”
“I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”
“Thank you for coming to my TED talk.”
There are probably hundreds of examples of joke clichés, and I bet you could think of at least a dozen within ten minutes. Using clichés is the mark of an amateur, of a writer who isn’t making an honest effort. If you’ve seen a joke repeatedly on the internet, it’s a cliché. Don’t use it.
Avoiding clichés is important in a humor premise, though in my experience as an editor, clichés are also likely to pop up within individual jokes in a piece.
When it comes to picking a premise, you want an idea that feels fresh. Something your reader hasn’t read before. This relates to both the humor premise itself and also the topic of your piece. Here are three examples of topics and takes that have been written about a lot:
Flying on commercial airplanes is often rather unpleasant.
Instagram Influencers are vapid and annoying.
Using Tinder is frustrating, and the users can be rather superficial, dumb, or creepy.
Does this mean you shouldn’t write about those topics? No, not necessarily. You can absolutely write a funny piece about airlines, influencers, or online dating apps. But if you do write about these topics, you need an original slant—something different from what anyone has tried before.
Back to Wendi Aarons McSweeney’s piece: “Airplane Passengers as Explained By Their Pants.” Although it’s about commercial airplane flights, it works thanks to the unusual twist: analyzing passengers based on pants. The unexpected twist turns a familiar topic into an original piece. And this is what you will find in a successful humor piece on a common topic: the writer found some unusual twist, some original angle, or something weirdly specific within that topic. Great humorists can take hackneyed topics and turn them into comedy gold.
How to keep your premise ideas original?
First, brainstorm a lot of premise ideas, and simply avoid the ones that are less original. Easy, right?
Second, you can dip into your idiosyncratic life experiences. You don’t have to write about your life directly, but pulling a unique detail from your life is a good way to find a fresh premise.
Third, use interesting or unusual specifics in your piece. (We will talk more about interesting specifics in week 2 of this class!) But for now, let’s move on to a crucial topic: escalation.
3. Heighten the premise
Good humor writing, and good comedy generally, escalates. In every good humor piece, you will feel a sense of forward momentum, an evolution of the original idea. That feeling is the feeling of the author taking the premise as far as it can go. That’s heightening, baby!
Early in my humor writing career, I interviewed some humor writers I liked, and I published the interviews online. When I talked with humorist Mike Lacher, we discussed what “heightening” or “escalation” means in humor, and he gave such a good answer that I’m going to quote it in full:
To me, heightening is expanding your premise in new and surprising ways that still connect coherently to what you’ve set up earlier. It’s walking that balance of finding new territory while not jumping so far ahead that it feels contrived. In terms of humor writing, you usually see this in terms of “the jokes getting funnier.”
But I think that feeling is less about the fact that the author saved the best jokes for last, and rather that they’ve carefully expanded the premise step by step in more surprising ways. That feeling of surprise makes it feel “funnier.”
I think you see this clearly in shows like Seinfeld, where the situation evolves from something pretty normal to something absurd. Starting the show with Newman trying to eat Kramer like a chicken would be too absurd to find funny. But when it comes after a long series of steps where Kramer starts shaving with butter, Newman reads a book about cannibalism, and Kramer spills spices on himself, it’s pretty funny. It’s also true for pretty much anything that’s enjoyable to watch/read, regardless of humor.
If Raiders of The Lost Ark went straight to the Nazi’s faces melting, you’d be much less impressed than when it happens after numerous pitfalls and revelations involving the ark.
I love that explanation. (You can read the whole interview with Micke Lacher here, by the way.)
I could give more examples of humor pieces that heighten well, but the truth is that every single good humor piece heightens well. If you read the pieces linked earlier, you’ll find that they all heighten in more or less the way Mike Lacher is describing. The best way to learn heightening is to simply read lots of funny writing.
You will also, of course, find heightening in other forms of comedy. Good improv and sketch comedy will escalate the initial premise of the scene or sketch. Shows like Seinfeld, The Simpsons, South Park, or your favorite comedy show will escalate their premise.
In short, think of escalation or heightening as, “expanding your premise in new and surprising ways that still connect coherently to what you’ve set up earlier.” Keep in mind the second part: the evolution of the piece still connects coherently to the original premise. Never abandon your premise.
In short, every good humor piece escalates its unique premise. No exceptions!
4. The elements of the minimum viable humor piece
Let’s do a bit of recap and summarizing. Here’s the formula we have, so far, for a good short humor piece:
Great humor piece = Crystal clear and original premise + Heightening with solid jokes
Let me give just a bit more detail. if I had to stand on a gymnast’s balance beam and summarize the main features of good humor writing before I fell off the beam and got mauled by the Eastern European coach, here’s what I’d say:
The premise is clear throughout: The reader is easily able to get what’s funny about the piece. This doesn’t mean that the reader necessarily picks up on every bit of subtext in the piece, it just means that the main joke is pretty obvious to an intelligent reader.
The premise is clear from early on: The reader understands the comedic premise from very early in the piece, sometimes from the piece title alone, or within the first few sentences.
The premise is fresh and original: If the topic and execution of a humor piece feels too familiar, or too similar to other stuff that’s out there, then it’s less funny. “I’ve already seen this idea” = Not funny.
The piece has strong jokes, often infused with interesting specifics: The jokes all land. The jokes avoid humor clichés and old jokes that other people have made before. And the jokes avoid bland generalities and instead use funny or interesting specifics.
The piece heightens: The jokes serve to escalate the premise as the piece goes on. The premise keeps enlarging in new and surprising ways. The escalation is a clear continuation of the original premise. Thus, the piece takes the reader on a fun journey, but it never deviates from the premise. This subjectively gives the reader the feeling that the piece keeps getting funnier.
Are there occasional exceptions to those five generalities? Maybe. But for something like 98.2% of pieces, I’d say these precise elements will serve you well. Learn them, use them, and treasure them!
That concludes lesson 1 of the workshop.
Humor Reading
New — It’s Adjunct Barbie™! By Katie Burgess
Ernest Hemingway At The Taco Bell Cantina by Jude Flannely
Airplane Passengers as Explained By Their Pants by Wendi Aarons
Job Rejection by Jack Handey (from What I'd Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats)
→ Reading questions: As you read the pieces above, and after you finish them, ask yourself: How does the author communicate the main premise? And how does the author escalate that premise throughout the piece? Optional: If you have any reflections on that, post a quick one here in the Substack comments.
Writing Exercises
Write 3 to 5 humorous headlines. Each headline is the title of a hypothetical humor piece. Nothing else—just the title! Each headline should communicate, or imply, a funny premise. Also, each headline should be short: aim for a headline of around 3-15 words or so. Remember, right now you are just brainstorming headline ideas. Have fun with this!
Once you have your headlines, post your list of 3-5 headlines in the Substack comments so your classmates can check them out. You headline list should look like this:
My funny headline #1
My funny headline #2
My funny headline #3
Reply to at least two headline lists in the Substack comments, and tell the writer which headline (in the list) was your favorite!
These exercises should be quick, so try to get your headline lists posted by Wednesday.
In the next class, we’ll give headlines a deeper look. Until then, I’ll see you in the comments section.
p.s. I have a monthly humor newsletter where I send out some of my favorite funny writing about once every month or so. I also share a bunch of cool resources for humor writers, including my “Ultimate Humor Writing Cheat Sheet” which you’ll get in the welcome email when you join. I think you’ll love it, and you can sign up here.
Alex Baia is a humor writer for The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and other publications. He is also an editor of the humor site Slackjaw.
Alex voices the character Lex, The Zen Philosopher of Life Hacking, on You But Better, the number one self-improvement parody podcast on the face of the planet.
My funny headline # 1, My new succubus is a mediocre lover.
My funny headline # 2. After eight years, the dreaded convoy finally arrived at the Mexican border.
My funny headline # 3. Trump convicted after stiffing his witchdoctor.
My funny headline # 4. Nixon's spirit of no use. "Sorry Don, I'm not a crook".
My funny headline # 5. Thomas realizes too late that gay and interracial marriage are on the same docket.
Apologies for being late to this!
My funny headline #1
Congratulations! Your Resume Impressed Our AI. Now, Please Train Your Replacement Robot Before We Let You Go
My funny headline #2
Francis Fukuyama in Tears as History Keeps Going
My funny headline #3
Excerpts from Bridgerton: Part III Where Gossip Girl fills in during Lady Whistledown's Honeymoon
My funny headline #4
Green Flag! Woman's Date Turns into Bear After Curse is Lifted