And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers

DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT - Every great joke has a punch line, and every great humor writer has an arsenal of experiences, anecdotes, and obsessions that were the inspiration for that humor. In fact, those who make a career out of entertaining strangers with words are a notoriously intelligent and quirky lot. And boy, do they have some stories. In this entertaining and inspirational book, you'll hear from 21 top humor writers as they discuss the comedy-writing process, their influences, their likes and dislikes, and their experiences in the industry.

You'll also learn some less useful but equally amusing things, such as:

• How screenwriter Buck Henry came up with the famous "plastics" line for The Graduate.How many times the cops were called on co-writers Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer during the shooting of Borat.
• What David Sedaris thinks of his critics.
• What creator Paul Feig thinks would have happened to the Freaks & Geeks crew if the show had had another season.
• What Jack Handey considers his favorite Deep Thoughts.
• How Todd Hanson and the staff of The Onion managed to face the aftermath of 9/11 with the perfect dose of humor.
• How Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais created the original version of The Office.
• What it's really like in the writers' room at SNL.

Funny and informative, And Here's the Kicker is a must-have resource - whether you're an aspiring humor writer, a fan of the genre, or someone who just likes to laugh.

Author: Mike Sacks
Publisher: Writers House
Pages: 560pp
Size: 6 x 9 x 1.5
Notes: paperback, The New Unexpurgated Version!
Release Date: May 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-1630640118