Think Weird: A Short Humor Writing Workshop

Think Weird: A Short Humor Writing Workshop with River Clegg and Colin Nissan

Full...

Check below to see the full schedule for each session, see if your class skips a week for a holiday, and check out the date and time of your class show(s).

Class Description


Think Weird: A Short Humor Writing Workshop In this six-week class, students will learn the basics of how to write the kind of short humor featured in The New Yorker, McSweeney's, and other outlets. These pieces begin with the author asking a single, absurd question about the world, and students will learn how to use this process of "thinking weird" to generate premises for their own writing. From there, discussion topics will include character development, joke structure, form experimentation, and story arc. Over the course of six sessions, we'll learn about brainstorming techniques, workshop each other's pieces in a fun and safe environment, and discuss how to submit to various publications.

Instructor: River Clegg

River Clegg is comedy writer who's lived in Brooklyn since 2011. He was a staff writer on Comedy Central's The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper, and his writing has been featured in The New Yorker, The Onion, ClickHole, McSweeney's, CollegeHumor, and other outlets. A longtime host of the Creek and the Cave's late-night Bucket o' Buckets open mic, he gave that up years ago in the interest of sleep.

River went to Yale University, where he wrote for and helped edit its humor magazine, The Yale Record. He feels very lucky to have met so many funny people on campus that he got to work with later.

Instructor: Colin Nissan

Colin Nissan is a writer who’s work as appeared in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The New York Times and The Onion. His work has not appeared on theater stages, but he’s working on it and has a couple of plays in development. When Colin isn’t busy not earning money, he works as an advertising copywriter and voice actor.

Full Session Schedule


Session Schedule*

  1. Jan 7, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
  2. Jan 14, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
  3. Jan 21, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
  4. Jan 28, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
  5. Feb 4, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
  6. Feb 11, 2020, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
    at The Magnet Training Center
    (22 West 32nd Street, bet. Broadway and 5th Ave., 10th floor)
This class does not have a show/performance