Joke in a Box: How to Write and Draw Jokes

Join New Yorker Cartoonist Emily Flake and Standup Comedian Chloe Radcliffe for a conversation about Emily’s new project, Joke in a Box: How to Write and Draw Jokes (Simon & Schuster). 

Designed as an at-home version of New Yorker cartoonist Emily Flake’s popular workshop, Joke in a Box will provide a gateway into the craft of joke writing and construction, with modular prompts designed to help you see the world in a more playful and inventive way. Presented with care, empathy, and a sense of joy, this 70-card deck full of exercises and ideas is useful not just to gag writing and drawing, but to any form that speaks to you as a creator. Exercises focus on idea generations techniques such as making lists to force comic juxtapositions, drawing exercises (why not mine your junk mail for visual reference and inspiration!), and encouragement. Photograph by Andrews McMeel.

$15 general, $10 members, $7 seniors/students

About the artist

Emily Flake is a cartoonist for The New Yorker (among any other publications), a writer for page and screen, the author of several books, an illustrator, and the founder of St. Nell’s, a humor writing residency for women and non-binary creators located in Williamsport, PA. She makes her home in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, daughter, and unsettlingly large cat. Photograph by Mindy Tucker.