Comedy Masterclass

Leslie Lehr (memoir)

Danielle Krage interviews Leslie Lehr (prize-winning author, Novel Consultant for Truby’s Writers Studio, and essayist) about her memoir, A Boob’s Life.
A Boob’s Life has a fascinating structure, interweaving personal narrative with national history, and in this conversation, Leslie shares her practical approaches to achieving this.
Leslie also has a wealth of advice for handling the lens of humour, and for ways to create highly visual scenes that propel the memoir forward.
You can find Leslie and her work at:
https://leslielehr.com
https://www.instagram.com/leslielehr_author
https://www.facebook.com/authorleslielehr
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage

Pilar Alessandra (screenwriting fundamentals)

Danielle Krage interviews Pilar Alessandra, who is a Hollywood script consultant, author of the top-selling screenwriting book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter, and host of the On the Page Podcast (now in its 16th year). Pilar is known as one of Los Angeles’s leading story instructors, and she has travelled the world teaching screenwriting and television writing.
In this episode, she shares really practical advice to help comedy writers think about character, stakes, sequences, structures, their writer perspective and effective dialogue.
You can find out more about Pilar and her work (including her classes) at: https://www.onthepage.tv
 
And follow her here:
https://www.instagram.com/onthepage
https://twitter.com/onthepage
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage

Lucy Lumsden (getting comedy commissioned and produced)

Danielle Krage interviews Lucy Lumsden about commissioning and producing comedy.
Lucy was the first Controller of Comedy Commissioning for the BBC and was then Head of Comedy for Sky for 6 years. She now run Yellow Door Productions, an independent TV and film production company specialising in comedy and comedy drama.  
All these perspectives means that Lucy is able to share a wealth of practical advice for writers who are trying to navigate the industry, and get their work made.
You can find out more about Lucy and her work here:
https://www.yellowdoorprods.com
https://www.instagram.com/yellowdoorprods
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com/
 
Other guests mentioned:
Sherice Griffiths: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJVaAWpW_U&t=1008s
Chris Head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIk5C52vMEA&t=6s
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/

John Truby (story code and beats)

Danielle Krage interviews John Truby, the founder and director of Truby’s Writers Studio. The conversation is a deep dive into the comedy chapter in John’s most recent book, ‘The Anatomy of Genres’.
John shares so many practical storytelling strategies as they relate to comedy - its beats, themes, tonal considerations, character types, and power. Plus, where it fits in relationship to other genres.
You can find out more about John Truby’s books, classes and story software at:
https://anatomyofgenres.com
https://truby.com
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com/
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/

Andrew Kaufman (allegory and absurdity)

Danielle Krage interviews the writer, Andrew Kaufman, whose books include All My Friends Are Superheroes, The Waterproof Bible, and The Ticking Heart.
Andrew’s work is known for being both incredibly funny and incredibly sad, and he shares some beautiful insights into the creative process that produces this brilliant and distinctive blend. Including, how humour, for him, is like oven mitts. You’ll have to listen/watch to hear just how touching and accurate this analogy is!  
You can find out more about Andrew and his work here:
https://chbooks.com/Authors/K/Kaufman-Andrew
https://www.instagram.com/manualtypewriterforever/
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com/
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/

Zanandi Botes (comedy horror and twisting tropes)

Danielle Krage interviews Zanandi Botes, who has so much fun experience writing for theatre, TV, comics and her own film. She has written articles for cracked.com since 2016, with a particular love for horror comedy as a genre! All this makes for a lively discussion about excellent comedy shows, and areas where there's still a lot of room to do better. 
You can find out more about Zanandi and her work here:https://twitter.com/ZaNandihttps://www.cracked.com/members/Zanandi
2 fun articles to start with are:https://www.cracked.com/article_37408_each-succession-characters-funniest-moment.htmlhttps://www.cracked.com/article_35860_ranking-jason-stathams-funniest-movie-moments.html
You can find the transcript at:https://comedymasterclass.com/
And Danielle’s socials here: https://twitter.com/daniellekrage https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/

Juliet & Keith Giglio (co-writing comedy)

Danielle Krage interviews Juliet Giglio and Keith Giglio about their co-writing process. This includes for their delightful rom-com novel, The Summer of Christmas. Plus their next book, The Trouble With Tinsel (out this autumn).
Juliet and Keith also share so many practical tips from their numerous screenwriting projects, taking us behind the scenes into what it takes to write a really great Christmas movie.
They also dig into some of the key concepts from Keith's craft book, The Comedy Blockbuster, and how they apply them.
It's a fun conversation, stacked with hard-earned tips and advice for comedy writers.
You can find out more about Juliet and Keith's work here:
https://jkgiglio.com
https://www.instagram.com/julietagiglio
https://www.instagram.com/keithgig
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage

Aalex Mandel-Dallal (using your truth)

Danielle Krage interviews comedian Aalex Mandel-Dallal, about the process of creating and developing her solo comedy Edinburgh show. This includes how Aalex works with the audio recording of her 'lockdown breakdown' onstage, in a way that gives the audience permission to laugh, and 'a sense of relief for their own wobblies'.
You can find out more about Aalex and her work here: https://linktr.ee/aalexmandeldallal
https://www.instagram.com/aalexmandeldallal
 
You can find the transcript of this interview at:
https://comedymasterclass.com
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage

Kyle Mazer (musical comedy)

Danielle Krage interviews Kyle Mazer about music, comedy and collaboration. Kyle is a playwright, composer, stand-up comic and web3 creative strategist.
They explore the practical example of his comedic musical, The SS Cancelled - including creating the tone, characters, and the development process.
You can find more about Kyle and his work at:
https://www.thesscancelled.com
https://kmazer15.wixsite.com/mysite
https://www.instagram.com/kmaze19
https://adimverse.com
 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com/
 
And Danielle's socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/

Kelly Pantaleoni (comedy characters to Web3)

Danielle Krage interviews Australian actress, filmmaker, and philanthropist Kelly Pantaleoni. They dig into self-generating comedy characters and projects - from developing your own short film in lockdown, to new opportunities in Web3. 
You can find the transcript at:
https://comedymasterclass.com/
 
You can find out more about Kelly's projects here:
https://www.instagram.com/kellypantaleoni/
https://twitter.com/KellyPantaleoni
https://www.kellypantaleoni.com/
https://www.40secondsfilm.com/
https://www.50shadesOfQuarantine.com
 
And Danielle’s socials here:
https://twitter.com/daniellekrage
https://www.instagram.com/dekrage/