Danielle Krage interviews Kate Willett. Kate is a comedian, actress and writer who has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Netflix’s Comedy Lineup. Kate has also toured with Margaret Cho, featured with comedians like Maria Bamford, and has written jokes for Beavis and Butthead. In this conversation, Kate shares insights from making h…

In this episode, Danielle celebrates completing 52 episodes of Comedy Masterclass and is joined by her husband, Jeremiah, as a surprise guest host. They discuss the motivation behind creating the podcast and Danielle’s own thoughts and approaches to comedy. Note from Danielle: There are 3 more fabulous guests in this season, so listen out. :) Chapt…

Danielle Krage interviews Kay Stonham. Kay is a comedy writer-performer who has worked extensively across TV, film, theatre and radio. For example, she has written 10 original series for Radio 4, including Robin and Wendy’s Wet Weekend, and Bad Salsa. She’s also the Co-Founder of Female Pilot Club , which was founded to amplify women’s voices and g…

Danielle Krage interviews Alana Schramm. Alana is a coach who works with the subconscious, the nervous system and emotions, in a way that is really practical, playful, and relevant to creativity. This conversation is a frank and fun dive into what blocks us and what motivates us effectively. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Alana Schramm and her work…

Danielle Krage interviews Neil Martin, Honorary Professor of Psychology at Regent's University London. Neil is the author of The Psychology of Comedy, and in this conversation he introduces and dissects some of the key research and theories in the field of laughter, humour and comedy. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Neil's Background in Comedy 03:2…

Danielle Krage interviews writer Lana Schwartz, whose interactive book ‘Build Your Own Romantic Comedy: Pick Your Plot, Meet Your Man and Direct Your Happily Ever After’ was named one of Vulture’s Best Comedy Books of the Year. Lana has also written for The New Yorker, and is a contributor to The Onion. In this interview she shares her obsession fo…

Danielle Krage interviews Suchandrika Chakrabarti and Nerine Skinner. Suchandrika is a stand-up, who runs the monthly night Good News / Bad News in north London and writes for BBC One's Have I Got News For You. She is taking her second solo show Doomscrolling to Edinburgh Fringe this summer. Nerine is an actress, comedian, improviser and deviser wh…

Back with you on May 15th.By Danielle Krage

Danielle Krage interviews writer, creator, and brand builder John Derevlany. John is an award-winning writer, animator, and showrunner who has written or produced hundreds of hours of TV (including for the Jim Henson Company and LEGO). John has also been a game designer, street artist, investigative journalist and played Crackers the Corporate Crim…

Danielle Krage interviews Ken Pisani. Ken is a screenwriter, TV writer and producer, playwright, comic book author, former cartoonist, and novelist. His novel, AMP’D, was a Thurber prize finalist, and in this episode he takes us behind the scenes of creating this comic work. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:18 The Concept of AMP’D 05:0…

Danielle Krage interviews Caleb Warren, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Arizona. Caleb researches and writes about what makes things funny, what makes things cool, and what helps people reach their goals. In this conversation, Caleb shares some of his key findings about humour and how it works. 00:00 Introduction to Consumer P…

Danielle Krage interviews Dr Eric Maisel. Eric is the author of more than 50 books - many focused on creativity and the creative life - including Fearless Creating, Deep Writing, The Power of Daily Practice and The Magic of Sleep Thinking. He also writes the ‘Rethinking Mental Health’ blog for Psychology Today and is a regular contributor to Mad in…

Danielle Krage interviews Joanna Penn. Joanna is an award-nominated New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with more than 40 books across multiple genres – non-fiction and fiction (under J.F.Penn). Joanna is also a podcaster, international speaker, and award-winning creative entrepreneur. This conversation dives into Joanna’s recent book, …

Danielle Krage interviews Rosie Wilby. Rosie is an award-winning comedian and creator of the global hit podcast and book The Breakup Monologues. She is also the author of ‘Is Monogamy Dead?’ and toured a trilogy of solo shows investigating the psychology of love. In this interview, Rosie shares insights for how we can use humour to unpack challengi…

Danielle Krage interviews novelist Ruth Leigh. They focus on her delightful Isabella M Smugge series, and what it takes to create a comic character that you can develop and sustain across multiple books. Ruth is also the author of the Jane Austen-inspired book A Great Deal of Ingenuity, and The Little Book of Unexpected Poetry. Chapters 00:00 Intro…

Hey lovely listeners. That's the end of Season 5. I'll be back on March 6th with more fabulous Comedy Masterclass guests.By Danielle Krage

Danielle Krage interviews Scott Dikkers, founder of the renowned humour site, The Onion. Scott is a New York Times and Amazon best-selling humour author. He has won a Peabody Award, the Thurber Prize for American Humor and over 30 Webby awards. Plus, he has consulted for top entertainment companies like NBC, Comedy Central, and Pixar. Scott’s How t…

In this episode, Danielle shares the writing advice of Ray Bradbury, a writer who has influenced her own writing process. She introduces Bradbury and his book 'Zen and the Art of Writing', highlighting his practical and joyful approach to writing. Danielle discusses two main practices recommended by Bradbury: the 52 Short Story Challenge and the Th…

Julia McKenzie is the Commissioning Editor for Comedy and Entertainment at Radio 4, and prior to that was Creative Director of BBC Studios Audio for 7 years, specialising in comedy and entertainment production. In this conversation, Julia provides helpful insights for comedy writers who want to understand the audio landscape and find ways to get th…

Danielle Krage interviews Lynne Parker, Founder and Chief Executive of Funny Women. She created the organisation over 20 years ago now and has made such a contribution to the comedy community, including producing the Funny Women Awards. In this conversation, Lynne shares invaluable advice for women building their careers and networks in comedy. Cha…

Danielle Krage interviews author Fran Hill about ways to develop your observational humour skills as a writer. Fran is a former English teacher, and had a monthly satirical column about education in the Times Educational Supplement. She further shared her experiences in diary form in her memoir ‘Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?' And she publi…

Danielle Krage interviews Billy Mernit - screenwriter, novelist and author of Writing The Romantic Comedy: The Art of Crafting Funny Love Stories for the Screen. Billy has served as a story analyst and script consultant at Universal Pictures, an instructor for the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, and has published some 20 romance novels under a fem…

Back January 10th 2024 with more Comedy Masterclass guests.By Danielle Krage

In this episode writers Allora Dannon, Camille Le Baron and Danielle Krage share their Christmas comedy recommendations. They discuss TV series, films and books that capture the holiday spirit with a Christmas twist. Whether you love Christmas or not, there's something for everyone in these recommendations. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and How They …

Danielle Krage interviews Chelsea Kania and Emily Chase from Female Pilot Club, and they discuss the benefits of entering writing competitions and the development opportunities they offer. From their work with Female Pilot Club’s comedy script call, they share practical tips for developing your pitch, engaging with the advice of industry judges, re…

Danielle Krage interviews comedy director, coach and mentor, Chris Head. This episode is a deep dive into how to structure your 30 min comedy or comedy-drama script. Then Chris and Danielle play with using the structure to brainstorm a new show. Tactics covered include: Breaking down the 3 main beats that shape your story. Ways to keep your protago…

Danielle Krage interviews Johnny Smith, animation and live-action screenwriter and script consultant. His work spans books, TV and film, including Dragon Rider, and co-writer for The Queen’s Corgi, and Gnomeo and Juliet. This conversation includes: Creating rules for your world, using setting, and telling the story visually. Considerations for writ…

Danielle Krage interviews writers Jane Lovering and Jeevani Charika. They are shortlisted and award-winning romantic novelists in their individual careers, and together they wrote How to Write a Romantic Comedy. This conversation includes: Having pen names and marketing your funny books. Juxtaposition and the unexpected in comedy. Tropes, heroines …

Danielle Krage interviews Dave Cohen - Broadcaster, BBC TV writer, BAFTA winner for his Horrible Histories songs, and novelist (Stand Up, Barry Goldman, and soon to be released, Barry Goldman: The Wilderness Years). Dave is the author of The Complete Comedy Writer: Make your Sitcom, Stand-Up, Screenplay, Sketches and Stories 62% funnier. He brings …

Danielle Krage interviews writer Aaron Starmer, whose young adult and middle-grade novels you can find on so many best-of-year lists, from Time Magazine to the Wall Street Journal. He’s the author of Spontaneous, also adapted into a romantic black comedy horror film, produced and directed by Brian Duffield (Underwater, Love and Monsters, No One Wil…

Danielle Krage interviews writer and creative, Isaac Marion. Isaac is the author of the Warm Bodies series. (Warm Bodies became a New York Times Bestseller, inspired a major film, and was translated into 25 languages.) This conversation about weaving humour with darker themes includes: 1) Exploring different writing perspectives and viewpoints. Whe…

Zanandi Botes, writer and comedy horror expert, is the special guest for this Halloween show. Zanandi and Danielle share 3 picks each, to give you 6 comedy-horror recommendations, just in time for Spooky Season. They span zombies, mockumentary, anthology and more. You can find Zanandi at: https://www.cracked.com/members/Zanandi https://twitter.com/…

Comedy Masterclass will be back on October 25th (with a special Halloween episode!) In the meantime, I would love it if you could help me share the show, in a way that makes sense for wherever you listen/watch - rate, review, leave a comment. Or share with comedy-loving friends, or on social media. And if you want to message me directly, you can fi…

Danielle Krage interviews The Blaine Brothers (Chris and Ben) about their work as filmmakers and particularly their approaches to directing comedy. They directed Sara Pascoe’s ‘Out of Her Mind’ series for BBC2 and Sony TV (through Simon Pegg’s production company Stolen Picture) and received both awards and brilliant reviews for their debut feature …

Danielle Krage interviews Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex. Lynne has a fabulous alter-ego as Lynneguist, with an award-winning blog ‘Separated by a Common Language’. Lynne is also the author of ‘The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship between British and American English’. In this interview, she generously…

Danielle Krage interviews Adam Courting, a highly curious creative whose experience spans improv, devising, performing Shakespeare and more. Adam has brilliant insights into improv comedy culture - what needs to change, and what we can learn from it. This includes how we can use improv to reshape how we think about traditional roles, and engage aud…

Danielle Krage interviews writer Michelle Gallen, whose book ‘Factory Girls’ won the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2023. Michelle has wonderfully honest and practical takes on the craft and business of writing – from developing the voice and point of view of the book, to successfully pitching it to agents and editors. The interview also delves into t…

Danielle Krage interviews Kevin Tomlinson, theatre maker and Co-Founder of Kepow Theatre Company. Kevin’s extensive training and live experience in so many forms of improvisation (including with Keith Johnstone, Philippe Gaulier, and John Wright) leads to a rich conversation about diverse aspects of long-form improv – both verbal and physical. You …

Danielle Krage interviews comedian and screenwriter, Tim Ferguson. They dig into his wonderfully practical book, Cheeky Monkey: Writing Narrative Comedy, to talk about characters, conflict, situation, and simplicity. Tim has so much comedy experience, and wonderfully forthright ways of distilling it down to what matter most if you want to write nar…

Danielle Krage interviews poet, writer and broadcaster Ian McMillan about how he approaches humour in his work - whether it’s his poetry collections or his beautiful memoir, My Sand Life, My Pebble Life. It’s a conversation rich with insights and stories, delivered in Ian’s unique and delightfully resonant style. Vivid, funny and so inspiring, it’s…

Danielle Krage interviews actor, writer and comedian Holly Hall about the process of making her live solo show, ‘You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.’ Holly was first on the show back in episode 3, sharing her process of going from award winning online sketch ‘When podcasts go wrong’… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHg4za15W9o ….to her commissione…

Danielle Krage interviews Ryan North - writer of games, comic books, non-fiction books and more. They dig into considerations for comedy, including Ryan’s experience of writing The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Danger and Other Unknown Risks. This fun conversation covers – timing, collaboration, translating comedy, crafting jokes, originality, and e…

Danielle Krage will be back with regular weekly episodes on Wednesday 2nd August.By Danielle Krage

Danielle Krage interviews comedy expert Steve Kaplan about tools from his most recent book, ‘The Comic Hero’s Journey’. The conversation covers: ways to create your main character and supporting cast; what to do when your ending isn’t working; and common comic character mistakes (plus how to fix them!). You can find out more about Steve and his wor…

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…

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 televi…

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 t…

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. P…

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. Includin…

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 bet…