How To Write Funny Episode 41 | Michael Gerber
May 22, 2020
Michael Gerber, comedy writer and editor of The American Bystander magazine, discusses his career in comedy writing for TV, writing parody novels, and editing and publishing The American Bystander magazine. Topics include distribution challenges, using the internet for promotion, The Onion's success, finding your voice in comedy, challenges of getting published, creating a book that fills a gap in culture, and career in comedy and helping others.
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Starting A Reader-Focused Print Humor Quarterly
- Michael Gerber describes launching American Bystander as a national print humor quarterly in trade paperback format starting in 2015.
- He deliberately avoided ad-driven or newsstand formats and used the internet and social media to reach readers instead.
Indie Magazines Versus Corporate Backing
- Gerber argues big-company backing often forces editorial compromises that dilute a magazine's original voice.
- Independents now thrive because the internet lowers costs, but they become talent farms for larger companies.
From Yale Record To DIY Publishing Skills
- Gerber recounts growing up loving print humor, restoring the Yale Record, and learning design through desktop publishing in the 1990s.
- Those skills let him design, edit, and publish his own projects later in life.