pedagogical humor – Comedy Writing Secrets

Online Learning

Why Humor Is the Red Bull of Online Teaching

A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep. —W. H. Auden A teacher’s job is to educate, not entertain. And it’s certainly not…

Mark ShatzApril 10, 2026

Online Learning

The Classroom Demands Lame Humor

In comedy, humor is binary. Something is funny—or it isn’t. In most higher education settings, students and instructors self-identify their gender. Humorists don’t have that…

Mark ShatzApril 9, 2026

Online Learning

Educational Tinder

“I will never forget my first day of school. My mom woke me up, got me dressed, made my bed, and fed me. Man, did…

Mark ShatzApril 2, 2026

Online Learning

Using Humor to Reduce Test Anxiety

Tests make students nervous. Even well-prepared students experience test anxiety, and anxiety is the enemy of learning. A tense brain struggles to retrieve information, while…

Mark ShatzApril 1, 2026

Online Learning

When Humor Hurts Learning

I wrote a bestselling book on humor writing, Comedy Writing Secrets. I know how to target humor, write one-liners, and even perform stand-up comedy. Which…

Mark ShatzMarch 29, 2026

Online Learning

The Safest Target in Classroom Humor

A classic comedy adage says: “If there’s no corpse, there’s usually no joke.” In other words, humor almost always attacks something—people, places, ideas, or institutions.…

Mark ShatzMarch 12, 2026