Advanced Political Satire

Beyond the Headline: Writing Political Satire The Days (Or Week!)

After A Big, Breaking, News Story

taught by Cara Michelle Smith

January 14, 2023
Saturday

2:00-5:00 pm EST

On ZOOM

So many of us love writing topical, political or social satire, but don’t have the time or availability to jump on breaking news the moment it breaks. Fret no more! We’ll discuss how to identify broader satirical themes from individual events and how to create characters or environments that reflect those themes. We’ll also go over fresh, original formats for political satire that transcend the reliable (but commonly seen!) monologue format, and tricks for writing biting satire that still leaves room for silliness.

A little about your teacher:

Cara Michelle Smith writes headlines for The Onion and regularly contributes humor and satire to The New Yorker, McSweeney's and Reductress, among others. I also perform standup and storytelling, the latter of which I've done a handful of times with The Moth.

Her half-hour comedy pilot, "The Nest," advanced to the Second Round in the Comedy Teleplay Pilot category at the Austin Film Festival in 2021.

By day, she is a lead writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website that's regularly syndicated in the AP, USA Today and Forbes.