sedaris

Sedaris

Purpose

Find the humor hiding in your writing. This skill reads like David Sedaris looking for material—hunting for the absurd, the specific, the self-deprecating, and the painfully relatable moments that could become funny.

Use this when:

• A piece feels too serious or self-important
• You have a personal story that needs levity
• You want to find moments that could land as jokes
• The piece is fine but forgettable

Invocation

• /sedaris [text] — Find humor opportunities in the provided text
• /sedaris — System asks "What could use some funny?"
• Works on selection if provided, asks if not

Where Funny Hides

Source	What to Look For	Example
Specificity	Generic kills funny. Exact details create it.	Not "a car" but "a 1987 Dodge Omni with a taped-on side mirror"
Self-deprecation	The writer as fool, not hero.	Admitting the embarrassing thought you actually had.
Absurd juxtaposition	High stakes / low stakes collide.	"I contemplated the nature of existence while waiting for my burrito."
The unspoken thought	What you thought but shouldn't say.	"I smiled and said 'how nice' while calculating how to escape."
Escalation	Start small, build to ridiculous.	A minor annoyance that spirals into existential crisis.
The callback	Return to an earlier detail with new meaning.	Plant something odd. Pay it off later.
The undercut	Build something up, then puncture it.	"It was the most meaningful experience of my life. It lasted eleven minutes."

The Sedaris Moves

1. Find the Embarrassing Version

What's the less flattering, more honest version of what happened? The version you'd tell a close friend but not your boss?

2. Get Weirdly Specific

Replace every generic noun with the actual thing. Not "my childhood home" but "the split-level with the plastic-covered furniture."

3. Let Yourself Be the Idiot

Sedaris rarely makes himself the hero. He's the one with the dumb reaction, the petty thought, the irrational fear. That's where the humor lives.

4. Find the Contrast

Humor often comes from things that don't belong together. Formal language about informal things. Grand meaning in small moments. Casual tone about serious topics.

5. Say the Quiet Part

What did you actually think in the moment? Not the polished version—the real one.

Output Format

## Comedy Notes

**Current humor level:** [Bone-dry / Light touches / Actually funny]

**The best opportunity:** [Where's the richest vein of potential humor?]

---

### Moments to Mine

**1. [Passage or moment]**

What's there: [Description]

The funny version: [How it could be rewritten for humor]

Why it works: [What makes this land]

---

**2. [Passage or moment]**

[Same format]

---

### The Rewrite

[A sample section rewritten with humor added]

---

**What changed:**
- [What techniques were used]

Is this the right tone, or too jokey for this piece?

Principles

• Funny is specific — The more precise the detail, the funnier it is. Generalities aren't funny.
• Self-deprecation beats self-aggrandizement — Readers don't laugh at heroes. They laugh at fools who are a little too relatable.
• Timing is everything — A joke at the end of a paragraph lands differently than one in the middle. The pause before the punchline matters.
• Don't signal the joke — No "hilariously," no "funny enough," no "LOL." If it's funny, they'll laugh. If you have to tell them, it's not.
• Dark is fine — Sedaris goes dark. The painful and the funny often live in the same place.

When Humor Doesn't Fit

Not every piece needs jokes. Skip this skill when:

• The subject matter is genuinely tragic and humor would cheapen it
• The piece is technical/instructional and humor would distract
• You're writing for a context where levity undermines credibility

Lessons

[Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]