Jul 22, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min · 11 segments
Learn more about Alpha School at https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite Scott Dikkers is the former editor-in-chief of The Onion, the site that brought news satire to…
Scott DikkersGuest
David PerellHost
Scott Dikkers is the former editor-in-chief of The Onion, which is the site that brought news satire to the internet.
So before the episode, I went up to Scott and I said, "Hey, I got one goal for this.
Can you teach me everything you've learned?" And now he's been doing this for decades, so he was able to basically walk me by the hand and show me, "Hey, this is what I've learned very concretely.
Here are the things that you can do." Now, obviously, you're not gonna framework or tie your way to becoming the next George Carlin or something, but there are some universal principles of comedy that work in any kind of writing, whether it's the group chat, or even when you're talking on Saturday night at the bar with your friends, here's how you can make them laugh, and Scott is about to teach us what they are.
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