Apr 28, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 19 segments
John welcomes five-time Emmy-winning writer Ali Barthwell (Last Week Tonight) to ask, can writers learn to be funny? Drawing from her time as a teacher at The Second City, they look at what writers…
Ali BarthwellGuest
John AugustHost
It's a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.
Over the years, we've talked about comedy a lot on the show, both for film and television.
But we often treat being funny as an inherent trait, like height, rather than a skill you can develop and improve.
Allie Barthwell is a writer known for her work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, for which she has five Emmy Awards.
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