Funny AF Woman #6

Julie Vick

I met Julie via Substack. Besides being an author and humorist she can actually teach you to be funny. Last month she offered a joke-a-day challenge lasting two weeks. I was game. I was curious how in the heck one can teach another to be funny. Every day was a new lesson offering specific tools for the ultimate joke. It was so much fun and a great experience.

Without further ado, here’s Julie…

1. What were your life events that led you to realize, “Hey, I’m pretty funny?”

   I think I probably gained more of a sense of it when I was a writing major in college. I was participating in creative writing workshops and I remember one comment I got on a short story of mine we were workshopping was something like, “This is funny. I’m not sure if you intended it to be, but it is.” 

   I’m not sure I had fully intended it to be at that point either! But I think I had a sense of wanting to add some comedic elements to my writing and it helped me realize that humor writing felt like a good fit for me. After that I did start to add humor more intentionally–and I started reading more humorous work and took humor writing classes to continue to develop the skill. 

2. How did you nurture your funny side?

   I think I mostly just consumed a lot of humorous content because I was drawn to it and then started trying to use some of the techniques. Growing up, I liked Saturday Night Live and some stand-up comedy and funny TV shows that helped develop my sense of humor. Starting in college I started reading more humor and trying to use it in my own writing. 

   Now that I know more about humor techniques I see them being used in all sorts of places and can’t help but notice how things are working when I’m watching a funny show or reading a funny book. Consuming humor definitely helps me write my own humor.

   

   One of Julie’s tweets appeared in this rag.

3. Do you think you may have inherited your funny bone?

   My dad had a big sense of humor and one thing he was known for was writing a funny annual Christmas letter (something I wrote about in one of the first humorous essays I wrote). He liked to goof around a lot (I remember him selling my sisters and me on the fact that a jackalope actually existed which I fully bought into for a while). 

   It’s funny because my kids have gotten into The Simpsons recently and rewatching a lot of the early shows has reminded me of watching it with my dad growing up. He really liked that show and I think the subversive humor in it was up his alley.

4. If you’re in a partnership, is he or she funny? Was/Is humor a requirement?

   My husband does make me laugh and having a sense of humor was a requirement for me. I think humor is really helpful in a lot of life situations and being able to laugh about things with someone was important to me. It’s hard to imagine being with someone who didn’t have a sense of humor! 

5. Can you tell me about a time when you turned something painful into something humorous?

   I do this all the time with humor writing! I think one of my favorite ways to deal with frustrations is turning them into short satirical pieces and it can be cathartic to (eventually) laugh about something. 

   One example is this recent McSweeney’s piece I wrote comparing serving food to young kids with working in a restaurant. Picky eating is a perennial parenting frustration and at some point, I realized that some of the things I was doing for my kids mimicked what fine dining restaurants do, so I spun it into a piece. 

   

   Julie enjoying one of her published books...

6. Can you describe the type of humor you possess? Clever Wit, quick-with-a-joke, physical, goofball, aggressive, self-enhancing, self-deprecating, dark, observational, or one I didn’t think of?

   I feel like my sense of humor is more subtle and self-deprecating generally and I gravitate toward dry humor. I also really like reference and observational humor so I often do that in my writing although I don’t think I do that as much in my everyday life because it sometimes takes time for me to think of it. I’m typically funnier on paper than in person.

7. Did your kid inherit your comedy skill?

   My kids say funny stuff all the time and they have recently been interested in identifying different types of humor in things like movies or TV shows. So I think they do have good comedy skills.

8. What would be the title of your life right now?

   Where the Tired Things Are

Bio:  

Julie Vick is the author of the humorous advice book for new parents Babies Don’t Make Small Talk (So Why Should I?): The Introvert’s Guide to Surviving Parenthood. Her writing has appeared in New Yorker Daily Shouts, Real Simple, Parents, and McSweeney’s; and most importantly, one of her tweets once appeared in In Touch Weekly. She writes the Substack Humor Me, a newsletter about humor and writing.

Thank you for being here, Julie!

Readers, ask away. I have a few questions myself.

1. Are you working on another book?

2. Any announcements?

3. Did you pass on the “jackalope” existence to your kids?