Comedic writer, actor and poet Dr. David Axelrod of the Creative Happiness Institute will offer a four-class series on humor writing 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 5, 12, 19 and Nov. 2, at the outdoor Ormond Memorial Art Museum garden gazebo.
Those attending will discuss what makes things funny and be instructed on popular formats in humor and comedy writing.
Stagecraft, stand-up, memoirs, stories and even limericks will be the subject of study. Each session will offer a chance to tell a joke, present a short stand-up routine, or even stage a brief skit. While contents of each session will be spontaneous, true principles of comedy will be shared and critiqued.
The class will not be censored, though with any venue, participants should show mutual respect.
“The single abiding rule will be to treat each other nicely,” said Axelrod. “Other than that,” he said, it’s “no holds barred — though we do have to be careful where we hold each other.”
Axelrod has nearly 60 years of humor writing and performance experience. He has written and sold jokes to magazines, published a humor magazine, wrote the book The Man Who Fell in Love With a Chicken, sold memoirs, stories and satire, and won a playwriting award and a Gilman Fellowship in theater at Johns Hopkins University.
He has worked on the set of the TV show Cheers, performed and emceed at numerous comedy clubs, and acted in The Bald Soprano, and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This class will be held outdoors in the museum’s garden gazebo. Participants should bring a notebook, writing utensils and a beverage. Bench seating will be provided, or you can bring a folding chair.
The museum is at 78 E. Granada Blvd. in Ormond Beach.
The price for the class series is $60 for museum members and $67 for nonmembers. Register online by 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, at www.ormondartmuseum.org. Call 386-676-3347 with questions.
