Laughter may be universal, but the world of comedy writing is shrouded in mystery. In AND HERE’S THE KICKER (Writer’s Digest Books), Mike Sacks, a humor writer and Vanity Fair staffer, helps lift the veil with in-depth interviews of 21 top comedy writers from various fields. How in-depth exactly? To give you an idea, 94-year-old Irving Brecher, who wrote for the Marx Brothers, accused the diligent Sacks of “killing” him. (It would prove to be one of Brecher’s very last interviews. He died in 2008.) Collecting rare musings—and practical advice—from the likes of Harold Ramis (Animal House, Groundhog Day), David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day), Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show), and Allison Silverman (The Colbert Report), Sacks puts together the book he wishes he had read as a budding humor writer. The comedy world is a treacherous landscape. All of his subjects agree: Funny can’t be taught, but it can be self taught. And it helps to know where the banana peels are hidden.

—Julian Sancton

Comedy writers—like George Meyer (The Simpsons) and Dan Mazer (Borat)—tend to be depressed, brilliant, erratic and sometimes even funny. Mike Sacks’ collection of remarkably frank interviews with 21 of them readers like a secret history of popular culture.

I first discovered Mike Sacks on McSweeney’s. He’s a hilarious writer, who’s also penned pieces for mags like The New Yorker and Esquire.

Today, Writer’s Digest Books is releasing a new book he’s put together: And Here’s the Kicker, 21 interviews with some of the funniest writers alive, like David Sedaris and Buck Henry. As usual, the _floss has scored a couple copies of the book, which can be yours, IF, you send me an e-mail begging for one. No, IF, you answer the question correctly at the end of my interview with Mike. Now, on with the show …

—David Israel

Mike Sacks has lived the dream of practically every comedy nerd. For his book And Here’s The Kicker—released today—Sacks had extensive conversations (between five and 15 hours) with 21 of America’s top humor writers.

“This was really just an excuse to talk to these people,” jokes Sacks when asked about his motivation behind writing the book. While that’s a pretty good excuse, Sacks explains that he noticed so much has been written about the comedians of past generations, but very little attention has been paid to modern humor. By skipping “comedy professionals” and going directly to the writers themselves, Sacks creates a wholly original piece that is candid, smart, informative and funny. While the names of the writers may not be immediately familiar to those outside of the comedy world, their resumes are rather impressive. Sacks, a staffer at Vanity Fair, interviewed writers for The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Arrested Development, Borat, The Onion, the Marx Brothers and many more.

—Henry Melcher

Steve Martin was correct: Comedy is not pretty.

It may look easy in the eyes of those sitting in the theater seats or on the couch at home, watching a movie or TV show and enjoying the jokes. But behind each gag is a writer — sometimes plural — laboring over word choice, phrasing, pacing, timing. It takes a lot of work to make a joke funny … and even then, it may be all for naught, if it falls flat with the audience.

VANITY FAIR’s Mike Sacks gives us an intriguing glimpse on the business of making people laugh by interviewing nearly two dozen of comedy’s MVPs, in AND HERE’S THE KICKER: CONVERSATIONS WITH 21 TOP HUMOR WRITERS ON THEIR CRAFT. You may not recognize all of his subjects, but chances are, they’ve all entertained you ...

—Rod Lott

McSweeney's Internet Tendency contributor Mike Sacks' new book, And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers On Their Craft, is in stores now. The figure "21" is a bit of a misnomer, as Sacks wanted 25 interviews to be included in the book. The publisher, however, felt otherwise. Why? Oh, money. What follows are interviews that were left out of the book. They were no more deserving of being cut than any of the others. So, if you will, please look at these conversations as special "bonus" features from the book....

—Christopher Monks

(Starred Review) Veteran journalist Sacks conducted dozens of interviews with the top humor writers of the last century, and the result is a whiz-bang collection of Q&As that will school readers just as often as it provokes laughter. The assortment boasts elder statesmen including Dick Cavett, 93-year-old Irving Brecher (who wrote shtick for the Marx Brothers and Milton Berle) and Mad magazine's Al Jaffee, who reminisces about reading American comic strips during his 1930s boyhood in Lithuania. High notes include David Sedaris, with the bestselling humorist confessing to cringing when he reads earlier writing, including breakthrough Me Talk Pretty One Day: “I used to exaggerate a lot more than I needed to. So when I needed readers to believe me, they didn’t.” Other contemporary writers offer up equally revelatory tidbits, especially Marshall Brickman (Annie Hall) and Allison Silverman (The Daily Show), but would-be humorists will appreciate most the nuts-and-bolts knowhow regarding the industry. Though it's decidedly testosterone-heavy, Sack has compiled a lively compendium sure to captivate anyone who loves a good comedy.

Mike Sacks is an accomplished humor writer, but in the Potomac native's first book, "And Here's the Kicker, Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft," he turns the lens on the legends.

The book features Sacks' interviews about life and technique with such writers as Dave Barry, David Sedaris and Dick Cavett. Each chapter focuses on one writer, with Sacks' queries and the writer's answers set in a transcript-like format.

"I wanted to ask some questions that weren't necessarily asked before," the 1986 Winston Churchill High School graduate says.

He also sought to evoke responses that would be useful to novice humor writers interested in advancing their careers ....

—Brooke Kenny

I want to give a little heads-up on an upcoming book by my good friend Mike Sacks. Sacks has interviewed over twenty comedy writers and humorists for the upcoming book And Here’s the Kicker, which promises to be a definitive work on comedy writing.

The great thing about the book is that Sacks is not wedded to one comedy tradition - talking to folks as diverse as Al Jaffee (Mad Magazine) to David Sedaris to Bob Odenkirk. And Sacks, as he’s a funny guy in his own right, gets it. So he doesn’t ask the same questions these people are usually asked. He knows those answers. So Sacks goes further, drawing out rare insight into the process of making the funny ...

—Todd Jackson