“In Houston, Texas, when it is 90 degrees in April, take a paper and pen from your Holiday Inn hotel room and begin walking along the freeway and through an industrial park. Talk to yourself, out loud, about anything that generates emotion—a fight with your sister, your cat’s belly, deviled eggs. Write down—on your now sweaty pad of paper—whatever words come to mind. Reach your destination, an abandoned mall with a dollar store, and buy a giant pink hat. Walk back to the hotel with the hat on and rehearse what you have just written. This should take about two hours, if you stop for a water and a Diet Coke and peanut butter Clif Bar at a liquor store. Celebrate with a nap.â€
- Maria Bamford gives her best joke-writing advice for Vice’s new feature “How Do You Write a Joke?â€