Danielle Krage interviews Ken Pisani. Ken is a screenwriter, TV writer and producer, playwright, comic book author, former cartoonist, and novelist. His novel, AMP’D, was a Thurber prize finalist, and in this episode he takes us behind the scenes of creating this comic work.   Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:18 The Concept of AMP’D 05:01 Choosing the Novel Format 06:09 Challenges of Writing Prose 07:36 Writing Without an Outline 08:06 Balancing Comedy and Drama 09:00 Reversing Expectations 11:20 Writing Situational and Visual Comedy 12:09 Emotional Impact of the Novel 13:30 Finding the Balance of Comedy and Drama 19:02 Creating Beleaguered Characters 20:08 The Play and Game of Comedy 21:41 Publishing and Marketing Challenges 22:03 The Challenges of Funny Novels 25:02 Dealing with Failure and Persistence 29:01 The Appeal of Muppets 33:20 The Humour in Comic Books 38:18 Recommendations You can find out more about Ken’s work here: https://www.kenpisani.com https://twitter.com/kpsmartypants You can find the transcript at: https://comedymasterclass.com   And Danielle’s socials here: https://twitter.com/daniellekrage https://www.instagram.com/dekrage https://bsky.app/profile/daniellekrage.bsky.social