Back in the 90s, Comedy Central used to run these little interstitial segments on how to be a hack comic, and they were beautiful. Aside from just being funny, they actually helped clarify my own perception of Comedy, and taught me the value of avoiding avoid low-hanging fruit whenever I attempted humor.
Anyway, I
just learned today that it was Andy Kindler who did those things, and it was based on a National Lampoon article he wrote, called
The Hack's Handbook.
Great stuff.