ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my family for all of their support over the years. To Mom for her sense of humor and for those times we spent making up puns based on what store we were going to. To Dad for his sense of humor and sarcasm. To Adam for his practical jokes and good–natured pranks. And to David for always teaching me, even when what he was teaching was completely made up. To Pat for his help writing and editing. To Nate for getting me involved in this whole comedy thing and ruining changing my life. To Woodruff for always challenging me even when I didn’t want him to. To everyone in The 8th Floor, past and present; to the great folks at ComedySportz and The Magnet; and to my friends in NYC who remind me to take a break every once and awhile. To the great people I’ve met through the Humor Project, AATH, and AIN, for their inspiration, guidance, and knowledge of humor. To all the people at P&G who put up with all my trials and errors while attempting to use humor. To my managers, Jonathan, John, Andrea, Pablo, Hilmar, Jose, and Dave for encouraging the pursuit of my passion. To Josh and Rajiv for all of the mentorship and for showing me what’s possible. And of course, to you, the reader. 255