How to Write & Draw Jokes with Emily Flake

Intro to gag cartooning with NY Cartoonist, Emily Flake generate ideas, spark jokes, and create single-panel comics.

An introduction to the subtle wizardry that is gag cartooning, taught by NY cartoonist Emily Flake.

In this single-session class, we’ll be doing exercises meant to generate ideas, spark jokes, and inspire cartoons in the single-panel format. If we do this right, you’ll walk out with a stack of beginnings and ideas for comics that you’re excited about. If we do it wrong, I’ll be left tied to a pole covered in gasoline out in the desert somewhere. Worried about your drawing skills, or lack thereof? Don’t be. Some of the best cartoonists really can’t draw for shit. But we'll cover a bit of technique, too, promise.

Supplies: Bring a hardbacked notebook or a clipboard and paper for note taking and drawing, as well as a pen and a pencil of your choice.

Meet Your Instructor: Emily Flake, NY Cartoonist

Emily Flake is a cartoonist, writer, and comic whose work appears regularly in the New Yorker. She is the author of several books, most recently “Joke in a Box: How to Write and Draw Jokes.” She was nominated for a WGA award for her screenwriting work on Stephen Soderbergh’s “Command-Z” and was a Yaddo fellow in 2025. She is the founder of the St. Nell’s Humor Writing Residency in Williamsport, PA.

Taconic Ridge Farm is a member of TheWorkshopExperience.org, a group of friends and neighbors who produce exceptional experiential learning through open gardens and workshops on a wide variety of topics in the Roeliff Jansen region, where the Hudson Valley and Berkshires meet.