Mark A. Shatz, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Ohio University Zanesville and the co-author and current author of record of Comedy Writing Secrets, the bestselling humor writing textbook in the United States. The third edition was published by Writer's Digest Books in 2016 under the byline Mark Shatz with Mel Helitzer, after Helitzer's death in 2009.
Shatz's involvement with the book began as a student. He took Mel Helitzer's legendary Ohio University course Humor Writing for Fun and Profit, passed its famously intimidating final exam (a five-minute stand-up performance before a live audience at the campus bar), and went on to emcee the final himself, teach the humor writing course at the Zanesville campus, and co-author the second edition of Comedy Writing Secrets before authoring the third edition solo. The book covers comic theory, the structure of jokes, the THREES formula for triple patterns, the use of incongruity, exaggeration, reverse, and surprise, the construction of one-liners and longer comic pieces, and the business of selling humor writing.
His academic research bridges psychology and humor. With fellow Ohio University psychology professor Frank LoSchavio, he published the first empirical study of humor incorporated into online instruction. He trains K-12 teachers, college professors, and faculty of the Ohio State Supreme Court Judicial College on the systematic use of humor in instruction. His other specialty is the psychology of death and dying. For more than twenty-five years he taught death and dying courses including a course at Ohio University's Hong Kong campus, worked with hospice and on hospital ethics committees, and served on school crisis teams.
He is a popular speaker at writers' events including the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and the Writer's Digest Conference, and his Medium blog covers humor, psychology, and education.
