For this episode of The Writing Life podcast, we speak to Caimh McDonnell about how to write humour. Caimh is a comedian and writer. He’s written for TV shows such as Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You. He was also a professional stand-up comedian and has written books under the names Caimh and CK McDonnell. 

Caimh discusses his book The Stranger Times, the first in a series of novels set in Manchester in which the weird phenomena of the Fortean Times is alive and well – from mythical beasts to UFOs, and how it can be seen as difficult to be funny in fiction.

In this episode, Caimh gives you some insights into how to bring humour to your writing, in a conversation covering characters, dialogue, conflict, genre and the inversion of expectation.

Caimh McDonnell is a former professional stand-up comedian and TV writer who now concentrates all of his energies on writing books. Born in Limerick and raised in Dublin, he has taken the hop across the water and calls Manchester his home. He can be found happily writing his next book in the office in the back garden, with only his dog and his imagination for company.