The Ultimate Guide to Writing Satire That Actually Works

Writing satire is like performing surgery with a rubber chicken—you need precision, timing, and the willingness to accept that some people just won’t get it.

After years of writing satirical comedy (and receiving approximately 847 concerned emails from people who took my jokes literally), I’ve developed what I humbly call “The Prof Y Not Method” of satire writing. Today, I’m sharing it with you.

What Satire Actually Is (And Isn’t)

Let’s clear something up: satire isn’t just “being mean but funny.” Satire is using humor, irony, and exaggeration to critique and expose—typically targeting ideas, institutions, and behaviors rather than individuals.

Good satire makes you laugh first and think second.

Satire IS:

A scalpel aimed at absurdity
Punching up at power
Finding the universal truth in specific situations
Making the familiar seem strange

Satire ISN’T:

Just insults with a smile
Punching down at the vulnerable
Mean-spirited mockery
Random weirdness without purpose

The Three Pillars of Effective Satire

1. The Foundation of Truth

Every great satirical piece is built on a foundation of observable truth. You can’t effectively mock something if you don’t deeply understand it.

When I wrote about faculty meetings in Prof or not, here I come!, every absurd scenario was rooted in real experiences. The humor works because readers recognize the truth beneath the exaggeration.

Exercise: Before writing, ask yourself:

What is the underlying truth I’m exposing?
What behavior or system am I critiquing?
What do my readers already know about this topic?

2. The Architecture of Exaggeration

Exaggeration is the engine of satire, but it needs careful calibration. Too little, and you’re just complaining. Too much, and you’ve lost the thread of reality.

The sweet spot is what I call “one degree past plausible”—absurd enough to be funny, grounded enough to be recognizable.

Example:

Too mild: “Faculty meetings can run long.”
Just right: “The faculty meeting entered its sixth hour. Three colleagues had resorted to interpretive morse code via coffee cup taps.”
Too far: “The faculty meeting lasted for 47 years and we all died.”

3. The Voice of Authority

The best satire adopts the voice of whatever it’s mocking. Write with the earnest tone of the thing you’re satirizing. This creates dramatic irony—the reader is in on the joke while the “narrator” remains oblivious.

Deadpan delivery is your friend. Never wink at the audience. Never explain the joke. Trust them to keep up.

Common Satire Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Explaining the Joke

If you have to explain why something is funny, it isn’t. Resist the urge to add “Get it? Because professors actually DO that!” Trust your reader.

Mistake #2: Targeting the Wrong Subject

Effective satire punches up or across, rarely down. Mocking powerful institutions? Great. Mocking vulnerable people? Not satire, just cruelty.

Mistake #3: Forgetting the Humor

In your zeal to make a point, don’t forget to be funny. The message should be a byproduct of the humor, not the other way around. If your piece reads like an angry editorial with some jokes sprinkled in, rewrite it.

Mistake #4: Being Too Timely

While topical satire has its place, the best satire is timeless because it targets eternal human foibles. Faculty meetings were absurd in 1924 and will be absurd in 2124.

The Prof Y Not Writing Process

Here’s my actual process for creating satirical content:

Observe - Notice something absurd in daily life
Question - Ask “What would happen if this were taken to its logical extreme?”
Research - Understand the subject deeply enough to mock it accurately
Outline - Structure the escalation of absurdity
Draft - Write fast, keep the tone consistent
Edit - Cut anything that isn’t serving the humor or the point
Test - Read it aloud. If you’re not at least smiling, rewrite.

Finding Your Satirical Voice

Your satirical voice should be distinctly yours. Mine happens to be “exhausted academic who’s seen too much but maintains impeccable grammar while describing chaos.” Yours might be different.

Questions to discover your voice:

What specific world do you know intimately?
What makes you both angry and amused?
How do you naturally tell stories to friends?
What absurdities can only YOU see clearly?

A Final Word on Courage

Writing satire requires courage. You’re going to offend someone. You’re going to have people take you literally. You’re going to receive emails from people who are convinced you’re writing about them specifically (you probably aren’t, but also, maybe you are).

Write anyway.

The world needs people willing to point out that the emperor has no clothes—especially when the emperor is a 47-page syllabus or a 3-hour meeting about updating the mission statement.

Want to see these principles in action? Check out Prof or not, here I come!, where I apply every one of these techniques to the beautiful absurdity of academic life.

What’s your biggest challenge when writing humor? Share in the comments!