Joe Toplyn
Emmy-winning comedy writer and AI humor entrepreneur.
Creator of Witscript, an AI-powered joke-writing app.
After writing for Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Show with David Letterman, Joe is now applying his decades of comedy experience to AI.
HIS JOKE-WRITING INVENTION
Witscript
Witscript is an AI-powered app that helps comedians, writers, and speakers generate and improve jokes.
It uses large language models to carry out practical joke-writing algorithms that Joe created, taught, and revealed in his book.
USER: Mattel’s official Holiday Barbie Doll is out.
WITSCRIPT: It comes with three looks: cocktail dress, ugly sweater, and “fighting for a Target parking spot.”
USER: An auction of KFC founder Colonel Sanders’ personal items generated almost $300,000.
WITSCRIPT: And for an extra $5, they upsold everyone a side of coleslaw.
USER: Today is National Chicken Wing Day.
WITSCRIPT: Buffalo Wild Wings just called it the Super Bowl, but for napkins.
USER: Korean fortune tellers are now being asked to read the minds of clients’ pets.
WITSCRIPT: Their hottest add-on? A litter box Ouija board.
USER: Seattle police are looking for two men who parachuted off the Space Needle.
WITSCRIPT: Detectives described them as armed, dangerous, and very punctual for brunch.
USER: Two lawyers caught making out in a New York City park have been identified after a viral video.
WITSCRIPT: Case closed, briefs open.
USER: Donald Trump ordered the Smithsonian to add warnings about what he calls inaccurate U.S. history.
WITSCRIPT: He also asked they label the dinosaur wing “Before Me.”
USER: Johnny Depp made a surprise Comic-Con appearance as Ebenezer Scrooge.
WITSCRIPT: Fans were thrilled—then he tried to charge them for past, present, and future autographs.
USER: The building where Hitler was born has been turned into a police station.
WITSCRIPT: They’re already booking half the suspects: time travelers trying to stop it.
USER: Costco is opening a few stand-alone gas stations.
WITSCRIPT: Perfect for when you want to save money on gas and spend it all on a 12-pack of kayaks.
HIS BOOK
Learn how to write short-form comedy.
In Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV, Joe takes you step-by-step through the process of writing monologue jokes, desk pieces, sketches, parodies, audience pieces, remotes, and the other types of comedy pieces in the late-night TV playbook.
“…full of practical information that you can apply today to your comedy writing” and “…a potent mix of algorithms for the engineering of jokes”
– Amazon reviewers
HIS EXPERIENCE
Over 25 years of writing comedy
Joe has written and produced thousands of jokes, sketches, and scripts for TV formats including comedy/talk, sitcom, and one-hour.
He has been nominated for 19 Emmy Awards and won four.
He taught popular courses in comedy writing at the Peoples Improv Theater in New York City.
He turned those courses into a comprehensive how-to book.
Then, drawing on those years of experience, Joe created Witscript, which can generate, improve, and evaluate jokes.
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HIS RESOURCES
Comedy Writing Articles
Joe has posted dozens of articles about writing tips, late-night TV, and the craft of creating jokes. Here are three of his favorites to get you started.
LATE-NIGHT TV
Writing Political Comedy
Here’s how to write political jokes that don’t divide the room.
JOKE-WRITING WORKSHOP
Joke About Sports Illustrated’s Layoffs
See the steps Joe took to turn this news story into a topical joke.
Have a question? Get in touch.