Bell Cow StoryLab is our author panel series, hosted by authors Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride. Each episode brings writers, publishers, editors, and book people into one craft-focused conversation, spotlighting how books actually get built. Scene by scene, choice by choice. Decision by decision. In The Serious Work of Being Funny: How Humor Works in Fiction, we talk with authors Matt Goldman, Lorna Landvik, and Traci Lambrecht (P. J. Tracy) about the difference between writing comedy and writing humor into stories that may be about murder, grief, fear, family, or everything else that isn’t particularly funny. Because sometimes humor is exactly what makes those stories feel real. We talk about why comedy usually begins with character rather than jokes, why a funny line coming from the wrong character simply doesn’t work, and why writing toward a joke can pull a story completely off course. Traci describes humor as a “release valve” when writing dark material, while Matt argues that stories without any humor can actually begin to feel less human because laughter is such a natural response to stress and darkness. We also get into the mechanics. Lorna and Matt draw on years of stand-up, improv, and television comedy to talk about rhythm, surprise, word choice, sentence construction, and the immediate education that comes from standing in front of an audience and discovering whether something actually lands. Traci talks about growing up in a family steeped in wicked, dark humor and spending decades writing collaboratively with her mother, P. J. Lambrecht, where there was always someone in the room to laugh—or not. And because humor is deeply subjective, we talk about the jokes writers love that nobody else finds funny, the readers who laugh in unexpected places, the difference between genuinely funny characters and characters who are simply jokesters, and why some of the darkest books, movies, and television shows can also be among the funniest. Today’s panelists-- Matt Goldman is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Emmy Award-winning television writer whose credits include Seinfeld, Ellen, and The New Adventures of Old Christine. A former stand-up comedian, he brings humor, observation, and character-driven wit into his crime fiction, including the Nils Shapiro mysteries. https://www.mattgoldman.com/ Lorna Landvik is the bestselling Minnesota author of novels including Patty Jane’s House of Curl, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, and Best to Laugh. She is also a longtime performer of stand-up and improvisational comedy whose fiction regularly places laughter alongside grief, friendship, family, and the messiness of ordinary life. https://www.lornalandvik.com/ Traci Lambrecht, writing as P. J. Tracy, is the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Monkeewrench series and the Detective Margaret Nolan novels. After writing for decades with her mother, P. J. Lambrecht, Traci continues to combine suspense, sharp dialogue, dark humor, and memorable character relationships in stories involving some decidedly unfunny crimes. https://pjtracy.com/ Connect with the hosts Rob Jung: https://robjungwriter.com/ Michael David MacBride: https://www.michaelmacbride.com/ Everything Bell Cow: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/ More StoryLab info: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/storylab #BellCow #BellCowProductions #BellCowStoryLab #StoryLab #WritingHumor #ComedyWriting #WritingCraft #MattGoldman #LornaLandvik #PJTracy #MysteryWriters #CrimeFiction #WritingCommunity #BookTube #AuthorTube #FictionWriters #AmWriting