B.J. Novak Picks the Funniest High School Comedy Writer

Guest judge B.J. Novak returns to Studio 360 to announce the winner of our summer humor writing challenge, Funny Ha Ha. Novak picked a winner and a runner-up, and he admits that he’s impressed by the caliber of entries.

Winner: Emma Callahan

Entry: “Pronounced True-beck”

Callahan’s submission was written as a play, with dialogue and stage directions. Novak loved how she used the first line of dialogue as a character’s line, and then immediately had another character come in and ridicule the language. “This author is lovingly sick of a lot of aspects of culturally enlightened, lit-theater-poetry,” Novak says, “and it was very fun to see someone who’s in the middle of it — and obviously likes it enough to know it well — parodying it.” Callahan admits that she knows her writing is a bit provocative. “My parents haven’t read it yet,” she says. “But I think I’ll let them read it now after knowing I’ve won.”

Read Emma’s entry here.

Runner Up: DylanSchifrin

Entry: “Gwendolyn“

Novak says Dylan’s opening paragraph grabbed him from the beginning. The absurd story about a man falling in love with a houseplant shows “he has a really good take on contrasts,” Novak explains. “The whole thing has a really great, impressive tone.”

Read Dylan’s entry here.

A big thank you to all the students who shared their work with us. You can see their submissions here.