It Needs to Be Funny from Start to Finish

I was always terrified that people would read only halfway through a sentence and not be amused, so I tried to have jokes everywhere. I would worry that it wasn’t getting there quickly enough. That’s always the advice I give people who send me humor to consider: it needs to be funny from start to finish. I just never had the confidence to take my time, to build slowly. I’m too insecure a writer.

DAVE BARRY