Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mo Willems: Look Who's Laughing

Mo Willems' work in children's books, animation, TV, theater and bubble gum card painting has garnered him 3 Caldecott Honors, 2 Geisel Medals, 2 Carnegie Medals, 6 Emmys and multiple bubble gum cards. Upcoming non-bubble gum card projects include Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator, a portrait of the relationship between a girl and her stuffed alligator told in 6-1/2 stories. More info about Mo's past, present and future can be gleamed at http://www.mowillems.com/ .



Hilarous panel called Look Who's Laughing: How to do Funny for Young Readers and Why. Amazing chemistry with the speakers that has the audience laughing like crazy!



Mo began by throwing small sketch books into the crowd! Totally unexpected. Then he talked about being a stand-up comedian. He said that nobody knows what will be funny. But we all know what's NOT FUNNY. So keep working on it until it's not not funny.




It's all about the exercise of the work. And it's tough to be in a room of 1500 people not laughing (we all were) and he says you can't be funny without doing the work. After taking questions from the audience, Mo said that the Knuffle Bunny is a completely true story, although everything in it is a lie. And the difference between kids and adults is that kids are shorter.

Funny, funny, FUNNY panel! Highlight of my day!

2 comments:

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  2. Mo,
    Thanks for signing my book It was good to see you after so many years.

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