Reddit mentions of And Here's the Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft

I disagree. As a comedy nerd + writer, I have to chime in here. I hate this argument. It's not generational, it's the format.

The format SNL, weekly live show that is necessarily based on advertisements, is a poor format. You have to write quickly to produce that much material. Which isn't so bad, except you have such a wide audience and dependence on advertisement that you have to go for the common denominator EVERY TIME.

There are plenty of smaller groups who can do amazing weekly work, but that is because they can rely on their audience to be smart. The SNL audience is millions of people. Millions of people who the advertisers NEED to keep watching the show.

There are a ton of talented writers + performers that march through SNL. But overall it is mediocre comedy based on catch phrased characters. Even your example is a catch phrase.

For example,
Matt Foley character was first developed by Bob Odenkirk for another show. He was a fully fledged character, the way Odenkirk wrote him. (source: Here's The Kicker, http://www.amazon.com/Heres-Kicker-Conversations-Humor-Writers/dp/1582975051)

The first Matt Foley skit is true to that. He is a flawed being but with just enough humanity to keep our empathy.

Even in the second or third sketch the catchphrase is uttered immediately as Farley goes over the top and crashes through a coffee table to grab laughs in just the first minute.

It's a format that necessarily yields aggravatingly simple and base comedy.

And Here’s the Kickeris the first that comes to mind because it’s all interviews of comedy writers. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin was really good too. I’ve never found a how to guide on stand up that helped me unfortunately. Really the best lesson for me was to bomb at open mic a few times.

I have a lot of thoughts about it, but there's nothing I can say quickly. There are some great books by much smarter people than me on the /r/comedywriting reading list:

• Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters - Ted Cohen
  
• Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Steve Martin
  
• The Comic Toolbox: How To Be Funny Even if You're Not - John Vorhaus
  
• And Here's the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft - Mike Sacks
  
  There's also /r/standup. Doing standup has greatly informed my writing. I highly recommend it for anyone who thinks they're funny.

Just a comedy nerd dabbling in writing here - but I'm also a bookseller and my two mainstays on this front are Truth in Comedy and And Here's the Kicker. Both are well-known, but sometimes missed. Also, in terms of general writing habits, Bird by Bird is phenomenal.

I really loved this book And Here's The Kicker.

Also Andy Kaufman's biography Lost in the Funhouse

I also liked this one http://www.amazon.com/And-Heres-Kicker-Conversations-Writers/dp/1582975051