Joel Morris is one of the best regarded comedy writers in Britain, with over 20 years of professional experience in the industry.

Well known for his work alongside Charlie Brooker on various projects, Joel was a core member of the writing team behind the critically lauded and award-winning Wipe series and A Touch of Cloth. He was part of the development team for Black Mirror, and wrote on the hit Netflix specials Death to 2020 and Death to 2021.

Joel was part of the writers' room for 2014’s Paddington and its sequel, which went on to become one of the only films ever to receive a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. He also contributed to the script of the 2021 horror film Censor.

Together with Jason Hazeley, he created, wrote and designed the phenomenally successful Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups, which have sold more than five million copies and regularly occupied an unprecedented eight of the top ten hardback positions on The Sunday Times bestsellers list.

On TV and radio, Joel has written for just about everyone: David Mitchell and Robert Webb, Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, Tom Davis, Kevin Eldon, Miranda Hart, the Horrible Histories/Ghosts team, Alan Carr, Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc, Griff Rhys Jones, Ronnie Corbett, Jon Culshaw, Matt Holness, Morgana Robinson, Nick Frost, Daisy Haggard, Omid Djalili, Paul O’Grady, Jon Holmes, Robin Ince, Andrew Collins, Jason Byrne, and Dan Skinner’s Angelos Epithemiou character. Joel was a script editor for Recorded For Training Purposes, the BBC’s open-door sketch show for new writers, as well as for radio shows by Alice Lowe and Sara Pascoe. He also co-wrote the original radio series of The Flight of the Conchords.

Joel co-created and wrote The Framley Examiner, the much-loved spoof online local newspaper, described by Bob Odenkirk, Robert Popper and The Simpsons showrunner Josh Weinstein as ‘The funniest book ever written.’ An omnibus edition of The Framley Examiner was published in 2021 by Unbound.

He co-authored a pair of guides to Britain's more peculiar tourist attractions – Bollocks to Alton Towers, which became The Sunday Times best-selling travel book of the year, and Far From the Sodding Crowd, named ‘one of the best guide books ever written’ by The Guardian, both published by Penguin. He co-wrote the Gogglebox tie-in book, and two successful tie-in books for Mrs Brown’s Boys. He has written articles for Broadcast, Empire, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, The Guardian, The Independent, Mojo, Esquire, Jack and The Idler, and for many years was part of the writing staff for potty-mouthed national treasure Viz.

He produces hit podcast sitcom Brian & Roger (‘The best British comedy happening right now’ – The Daily Telegraph) and created the award-winning podcast Rule of Three (Best Arts And Culture Podcast 2020, British Podcast Awards) which ran until 2023. He now presents Comfort Blanket, a podcast where people who make cool stuff I like talk about the film, or TV show, or record or book that they return to again and again as a safe place.

Be Funny or Die: How Comedy Works and Why It Matters was published by Unbound in March 2024.

You can keep up with Joel on Twitter @gralefrit.