Carlos Greaves

I’m an Afro-Latino electrical engineer turned comedy writer — a career move that haunts my parents to this day. I teach online satire and personal essay classes at The Second City, coach at Hillside Writing, contribute to The Onion, and run the humor newsletter Shades of Greaves.

My writing has been featured in The New Yorker, NPR, and I’m a frequent contributor to the humor site McSweeney’s, where I’ve written several of the site’s most-read articles in 2020, 2021, and 2022. In 2023, I was a writer on the Peacock special, Back That Year Up, hosted by Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. I am currently developing a sitcom, Fuerza, about an undocumented Latina with superpowers, through the Yes, And Laughter Lab fellowship.

My debut book, Spoilers: Essays That Might Ruin Your Favorite Hollywood Movies was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter and is available wherever you get your books.

Shades of Greaves

Yes, Substack Really Will Replace the Book Publishing Industry

This Newsletter is Now Sponsored by Raytheon

How I Grew My Substack From 439 to 451 Free Subscribers In Just 11 Months

NPR

Even I, Satan, Am Appalled by the State of the Republican Party
(Originally published in McSweeney’s)

A Visit From the Tune Squad

The New Yorker

Excerpts From a Sitcom Set in New York City by Writers Who Are Clearly from California

Script of Every Movie Set in Boston

Work E-Mails During an Apocalypse

An Episode of “Euphoria,” Based Solely on the Jokes I’ve Seen About It on Social Media

Plots of Nineteen-Eighties Movies if Their Protagonists Had Been People of Color
(17th most-read Shouts article of 2021)

McSweeney’s

Leaked Transcript of the Secret Meeting Where Democrats Control the Weather

Schedule of Speakers for the 2024 Republican National Convention

How to Become a Professional Writer

Math Concepts the State of Florida Finds Objectionable
(7th most-read McSweeney’s article of 2022)

A Jeopardy! Board for Determining Who Should Be the Next Host of Jeopardy!
(14th most-read McSweeney’s article of 2021)

Are You Allowed to Criticize Simone Biles?: A Decision Tree
(2nd most-read McSweeney’s article of 2021)

Schedule of Speakers for the 2020 Republican National Convention
(14th most-read McSweeney’s article of 2020)

The Only Acceptable Form of Black Protest Is to Stand in This Field in Rural Nebraska and Scream Into the Void

Sure, the Velociraptors Are Still On the Loose, But That’s No Reason Not to Reopen Jurassic Park
(3rd most-read McSweeney’s article of 2020)

As a 28-Year-Old Latino, I’m Shocked My New Novel, Memoirs of a Middle Aged White Lady, Has Been so Poorly Received
(16th most-read McSweeney’s article of 2020; Featured in NPR podcast Selected Shorts)

LEVEL

14 Questions We STILL Have About the Montgomery Riverboat Brawl

We Found Ice Cube’s Gratitude Journal Entries From “It Was a Good Day”

The 55 Biggest, Blackest Dad Jokes You’ve Never Heard

Flexx

10 Types of Vicks VapoRub Your Abuela Keeps Around the House
(Listen to me reading this piece for Latinx Lit Mag here)

Television

Fuerza (Pilot Script) – Writer

2024 Yes, And Laughter Lab Fellowship

Back That Year Up (2023) – Writer

Commercial

FlutterFlow for PS5 – April Fool’s Video (2022)

Sketch

Meet Your New Instructors: A Masterclass Parody (2020)

New York City Independent Film Festival – Official Selection
Houston Comedy Film Festival – Finalist, Best Mockumentary
Portland Comedy Film Festival – Finalist, Best Mockumentary Micro Film
Poor Life Choices Comedy Film Festival – Official Selection
Battle of the Sketches – Official Selection
Super Duper Diversity Film Festival – Official Selection

TikTok:

@shadesofgreaves What other moments would be in the remake? #sketchcomedy #humor #funnyvideos ♬ original sound – Carlos Greaves

Spoilers

Superman tries to apply for a Green Card but doesn’t have the proper documentation from his home planet. The Little Mermaid writes a tell-all book about her struggle to fit in with her new siren-skeptical royal family. And an increasingly unhinged J. Edgar Hoover opens an FBI investigation into a counter-cultural rabble-rouser by the name of Forrest Gump. These are just a few of the scenarios explored in this raucous collection of essays from frequent New Yorker and McSweeney’s contributor Carlos Greaves. Spoilers will leave you laughing at hitherto unexamined plot points of your favorite films, at the sorry state of the world we live in, and definitely at whoever’s idea it was to open a theme park full of people-eating dinosaurs.

Spoilers is now available! Please consider buying the book from your local independent bookstore, or any of my favorite bookstores (they ship anywhere in the US):

Also, if you’re looking for the book at your local library and can’t find it, you can request that they add it to their catalog:

Classes and Workshops

I regularly offer classes and workshops on topics related to humor writing.

Subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date with the latest class offerings.

Writing Feedback

I offer feedback on humor pieces, personal essays and other writing material. I will provide detailed notes within 1-2 days.

To inquire about my availability and rates, email me at carlos@carlosgreaves.com

College Admissions Essay Coaching

I work with high school students as a coach at Hillside Writing, providing several different coaching options to guide students on their college admissions essays from initial brainstorming through final draft.

For more information, visit the Hillside website.

CONTACT

email: carlos@carlosgreaves.com

social:
Instagram
Threads
Bluesky
Twitter
TikTok
YouTube

You can stay up to date on what I’m up to, as well as receive topical satire and analysis of the humor writing process by subscribing to my newsletter, Shades of Greaves, below: