Although you can't teach someone to be funny, you can teach them to be humorous. Start with this analyzing humor in literature lesson plan.

After reading Mark Twain, James Thurber, and Ring Lardner for a week, I thought I was pretty funny. I told a joke in my first period class. Nobody laughed. Three people in the front row slobbered. Bobby Langston's blood pressure dropped so low, he died.

Racked with guilt I decided to punish myself by reading puns. After the 29th page, I passed out. When I awoke, the ghost of George Carlin sat at my desk, writing lesson plans on analyzing humor and irony in literature. He said a few words that resembled swear words, smiled, and said, "Maybe next time you can use this lesson plan, and nobody will die."

Teaching how to write a literary analysis satisfies the following ELA Common Core Standards.
RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
L.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
W.9-10.1a Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
W.9-10.1b Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
W.9-10.2b  Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic. W.9-10.2a  Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings); graphics (e.g., figures, tables); and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
W.9-10.1c  Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
W.9-10.2f  Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
W.9-10.3c  Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.
W.9-10.4  Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
L.9-10.1  Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.9-10.1a  Use parallel structure.

Writers are at a disadvantage when it comes to humor. They, unlike the comic, do not have voice inflection or physical movements to cause laughter. They do, however, have the following:

Understatement or Meiosis: When an author deliberately understates the obvious, he or she is using meiosis. Shakespeare uses understatement in Romeo and Juliet with one of his wittiest creations: In Act II, scene i, Mercutio describes his mortal wound "not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve." More recent examples include Mark Twain's famous "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," and Richard Dreyfuss' "We're gonna need a bigger boat" from Jaws (Yes, I know Jaws was a movie, but it was a book first.).

Hyperbole: The opposite of understatement, a writer uses hyperbole to exaggerate his or her point to create humor. James Thurber's "The Night the Ghost Got in" narrates the exaggerated mind of a child who hears a noise downstairs and assumes it's a ghost. Before the story ends, the mother calls for help and the grandfather shoots a police officer in the shoulder.

Comic Irony: A writer creates comic irony by stating one thing while meaning another. It is an application of verbal irony used with humorous intent.In his speech "Advice to Youth" Twain mocks standard wisdom: "If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick."

Dialect: the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people is called dialect. Ring Lardner uses dialect to create humor in You Know Me Al: "I says Well I won the pot didn't I? He says Yes and he called me something. I says I got a notion to take a punch at you. He says Oh you have, have you? And I come back at him. I says Yes I have, have I? I would of busted his jaw if they hadn't stopped me."

Satire: Writers use ridicule to point out human folly. Satire is not limited to fiction pieces as demonstrated by Bright Hub maven Trent Lorcher's description of hiking in the Dominican Republic: "A three day, two night trek up Pico Duarte, the highest peak in the Caribbean, provides sore feet, blisters, mosquito bites, and bragging rights back home for a year." More famous satirists include Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, and Voltaire.