How Do I Write Satire?

This year's NaNo for me is a fantasy, but I still have to write some satire skits for our school talent show (plus, we're about to write satire in English). So I came to the place that will have the most experience with satire: the satire writers. What advice would you give to someone like me?

I write some satire. I find that making fun of everything I can helps me. Even if you like something, make fun of it. There's music I like that my friends will bring up and I will say I despise it. If you are using sarcasm, stick with it. Make people wonder if maybe you are serious. I did this global warming story that one would see the arguments as, "We can't have green energy because what if there stops being weather and a windmill can fall over and crush somebody."

I had people that read it say, "You know, for a moment, I thought you were serious." That's how I know I did a reasonably good job. I do a lot of song satires. I make sure I write a lyric that I fully believe some person that performs that style of music might write. The difference is, he would be serious and I am mocking what he does.

What may help is if you compare "satire" to "straw man."

I was going to add something, but I think that DTgringo already answered the question particularly well.

Read! Read satirical stories, get a sense of the style.
Then try writing it.

Here's a seemingly decent article with ten tips on writing satire that look pretty good. (I haven't tried them myself, as I just discovered it. YMMV.)

http://www.bandersnatch.com/how_to_write_satire.htm

Satire is taking reality and making it humorous, usually in a sarcastic manner.
I think that about sums it up.

Isn't satire usually a larger comment on the state of society as a whole? I love Terry Pratchett's satire. So funny, but he says something about the human condition, too. I think J. Swift comes off as a tiny bit mean; don't feel much love for humanity in his stuff, but that's my personal taste.

Perhaps the place to start is a Great Wrong in society or even just in your school. Then discuss it seriously, then discuss it with a good dose of ridiculousness. For example, a lot of the arty kids resent the time and money that the sports programs get. What would happen if art students were treated like football stars? Would they be obnoxious? How would it go to their heads? What would the now down-graded sports people be doing?

Then, to make a skit out of something like that, take a girl athelete and a boy artist, and have them overcome their "different" worlds and the scorn of their friends to fall in love.

This is just a mild example. Riskier ones might involve satire about teen pregnancy (totally ripe for satire, but good luck getting it past the administration!), inequalities in the treatment of boys and girls (and there are a lot of people saying boys get the short end of the stick these days!), cheating for fun and profit, substance abuse . . . .

Another great author who is one of the best is David Sedaris.

I'll give you an example:let's say you want to write about how boys are treated worse than girls these days.

Write a story about a guy living in a female dominated world. Eventually he... overthrows them or something in a humorous way(you can also side-satire cliches at this point)and becomes a hero. Then the story switches to a drunk guy in the bar who was telling the story all along and everyone in the bar cheers. At the end, imply that the drunkard is the MC(which raises questions about how he got downgraded from hero to drunk).