New Release

Academy of
Unusual Skills

The Academy of Unusual Skills is a comedy-filled, hands-on guide for anyone who has ever wanted to be just a little more ridiculous on purpose. Inside, you'll learn 100+ strange, impressive, and oddly useful skills, from snack-based stunts and coin tricks to balancing, juggling, hat moves, science weirdness, and minor miracles you probably should not attempt near things that are easily breakable. Packed with step-by-step instructions, silly illustrations, and even a link to companion videos, this book is part fake textbook, part training manual, and part permission slip to become delightfully unusual. Serious about silly.

About the Book

Your degree in
Unusualness.

At most academic institutions, you leave with a solid understanding of history, math, literature, and the terrifying realization that your student loans may outlive several species of turtle.

You also receive a degree that may or may not have real-world applications.

At The Academy of Unusual Skills, we offer something far more practical: a degree in fun.

Our esteemed institution is dedicated to the noble pursuit of silliness, showmanship, and tomfoolery. With the proper amount of ridiculousness applied, you'll learn to balance strange objects, turn food into a performance genre, and impress friends and relatives, all without the crushing weight of student debt.

A degree in showing off has real-world applications every day.

This is your official invitation to step outside the norm. No prerequisites. No tuition office. No stern tenured professor with weirdly long eyebrows. Just a wildly unnecessary curriculum designed to make your hands quicker, your confidence louder, and your life at least 41% more entertaining.

Study hard. Practice weird. Graduate impressive.

About the Author

Matt Baker

Comedian, Variety Entertainer & Odd-Skill Specialist

Matt Baker is a comedian, variety entertainer, and specialist in highly unnecessary skills. For over 25 years, he has toured his one-man show, The Matt Baker Comedy + Stunt Show, across cruise ships, theaters, comedy clubs, and festivals in more than 20 countries.

He has appeared on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Comedy Central, entertained U.S. troops overseas, and holds three Guinness World Records for things no one asked him to master.

He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and young daughter.

Somewhere along the way, all of this turned into a book about a fake academy devoted entirely to unusual skills, which feels about right.

Workshops

Bring the Academy
to You

Step inside The Academy of Unusual Skills Workshop — a hands-on, high-energy session where participants learn a collection of odd, impressive, and surprisingly achievable talents.

This interactive session teaches skills like juggling, balancing, coin tricks, and other feats of everyday dexterity. Each lesson is broken down into simple, learnable steps designed to build coordination, confidence, and a healthy disregard for normal hobbies.

Perfect for corporate events, schools, festivals, and team-building programs, this workshop is equal parts skill-building and comedy — giving everyone the chance to learn something new, laugh a lot, and leave with at least one trick they can show off for the rest of their life.

Book a Workshop