The title kind of gives away the topic of this thread but ill just give a few more details to make things clearer.
I have been thinking of getting into comedy writing for a little while now and have finally decided that this is a good time in my life to get a move on, i am very young (even if i do say so myself 
) for a writer and am looking to start really with radio comedy or something quite short to get me in the swing of things. Any suggestions will be welcomed 
many thanks
Tom Williams
I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I'm 18 and have recently started writing comedy 'seriously'. I write, perform and produce my own comedy podcast at the minute which can be found at www.myspace.com/assoonasplausible, that helps a real lot, as you get to write lots and also get comfortable with recording audio comedy and if you want to get into radio that is important.
I'm also currently writing a sitcom called 'Street Theatre' (some extracts are in the Critque forum) and will be sending that off to various places soon.
So basically just keep writing stuff, get a feel for what your comedy style is, try out the podcast thing maybe..but yeah just always keep at it. Post your work up on this forum too.
I must give out one of the most important quotes there is in screepwriting. "Writing is rewriting" And i can say i have learnt alot from that little quote.
Not that it may help much but it's my 2p.
First of all before I start RSTW how old are you? And how serious are you? Because, I have known "young writers" I'm talking 14 - 15 and there idea of comedy is immature and frankly stupid (sorry if I’m harsh but it can be true).
Secondly welcome to the forum as martin Holmes I am also 18... been writing seriously since I was about 16 - 17... yeah like everyone else mentioned just write and keep your ear to the ground for competitions etc.
Like martin I am writing a sitcom and will be sending mine out within the next month or two.
If you want to get stuff performed you should send material off to shows like Newsrevue and The Treason show although it has to be topical. Parson's and Naylor's pull out sections also accept unsolicitated material. Also go to the BBC's writers room.
If you can the best way to get noticed is to do stand up. Don't worry about age, the younger the age the shorter the beatings for bad stand up sets. Oh and put some stuff on the critique thread.
Humour is objective, if you find it funny other people may also which is why you have to put it out there, good luck.
I echo HotZappa, the inspirational writing bit oddly is the easy part. The key to writing is the non-writing part. That is knowing which parts of what you've written are to be ditched / amended / torn out / shredded / burned on a pyre afterwards.
I've said this before but no one ever reads my first five drafts of a sitcom pilot. Not even SlagB sees those. Too embarrassing. After those drafts are sorted, that's when the serious editing starts with me and SlagB throwing ideas, twists on lines, etc in or out. Another five rewrites, at least. And then we finally start printing out the scripts.
Does it work for us? We're still unpublished, so no. My writing buddy, AJ Desmond, edited his first novel 50+ times in 18 months. He is physically sick at the sight of the book.
rstw - Get yourself a couple of books on writing comedy. Check Amazon.com for reviews. Read these and you should have a good idea on whats required
Send anything you thinks good to the BSG critique section. There are some very good/very experienced people on this site who will give you some excellent feedback on your writing and how to enssure it's good enough.