A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #373
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For December 25-31, (W-Tu) 2024
Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, a roundup of the week's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them. Happy New Year! We ended 2024 on a great note: Brian’s classic piece, “The Rules of This Board Game Are Long, But Also Complicated” was featured in an episode of Selected Shorts! Meg Wolitzer’s performance is excellent — very cool to hear someone read this piece, though it can never replace Brian’s performances.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Breakup Deemed Insufficiently Traumatic to Inspire Soul-Searching Album by Nathan Kamal (The Hard Times) Great details here, especially the specifics of how amicable this breakup was. It’s a really fun way to show how little inspirational value the separation has, and takes the piece in some very clever directions.
Bible Verse First Drafts Where Jesus Brags About His Kick-Ass Carpentry by Rachel Rose Keller (Points in Case) This is a great premise, a nice original take on a classic short-humor juxtaposition. And Rachel’s beats are specific and to the point, a very tightly written piece.
Is It Anxiety, or Is a Tiger Trying to Kill You? By Kathryn Kvas (The New Yorker) Taking too literally a metaphor or example that a therapist uses in session is a good recipe for overthinking—and in this case, laughs. Kathryn takes this catastrophizing to some very fun and heightened places.
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[Virtual] Humor & Satire Writing with Brandon Follick
Tuesdays, January 7 – February 4, 2025 | 7:00–10:00 PM ESTHave a New Years resolution to write more? Ready to sharpen your humor writing? This 5-week Zoom course is perfect for beginners and experienced writers alike, blending lectures, workshops, and exercises to help you craft memorable jokes, revise confidently, and build your author brand. By the end, you’ll have headlines, long-form pieces for submission, and a jumpstart on new projects. Limited to 10 students, so secure your spot now!
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An Old Favorite
New Year’s Resolutions for Toddlers by Shannon J. Curtin (McSweeney's) It’s the perfect week to return to this piece, a spot-on tonal parody of those "helpful tips and tricks" articles, full of well-observed toddler specifics.
Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Chris Monks, managing editor of McSweeney’s, shared his yearly list of hidden gems — pieces that he liked but that didn’t generate enough traffic to make their most-read list. It’s a great thread, with lots of pieces we liked from 2024, but Chris also shouted out James’ piece, “Upsetting Social Media Ads for Mobile Games”!
Luke just had ONE spot open up in his advanced short humor workshop starting on January 7th! Write three pieces in four weeks and get a head start on your 2025 writing goals. (Scholarship spot available!)
See you next week!
@lukevburns & @jamesfolta
We started this newsletter with our dear friend Brian Agler, and we want it to always honor his memory and his love of all things humorous. You can find our newsletter tribute to Brian here.
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