A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For September 19-25, 2019, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
Our next show is October 22--and it's gonna be an extra-special one! Tickets here.

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, the email propaganda arm of the acclaimed humorous readings show, An Evening of Humorous Readings. No bits this week, just a hearty Evening of Humorous Readings Thanks (EOHRT) to everybody who came out to the show on Tuesday! We appreciate all the support and hope you had a good time.
 

What We Enjoyed This Week

Reviews of New Food: Odwalla Apple & Greens Smoobucha by Molly Brodak (McSweeney's) We like to keep things positive in this newsletter, but sometimes there's nothing more satisfying and funny than a good negative review. The last line is an all-time great sick burn.

Impassioned, Remorseful Emails That Will Have Your Professor Saying, ‘OK’ by Miranda Kronfeld (Reductress) A very funny exploration of an all-too-relatable situation. The initial observation that inspired this is so relatable and so specific, and the piece absolutely nails the tone and details of this type of email exchange.

Fearless Female Career Spotlight: Siren by Janie Beaufore (The Belladonna) The choice of format for this piece is really clever--it's a familiar and fun format that has a very specific tone, AND it makes it easy to explore the premise and get right to the jokes.

Streaming Wars Begin! Local Bootlegger Unveils Knock Off Streaming Site, Disny± by Taylor Gonzalez (Flexx) The bootleg DVD specifics in this one are just fantastic.

Instructions For Building My Rube Goldberg Machine by David Guzman (McSweeney's) Using a Rube Goldberg machine as a format is so much fun. Each beat works on its own, but each one also gives you more information about the narrator, which helps bind everything into a satisfying whole.
 

An Old Favorite

I Am a Leafblower by Steve Macone (The New Yorker)

Fall, as we all know, is a classic season for humor writing, and here, Steve Macone continues the long, storied tradition. This piece does a great job of exploring its extremely funny premise. The voice is consistent. It's full of creative, unexpected turns. But what really sets it apart is that it's absolutely packed with damn good joke writing. ("Before me, [leaves] were called 'stays.'") All too often, humor writing can lean too much on cleverness at the expense of tight, well-crafted jokes, and a piece like this demonstrates that you can, and should, do both.
 

Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

See you next week!

@brianagler, @lukevburns, & @jamesfolta

Did we miss a piece you loved? Did you love a piece we mentioned? Let us know! This is an experiment and we're hoping to continue to make it better and better. If you have any thoughts, notes, wishes, or dreams for this newsletter, please email us or respond to this email and tell us what the score is.