A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For October 10-16, 2019, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
Our next show is October 22, 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. It's the last newsletter before our next show, and that means it's time to put bits aside for the time being. Come check out the show on 10/22/19 at Caveat! It's gonna be great. And if you can't make it, we always really appreciate it when people help us get the word out. Thanks!
 

What We Enjoyed This Week

Halloween Candy, Ranked by Kelly Conaboy (The Cut) A list that is sure to be controversial. Drop us a line and let us know what YOU think the best/worst Halloween candy is.

Don't Even Think About Surgically Replacing Your Face With That of the Man Who Killed Your Son Without Buying My "Art of Speedboat Combat" DVD Box Set by Alicia Bane (Points in Case) We're big Face/Off fans here at the newsletter, and we will never apologize for that. This piece seeks to answer a question we've all had while watching the 1997 John Woo classic: "How did they get so good at fighting on speedboats?"

If I Went to Law School, According to My Mom by Jonathan Appel  (The New Yorker) A crystal-clear premise, a unique point of view that allows the writer to paint a nice specific portrait of a funny-but-relatable character, and top-notch joke writing. What more could you ask for?
 

An Old Favorite

Workers' Compensation Claim Filed by Curly Howard by Adam Bozarth (McSweeney's)

When you get right down to it, there are basically two ways to generate humor: Describe something serious in a silly way, or something silly in a serious way. This is a sterling example of the latter, in the vein of Ian Frazier's classic Coyote v. Acme. Even if you don't have firsthand knowledge of the Three Stooges, the jokes still land because each situation is described so clearly. It's no small feat to do slapstick in prose!
 

Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

Luke and Brian are going to be performing at the launch party of the new McSweeney's book, Keep Scrolling Until You Feel Something. The event, hosted by Friends of the Show River Clegg and Colin Nissan, is being held at the Powerhouse Arena this Saturday, 10/22 at 6PM. There will be a ton of other awesome writers doing readings as well, and it's absolutely FREE.

Last call to sign up for James' four-week parody writing class starting next Wednesday at the Magnet! All the details and a link to sign-up are here! Still a few spots left!

If you're a horror writing fan, mark your calendar for you are not alone, a live horror reading series. This show features R.L. Stein and will be at a puppet theater in Park Slope, so you know it's gonna be good n' creepy.

Luke made an interactive short humor choose your own adventure game called, "A Series of Choose Your Own Adventure Stories Where No Matter What You Choose You Are Immediately Killed by a Werewolf." It features illustrations by immensely talented Friend of the Show Lucas Adams. It's quick and fun and is the perfect thing for Halloween laughs. Check it out, and if you like it, share it with your friends.
 

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.