A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #110
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For October 24-30, 2019 a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
Our next show is November 26, 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. Happy Halloween! This year we're dressed up as a Three-Headed Newsletter Editor If He Were An Arthurian Knight. It's a complicated premise for a costume, but I think when you see it you'll agree that we nailed the execution.
What We Enjoyed This Week
It’s The People That Make Working Here Such A Nightmare by Rowdy Geirsson (Slackjaw) A spooky piece about the spookiest place of all -- your day job.
Slutty Halloween Costumes At Their Day Jobs by Kate Villa (McSweeney's) This piece is so simple and so fun. And if you like this piece, you're going to want to come out to November's show, where Kate Villa will be reading!
Emotionally Haunted House by Teddy Wayne (McSweeney's) Friend of the Show Teddy Wayne is a consistently great short humor writer, and this latest piece is no exception.
We’re the Husbands from Every Haunted House Movie, and We Think You’re Just Not Giving Our New Home a Chance by Amanda Lehr (McSweeney's) Playing on classic spooky film tropes, this piece really covers its bases and gives us every dad in a spooky house we could ever want.
An Old Favorite
Please Don’t Let Your Third Grader Dress Up as My Husband for Halloween by David Guzman (The New Yorker)
What a solid, silly, and spooky premise from Friend of the Show David Guzman. This piece does a great job of expanding on that initial idea by exploring the backstory and weird specifics of these kids who are obsessed with the narrator's husband.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
As we mentioned, it's Halloween. And that means it's the perfect time to play, or even REplay, Luke's choose your own adventure game, "A Series of Choose Your Own Adventure Stories Where No Matter What You Choose You Are Immediately Killed by a Werewolf". And heck, why not send it along to a friend while you're at it?
Other Humorous Writing News
If you subscribe to our newsletter, you've probably read Deadspin. And if you've been online lately, you've probably seen what the private equity goons at the helm of G/O media have done to Deadspin in the last few days: insisting their writers "stick to sports," firing their most talented writers and editors, and generally finding bone-headed and cruel ways to quickly drive a successful and popular publication into what looks like a premature grave. We've been big fans of Deadspin and their writers, and it's such a shame to see the site being abused by bad management.
Alex Shepard's piece "After Deadspin" in The New Republic is a great piece on what's happening with G/O and more broadly with media. The Gizmodo Group Union has a thread on Twitter of the best pieces when Deadspin didn't stick to sports. And if you're feeling so inclined, former Deadspin EIC Megan Greenwall (who wrote the excellent "Adults In The Room" when she quit) is collecting for drinks for the former staff.
It's rough out there, gang. Support the media you love and support each other.
News About The Next Show
Let's return to the lighter side: Our next show is on Tuesday, November 26th, at Caveat! Hang out with us starting at 6:30, before the show starts at 7:30. Featuring:
- Jen Spyra (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The New Yorker, The Onion, McSweeney’s)
- Kate Villa (McSweeney’s, The Belladonna, Wait…Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Our Cartoon President, From Earlier In This Newsletter)
Mark your calendar and get your tickets here!
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.
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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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!