A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #112
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 7-13, 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. It's getting chilly out there, folks. The solution is obvious. Burn your drafts. Burn your rejected pieces. Burn your published pieces. Live off the grid, far, far away from society which "never got your humor anyway." Or, turn your thermostat up a few degrees. Admittedly, we don't know what your home heating situation is like.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Flyover State Erotica for Journalists by Kimberly Harrington (McSweeney's) If we have to read another piece about political pundits going to diners to learn about America, we're canceling all of our subscriptions (not just to newspapers...all the subscriptions). But, we would gladly read another piece like this one because it's clear, funny, and we just love it.
I Have No Idea What I'm Doing by Jonny Auping (New Yorker) Here at the Newsletter, we love a good piece that has a clear voice and POV right from the get-go. Once you have that strong lens, you can make even the most mundane observations so much funnier, and more importantly, unique.
40 Questions for People Who Stand as Soon as the Plane Lands by Damon Young (The Root) Separate from being funny, these are all, honestly, very good questions. We eagerly await the follow up when all of these questions are answered, because otherwise, we're just going to ask people on the plane, and they'll probably get very angry at us--very angry indeed.
An Old Favorite
I'm More Than a Mother by Bizzy Coy (New Yorker)
Longtime readers will know that, here at the Newsletter, we're big-time Bizzy Coy fans. There's any number of pieces we could have chosen to highlight her writing, but we think this one does the best job. It's perfect version of the classic humor writing style that melds (with a logical voice/thought process) the "normal" thing with the "zany" thing. When done poorly, this style can feel predictable. When done well (as Bizzy does here) it feels organic and fresh. It all just clicks, which any writer, or reader, will tell you, is easier said than done.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James had a new piece on McSweeney's this week called "Jokes That Everyone On The Mayflower Are Getting Sick Of." We all know colonizers were bad, but it's important to remember that they probably told very annoying jokes too.
The Satire and Humor Festival is coming to Chicago over the weekend of November 22-24! The Fest is partnering with Second City to put on a weekend of shows, panels, and workshops. More info, ticket links and more, are here.
Other Humorous Writing News
The great Mike Sacks, of Poking A Dead Frog and Here's The Kicker fame, has a new audio project out today on Audible called "Passable in Pink"! It's a loving sendup of John Hughes type movies from the '80s and stars Gillian Jacobs, Adam Scott, Bob Odenkirk (hey, another writer!), and more! It's really fun, check it out here.
We highly suggest that you buy the full, 8,000 lb. copy of Keep Scrolling Till You Feel Something, an amazing compendium of McSweeny's Internet Tendency. And, to give a taste, editors Chris Monks and Sam Riley posted the editors' note here and it's worth the read.
News About The Next Show
Oh man, this show.
Come on down to Caveat, on November 26th (hangout starts at 6:30p, show starts at 7:30p) for a great pre-Thanksgiving send-off. Just look at these guests!
- 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)
And more, announced soon!
Get those tickets now; we'll see you on the 26th.
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!