A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #122
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For January 16-22, 2020, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
Our next show is January 28th, 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. We decided to join a bowling league this week, but were quickly thrown out when it was made clear to us that you were supposed to "knock 'em down" with a bowling ball and not with good, well-constructed short humor pieces. In our defense, they should have made it clear that they only want you to play in one very specific way. But in their defense, there is a giant neon picture of a bowling ball knocking over pins on the front of the building. So we'll call this one a draw.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Hi, I’m A Billboard Lawyer by Johnathan Brugal (McSweeney's) A very specific, well-paced monologue from a character that we'd bet has lorded over everyone in America at some point. This piece makes great use of short sentences and brief paragraphs, a nice reminder that the pacing and the spacing of your piece on the page is something to experiment with and consider in your work.
Dolittle Is Anti-Cinema by Bilge Ebiri (Vulture) From time to time, we like to feature funny writing that doesn't come from the world of short humor. This review of the new reboot of Dr. Doolittle is a very satisfying and well-written pan. Come for the great descriptions of an insane plot--"Dolittle performs surgery on the squirrel (as the kids watch … smiling, for some reason)"--but stay for the ensuing existential crises--"And failure this thorough has a virulent effect that reaches beyond one mere film; it makes you question the cinematic form itself. Is this thing uniquely bad, or did movies always suck and I’m just now realizing it?"
This Pyramid Building Operation Is Anything but a Pyramid Scheme by Karly Brooks (Points In Case) No matter how far back in history you go, you'll always find people trying to scam each other. That's just the beautiful dance of humanity.
An Old Favorite
A Few Notes About My Play by Tamara Federici (The New Yorker)
As far as we can see, this is the only piece Tamara wrote for The New Yorker in a prolific career writing for film, TV, and the stage, and it's a great one. This is a simple premise and Tamara writes lots of very funny beats, but what elevates this piece is the rich world that is implied. We love this piece because it evokes such a strong portrait of the unseen narrator through the overwrought rules of their play. You can imagine the many scarves and dramatic pauses that this writer has ensconced themself in.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James has a new piece on The New Yorker this week imagining in GIF-form what texts from your family would look like as news alerts. It garnered a lot of texts from family responding to the piece, i.e. the piece became sentient.
Luke's workshop at the Satire and Humor Festival, "Process, Process, Process: How to Get Yourself To Write Even When You're Stuck or Just Don't Wanna", is sold out! Thanks to everyone who signed up! If you were interested in taking the class but didn't get in, you should definitely sign up for the waitlist. There's a chance that more spots might be added or open up. And you can always feel free to reach out to Luke directly about future teaching and coaching he's doing.
Other Humorous Writing News
Friend of the Show and guest at next week's show Bizzy Coy has been doing a very fun and informative Twitter series spotlighting overlooked funny women from history. So far she's published three on Sulpicia from ancient Rome, Izumo No Okuni from the Sengoku period of Japan, and Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi from the late 19th-early 20th century in Iran. They're all fascinating introductions to influential artists that haven't necessarily gotten the attention they deserve. Bizzy's planning on publishing these every Thursday this year, so be sure to follow her on Twitter so you don't miss one. Or maybe come to the show on Tuesday and ask her about it? Now there's a fun plan.
Take a look at The Onion's homepage; looks pretty good huh? Like a real newspaper again! Does anyone know the story behind this redesign?
News About The Next Show
Less than a week away! Our next show is January 28th at Caveat. Hang out starts at 6:30, and the show starts at 7:30!
Buying a ticket to our show not only guarantees you a fun night, but is also an investment in Caveat, which is a great venue that has been welcoming and supportive of our show, as well as tons of great shows and artists. Seeing a show, or even getting the word out about the venue, helps Caveat continue to enrich the New York comedy scene.
Look at these guests:
- Nicole Boyce (The New Yorker, Reductress, New York Magazine, @nicolewboyce)
- Bizzy Coy (McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, @bizzycoy)
- Steve Macone (The New Yorker, The New York Times Sunday Review, The Atlantic, @steve_macone)
Have you gotten your ticket yet? You should!
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!