A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #146
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For August 19-25, 2020, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
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've surpassed 1,000 subscribers to the Newsletter! Congratulations, this means you've unlocked exclusive information about our favorite sandwiches AND our favorite thank yous! (Thanks you? Thanks youses?) James' favorite sandwich is the reliable BLT, and his favorite thank you is, "It means so much that you enjoy our Newsletter! We love humor writing and we're delighted to share it every week with you. Thanks for reading!" Luke's favorite sandwich is Court Street Grocer's anchovy sandwich, and his favorite thank you is, "We're truly touched by everyone's support for this project over the years, and we just can't thank you all enough!"
What We Enjoyed This Week
Submission Guidelines For ‘R.E.M.’s Friday, June 23, 1995 Concert At Madison Square Garden’ Magazine by Christopher Shelley (Slackjaw) Just when you think the details in this piece can't get any more specific, they get a lot more specific. You've got to admire the commitment here.
New York Is Gone Forever (According to Me, a Baby With No Object Permanence) by Danielle Weisberg (McSweeney's) It's "leaving New York" essay season again, sparked this time by everyone's favorite writer: some guy on LinkedIn. But as Danielle rightly highlights, all these essays seem like they're written by the same baby who doesn't know how anything works yet.
The Best Mount Everest Pranks of All Time by Sean McGowan (McSweeney's) If there's anything we learned from '90s TV, it's that pranks know no bounds, so of course they're going to be an issue even at the highest point on the planet. Top-notch joke-writing here from Sean.
An Old Favorite
This week's Old Favorite is a Brian Agler Selection (TM)--a piece whose accompanying note was written by Brian--from Newsletter #42.
Summer Fairy Tales for Parents by Sarah Schmelling (New Yorker) Sarah is a fantastic writer, and friend of the Washington D.C. franchise of the Evening of Humorous Readings. Not only is this a great piece, it feels of a piece. It comes together so cleanly (a rarity in the Twitter-fueled world of humor writing).
Do you have an Old Favorite of your own? Let us know by filling out this form and we may run your pick in a future edition of the newsletter.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James took a break from his produce-induced-frenzy to write a piece inspired by his personal, yearly transformation into a fresh-tomat' freak called "Tomato Season Has Changed Me."
Luke is doing a zoom workshop about Narration and Form in Short Humor Writing on Saturday 9/12/20 from 2-4PM Eastern! Only 16 spots are available. Sign up or get more info right here!
If you're horrified, as we are, by what's happening in Kenosha, here's a list of ways you can help. The Milwaukee Freedom Fund is also organizing to support protesters on the ground who are fighting back against racist violence.
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.
This newsletter is free, but if you enjoy it and want to support the work we do putting it together, you can send us a tip here. Any amount is greatly appreciated, and 1/3rd of each donation will go to Stand Up To Cancer.
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.
This newsletter is free, but if you enjoy it and want to support the work we do putting it together, you can subscribe to our paid tier, or you can send us a tip here. Any amount is greatly appreciated, and 1/3rd of each donation will go to Stand Up To Cancer.
If you'd like to place an ad in the Newsletter, please fill out this form.
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!