A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #158
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 11-17, 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 want to do a little repainting here at Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ), but we've hit a bit of a snag: none of the paints we've found have funny enough names. White Heron? Not a funny bird. First Light? Dramatic, but not ha ha dramatic. Thunder? Too scary! Blue Danube? Sad, somehow. Windmill Wings? Close... but we're not looking for any physical gags in our paint color names. Alas, the search continues...
What We Enjoyed This Week
We’re in the Park by Colin Nissan (The New Yorker) Friend of the Newsletter Colin Nissan perfectly captures the tone of directions that are so rambling that they cease to be directions. It's a small thing, but the choice to make this piece one continuous, unbroken paragraph is a nice way to visualize how overwhelming this monologue is.
Notes for the Graphic Designer of the American One Dollar Bill by Joe Moore (McSweeney's) This piece is remarkable for not only being funny, but for also making me take out and inspect a dollar bill. We love a piece that entertains AND teaches!
A Treasury of Rare Medical Magazines by Dahlia Ramirez (The New Yorker) Lots of great jokes in this piece. Another reminder that illustrated pieces can (and should) have sharp and clear writing too!
Help! I’m Trapped in The L.L. Bean Holiday Catalogue by Jane Driver (The Belladonna) Even the silliest premise can succeed without too much explanation and world-building -- in a lot of cases, readers will accept even the most outlandish justifications if they're clearly and directly stated. Silly premises can also be more deeply explained and explored, like in this piece, where Jane gives us a lot of great backstory and insight about the narrator to really build the tension and draw a vivid world. And while we're talking Belladonna, we wanted to shout out the departing managing editors of the site for a fantastic run: Three cheers for Harmony Cox, Briana Haynie, Terry Heyman, Scarlet Meyer, Lillian Stone, and Patty Terhune!
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 #51.
Tips for Wild-Animal Encounters by Jen Spyra (The New Yorker)
Friend of the Show, Jen Spyra, takes a simple premise in a fantastic and unexpected direction. This piece is funny, sharp, and constantly surprises you. It's also the rare humor piece that makes you laugh, and is also useful if you're ever stuck in the woods. (Unlike the famed, "I'm Comic Sans, Asshole" which is no help if you're stuck in the woods.
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
There are only a few spots left in James' December parody writing class! We'll be analyzing and discussing parody writing, as well as brainstorming and writing together. You'll leave class with some new tools, some ideas, and the first draft of a piece! Grab a spot here!
And if you've ever wondered, "what's in James' bag?" you're in luck: James answered that very question for the newsletter, "What's in my bag?"
Other Humorous Writing News
In Vulture, Bethy Squires spoke with Merrill Markoe about why she loves the writing of Robert Benchley. The piece is full of great insights and history for a humor fan, including this evergreen bit of wisdom: "He taught me that you can take something you know nothing about, give it a good title, and just write for 800 words."
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!