A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For January 20-26, 2021, 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're sad to report that just one month into 2021 we've already blown our New Year's resolution, which was not to acquire any more model railroad accessories until we've placed all the ones we already own into our display. But look, we couldn't resist picking up the Malt Shoppe Soda Jerk figure. We don't have a Malt Shoppe model yet, but we might someday, and then we'll need someone to jerk the soda.

What We Enjoyed This Week

Your Favorite Orders on Timeless, the Time-Travel Food-Delivery Service by Jonathan Zeller (Weekly Humorist) This piece has a great original premise, excellent specifics, and turns out to be unexpectedly poignant. An all-around winner.

If We Raise Minimum Wage, What’s Going to Stop My Kid From Getting a Job at McDonald’s, Making More Money Than Me, And Becoming MY Dad? (Reductress) Delightfully zany in a way that we simply cannot resist. We also aim to center writers here in the Newsletter whenever possible, so if anyone has further info on who wrote this headline and who wrote this article, we'd love to shout them out!

What Will Happen If You Date Someone Above Your Eye Level by Kit Irwin (Slackjaw) This piece is thoroughly grounded in reality but still finds lots of unexpected ways to heighten and explore its premise. It does so by deploying increasingly specific situations and details, and by studiously avoiding clichés and generalities.

An Old Favorite

What can we say? We're suckers for board game jokes. What makes this piece so delightful is that the proposed changes are detailed enough that they actually feel plausible--but not in a way that detracts from the humor.

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

If you haven't already, be sure to snag a copy of James and Friend of the Newsletter Lucas Adams' map-zine, "An Atlas of Valentine's Day Island"! It's a big, fold-out newsprint map about this fictional, romantic island, filled with lots of jokes and drawings for you to enjoy. You can see some pictures here, on Twitter, and you can order a copy here! It's $5 to cover the printing and shipping, and we're aiming to mail them the week of February 8th.
 

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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