A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For February 17-23, 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. It's been a day of ups and downs here at Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ): We thought we found a new type of bird, but our hopes were dashed when we realized it was a normal, already-discovered bird that just had a bunch of schmutz on it. We would have called it the Mustard-Crusted Sparrow. If only that had been its plumage and not actual crusty mustard.

What We Enjoyed This Week

Dragon Hoarding Enormous Pile of Treasure Seeks Unpaid Intern by Maeve Dunigan (McSweeney's) The treasure-hoarding dragon is a terrific metaphor for huge corporations that seek to further enrich themselves through exploitative labor practices--but what's really great about this piece is that it succeeds both as a metaphor and on a literal level as a fun weird piece about a dragon with an unusual need. Often in pieces that operate around a central metaphor or mapping game, the jokes and reality of the premise become subordinate to the figurative aspect of the piece, and the whole thing can start to feel like an exercise in the use of find and replace. But this piece commits to, explores, and never sells out, the (very funny) idea of a dragon who needs an intern.

A Selection of Heart Metaphors From My Romance Novel by Molly Henderson (The Belladonna) Now we turn to a piece that takes up metaphors as its subject. This is a fine collection of funny, vivid imagery, and a prime example of how getting more specific means getting more laughs.

Seven Signs You May Literally Be Turning Into Your Father by Matt Butner (Slackjaw) And finally, a piece that generates laughs by taking a figure of speech as literally as possible. This one does a great job of exploring its central conceit without explaining too much or getting bogged down in plot.
 

An Old Favorite

The humor in this piece is driven by the juxtaposition of two different tones (marriage advice/cursing god). The shifts between the two tones are handled expertly, and each mode of speech is richly rendered with specific language and marvelous turns of phrase ("the false laurel of consciousness"). It's the sort of high-quality work we've come to expect from Dan Caprera.

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 just TWO spots left in Luke's workshop "Let's Write a Short Humor Piece." In it you'll write a short humor piece over the course of four weeks, taking your ideas from brainstorm to full draft, working with a small group so you can get personalized notes and feedback every step of the way. Schedule and signup form right here!

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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