A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For April 14-20, 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 just found out that the Brooklyn Heights townhouse featured in Moonstruck is up for sale--and while we're not in the market for a new place (we're VERY happy with the current location of Humorous Readings Headquarters [HRHQ]), the news did inspire a question that we now pose to you, our readers: Which Cher-filmography-related property would you most like to own? The house from Moonstruck? The house from Mermaids? The house from Mask? The battleship USS Missouri from the "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video? Let us know!

What We Enjoyed This Week

Socratic Questions to Use When Your Doctor Accuses You of Eating a Mass of Ancient Byzantine Coins by Jane Churchill-Smith and Betty Johnson (The Belladonna) "Socratic questions" is a nice original format for a short humor piece. In a piece that's already got such a (delightfully) weird and specific premise, you might worry that such a specific type of framing would wind up adding one too many weird things, but it totally works. The more formal, staid tone of the Socratic questions provides a nice contrast to the absurdity of the situation. You could imagine a version of this piece that took the form of a more traditional monologue, but it just wouldn't have the same oomph.

River Styx by Simon Rich (Two Fifty One) This piece is a great example of how quickly you can lay out a premise, provide necessary context for readers, and explore and heighten the world of a piece. A good lesson even (especially) when you're aiming for a longer word count!

Grocery Store Cake is the Best Cake of All by Rima Parikh (The Takeout) An impassioned argument extolling the virtues of an oft-overlooked type of baked good combined with some wonderful personal history--it's a very funny, winning (cake) mix.

An Old Favorite

The Newsletter style guide is pro-serial comma. This will not be argued, discussed, or debated.

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

Luke's still got two spots left in his "Let's Write a Short Humor Piece" workshop starting on May 8th! In it you'll write a short humor piece over the course of four weeks, working with a small group to get personalized feedback every step of the way. More info and sign up 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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