A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #182
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For April 28-May, 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. Sorry about the delay this week! We had some strange technical difficulties. We know all of you have been patiently waiting for this week's edition in your Newsletter Chair/Corner/Nook, and you must be getting uncomfortable, and your family and friends are probably beginning to be worried about you. Sorry about that.
What We Enjoyed This Week
I Am Thrilled That My Career Day Exhibit on Shaft Hardening at My Son’s Middle School Was So Popular by Mary McCartney (McSweeney's) A cleverly executed and sophisticated take on a juvenile joke, that avoids all the typical pitfalls of a narrator who doesn't know what's going on. And the last joke is not only a great kicker, but a great example of using every part of the letter format for laughs.
John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons” by Mike Sacks and John Swartzwelder (The New Yorker) If you read our newsletter, it's pretty safe to assume you've seen this interview. The famously reclusive writer finally gave an interview to Friend Of The Newsletter Mike Sacks and it's a winner. Not only is it full of smart advice (get out first drafts fast, write at diners, monkeys aren't funny) and great stories, but it's funny. Like his Simpsons' scripts and his novels, Swarzwelder's answers are just packed with jokes.
Horror Movies For One-Year-Olds by Lorelei Vashti (Slackjaw) The tone of this piece sells the POV of the premise. Lorelei manages to maintain the punchy language of a film pitch while making it clear where the writer's sympathies fall. Plus imagining babies making movies for babies is so much of the fun. It makes us want to hear more about these baby screenwriters who are pitching these movies to toddler development execs.
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 #57.
What I Think My Friends Do Because I Was Too Nervous To Ask And Now It's Too Late by Karen Chee (The New Yorker) Friend of the Show, Karen Chee, puts to paper that feeling we've all had. Karen is an exceptional...I want to say, writer? Who, writes? Maybe? Can you get paid for that? I dunno.
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.
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!