A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For August 4-10, 2021, a roundup of the week's finest prose 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.  The nomination period is officially open for our annual "funniest vegetable" bracket! What do YOU think is the funniest vegetable? Eggplant and brussels sprouts have historically dominated the competition, but maybe this is finally turnip's year. As always, it all comes down to you. Voting will begin as soon as the lineup is set, so keep an eye out for those ballots.

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What We Enjoyed This Week

You Are Cordially Invited To An Outdoor Wedding by Kristen Mulrooney (The Belladonna) This piece does a wonderful job of keeping the details relatable and grounded while still finding room to heighten and take the premise to more absurd places--not an easy balancing act.

The Metropolitan Museum Wants You To Renew by Seth Reiss (The New Yorker) The heightening and pacing in this one are great, but it's the little details and word choices ("Same dance, different day, eh, hoss?") that make it really stand out.

Van Holten’s Pickle-Ice Flavored Freeze Pop by Laura Foody (McSweeney's) When writing about something that is already inherently funny (and pickle-flavored freeze pops are surely that) the challenge is to push beyond the absurd reality of your chosen subject. And in a humorous review, since you're constrained to reality, the challenge is even more acute. This is a multifaceted exploration that finds fun, unexpected angles on pickle pops (including a wonderful twist at the end) and renders the author's experiences in lively, striking language: "Après-Pickle-Ice, you’re left with the dully medicinal feeling of leaving urgent care after a particularly strenuous strep throat swab."
 

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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.

An Open Letter to the Gentleman Blow-Drying His Balls in the Gym Locker Room by Ross Beeley (McSweeney's) Here's the thing about this title--it's amazing. But, it's also dangerous. Because, when you read it, you think it's going to be that kind of piece. And to some extent, sure, it's a piece about an old man drying his balls. But, it really is (and just go with us on this) so much more than that. It's written by someone who is genuinely curious. It explores every possible angle of the situation and really tries to understand rather than mock. And in this day and age, couldn't we all use a little more of that?

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.

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Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

Luke has another "Let's Write a Short Humor Piece" workshop coming up in September. In it, you'll write a McSweeney's-style short humor piece over the course of four weeks, working with a small group and getting feedback every step of the way. Full schedule and signup form here.
 

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Other Humorous Writing News

The application for the St. Nell's November Humor Writing Residency is live at this link! Submissions will be accepted until August 22nd.

Arti Gollapudi is teaching a course on autobiographical comedy writing with The Squirrel Theater starting in September. Check out the signup page for more details.
 

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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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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!