A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #21
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For February 8-14, 2018, 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. Dear readers, as I'm sure you're aware, yesterday was Valentine's Day. As such, we wanted to take this moment to tell you that we love you. Each and every one of you. All of you are our muses. Without you, this newsletter would be living next to the quarry, in a disgusting bachelor pad filled with old Chinese food takeout containers. Instead, we're a thriving newsletter, with joy in our hearts. Thank you.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Mansplaining Through the Ages: Computer Programmer Edition by Sasha Stewart (The Belladonna) This hilarious piece is part of a fantastic series The Belladonna put together to celebrate their one-year anniversary (Congrats!) As part of the festivities, they encouraged their readers to make a donation to Girls Who Code. It's a great organization, and if you're looking for a worthy cause to support, look no further.
I'll be Holding a Red Rose by Lucas Gardner (Splitsider) Friend of the Show, Lucas Gardner, just crushes it with this one. Rock solid premise. Full of jokes. Even the Russian judge gives this one a 10/10.
Are you Ready to Have Friends with Kids? by Emily Axford and Brian Murphy (The New Yorker)
If We Let the Ice Caps Melt, How Will We Explain the Plot of Happy Feet Two To Our Children? by Dan Caprera (The Big Jewel)
An Old Favorite
Email Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone by Michael Ward (McSweeney's)
Not all humor pieces need to be esoteric, novel-length joke-bundles. Sometimes, you just want 'em short and sweet. This piece is five lines long, but scores as many humor points* as anything else you'll see on the circuit.
*We trademarked this. If you try to steal this, expect a call from our lawyers, which we definitely have.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Nothing from us this week. We were too busy eating candy hearts.
News About The Next Show
Our triumphant return is less than a month away. Seth Reiss, Jen Spyra, Riane Konc! Your humble hosts! And perhaps...you?March 15, 8pm, at The Gallery at (le) Poisson Rouge.
Tell your friends. Tell your enemies! Tell everyone!
Did we miss a piece you loved? Did you love a piece we mentioned? Let us know! This is an experiment and we're hoping to continue to make it better and better. If you have any thoughts, notes, wishes, or dreams for this newsletter, please respond to us or this email and tell us what the score is.
See you next week!
@brianagler, @lukevburns, & @jamesfolta
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.
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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!