A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For December 1-7, 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. We're going on a coffee run, anybody want anything? Sound off in the replies!

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What We Enjoyed This Week

How to Write Like an Academic by Andrew Williams (McSweeney's) This piece gets granular in the most wonderful way, fully breaking down the different steps for translating a simple sentence into academic-ese. You feel like you could plug in any sentence of your choosing and get a funny result every time.

The Importance of Perfect Structure in the Authoring of Academic Essays by Hannah Sprague (Points in Case) A really fun example of using the structure of the thing you're criticizing as a vehicle for your criticism. This doesn't just tell you what's wrong with the five-paragraph essay form, it makes you FEEL it.

Will I Have Diarrhea? A Flow Chart by Jessie Gaskell (McSweeney's) One advantage of the flowchart form is that it allows you to run through a bunch of different funny scenarios that might preclude each other in a traditional linear narrative. This piece uses that quality to great effect, and it also uses the form to create a sense of (funny) dread and inevitability: we know that (in all but one situation) the narrator will be unable to escape their fate.
 

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An Old Favorite

I Am the Final Question On Your Calculus Exam by Daniel J. Woodhouse (McSweeney's) Three pieces about writing/language/education, and one piece about diarrhea: That's the Newsletter of Humorous Writings promise, and perhaps the ideal formula for comedy in general. What works so well in this piece is the surprising and specific tone and character it builds for the narrator. You might assume that the personification of the final question on a calculus exam would be aggressive and adversarial, but in this piece it's understanding and helpful, albeit firm, and not without flashes of sarcasm and arch wit.

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

Thank you so much to everyone who came out yesterday to our new show SPACE COUNCIL! If you missed it, no need to worry: You've still got another chance to check it out on December 18th at 7PM!

At last night's performance, the game ended with our Space Council, "The Spacey Meatballs," wrongfully imprisoned in the King's dungeon after being framed for treason and murder. Think you can do better? The show is different every time, so you'll just have to see it and find out!
 

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Other Humorous Writing News

It's gift guide season, so let us be your gift guide guides! The Belladonna, The Millions, and Vulture have gift guides for writers, readers, and humorists--and, hey, Clickhole has a new game called "Business Walrus" that may also pique your interest.
 

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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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