A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For December 29, 2021-January 4, 2022, 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. Not to brag, but here at Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ) we already finished all our New Year's resolutions. Even the ones about personal growth that have less tangible benchmarks and no concrete endpoints because they're a practice you cultivate every day, not an item to check off a list. Boom! Finished those too.

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What We Enjoyed This Week

I, Raskolnikov, Take the Men’s Health New Year Reboot Challenge by Sigmund Stern (McSweeney's) The juxtaposition of the Raskolnikov voice with the Men's Health specifics and tone is wonderful. The fitness bro speak amps up as the piece goes on, keeping us laughing by breaking out of the established pattern in increasingly surprising ways.

I thought it was you by Ashley Clark (Keeping Up) The story of how an ill-made wax figure of Nelson Mandela became a symbol of something far greater. Not a traditional humor piece, but very funny just the same.

Matt Mercer Spends 45 Minutes Describing Sandwich Smell to Waiter by Naomi Krause (Hard Drive) A great exploration of how the behavior of a dungeon master might play out outside of the context of D&D--truly a rock-solid premise. The piece gives you all the setup you need right off the bat, so it works even if you don't know who Matt Mercer is, and it's full of surprising moves and delightful prose. (“'He went deep into his mind palace to describe the decedent wafting of freshly melted cheese, and the waiter was transported into a world of pure imagination.'”)

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An Old Favorite

UNIV 123: Asking Questions at Public Events by Meriah Crawford (McSweeney's) A hilarious portrait of the most infuriating behavior you could imagine encountering at a Q&A. It's full of spot-on details that push well beyond the expected, and the "final exam" structure works great, allowing Meriah to build patterns, play with pacing, and generate humorous tension.

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's got FOUR spots left in his "Let's Write MORE Short Humor Pieces" workshop that starts on January 18th! (The other two January workshops are SOLD OUT.) In it, you'll write three short humor pieces over the course of four weeks, getting feedback every step of the way. Check out this thread to see some of the great writing that's come out of past workshops (lots of new links have just been added)!

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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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