A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For March 23-29, 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. This week we're excited to announce the launch of a new newsletter! It's called "A Newsletter of Humorous Riting" and it's all about the world of wacky rituals and silly sacraments. If you've got a humorous rite you think should be featured, drop us a line!

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What We Enjoyed This Week

I Am the Top Humidifier According to Wirecutter and I Can’t Take the Pressure Anymore by Andrew Palmer and Brian Platzer (McSweeney's) The Wirecutter article provides a nice, clear setup for this fun exploration of an unusual narrator's interesting point of view. Andrew and Brian also manage to work in a lot of great jokes about the all-too-relatable frustrations of dealing with a humidifier.

Apply for This Apartment in Thirty-One Easy Steps by Bobbie Armstrong (McSweeney's) Those of you who have had to move recently should read this with caution, as it may feel far far too real. Since the reality that this piece is based on is already so heightened, Bobbie makes the wise choice to quickly build to big, absurd places.

Yikes! A Waiter Told Me to Enjoy My Meal and I Said ‘You Too! And Give Your Wife a Big Sloppy Kiss From Me!’ by Caroline Hanes (Reductress) Another great example of heightening beyond reality in a big way, with some very nice specific choices about how that heightening happens.
 

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An Old Favorite

This week's Old Favorite pick and writeup come from Rachel Keller. Rachel hosts a satire/humor open mic called "Humor Me" that is having its next show this Sunday, April 3rd, at 8PM ET.  If you'd like to perform something at the show, or just watch it, you can sign up here to get the zoom link. Thanks for writing in, Rachel!

How to Bathe a Horse by Casey Rand (McSweeney's)
Rachel writes: "'How To Bathe A Horse' is a masterclass in heightening. Casey Rand takes a simple concept (bathing a horse) and somehow step by step is able to guide the reader into sneaking into the Palace of Versailles. The subgame of the aspiring horse bather losing everything in their life and eventually committing what may be murder (or at least a brutal attack) makes the piece all the more hilarious. This piece is from early 2019, but I haven't had a week go by where I don't think about leaving everything behind and joining a French P.R. firm so I can sneak my new horse into a very large bathtub."

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

Nothing from us this week! Too busy compiling a bunch of humorous rites for the new newsletter (which, fyi, we will be publishing daily).
 

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And feel free to send us an email if you have questions.

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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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