A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For October 26-November 1, 2022.

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, a roundup of the week's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them. An update for all the haters and skeptics: The trick-or-treaters LOVED the fact that Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ) was giving away printouts of short humor pieces instead of candy for Halloween. In fact, HRHQ got egged and TPed MUCH LESS than usual this year. So there!

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What We Enjoyed This Week

Here’s Everything Leaving Your Brain This Month by DC Pierson (McSweeney's) A very clever premise combining a familiar type of article with a relatable experience of getting older. The format provides a nice throughline for a wide assortment of jokes and there's even room for a story arc that doesn't step on any of the punchlines.

Our Bed and Breakfast Is the Perfect Place for You and Your Spouse to Fight on Vacation by Emily Claypoole and Devin Wallace (McSweeney's) Emily and Devin have assembled a great range of B&B specifics for this piece, and it's a lot of fun to see how each new amenity winds up connecting back to marital strife. The details of the different types of fights taking place are also surprising and nicely varied.

11 Thoughts About Road House by Libby Cudmore (HAD) A funny and moving paean to the joys, comforts, and philosophy of "a movie where a man drives a monster truck through a car dealership." Longtime readers of the newsletter will recall that this is not the first piece of writing inspired by Road House we've featured. Back in 2019 we highlighted Sean T. Collins' quest to write a new essay on the film every single day. (The fruits of his labor were subsequently collected in book form.) Road House truly is an inexhaustible fount of inspiration.
 

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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 #36.

I Use 'They' Pronouns Because I'm Non-Binary and Also Because I'm Always Surrounded By My Bees by Jes Tom (Reductress) Bees are, objectively, the funniest animal. If you disagree, please find the unsubscribe link below.

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 a few spots left in his two short humor workshops starting next week on Nov 10th and Nov 12th! Write three short humor pieces in four weeks, get feedback and notes, and meet and work with other funny folks who are interested in short humor.
 

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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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