A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #266
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For December 7-13, 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. This week we were supposed to return from our annual retreat at Humorous Readings Mountain Chalet (HRMC), but wouldn't you know it, we got snowed in. But never fear, dear readers, HRMC is well-stocked with fine brandy, salted pork, firewood, and, of course, pages and pages of our favorite short humor pieces. (Also wifi.)
What We Enjoyed This Week
Middle School Party Games, Revised for Thirty-Five-Year-Olds by Nicole Beckley (McSweeney's) The expert matching of party game and "thirty-five-year-old" specifics ensures that the aged-up version of each game is a satisfying, logical extension of the original. This is also a pretty comprehensive list of party games that will surely be of interest to all our readers who are currently in middle school. (If you do exist, please let us know, and thank you for reading!)Introducing Only Friends™ by Adam Dietz (Slackjaw) A clever riff on OnlyFans and a very funny taxonomy of different types of adult friendships. Each friendship tier is so specific and filled with such well-chosen, grounded details, we're certain you'll recognize something from your own life in this one.
Pong: 10 Tips And Tricks for Left Paddle Mains by Gabe Porter (Hard Drive) "Fidget", by Kenneth Goldsmith, is a record of every movement, no matter how minute, that the poet's body made over the course of thirteen hours on Bloomsday, June 16th, 1997. In a similar vein, this piece by Gabe Porter is also an impressively detailed catalogue of hyperspecific movements--those that can be made by a paddle in the video game Pong. (It's also a terrific parody of clickbait internet video game guides.) Of course there are only so many moves one can make in Pong, but Gabe does an impressive job of keeping things fresh and surprising, staying one step ahead of readers even though we have a pretty good idea of what might be coming next.
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 #75.
Guys Who Will Definitely Hit On You When You Get Bangs by Lillian Stone (The Belladonna) Lillian approaches the subject--hipsters--with a clear, consistent, original point of view. Also, JGL makes a cameo! A two-fer!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.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Luke's intro to short humor workshop starting in January has just FOUR spots left! And his advanced workshop starting in January has just ONE spot left! Snag one before they sell out and get a jump on those New Year writing goals and resolutions.YOUR AD HERE!
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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.
This newsletter is free, but if you enjoy it and want to support the work we do putting it together, 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.
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!
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.
If you'd like to place an ad in the Newsletter, please fill out this form.
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!