A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #287
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For May 3-9, 2023
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. We've been told that in order to boost engagement, we need to have some animated newsletter gifs that our readers and fans can share. So can you do us a favor and get someone to look at your phone or computer, and scroll this newsletter up and down for them? If it's not enticing enough, maybe say something like "Thrilling, huh?" or "Short humor is droll? More like short humor is scroll!" Thanks for sharing!
What We Enjoyed This Week
American Infrastructure Has Failed Me, a Farmer with One Wolf, One Goat, and One Cabbage by Lillie E. Franks (McSweeney's) The particular and cloying tone of a perpetually ruminating pundit/voter is so specifically drawn in this piece -- Lillie has this kind of person's syntax and phrasing precisely dialed in. Deploying that voice to wonder about what is to be done about a classic riddle makes for a super fun piece, full of great sentences that contort around the two poles of this premise.
It Was Hard to Start This New Business with the Millions I Made from My Previous Business by Rochelle E. Fisher (McSweeney's) The perfect structure or format can unlock a premise and lead a piece to really fun places. The nesting doll structure that Rochelle employs sends this idea on a spiraling, dizzying path of heightening that gets confusing and complicated in such a fun way. (And a Newsletter first: two writers with "E." middle names!)
I Will Not Board a Plane to Visit Your Baby by Dennard Dayle (The New Yorker) Pieces centered on a specific complaint can often veer into a rant. It's a fun format but it can be a little vague, usually because a rant typically isn't addressing anyone in particular; the speaker is just shouting to anyone in earshot. Dennard wisely frames this piece as a letter to parents, which establishes an audience for the complaints, which makes the relationship, emotions, relative status, etc. between the speaker and the audience that much clearer and more specific.
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An Old Favorite: WGA Strike Edition
Some Thoughts On The Strike by Evan Waite. One of our favorite writers wrote in to share some thoughts on the ongoing WGA writers' strike: "I’ve been in TV writing for six years, and in that short time I’ve seen a dramatic shift in how devalued writers have become by the studios we make rich. Writing is fueled by insecurity, and powered by rejection. The studios feed into this through gaslighting, but on the picket lines I’m seeing writers shed the mentality that we should be grateful for the scraps that fall off the table of execs who produce nothing, and create nothing. We are owning our value, and it's a beautiful thing. Join us!"
Do you have thoughts on the strike, stories from the picket line, solidarity resources to share, etc.?
Reply to this email and let us know!
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Newsletter
Luke made his HAD debut this week with a new piece called Goofus and Goofus! It's about the world of Goofus and Gallant being thrown out of balance. And check out HAD's archives while you're over there! It's a great place to discover experimental prose and poetry that is also very often quite funny.
Luke also has just FOUR spots left in his advanced short humor writing workshop starting on May 30th. Snag a spot now before it's too late--his next round of workshops won't be til July!
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!