A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For June 14-20, 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. A reminder: Luke and James' new comedy podcast Scriptulated! is now available to stream! It's a tight 30 minutes, the perfect thing to listen to during a commute, a lunch break, or a break of any kind, really.

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What We Enjoyed This Week

Gentle Parenting in Classic Literature by Jessie Gaynor (McSweeney's) A classic McSweeney's-style premise, expertly executed. There's a really nice variety of beats, and the "gentle parenting" voice Jessie has created is hilarious. It's very funny to see famous literary characters being addressed in this extremely condescending tone: "We all want to become Napoleon sometimes. Maybe we can sit down and make a list of the things about Napoleon that are good and the things we wouldn’t do the same way he did. Okay, kiddo?"

Playing Zelda or Disappointing Your Father? by Nick Morgan (McSweeney's) What a terrific title. It's funny, it's arresting, and it quickly and clearly sets up the premise. And Nick delivers on the title's promise, finding lots of fun and surprising specifics that perfectly fit in the middle of the "Zelda"/"disappointing your dad" venn diagram.

Scenes From Fast And Furious Family Therapy by Val Bodurtha (Slackjaw) Val's choice to break this up into scenes from family therapy, rather than having it all take place in one session, is a smart one. This allows the piece to jump from funny moment to funny moment with a minimum of connective tissue, and having time pass between each scene lets the piece heighten to bigger places in an organic way.
 

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An Old Favorite

Pill Bottle Instructions for Unhinged Protagonist by Tony Cohen (Points in Case) A very funny satire of the way prescription medication is often portrayed in movies and on TV. Tony hits all the major tropes and cliches and builds to a really satisfying ending--one of those great "I should have known this joke was coming but I didn't predict it and that makes it even funnier" closers. Using "pill bottle instructions" as the form for the piece is an excellent choice too.

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 Newsletter

James and Luke's new comedy podcast Scriptulated!, which premiered last week at the Tribeca Festival, is still available to stream for your listening pleasure! It features a truly terrific cast of improvisors, including Rekha Shankar, whose work you've enjoyed in previous editions of this very newsletter.

The July edition of Luke's intro workshop "Where to Start With Short Humor" has just TWO spots left! He's also got just THREE spots left in his Tuesday night advanced class, and FOUR spots left in his Saturday afternoon advanced class. Snag a spot now before they're all gone.
 

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Other Humorous Writing News

And in WGA strike news: This interview with an anonymous Apple exec has been getting a lot of play, and Boots Riley and Robert Evans succinctly explain what the exec's logic means and what it means for the strike. Janitors fired by the studios marched in solidarity with the WGA, and Mike Royce broke down the money behind the retaliatory firings. And if you're looking for a way to help out, the WGAE has a registry of items that they need for the picket line -- h/t Rekha, again!

As always, there's lots of info and ways to show solidarity on the WGA's Strike Hub!

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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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