A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #300
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For August 2-8, 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. That's not a typo up there: This is our 300th issue! That number represents six years of newsletters written, hundreds of writers and pieces highlighted, and so many thousands of instances of the word "premise" and "specific" that we're probably on a very niche watchlist somewhere. We hope it adds up to something that is as fun to read as it is to write.
We always want our newsletter to be accessible and un-paywalled -- it's free, but not cheap. Thanks to all of you who have supported us with a tip, or by sharing the newsletter with a friend, or by telling us that you enjoy it! (And if you haven't, well, why not now?) We love putting this together every week, and we're glad you read it. Thank you.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Studio Notes on My Diary by Grace Henes (The New Yorker) A great voice piece. Grace hits a ton of the movies' most basic tropes and mainstream cinema's most persistent blindspots, all as a self-deprecating lens on a sad diary.
Sexual Tension Festers Among Only Two People on Same Google Doc by Cameron Snow (Hard Drive) If you're reading this, you've definitely felt the weird mix of emotions when you're in a doc with someone else. Cameron does some fun exploring in this one, giving us perspectives from not just users, but also Google Docs' programmers -- the breadth helps build out the world around the premise. Great, absurd kicker on this one too.
50 Extraterrestrial Investigations Ranked by How Much They Contributed to My Divorce by Dan Rice (Hard Times) It can be hard to go this long with a premise, but with a strong, simple, and numbered format like this, Dan can keep building his main character and his divorce. Part of the fun of this piece is seeing all 50 alien incidents Dan mentions: there were some new incidents to us, as well as some fun and surprising ones.
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An Old Favorite
This week we're resharing the Old Favorite from our very first Newsletter. Look at how short we used to write 'em!
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
If you're a fan of cartoons and comics like us, you were probably sad to see that The Nib is shuttering. As they're winding down, The Nib folks have put all their issues online as PDFS for download. And give them a donation to preserve their vast archive while you're there!
Other Humorous Writing News
And in strike news: Yesterday was the 100th day of the WGA strike, and the pickets are going strong! We're winning the hearts and minds: more Americans support the strikers over the studios. Probably because the studios keep saying dumb stuff. You probably heard that the AMPTP's return to the negotiating table last week doesn't seem to have been done in good faith -- read the WGA's report on the meeting and David Slack's good thoughts, too. The Hollywood strikes are maybe heading overseas: the LA Times reports that Netflix refuses to meet with South Korea's actors union and discuss the union's concerns. Alana Smith in The Ankler and Lexi McMenamin in Teen Vogue on how Hollywood is broken, and how we might start building something better. NPR reports on how studios are already scanning extras' likenesses for AI. GQ has a good interview with the writer Cord Jefferson about his career in TV, and his perspective on the strike and the industry: "I remember reading about these guys who were trying to break Fruit Ninja, which, that's just a disembodied hand chopping fruit, and they were trying to figure out how to make a Fruit Ninja movie." And you might recognize a certain newsletter writer quoted in this Deadline piece about our scripted podcast themed picket this week!
If you're looking to support striking workers from WGA and SAG, as well as Unite Here 11 hotel workers, Teamsters, and IATSE, here's a great list of mutual aid funds that could use your donations!
And as always, there's lots of info and ways to show solidarity on the WGA's Strike Hub!
(A few of you have shared links and updates from the picket line with us--thanks! If there's anything you'd like us to share, a link, or a resource, or your personal thoughts or anecdotes from the strike, please send 'em along!)
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!