A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #307
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For September 20-26, 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. This week we're debuting a new variation on our "Old Favorite" section: writers writing about one of their own pieces! We're kicking things off with a story from the great Mike Sacks about his first McSweeney's piece. Make sure you don't scroll past it!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Hardball Negotiations With The Tooth Fairy by Ruyi Wen (Slackjaw) The voice of the narrator is so specific and so much fun, and the juxtaposition between the tone and the subject matter is a classic recipe for generating laughs in prose.On Wednesday I Get Ashes at the Drive-Thru by Katelyn Botsford Tucker (HAD) Not a traditional short humor piece, but a short-and-sweet portrayal of a very specific experience and situation, ending with a very funny final sentence.
Things That Count as Writing by Janine Annett (McSweeney's) For the record, we believe that reading this newsletter--which is about writing, features writing, and uses the word "write" and its variations a lot, especially in this edition--ALSO counts as writing. We feel confident Janine will back us up on this.
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Writers Write About Their Own Writing
Mike Sacks Writes About Today’s Most Funniest Movie Bloopers (McSweeney's)This is the first piece I ever published online and the first piece I ever felt was closest to what I wanted to write, rather than what an editor or professor was looking for. It was so early in McSweeneys' run that Dave Eggers himself was still editing the site. I wrote it not thinking much, just something I'd kick off for myself or for friends. I never had any hope of it finding a home. When it was accepted, I thought, Okay, this is interesting. It's not like the writing I was doing before for school or for magazines, this is more in my own style and more fun to write.
You have to remember, too, that there were so few outlets for humor in the 90s, just the usual New Yorker, Mad magazine, Cracked magazine (the original version), and a few others, including The Onion, which you really couldn't crack if you weren't a part of their Wisconsin staff. It was extremely difficult for a young humor writer to get published beyond putting out your own zine. This was no longer the heyday of the 1970s. So when the online humor thing started, beginning with McSweeneys and a few others, it was a revelation and it felt like the world was opening for all of us who had a peculiar sensibility (or peculiar compared with the mainstream sensibility). Cannot believe it's been nearly 25 years. Time, ya know? Someone should write a poem about it!
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Today is the six-year anniversary -- to the day, for the first time! -- of the first newsletter we sent out! We've had a blast writing this all these years, and we couldn't have kept it up without Brian -- a great writer and a friend we miss dearly. Thanks for six great years, and whether you were one of the first one hundred or so subscribers back then, or if you're just joining us for the first time this week, we're glad you're here!Luke's got an advanced humor writing workshop starting on October 12th at 7PM (that's just two weeks away) that is halfway to sold out! Writing from previous workshops has gone on to be published by the New Yorker (print and online), McSweeney's, The Belladonna, and more! (He's also got a weekend advanced class starting on October 7th--just three spots left in that one!)
Other Humorous Writing News
The big strike news this week: it's over! The WGA won a big victory after a long strike, with inspiring solidarity and support from other guilds and unions. More information on the tentative agreement is here, and it looks like a great one! Gizmodo has a simple breakdown of the deal, too. The studios will still try to union bust, as David Slack points out, in more long-term ways to undermine the narrative of the strike. They're also forming new cartels to get ahead of workers. But solidarity and organizing works, as the WGA showed us, and it will only lead to more good things, like more antitrust action from federal and local governments: the FTC is suing Amazon and rethinking merger guidelines. And President Biden made history by joining the UAW picket line.And if like many of us, you've found this action galvanizing and inspiring, keep going out to support SAG-AFTRA's ongoing strike, support the UAW's strike, keep an eye on hospitality workers in Vegas, and get involved locally! This is an exciting moment!
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
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!