A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #316
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 22-28, 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. Happy Leftovers Week! We've been hard at work turning leftover food into soups, leftover drinks into "Danger Punch," and leftover snippets of conversation into humor pieces!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Thanksgiving Itinerary Suggestions from Your Mom by Susanna Wolff (The New Yorker) Just like leftovers, this piece is something you want to revisit even after the holiday is over. We've shared Susanna's work before, and we love her ability to write funny, specific pieces about more general topics. Susanna establishes a specific point of view for the mother character, which gives the piece a strong spine, and then explores relentlessly--we get to see so many different situations and topics filtered through this mom's particular lens.
I’m a Gourmet Pepper Mill Who Doesn’t Belong at This Thanksgiving Dinner by David Henne (Points In Case) Well, look a this! Another holiday piece we've hung onto after the celebration itself is over--seems like a leftovers theme is brewing here. David's character monologue has everything you want from a piece like this: A strong character voice and emotion, a specific location and situation for the character to respond to, and fun heightening. A great piece, and the perfect holiday leftover to tuck into your humor fridge for later!
Your Amazon Order of Reusable Metal Straws Is Currently on Its Way Via the Most Ecologically Devastating Route You Could Imagine by J. Taylor Lee (McSweeney's) "How're they going to make THIS work with the leftover theme," you're thinking, "Luke and James really painted themselves into a corner here!" Check this out: When you think about it, reusable utensils are the ultimate leftovers. HA! Taylor establishes the pattern of the piece quickly, and the format lets him reset quickly, which takes this piece to sillier and more heightened places. Great joke writing too!
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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 #130.
Shhh! Quiet In The Library, The Books Are Sleeping by Libby Marshall (Slackjaw) What a silly idea--and we mean that in the best way possible. Sometimes, the most fun pieces take a goofball premise and just go with it, treating it as super-logical. For writers stuck with a blank page, try this format out. It often leads to fantastic results.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
We got a note yesterday that TinyLetter--the platform you're reading this on right now--is shutting down early next year. We're currently figuring out where to take our Newsletter and our archive next, so we'd love to ask you all if you have thoughts! What newsletter platforms do you like? Or even better, are you a web-surfing hacker who can help us custom build something simple, so we don't have to be reliant on another platform? Reply to this note and let us know! And thanks in advance!
Luke just announced his first humor workshops of 2024! Get a jump on those New Year's writing resolutions with an advanced workshop (starting on January 6th and January 9th) or an intro workshop starting on January 6th!
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!