A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For December 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. A reminder: We would be very grateful if you would fill out our annual Survey of A Newsletter of Humorous Writing (SoANoHW)! Because TinyLetter is shutting down in February and we'll be switching to a new platform, your feedback will have a bigger impact than ever on what the newsletter will look like moving forward. MAJOR THANKS to everyone who has already responded to the survey!

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What We Enjoyed This Week

Fear and Moaning in the U.K.: At “The Ghosts of British TV” Marathon by Alexandra Coburn (Screen Slate) We've been wanting to feature an article from Screen Slate (an invaluable resource for New York City and San Francisco based moviegoers) for a very long time, and we're so glad to have finally been able to do so with this delightful account of one writer's British Christmas horror TV odyssey. Also if you just read the loglines of each of the shows from Spectacle's description of the event, it's kind of a short humor piece unto itself:

A professor inadvertently summons a spirit.
A treasure hunt is afoot.
A boy stays at his ‘cousins’ country estate.
A romantic picnic turns into a nightmare.
A family wake up trapped in a house encased by concrete.
An American curses a TV producer.
An adaption of the 1983 book of the same name.
A couple find something buried in the wall of their new cottage.
A horde of rats are coming.
An amateur archaeologist discovers something he shouldn’t.
A lonely worker recounts a dark secret to a stranger.
A family’s prayers appear to be answered by the arrival of a charming stranger.

Nature, Wow by Colin Nissan (The New Yorker) This piece is a real joke machine. It's a great example of how a broader premise is absolutely no problem when you have a great joke per word ratio. (And all your jokes are great---though you should really try to do that in any short humor piece.)

Five Ways To Pass the Time While Waiting To Spin Your Chair Around and Surprise Your Nemesis by Ben Friedman (The Hard Times) There are a lot of ways you could build a humor piece out of the observation that movies and TV shows often feature villains spinning around in chairs to surprise their nemeses, but this is a particularly fun take on that familiar trope. Also, if anyone knows of a personal site or social media page for Ben (a Hard Times writer who has been doing great work for them since 2019), please let us know!
 

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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 #121.

Zillow Listings of New York City by Jen Spyra (The New Yorker) Jen read this at a previous Evening of Humorous Readings and it absolutely killed. Don't believe us? Host your own reading show, and have Jen read this. Then, let us know what happens. We'll be waiting...

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Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

Luke has just ONE spot left in his intro to short humor class starting on January 6th. He's also got just ONE spot left in his advanced humor writing class starting on January 6th. But good news! By popular demand he just added a new section of his advanced class: It starts on January 10th, and there are still 6 spots left. (Snag one now!)
 

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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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