A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #321
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For December 27, 2023 - January 02, 2024
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 New Year! Hope you had a restful end of 2023, and that you're feeling inspired for 2024! Our resolutions are the same as last year: sharpen the Newsletter (have you filled out our survey?) and floss our teeth more. Last year we mixed them up -- flossed the Newsletter and sharpened our teeth -- but we'll try not to do that again this year!
And a note from last edition: thanks to some helpful readers, Ben Friedman reached out with his info -- you can see more of his work and give him a follow here!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Tips for Toddlers to Limit Parents' Screen Time by Eddie Small (Points In Case) A fun parody of parenting advice that inverts our expectations and then explores them with Eddie's characteristic eye for jokes and clever observations. This one is also a fun example of how much justification a premise needs: Eddie doesn't waste time over-explaining how toddlers might be able to write or read this article. By making sure the joke and premise are clear at the top, readers are willing to go along with a less-grounded idea.
Tonight’s Dinner Party Menu: Your Choice of Nine Open Jars of Salsa by Stacey Curran (The Belladonna) Stacey leans into the visceral specifics here, and as readers we really feel how already-open these jars are. A funny piece and a good reminder to give your fridge a new year's cleaning!
Cursed VHS Tape Finally Getting Blu-Ray Release Via Criterion by Gabe Porter (The Hard Drive) A super silly and specific mash-up, with lots of exploration and fun characters. Gabe gives us details from all sides of this premise: we meet the cursed tape's director and the film nerd who had this VHS on their watch list. Plus, a great turn at the end!
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An Old Favorite
Re: Sweat Nothing’s 2018 Deodorant Scents (for Men and Women) by Sophie Kohn (The New Yorker) A simple premise that heightens outrageously. The names, descriptions, and specifics are all so funny, and really bring the central comparison into vivid contrast.
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
Luke just had ONE spot open up in his (previously sold out) intro to short humor workshop that starts this Saturday! And he still has a few spots left in his advanced short humor workshop starting on Wednesday! (Check out his testimonials page to read some nice things from people who have taken workshops in the past.)
If you haven't filled out our 2024 READER SURVEY yet, now's a great time to do it! Thanks to everyone who's given us their feedback already -- it's very helpful!
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!