A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #325
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For January 24-30, 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. We're on Buttondown now! If you left anything over at the Tinyletter we've got a ton of stuff in a lost and found bin: reading glasses, a bunch of unclaimed laughs, and a toothbrush from someone who reads the Newsletter in the morning.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Batman Villains Ranked by How Likely It Is They’ve Done Musical Theater by Sara Bozin (Hard Drive) We've featured Hard Drive's ranking pieces in the past, and what makes them click are an exhaustive, completionist approach to a simple premise. And Sara's funny, specific premise keeps us engaged: Batman villains and musical theatre are distinct but with enough overlap to make for some really fun jokes.
Easy "Would You Rather..." Questions to Ponder by Robert Criss (Points In Case) Robert's writing excels at delivering on odd and high concept premises, ideas that can often be tough to sustain or heighten. This piece is impressive both in the breadth of would-you-rather questions, but also how Robert heightens them in a number of ways across the piece.
Fruit-Peel Theories to Determine the Strength of Your Relationship by Anna Pook (The New Yorker) It can be tough to find a fresh angle on a topic that has spent weeks being batted around on social media. Anna's premise feels fresh, but more importantly it's clear and provides for a good variety of beats.
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An Old Favorite
Eli Burnstein, Whose Book Dictionary of Fine Distinctions Is Now Available for Preorder, Writes About XII Reasons Roman Numerals Are Better Than Arabic Numerals (The New Yorker)
Even something as niche as Roman numerals can strike a chord (or so I hope) because we’ve all seen an old building or monument that says “Established in MDCCCLXVII” and had to stop and do some math before giving up in frustration. Confidently defending something so obviously clunky isn’t just funny (to me anyway) but a great way to generate a fresh set of arguments—fresh, because who in their right mind would take this position?
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's got just TWO spots left in his advanced short humor workshop starting on February 13th! (He's also got spots left in the section starting February 10th.) Write three pieces in four weeks, get support and feedback, and meet other funny folks.
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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