A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #333
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For March 20-26, 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. This is our 333rd edition, which the short humor numerologists out there will recognize as the "Triple Three," the ultimate rule of threes. Rejoice, for encountering this number will bring blessings to your funny writing!
And don't forget: Join us next Wednesday, April 3rd for a Hangout of Humorous Writing! We'll be at Peculier Pub (145 Bleecker St. NYC) starting at 6 PM. Come and say hi, and meet some fellow writers and short humor fans!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Signs You Should Give Up on a Book by JiJi Lee (The New Yorker) A crisp and punchy piece with great jokes and a fun runner to tie it all together--don't forget your runners! And if you want even MORE Jiji, she'll be on our show on April 10th to celebrate Evan Waite's new book!
If I Had Been in the 1991 Movie Point Break Instead of Keanu Reeves by Dan Kennedy (McSweeney's) We especially enjoy pop culture pieces that use the known bit of culture as a jumping-off point, rather than making it the main focus of a premise. It makes a piece more than an in-joke for fans, or a way of commenting on the pop culture in question, and keeps it from feeling like a spec script. Dan uses Point Break to tremendous effect, as a way to frame and heighten the stakes of his fun character game.
The Wong-Baker Pain Rating Scale Adjusted for Ghostbusting by Jeff Drake (McSweeney's) This is a very short one, but it's hard not to enjoy such a satisfying and simple parody. And it's got an impressive variety of jokes for a piece that is less than 100 words! The one line that breaks the pattern is particularly fun.
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An Old Favorite
‘Mad and offensive’ texts shed light on the role played by minstrels in medieval society by Sarah Shaffi (The Guardian) We like to periodically highlight old Old Favorites here, like this interesting relic of medieval comedy: The Heege Manuscript, 15th-century notes for a performer to remember "The Hunting of the Hare, a mock sermon in prose and an alliterative nonsense verse The Battle of Brackonwet."
The gags for this live show include "a satirical sermon from a preacher, extolling the virtues of heavy drinking," which is a pretty good premise, and such visual gags as "Three kings eat so much that 24 oxen burst out of their bellies sword fighting" and "jousting bears; fighting hares; battling bumblebees; heraldic ducks and sheep, and merry-making hogs." It's interesting to see some recognizable comedy tropes and instincts here, despite the wildly different context of Medieval Europe.
I can't make heads or tails of the Old English, but it seems like, in the following passage, some guy named Jac Wade is getting bonked and falling down, which is timeless:
"Þe hare þoght che wold owt wyn,
& hit Jac Wade apon þe schyn,
Þat he fell apon þe backe.
‘Owt, owt!’, quod Jac, and ‘Alas,
Þat euer þis batell begonon was!
Þis is a soré note!’"
I guess you had to be there. You can read the full text, with an introduction, here, and a long academic article on the manuscript, here.
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
As we mentioned earlier, we're hosting a show to celebrate Evan Waite's new book, Life Wants You Dead! Join us on Zoom on April 10th, for a reading show with Evan, Jiji Lee, Sarah Pappalardo, and Seth Reiss! Be sure to RSVP here! It's free!
James started a new gig this week writing for Lit Hub, which is going to include some short humor and other book-related stuff!
Luke's translation of Masters of the Nefarious continues to get great reviews, including one from The Comics Journal, which calls it "strange and wonderful, terrifically funny, and largely unlike anything else coming out of the scene at the moment." What are you waiting for? Pick up a copy!
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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