A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #334
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For March 27-April 2, 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. Thanks so much to everyone who came to the Hangout of Humorous Writing last night! It was great to get to see so many of you. And if you couldn't make it this time around, fear not--we're hoping to do another one in another couple of months.
What We Enjoyed This Week
The Riddle Master Hits Middle Age by Sam Weiner (McSweeney's) Riddle Master is such a fun trope to play with. Sam skillfully makes his Riddle Master feel like a real character, and infuses the piece with moments of genuine emotional impact, without ever letting things get too plotty or losing track of the laughs.
The Room Where Everyone Talks About You Behind Your Back by Isha Pati (Points in Case) This piece has a really satisfying build. Isha finds lots of clever ways to reveal all the different characters in attendance at this nightmare of a meeting. ("Yeah, Gigi comes here too. Your barista, Gigi. Wow, you don’t know her name?")
How to Prepare For Feet Season by Ysabel Yates (McSweeney's) "Feet season" is such a funny phrase and every time it's repeated in this piece it just gets funnier. It's definitely funnier than "foot season" would be--an illustration of the big impact that small word choices can have in short humor writing. And the piece is full of other examples of delightful syntax and satisfying turns of phrase, for example: "That's a problem for later feet."
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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 #57.
The Things You Notice On Your First Run In A While by Declan Cross (Points in Case) Running is cool because it can help you get from one place to another. Like, say, from in the middle of an apple orchard, to outside of said orchard. (Editors' Note: Check out the intro to the original newsletter to get the context for this joke!)
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
A reminder: On April 10th at 8:30PM Eastern we're hosting a zoom show celebrating the release of Evan Waite's new book Life Wants You Dead! The lineup features Evan along with JiJi Lee, Sarah Pappalardo, and Seth Reiss. It's gonna be a blast. RSVP here to get the zoom link.
Luke's got an intro to short humor writing class starting at the end of the month! Learn the essentials of short humor writing, meet other funny folks, and write a draft of your very own piece in four weeks. (You can also check out some testimonials and Luke's full upcoming workshop schedule.)
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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