A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #347
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For June 26-July 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. No joke this week, just our well wishes! Hope you’re having a nice day off today, seeing friends, and enjoying some foods you like. And if you come across any particularly good mustards or hot dogs, write in and let us know!
What We Enjoyed This Week
This Bar’s Not Normally Like This by Henry Block (McSweeney's) A simple premise — in the hands of a less talented writer maybe too simple — but it sets up a fun pattern that Henry expertly heightens with incredible jokes. I love the summarizing sentence in the last beat that gathers up all the fun specifics; it’s a great way to put a button on just how not-normally-like-this the bar is.
Sunblock Bingo for Pasty People by Emily Kapp (The Belladonna) This one hits very close to home for us, as guys who cower from the sun. This is also a great example of how strong writing will elevate short or more visual formats: never neglect your writing, even if something is short! For example, look how much fun variety Emily gets in by playing with new, shortened sunblock verbs: “block,“ “block up,” “reblock,” etc.
Coffee Shop Patrons Announce Plans to Look Up Every 25 Seconds by Mimi Kenny (The Hard Times) Narrowly focused satirical news pieces that unpack more mundane and everyday topics tend to succeed when they hit that observational comedy sweetspot of identifying something that you never noticed before but that you immediately recognize. Mimi’s observation about everyone constantly looking around in cafes is so spot on, that it made me self-concious about the glancing I’m doing while sitting alone at my desk.
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An Old Favorite
My Coming Out Story, Sponsored by Bank of America by Sam Stone (McSweeney's) I was thinking about this piece over the weekend as Pride month wrapped up. It’s such an excellent use of juxtaposition: the hollow clang of the bank’s advertising language interrupting the story is very funny: “She turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, “Bank of America’s Cash Rewards Card offers 1 percent cash-back on all purchases and 3 percent back on gas. Exclusions may apply.” Her heartfelt words will stay with me forever.”
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Nothing from us this week! Hope you get exactly the number of hot dogs you want today!
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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