A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #348
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For July 3-9, 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. A great writing tip is to read your work out loud to get a sense of how your writing hits your ear, but a greater writing tip is to read your work out loud in a mob boss voice to get a sense of how your writing hits your henchmen’s ears.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Terrifying Warnings For The Gurgle-Goo Sleepytime Baby Swing by Sarah Bernstein (McSweeney’s) Very good and surprising heightening here! Sarah is building this piece on a firm base of parody, with a solid format and an excellent command of the fun and chipper FAQ voice. With such a strong spine, the piece can heighten in surprising and wildly varied ways, without breaking the reality or flow of the piece.
25 Songs About Horses Ranked By How Much I Think You Should Play Them For Your Horse by Casey Epstein-Gross (Paste) Such a fun premise and title, and a joy to read with lines like, “This song rankles many horses, and for good reason,” and “Do horses like art rap with jazz influences?” The great thing about a list like this is that there’s very little to argue with, but plenty to discuss. The ideal reading experience and conversation starter.
Also a tip: there’s a Spotify playlist at the end of the piece with all the songs, if you want to listen along as you read!
“It’s Time to Play Ball, British Style” by Imogen West-Knights (The Dial) This is longer and more serious than our usual fare, but we think you’ll enjoy this insightful and sharply observed piece. There are so many wild and fascinating details here, like the Philly Phanatic dressed as a Beefeater, and Imogen’s observation, “I feel sorry for the Mets mascot, who is just a baseball with a face.”
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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 #78.
How To Create Your Very Own Crossword Puzzle by Dan Capera (McSweeney's) Dan has carved a unique niche for himself in the humor writing world—illustrated pieces that don't trade language for sight gags. This is the perfect example, and a great mash-up in which each element reinforces the other.
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 SUMMER FRIDAYS advanced short humor writing workshop. It’s the last workshop he’s doing til September, so snag a seat soon!
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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