A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #366
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 6-12, 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 very pleased to announce our next Hangout of Humorous Writing is going to be Wednesday, 12/11, at 6 PM at Peculier Pub (145 Bleecker St. NYC). Come on out and meet other funny writers and folks who are interested in short humor.
What We Enjoyed This Week
The Cartoonist’s Dream Journal by Bob Eckstein (The New Yorker) A terrific take on the age-old question, “Where do you get your ideas?” We particularly like the joke about an editor being a kind of interpreter of dreams—it’s not only very funny, it also rings true.
Who I Am Now That I Accidentally Ordered Myself Black Silk Bed Sheets by Dan Herg (Points in Case) There are tons of great specifics in this piece, all of which are elevated by the wonderful title. You could imagine a version of this piece that was called something more simple, like, “I Am a Person Who Owns Black Silk Bed Sheets”. But this framing, the fact that the character was once a normal person but has grudgingly changed because of a bed sheet mix-up, makes everything that much funnier.
Tokyo International Film Festival 2024: Godzilla Turns 70 by Katie Rife (rogerebert.com) This report from the Tokyo International Film Festival isn’t a short humor piece, but it is filled with tons of delightful, funny details. (“Godzilla-themed cream puffs”; “A bomber jacket embroidered with an image of Hedorah, the ‘smog monster’”; “Two grumpy Godzillas.”) Reading this article, Luke also realized for the first time that he and Godzilla share a birthday. Destroying Tokyo: A classic Scorpio move.
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Hosted by Lana Schwartz (The New Yorker, The Onion, McSweeney's), Letters & Soda brings together standup comedy, humor pieces, fiction, and essay readings in a way they never have been before (or at least not in recent memory).
The next show is Tuesday, November 19 at 7 p.m. at Greats of Craft in Long Island City and features:
Ilana Michelle Carmi (MTV, Reductress)
Leah Abrams (Jezebel, Triangle House)
Henry Block (The Onion, McSweeney's)
Megan Broussard (Slate, Marie Claire, The New Yorker)
Carrie Wittmer (GQ, Time, The Ringer)
Ash Diggs (Means TV, Don't Tell Comedy, New York Comedy Club)Tickets (only $7.18) are available here!
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• Part Three: Short Humor/Satire
• Part Four: Humor in Essays and Creative Nonfiction
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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 #42.
This Diet Isn't About Losing Weight, It's About Feeling Well in a Vague Way by Lucy Huber (The Belladonna) This isn't just a hilarious piece, it's a piece that makes us all think--namely about society's hilarious history of fad dieting. Remember the Atkins Diet? Remember how you could eat a bunch of hamburgers, but as long as there weren't any buns, you were good? Those were the days.
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 Editors and Friends of the Newsletter
Don’t forget to put the next Hangout of Humorous Writing on your calendar! Hope to see you at Peculier Pub (145 Bleecker St. NYC) on Wednesday, 12/11, at 6 PM.
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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