A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #368
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 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. Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers — we’re thankful for your support! And to our non-US readers: Happy Thursday — we’re thursdayful for your support!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo by Amy Greenlee (Points in Case) Including runners in list pieces is a great way to make them feel more complete — you’re building internal jokes that can add a satisfying layer of narrative and give the reader a greater feeling of intentionality. Amy’s callbacks in this piece are doubly impressive because they work regardless of what order you read the bingo squares.
Lead Singer Feels No Need to Tell Crowd He Can’t Hear Them After They Do A Legitimately Good Job Screaming The First Time by Stephen Bell (The Hard Times) A simple inversion sets up this piece, and Stephen explores quickly and widely: We hear from three distinct characters with different points of view, fleshing out the repercussions of the situation. A fun kicker here too that takes a big swing at heightening, right at the buzzer!
Thanksgiving Outfits That Say, ‘Wait, We’re Doing Outfits?’ by Julia Sullivan (Reductress) Maybe it’s because we’re currently packing to visit family for the holiday, but Julia’s piece is a clever way of exploring the perennial, nagging feeling that you’re never dressed quite right for a holiday.
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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 #9.
Thanksgiving with David Caruso by Cara Michelle Smith (The Belladonna) Some premises are so simple and so perfect that they must become humor pieces. This is one of them.
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
James wrote a piece for Lit Hub called “Comedy failed us, again” with thoughts on comedy and politics, and some reflections on making Paul Ryan magazine.
Luke just announced his lineup of January short humor writing workshops! Get a head start on those New Year’s writing resolutions in a fun, supportive environment.
And don’t forget that our next Hangout of Humorous Writing is coming up on Wednesday, December 11 at 6 PM! Stop by Peculier Pub in Manhattan and say hi to other short humor writers and fans of short humor writing.
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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