A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #370
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For December 4-10, 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 to everyone who came out to the Hangout of Humorous Writing last night! We had a blast and hope you did too. And if you weren’t able to make it, hope to see you at our next one in the new year!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Do Not Use That Stall, I Just Had a Huge Cry in There by Erin Ross (Points in Case) Talking about crying in the bathroom using that “I just made a huge mess in the bathroom, do not go in there” tone is very funny and very clever. Over the course of the piece, Erin also manages to explore more about the narrator character without straying too far from the (again, extremely funny) core premise.
Your 2024 Therapy Wrapped by Sasha Lubomirsky, Topher Lin, and Chan Lin (McSweeney’s) Putting therapy details into the “Spotify wrapped” form is really funny—this piece also does a great job visually parodying Spotify wrapped, with some very fun illustrations. (And if you enjoyed this, you’ll definitely want to check out Your 2023 WebMD Wrapped by J. Taylor Lee and Ave Grimshaw.)
Six Hours Under Martial Law in Seoul by Sarah Jeong (The Verge) Definitely not a traditional short humor piece, but a wonderful piece of reporting in the gonzo journalism tradition. Sarah’s able to find humor in her own situation and in the people and details around her, without ever selling out the gravity of the events unfolding.
YOUR AD HERE!
Do you have an ad you'd like to place in the Newsletter? Fill out this form!
And feel free to send us an email if you have questions.
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 #118.
You're All Wrong, Die Hard is a Hanukkah Movie by Keaton Patti (Slackjaw) Speaking of Holiday movies, Keaton Patti presents an unassailable case in what is truly the dumbest argument on the internet. We're all sold, and we're ready to fight with nerds on Twitter about it.
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
James wrote a funnier piece this week for Lit Hub about a very ugly-looking, AI-designed textbook cover. Don’t use AI folks: it’s got a ton of ethical failings, and it’s just not good at what it promises!
Luke’s got just FOUR spots left in his advanced humor writing workshop starting on January 4th! Get a jump on those New Year’s resolutions. Pieces from previous workshops have gone on to be published by The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and more. (He’s also got an intro class starting January 4th as well.)
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.
This newsletter is free, but if you enjoy it and want to support the work we do putting it together, you can subscribe to our paid tier, or you can send us a tip here. Any amount is greatly appreciated, and 1/3rd of each donation will go to Stand Up To Cancer.
If you'd like to place an ad in the Newsletter, please fill out this form.
If you have any thoughts, notes, wishes, or dreams for this newsletter, please email us or respond to this email and tell us what the score is!