A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #378
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For January 29-February 4, 2025
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. Are you getting ready for The Big Game this weekend? You better believe WE are! And of course, by “The Big Game,” we mean the human chess match we’re participating in on Saturday. Games don’t get much bigger than that.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Reasons Your Password Was Rejected by Daniel Kibblesmith (McSweeney’s) This piece builds in a really crisp, satisfying way: Its opening section is nicely grounded but doesn’t skimp on jokes, and though it heightens to some really wacky places, it never heightens so fast that the reader gets whiplash. Plus, that reveal at the end is hilarious. It’s also the only short humor piece we’ve read recently that would pair well with Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto.
We've Been Observing Your Earth—We Give It a Four by Lillie Franks (Points in Case) Lillie uses line breaks to great effect here. The stylistic choice gives the piece a unique and compelling pace and creates interesting rhythms of setups and punchlines—it’s also a choice that also feels completely earned given who the narrator is.
The Pages of Goodnight Moon, Ranked by Our Ten-Month-Old Son by Daniel Lavery (The Chatner) In addition to being a charming and funny slice of parenting life, this piece will also make you appreciate anew the greatness of Goodnight Moon.
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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 #27.
How to Move Heavy Furniture by Yourself by Bizzy Coy (The New Yorker) Bizzy is a longtime friend of the show and newsletter, and this piece is not only fun, but hits on an essential truth about moving--namely that it's terrible.
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 piece for Lit Hub about the weird and dark world of weather-predicting groundhogs, including murder, Confederate generals, and a marriage between corpses.
Luke just announced his lineup of workshops for March and April (including an intro workshop)! He’s taking a brief teaching hiatus starting at the end of May, so these are the only classes he’ll be offering between now and September, and spots are limited.
And are you looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day gift? Why not give your sweetheart a copy of An Atlas of Valentine’s Day Island, a zine cartoonist Lucas Adams and I made? It's a beautifully illustrated, newsprint broadsheet atlas of Valentine's Day Island, and a guide to all of its rich kingdoms, peoples & creatures. Order a copy here!
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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