A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #383
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For March 5-11, 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. One last reminder: Our next Hangout of Humorous Writing is coming up next week! Join us at Peculier Pub, 145 Bleecker St. NYC, on Wednesday March 19th starting at 6 PM to meet and mingle with other short humor writers and short humor writing fans.
What We Enjoyed This Week
This Noir Detective Definitely Skipped Dinner by Luke Herzog (Points in Case) It’s thoroughly impressive how seamlessly Luke weaves food puns and imagery into just about every single line of this piece. Puns can sometimes stick out awkwardly in a short humor piece. Unless they’re connected to a character or the narrator, or the premise, it’s easy for them to feel tacked on. No such problem here. The puns are deeply, fundamentally connected to this premise, and Luke manages to keep surprising the reader with them.
Why Skiing Is My Favorite Thing Ever by Lauren Bridges (The New Yorker) A very fun and comprehensive catalogue of all the worst things about skiing. The details are well-observed, and the narrator’s upbeat tone is very fun.
The Most Unsettling Inscription I've Ever Found on the Inside Cover of a Used Book, Bar None by Daniel Lavery (The Chatner) One of the pleasures of browsing through used books is coming across inscriptions and notes in the margins and trying to imagine the stories of the people behind them. Here that normally joyful activity curdles into something more sinister—though the story is still rendered with the wit and light touch we expect from Daniel.
-- AD --
Hi! I’m Marina Tempelsman. I teach sketch comedy for The UCB and used to be an Academic Director there. Over my years of teaching sketch comedy classes, my students would always ask if there was a book about the craft of sketch comedy. Strangely enough... there wasn't one.
So I'm writing it!
It’s called “Unusual Things: A Guide to Sketch Comedy for Writers, Fans, and Everyone Else.” But it’s also very much about writing in general. Because beneath the goofiness of sketch lies a nuanced process and structure. And learning these things will help you become a more nimble writer (and collaborator) in any medium.
Sign up to support, follow, and participate in the book’s development!(Do you have an ad you'd like to place in the Newsletter? Fill out this form!)
An Old Favorite
Really? You’re Too Good for Our Newsletter? Wow by Joanna Borns and Erin Chack (McSweeney’s) Look, as the editors of a newsletter about short humor pieces we are simply suckers for a short humor piece about newsletters. Of course it also doesn’t hurt that this piece has a hilarious tone and is filled with terrific jokes: “All the people will stand and cheer for my empty inbox. They’ll elect me mayor of Loser Town, a godforsaken place that has no newsletters.” (You may also remember this writing duo from one of their previously-featured pieces, the delightful A Review by the Couple That Only Rented This Airbnb to Bang.)
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 some other folks at Lit Hub have been running a bracket this week where readers are voting to determine the best villain in literature. You can vote in the semifinals today, between 1984’s O’Brien vs. Tolkien’s Sauron and Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lector vs. John Milton’s Satan. But check out the first post too, which has write-ups and stats on each of the 64 initial villains. James also wrote a bit about his favorite villain: Karla.
Okay, one LAST last reminder: The next Hangout of Humorous Writing is Wednesday. Hope to see you there!
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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