A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #385
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For March 19-25, 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. Exciting news: We’re hosting a show with McSweeney’s to celebrate Jason’s Roeder’s book Griefstrike!, which is a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor!
Come out on April 23, 7 PM to the Francis Kite Club for readings by Jason Roeder, Josh Gondelman, Jiji Lee, Colin Nissan, Jen Spyra, and us! It’s free and guaranteed to be a good time!
What We Enjoyed This Week
Getting Back Into the Swing of Things by Claire Friedman and Aaron Karo (The New Yorker) This piece is sneakily a character premise, and the timeline format is a great way to get into the mind of this character, who is always a step away from getting back into the swing of things. Moving the piece through the year also allows Claire and Aaron to make some great holiday jokes.
Acknowledgements by River Clegg (McSweeney’s) River Clegg is a favorite writer of ours, and we’re glad to call him a Friend of the Newsletter. This is classic River: a banal-seeming setup gives way to a truly bizarre piece. Another takeaway from this one: If you’re going to go for a one-word, coy title, hit the funny thing ASAP in the piece. River doesn’t keep us in suspense long — the wacky book title is right there in the first sentence.
Some Lingering Questions About Snow White’s Bizarre New Lore by Fran Hoepfner (Vulture) Some really great questions here, and though the movie doesn’t provide a lot of great answers, Fran has a ton of fun with it.
-- 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!
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An Old Favorite
Hello, I’m the Token Precocious Child On Whatever the Latest HBO Show Is by Mitra Jouhari (McSweeney’s) We haven’t watched the new White Lotus, but this piece and the “I’m ten!” always comes to mind whenever a new prestige show is making the rounds. The character voice here is downright nasty, and a good example of how leaning into a “stage voice” in writing can work if done well.
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
Luke’s got just one last advanced short humor workshop coming up before he’s taking a brief teaching hiatus until September! It starts on April 19th, and there are just TWO spots left in it, so sign up now if you don’t wanna wait til fall to take a class!
And we’re looking forward to seeing you on April 23rd at the Francis Kite Club for An Evening With Jason Roeder & Friends!
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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