A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #39
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For June 14-20, 2018, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.
Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, the email propaganda arm of the acclaimed humorous readings show, An Evening of Humorous Readings. Anyone have any exciting summer vacation plans? Trips to the shore? Maybe a jaunt to an exotic locale? The three of us? Well, the only trip we're taking is to the Southwest Humor Expo and Rodeo in Flagstaff, Arizona. That's right, we're pumped for 5 days of panels, networking events, and hog-tying competitions. Now, you might be wondering--why is there a combination humor expo and rodeo? The truth is, humor writing and rodeos have a long, joint history. In fact, The New Yorker was originally titled, The New York Review of Popular Literature and Animal Husbandry Practices. How's that for an anecdote!
What We Enjoyed This Week
This Article is Gay for Pride Month by Michelle Leatherby (The Belladonna) Has Pride gone corporate, as this very funny piece suggests? That's not up to us to answer, but it sure is a great segue into our next piece...
My Coming Out Story, Sponsored by Bank of America by Sam Stone (McSweeney's) This newsletter, unlike this hilarious piece, is not sponsored by Bank of America. But it could be, if a certain banking giant would answer a goddamn email.
iPhone Games I've Been Playing Recently by Colin Stokes (The New Yorker) We're gonna be totally honest here, we're not big "gamers," but this piece is still great. In that same vein, what is Fortnite? Please email us if you know what Fortnite is or how it works.
An Old Favorite
Breakfast at Kennedy's by Jon Stewart (Naked Pictures of Famous People) Yes, that Jon Stewart. Before he was the host of The Daily Show, Stewart was a humble humor writer. This book was my (Hi! It's Brian!) first introduction to humor writing. For some reason, it was on our bookshelf at home. Did I buy it? Did my parents buy it? Was it placed there by a kind stranger? I truly have no idea. All I know is that I've read it countless times. It is, in a word, fantastic. I could have chosen any piece from the book (I recommend "The Cult", and "Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Sitcom" in particular), but Google Books only lets you sample a few of them ("Don't Be Evil" my ass!) That said, Breakfast at Kennedy's is a great one. It is funny, and yet, so very disturbing. But more than that, it's an indication that well before he became America's premier satirist, Stewart still understood what terrible and hilarious things made important people tick.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James had a rip-roarin' piece in the New Yorker this week. Give it a read. To the extent that it's about horoscopes, reading it may mean you'll find love. Or, not find love? Either way, you're in for a treat.
Other Humorous Writing News
Great news! Managing editor of McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Chris Monks, is producing a radio pilot called "McSweeney's Presents" for WBUR. Humor writing, in audio form???? Hey, crazier things have happened.
News About The Next Show
Our next show is July 5, at 8pm, at (le) Poisson Rouge in beautiful Greenwich Village. We've got Taylor Garron, Ysabel Yates, and more!
Do we have you? Come celebrate America with humor writing!
See you next week!
@brianagler, @lukevburns, & @jamesfolta
Did we miss a piece you loved? Did you love a piece we mentioned? Let us know! This is an experiment and we're hoping to continue to make it better and better. 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.
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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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!