A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #398
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For June 18-24, 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. We’re big proponents of sticking around to watch the credits after a movie—not just because it’s a chance to appreciate all the hard work and artistry that goes into making a film, but also because the catering companies that do craft services for movies often have very funny names. One caterer name that Luke recently discovered in the credits of An Angel at My Table (very good picture btw) and enjoyed was “The Wild Lunch”. This is presumably a pun on the extremely violent Sam Peckinpah film, The Wild Bunch. A big choice!
What We Enjoyed This Week
5 Other Scenes in “Point Break” That Would Be Better With a Beat-Down of Anthony Kiedis by Henrik Persson (The Hard Times) The extremely specific moment in Point Break that this piece is riffing on is such a small part of the movie, which makes it very funny to imagine variations on that moment pulling more and more focus from the film. Henrik writes some great comedic images, too: “As Johnny and Tyler kiss by the fire, things would have gone from great to god-tier if Bodhi and the rest of the gang had featured in the background, as black silhouettes, kicking the shit out of Anthony Kiedis.”
Old-Timey Ballplayer Or Indie Band? by Dan Gutenberg (Slackjaw) This is such a well-curated list. It’s a delight to read through and savor all the ballplayer/band names—and there are some real surprises as well. This also brought to mind one of our favorite classic McSweeney’s lists, ”Crate and Barrel Tableware Style + U.S. President = Fictional Delta Blues Singer” by Josh Michtom.
Woman Emerges From Thrifting Haze to Discover She Purchased a 19th Century Bathing Dress by McKayley Gourley (Reductress) This piece is packed full of great details and nice specifics, including the titular 19th-century bathing dress, but our absolute favorite has gotta be the “custom 60th birthday t-shirt for somebody named ‘Dave’.”
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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 #48.
My Name is Gilligan, And I'd Like To Get Off This Island Now by Kathleen Toohill (The New Yorker) This piece raises a lot of questions that we'd all like answered. Sure, Gilligan's Island provided us with fun and laughs--but at what cost?
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
Nothing from us this week! Too busy scouring various movie credits for more funny caterer names.
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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