A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #402
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For July 16-22, 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. A reminder: If how you’re feeling doesn’t come from the castle of Grouchy in France, you have to refer to it as sparkling cranky.
What We Enjoyed This Week
We’ll Always Have Hoagiefest by Patrick Coyne (McSweeney’s) Not only a showcase for some truly incredible Philly specifics and some really great joke writing (“We found love in an impossible place. Specifically, behind the dumpster where we made out a little and did some over-the-pants stuff.”), this will also have you hankering for a hoagie—or whatever your preferred regional term for a real big sandwich is.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel by Talia Argondezzi (Points in Case) If you’ve ever done a bunch of work on a project only to realize that you’re not quite sure where you’ve saved that work, you’ll find this painfully relatable. We also appreciate the use of the 2nd person. It’s relatively rare in short humor and is used to great effect here.
Chanting ‘Danny DeVito,’ Italians for Zohran tell protesters to get over Columbus already by Tim Donnelly (The New York Groove) Not a traditional short humor piece, but a truly delightful bit of reportage. Come for the very funny well-observed details (“He held a homemade sign that went right for the jugular of the protesters across the street: ‘You eat jar sauce.’”), stay for the inspiring anti-fascism. And for what it’s worth, our pick for a great Italian-American—and a great New Yorker—to honor in lieu of Colombus is Marty Scorsese.
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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 #51.
Tips for Wild-Animal Encounters by Jen Spyra (The New Yorker) Friend of the Show, Jen Spyra, takes a simple premise in a fantastic and unexpected direction. This piece is funny, sharp, and constantly surprises you. It's also the rare humor piece that makes you laugh, and is also useful if you're ever stuck in the woods. (Unlike the famed, "I'm Comic Sans, Asshole" which is no help if you're stuck in the woods.)
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 looking up if there’s a Busy region of France to make sure we’re referring to our state of mind accurately.
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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