A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #42
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For July 05-11, 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. We all love "binge-watching" our favorite series on Netflix, but have you ever binge-watched a newsletter? If you haven't, why not give it a shot? Go back and read all 42 newsletters. You might catch the theme we've been building this whole time--that institutions are just as flawed as humans, and that there is no such thing as "good" or "evil." Rather, we all live in a gray area, populated by moral ambiguity and existential ennui. Did you not catch that? We really thought we made it clear.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Summer Fairy Tales for Parents by Sarah Schmelling (New Yorker) Sarah is a fantastic writer, and friend of the Washington D.C. franchise of the Evening of Humorous Readings. Not only is this a great piece, it feels of a piece. It comes together so cleanly (a rarity in the Twitter-fueled world of humor writing).
The Complete "Skeleton" Film Franchise by Joe Scott (Points in Case) Props to Joe for taking an intersting and funny premise and elevating it to the next level with a unique and creative structure.
This Diet Isn't About Losing Weight, It's About Feeling Well in a Vague Way by Lucy Huber (The Belladonna) This isn't just a hilarious piece, it's a piece that makes us all think--namely about society's hilarious history of fad dieting. Remember the Atkins Diet? Remember how you could eat a bunch of hamburgers, but as long as there weren't any buns, you were good? Those were the days.
An Old Favorite
Welcome to My Rare and Antiquarian Ebook Shop by Eric Hague (McSweeney's)
Another friend of Washington D.C.'s Evening of Humorous Readings, Eric Hague is a true sharpshooter. His pieces are always so tight, the characters are expertly drawn, and the point of view is crystal clear. Oh, they're funny too. This piece, in particular, demonstrates all of that--and does so on a few different levels. There are a lot of different threads and jokes in this one, but they all reinforce one another. Together, they take a subject we've all talked about and re-imagines it in a way that is both surprising and makes perfect sense.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James' Improv team, Too Damn Much, has a real primo spot (Friday, 9pm) at UCB Hell's Kitchen. If you get the chance to give a suggestion for the show, make it "humor writing." That'll make James sweat!
Other Humorous Writing News
Our Friends at Reductress have spots available for their next two satire writing workshops--July 18th and 24th from 7-10p. This is a chance to learn from the best, and we highly recommend it!
News About The Next Show
Our next Party of Humorous Readings is July 18, 7pm, at Peculier Pub. Come on down, have a few beers, and chat humor with us!
And, mark your calendars, folks. Our next show will be August 2, 8pm, at (le) Poisson Rouge. Ring in the new month with some humor. The very same humor we'll chat about next week at our party!
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
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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!