For January 21-27, 2026

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. Like many of you, we’ve been watching in horror at the depravities of ICE and DHS across the country, particularly in Minneapolis. Naomi Kritzer has a great post on her blog about how to help if you are outside of Minnesota. And if you’re looking to join in on the general strike tomorrow against ICE, you should, and there’s more information here.

What We Enjoyed This Week

Twenty Solutions to Common Story Problems by Brent Cunningham (McSweeney’s) This is very funny and very short and punchy, a difficult needle to thread. It’s got excellent little callbacks and short runners, but what’s most impressive to us is that Brent also delivers some pretty solid writing advice here.

I’m Your Radiologist Tech and I’m Not Telling You Shit by Claire Friedman (Points in Case) Claire does a really excellent job of exploring her premise in this monologue by having the character speak both about larger patterns in radiology bedside manner and also about smaller, specific anecdotes from his life. Also, Claire tells us the tech’s name is Aaron, which is a fun specific — monologue narrators frequently go unnamed in short humor!

Signs You're A Doctor In A Midcentury Novel by Daniel Lavery (The Chatner) Like all great Daniel Lavery pieces, this premise is esoteric and niche, but the texture and tone of the writing is so well done that it pulls you in, even if you have no idea what a midcentury novel (or doctor) is.

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An Old Favorite

This week's Old Favorite pick and writeup come from Ralph Gamelli, a writer and former associate editor at The Big Jewel. Thanks for writing in, Ralph!

Thought Police Blotter by Kurt Luchs (McSweeney’s) This is one of the first internet humor pieces I came across 20 years ago and has stayed one of my favorites -- frankly because new things scare me, but also because it makes me smile whenever I reread it. Kurt Luchs takes thoughts most of us have had and turns them into tersely-worded police reports such as: "Tom Maxwell, 38, of Reno, Nevade, willfully and forcefully generated a mental image of a naked Sharon Stone without the actress's consent, which he then projected onto his wife Patricia..."

The format of separate paragraphs for separate events/characters feels a lot less common these days when the majority of pieces seem to be monologues, but it's something I've always appreciated. It's also nice to see the premise set up so quickly and efficiently. A simple three-word title, no intro paragraph needed, and it's straight to the fun.

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

Over at Lit Hub, James had the privilege of talking to Angela Schwesnedl, a bookseller at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis about the spontaneous resistance to ICE terror and caring for your neighbors. And there’s one funny moment in here too, we promise!

Luke’s still got spots in all his February advanced short humor writing workshops! Writing from previous workshops has gone on to be published by The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and more! (And you can check out some of those pieces here.)