For April 22-28, 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. Boy, these spam phone calls have really gotten out of hand. It seems like at least two or three times a day we get a series of calls from someone pretending to be a “mysterious stranger” who is going to “kill us” (yeah right) followed by a call from someone claiming to be “the police” (sure, pal) telling us “the call is coming from inside the house, get out now!” (Whatever, man.) We’ve decided we’re going to start letting these calls go to voicemail just as soon as we’re done investigating those odd noises we’re hearing in the next room.

What We Enjoyed This Week

Things I Said I Watched but Actually Just Saw the Meme by Devon Anderson (McSweeney’s) This piece gets at an interesting truth about the modern information environment, namely how easy it is to feel like you’ve absorbed everything you could possibly need to know about a piece of media entirely through social media posts. Devon’s clipped, punchy phrasing is also very funny: “I saw a meme of a disappointed-looking fish.”

We're Skeleton Minions, and We're Tired of Our Necromancer Boss Working Us to the Bone by Jay Izzo (Points in Case) A nice exploration of the very specific dynamics at play in an unusual workplace (a skeleton army). The juxtaposition of professional office tone with the truly great skeleton army details is terrific: “We fully embrace an aesthetically appropriate amount of rust when needed, but it is worth remembering that many of us were resurrected straight from the Ancient Blood Plains of Distant Yore; outdated equipment is outdated equipment, plain and simple.”

Humorous and Oddball Restaurant Names of the Past by Robert Sietsema (Robert Sietsema’s New York) Not a traditional short humor piece, but a quite impressive and funny archival project. Robert drew on almost 25 years worth of photos to pull together this collection of weird restaurant monikers. It won’t just make you laugh, it’ll also take you on a trip into the past.

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IT’S 1890 AND WE’VE GOT BEEF: NEW DUO COMEDY BRINGS BIG LAUGHS TO EAST VILLAGE

Introducing CORNED BEEF (AND OTHER ARGUMENTS), a duo comedy that’s best summed up as “The Odd Couple” meets Mel Brooks meets “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The 19th-century romp follows a Jewish immigrant and Irishman on their quest for the American Dream. But chaos erupts when they discover they have the same mission: To bring corned beef to the New World.

April 23-May 10 at Theater For the New City, 155 1st Ave.
Thursday-Saturday 8 PM, Sundays 3 PM.

TIX $20 ($15 FOR SENIORS AND STUDENTS)

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Sun. May 17th, 2-4pm EST (online & recorded): Riane Konc (New Yorker, McSweeney's, etc.) will lead a virtual 2-hour humor writing session focused on using mapping, juxtaposition, & known forms to generate memorable humor pieces. We'll dissect specifics of how to make these strategies work, dig into examples, cover generative approaches, & probably all have our lives changed forever? (TBD)

“Riane’s class was information dense in a way that felt generous.”
“Riane had a deep well of knowledge and her class was incredibly in depth for a two hour seminar.”
- Recent Writing Co-Lab students

Still a few spots left -- sign up today!

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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 #115.

A Guide to Horse Breeds by Sarah Lazarus (The New Yorker) These types of pieces--I'm talking about one thing, but really I'm talking about something else--are a great format, but sometimes crumble under the weight of their own game. Not this one. The throughlines aren't just balanced, they inform one another; the second makes so much more sense because of the first, and the piece is all the funnier because of it.

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

Luke’s still got a few spots left in his advanced short humor writing workshops starting next week on the evening of Wednesday May 6th and on the afternoon of Thursday May 7th! Writing from previous workshops has gone on to be published by the New Yorker (print and online), McSweeney’s, and more!

And an update from James: Lisa Zheutlin has taken over editorial over at Points in Case for the next few months! I’m so excited to have her on board, she’s immensely funny and has a sharp editorial eye. Send your work her way!