For June 3-9, 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. Bad news: James and Luke each broke a leg and are now confined to tandem-wheelchairs in Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ). Good news: HRHQ is equipped with two telescopes (for examining faraway humor pieces) and we’ve been having a blast snooping on our neighbors out the back (or “rear”) window. However, we’re starting to suspect that one of our neighbors may have committed a heinous crime… Writing a short humor piece with an unclear premise. Just to be sure, we’re gonna send someone over there to break into his apartment and rifle through his papers.

What We Enjoyed This Week

I’m Jessica Fletcher, and I Don’t Even Feel Anything Anymore When I Find a Dead Body by Tony Delgado (McSweeney’s) Tony clearly has a lot of affection for “Murder She Wrote”, and knows a lot about the show (or did some truly killer research), because the details in this piece are perfectly calibrated. They’re wonderfully specific deep cuts that push the premise forward, but aren’t at all alienating to those of us who aren’t as familiar with the Jessica Fletcher oeuvre. If your premise involves riffing on a piece of pop culture, you can’t just work from your received knowledge; You have to deeply engage with your source material, and that’s exactly what Tony’s done here.

Microbrewery Entirely Built Around Pun Name ‘Let’s Circle Bock’ by Dan Kozuh (The Hard Times) There’s an interesting meta aspect at play here, in that we couldn’t help but wonder if the writing process for this piece mirrored the events of the piece itself. That is, did Dan first come up with the delightful pun “Let’s Circle Bock,” and then decide to build this piece entirely around that pun? If so, it’s a very clever way to make a premise out of what could have been just a one-off joke.

Cote and the Risks of the Clubstaurant by Helen Rosner (The New Yorker) This review will make you laugh and make you hungry. It’s filled with terrific, witty lines like “High up on an interior wall, in jarring contrast with the muted sandstone tones of the rest of the room, is a neon work by the artist Martin Creed proclaiming ‘DON’T WORRY.’ Was I worried? Should I be worried?” It’s also almost certainly the first restaurant review we’ve ever read that ends on a cliffhanger.

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Hosted by Lana Schwartz (The New Yorker, The Onion, McSweeney's), Letters & Sodas brings together standup comedy, humor pieces, fiction, and essay readings in a way they never have been before (or at least not in recent memory). Join us Wednesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Greats of Craft for a very special TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW, with:

Upasna Barath (Vogue, Comedic Timing)
Meg Reid (McSweeney's, The Onion, Reductress)
Shane O'Neill (New York Times, The Washington Post)
Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Murder Book, The Joy of Snacking)
Marcia Belsky (100 Tampons, Handmaid’s Tale: The Musical)
Gastor Almonte (The War Report, Sandwich Comedy)

Tickets available here!

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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 #109.

A Guide to Asian Restaurants by Ali Wong (Vulture) In an excerpt from her book, Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life, Ali Wong gives us the inside scoop on what makes a great Chinese place, what makes a bad Vietnamese place, and so forth. It's not often that humor pieces are funny and filled with actual, practical advice, so this one is a real gem.

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

There’s still time to get in on Luke’s single-session workshop on Form and Narration in short humor that’s coming up next Thursday! And Luke also just announced his lineup of July Workshops—including an intro class and a SUMMER FRIDAYS advanced workshop. Hope to see you in one!