A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #45
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For July 26-August 1, 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. Ok, just hear us out on this one. How much would you pay for a MoviePass style service that let you read all the humor you want for one monthly fee? $1,000? $10,000? It's the second one, right? We knew it! Listen, just...stay right there. We need to go call some investors. We see no reason why this won't work.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Truly Incredible Bill Murray Sitings by Seth Reiss (New Yorker) Friend of the Show, Seth Reiss, does it again. This is classic Seth Reiss piece if there ever was one. A simple premise devolves into something completely demented. Like Bill Murray himself, this piece is very funny, a little dark, and once served me a shot in an Austin dive bar.
How I Imagine it Is To Be Rich by Megan Downey and Bizzy Coy (Points in Case) Another winner from Friends of the Show (DC and NYC!) Megan Downey and Bizzy Coy, who have a lot of fun with this piece. It's clear and concise, and it gives us all the more reason to get HumorPass up and running.
A Letter to Willy Wonka From Mrs. Bucket by Sarah Shockey (Points in Case) Sarah Shockey does a great job with this one--mining a piece of classic material for a new take. The result is hilarious. Sarah is a big favorite around Humorous Readings HQ. For a blast from the past, check out her comedy band, the Shock T's.
Look Out Folks... It's Horse Flu Season by Dan Caprera (McSweeney's) This piece is amazing. It goes in about 12 different, insane directions, and we love them all.
An Old Favorite
Whoops! by Mike Sacks (McSweeney's)
Mike Sacks is, in many ways, the godfather of humor writing? Cool uncle of humor writing? We don't really know how family trees work, but whatever the family member is that paves the way for a lot of what is happening today--that's Mike. There's a lot we could have chosen from, but "Whoops!" is too good not to highlight. Featured in the Best of McSweeney's, "Whoops!" is a pitch-perfect piece. The premise is clear right away, and straight through the end. It builds, and it takes a new twist with each entry. Also, it takes a tough format (seriously, the email format seems easy, but it's hard to pull off) and nails it. As the universally-agreed-upon third-cousin of humor writing, this is what we all expect when we see a Mike Sacks byline.
Speaking of bylines, in addition to humor collections, Mike wrote the seminal, Poking a Dead Frog and Here's the Kicker. And he has a new book coming out next month as well!
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
In addition to helping run the Newsletter of Humorous Writings, Luke is also New York magazine's chief smarthome-centric-movie critic. In his new piece he takes a look at Tau, a new Netflix release about a sinister smarthome, and asks the important question: "If you set aside all the murder, maybe the house itself would be kind of okay to live in?"
News About The Next Show
Tonight! The show is tonight! Can you feel the excitement? Let it wash over you!
(le) Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St.)
Doors at 7pm! Show at 8pm!
- David Guzman (The Onion, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, UCB, @davidjguzman)
- Miranda Kronfeld (Reductress, @mirandakronfeld)
- Mia Mercado (The New Yorker, The New York Times, Reductress, @miamarket)
- Sasha Stewart (The Nightly Show, The New Yorker, The Belladonna, McSweeney's, @artfulstew)
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
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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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!