For October 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. Sorry if we’ve been a little sluggish lately. We’re trying to develop a gravy based cocktail for our Halloween party—we’re dressing as “the fleeting satisfaction of popping bubble wrap bubbles” and “Spiderman”. Sampling so many “hard gravy” recipes has left us a little bloated and loopy, but you’ll be happy to know we’re close to cracking this viscous puzzle!

What We Enjoyed This Week

Ghostface Asks: “What’s Your Favorite Albert Brooks Movie?” by Jonathan Zeller (McSweeney’s) A very fun piece that makes great use of references, without relying on them as the punchlines too often. Plus you know the old rhyme: "When the director mentioned is Albert Brooks/you can be sure two editors are taking looks."

You're So Brave for Having Short Hair by Heidi Lux (Points in Case) Writing the "telling on myself" narrator is a tough dance: the narrator must remain grounded in their beliefs enough to speak plausibly, but also have moments where (through exaggeration, second-guessing, etc.) the writer is able to undercut the character’s point of view so that the thrust of the premise can come through for the reader. Heidi does an excellent job of revealing her real thoughts without her character deflating too much from double-speaking.

Did Jess Mariano arrive in Stars Hollow on 9/11? by Sarah Jae Leiber (you are my biggest fan) If you watched Gilmore Girls, this will be an especially wild ride. But even if Jess vs. Dean means nothing to you, you’ll still have fun following the careful yet strained logic of this detective work. This piece is a great object lesson in the kind of thinking that makes written humor work: taking a dumb and fully inconsequential idea very, very seriously.

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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 #42.

The Complete "Skeleton" Film Franchise by Joe Scott (Points in Case) Props to Joe for taking an interesting and funny premise and elevating it to the next level with a unique and creative structure.

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 got just ONE spot left in his advanced short humor writing workshop starting next Thursday! He’s also still got spots left in his rewrite workshop on Wednesdays. Perfect timing if you want to get pieces in shape in time to submit for the holidays!

On November 13th (Friday the 13th!) James is going to be talking with Adam Peterson at the book launch for his new book, Any Time But This Time, a collection of funny stories set across time. The event is at 7:00 PM at Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn, and tickets are available now. It’s bound to be a good time—would love to see you there!

And for Lit Hub, James spoke with the folks behind the NYC subway’s Poetry in Motion program, and they’re just as sweet and dedicated to poems as you’d imagine.