A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #52
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For September 13-19, 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. You're over there thinking, "Wait a minute, this is the 52nd newsletter?" You're counting on your fingers, pulling out your phone to confirm the calculation, waking up the guy who's fallen asleep on you on the train to triple check. But you haven't messed up. You're right. It's been a whole year of Newsletters! What a year its been. Thanks for sticking around, thanks for the kind replies, thanks for reading. We've had a great time doing this. We won't lie to you, we probably could have done it without you, but it would have been much less fun.
What We Enjoyed This Week
My Nanny Shouldn't Have To Choose Between Her Family and Her Job Raising My Family by Heidi Lux (McSweeney's) Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ) isn't the kind of place to raise a kid (hat tip to Elton John), but this piece got us thinking about what it would be like.
Your Quest: Bring A Bag Of Ice To This Party by Caitlin Kunkel and Kate Villa (McSweeney's) We love a piece that takes a chance with a distinct and unexpected format. This juxtaposition of a choose your own adventure story with the annoying banality of getting ice really makes for a fun piece.
Every Positive Change That Will Happen In My Life By The Time The L Train Shuts Down by Ginny Hogan (The New Yorker) Sorry if you don't live in New York, but if you don't, this piece by Friend of the Show Ginny Hogan really gives you a sense of what every conversation we've had for the last two years has been like.
Every Known Sports Venue Cam by Brian Boone (Weekly Humorist) Friend of the Show Brian Boone milks every rhyme and fun pun to explore every nook around the phrase "kiss cam." What elevates this piece above a simple list is the satisfying one-twos of his quick set-ups and callbacks (e.g. "Crisps Cam" and "Chips Cam," "Dwayne Wade Cam" and "Dwayne Wayne Cam," etc.). These jokes make the piece more of a cohesive whole and much more fun to read.
I Read Your Guidelines, But I'm Submitting This Piece That Clearly Isn't a Fit for Your Publication Because, Well, Just Read It and You'll See Why by Alan Good (Points In Case) Full disclosure, James is the editor of Points In Case and fuller disclosure, has received emails exactly like this one, and fullest disclosure, he saves them all in a folder labeled "Jerk Folder" (hat tip to Chris Monks).
An Old Favorite
It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers by Colin Nissan (McSweeney's)
Okay look, we know what you're thinking: this piece? We all know this piece. This is the one that all your non-humor writing friends know. It's what Frank Lloyd Wright is to architecture and what that one Barber of Seville song is to opera -- everyone and their parents know about it. It's the humor piece McSweeney's made mugs for. But the piece is so funny and so simple, and as the air starts slowly chilling towards autumn, why not go back to this classic by Friend of the Show Colin Nissan?
I've also been thinking about this one after a conversation I (James here) had with Luke at the most recent Hangout of Humorous Readings about wacky premises. Sometimes a light touch to frame a crazy idea is all you need to make something work. This piece doesn't need an overwrought justification as to why this narrator is so over-the-top stoked on fall, the reader is more than willing to go along with it. The key is that nothing is brought up that raises more questions in the reader's mind about the premise and its plausibility, so we're more than happy to bounce along on this cuss-filled hayride.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Luke has a sketch show at the UCB Theatre Hell's Kitchen, on Monday September 24th at 9:30 pm. It’s Luke's last NEW show as a writer on Maude night. He still has one show after this, but that’s a BEST OF show, featuring sketches his team has already performed this year. So this is your last chance to see his most fresh-out-of-the-oven sketches on that beautiful Maude stage.
We'd also like to extend a more sincere thank you for reading this newsletter (hat tip to you all). Hopefully you've found our selections and musings interesting and useful, and haven't begun to resent us popping into your inbox every week. As always, if you have any thoughts, ideas, or pitches for this little letter, please let us know! We want year two to be even better than the first.
News About The Next Show
Thanks for coming out to the Hangout of Humorous Readings this Monday! It was great to see you all, and sorry again that we were so tardy in promoting it -- we'll be better next time so we all get to hang. We're busily planning the next show and hang, so as always, keep an eye on this space for updates!
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!