A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #63
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For November 29 - December 5, 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. We're sure you noticed that this edition of the newsletter is coming out a little later than usual. What's to blame? Well, wouldn't you believe it, all three of us--Brian, Luke, and James--all slept through our alarms. One alarm, actually. The three of us sleep in one big bed in Humorous Readings HQ (HRHQ). We all wear matching pajamas, including old-timey sleeping caps. We were so comfortable, deep asleep, dreaming about short-form humor prose, that we missed the alarm. It's embarrassing, but also, adorable.
What We Enjoyed This Week
Thank You For Coming to My Baby's Gender Reveal Party by Megan Amram (Tumblr) Megan Amram is so good, we're basically at the point where we don't even have to read what she writes--we can just include it. But had we done that with this piece, we would have missed the line, "There’s nothing that makes me feel like making fun dirty jokes then thinking about my unborn child’s Boy or Girl pubic mound!" and that would be a true shame.
Joke’s On You, Starbucks… The Screenplay I’m Writing In Your Store Is Far Worse Than Any Porn I Could Watch by Dan Capera (Weekly Humorist) Look, we've all been there. We've all written humor in a Starbucks. We've all been at a Starbucks while someone watches porn. What Dan Capera understands is that these are natural laws, and they are unbending.
I Am A Liberal Comedian And I Am Ready To Perform Ally-ship By Calling Conservatives Gay Every Chance I Get by Garrett Schlichte (McSweeney's) Friend of the D.C. humor reading outpost Garrett Schlichte reminds us that the reason the SNL bit about Putin and Trump is very funny is that they're gay for each other. Get it?!
I Am From The Future And I'm Here To Sell You Magazines by Rachel Keller (Weekly Humorist) If this newsletter were in magazine form, would you buy it? Ok, what if it was just one humor piece, and the rest was in-depth articles about fascinating subjects and an extensive list of goings-on about town. And what if David Remnick was the editor. Crazy? Stupid? Yeah, you're probably right.
An Old Favorite
Corn Maze F.A.Q. by Colin Nissan (The New Yorker)
The Mt. Rushmore of humor writing would be a very boring tourist attraction, very boring indeed. But, were it to exist, there is a good argument to be made that Colin Nissan would be on it. This piece is one of the many reasons why. The jokes are funny. The F.A.Q. format is used to great effect. The "character" of the maze gets weirder and weirder, but you never lose the thread. This piece checks all the boxes, and the result couldn't be better.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Luke invites you to check out Bridge and Tunnel’s HOLIDAY SPOOKTACULAR, which he directed, and which is coming up this Saturday, 12/8/18 at 7PM at the PIT (123 E 24th St).
News About The Next Show
Our next show is on Jan. 7, 2019 at (le) Poisson Rouge.
Doors at 7p, show at 8p.
Kick off the new year with some humor, some readings, and some friends.
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!