A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #66
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For December 20-26, 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. Christmas may be over, but since we're looking back at the PREVIOUS week of humor writing, our selections for this edition of the newsletter are still pretty Christmas-oriented. But hey, just think of these as leftovers--delicious, delicious week-old leftovers. Reheat and enjoy!
What We Enjoyed This Week
An Oral History of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, According to the Whos by Tanner Garrity (Points In Case) I know we're devoted to short humor here, but boy do we love something long and comprehensive at times.
An appraisal of my data, for the companies who now own it by Alexandra Petri (Washington Post) A great example of how good specifics, here in the form of self-deprecation, can elevate a piece above the expected take on a well-worn premise. Alex Petri is, as always, so good.
Long Nights in Tabby Town by Jon Sindell (Points In Case) Sometimes, all you need is a nice tonal parody.
2018: The Year In Ideas: A Review Of Ideas by Alex Pareene (Huffington Post) A great series of fun and at times brutal satirical takes on the year's worst, hackiest writing from the former editor of Gawker.
A Choose Your Own Adventure With Realistically Limited Options and Almost Certain Death! by Erika Lindquist (Robot Butt) This winds up going in some wonderfully unexpected directions.
An Old Favorite
Ho! Ho! Ho! I Am God by Santa Claus (The Onion)
One last Christmas piece for you. This Onion classic from way back in 1996 raises an interesting point: Have you ever seen God and Santa in the same place at the same time?
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Brian's piece, I'm Jeff Bezos, And I'm Your Dad Now, was selected as a "Not-To-Be-Missed Shout" of 2018! Be sure to check out the link, as it features pieces from plenty other friends of the newsletter.
News About The Next Show
Mark your (2019) calendars. Our next show is:January 7th at The Gallery at (Le) Poisson Rouge
Doors at 7p, Show at 8p, lineup TBA, but believe us, it's going to be a doozy.
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.
This newsletter is free, but if you enjoy it and want to support the work we do putting it together, you can subscribe to our paid tier, or you can send us a tip here. Any amount is greatly appreciated, and 1/3rd of each donation will go to Stand Up To Cancer.
If you'd like to place an ad in the Newsletter, please fill out this form.
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!