A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #69
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For January 10-16, 2019, 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. Here at Humorous Readings HQ (HRHQ), we've all come down with a little cold. We're coughing, we're sneezing, and buddy, you better believe our throats are sore. But do you know what will get us back in fighting shape? Humor writing! Before modern pharmaceuticals, humor writing was often given by doctors to fix everything from the common cold, to shingles, to a broken leg. Sure, medical science has advanced over the years, but the three of us are sticking to our regimen of short-form humor prose to cure what ails us. Laughter is the best medicine, and wry smiles are an even better medicine.
What We Enjoyed This Week
If You Liked Tough Mudder You'll Love The Latest Obstacle Course For Adults...Navigating Your Depression by Riane Konc (McSweeney's) Reading this article is, easily, the closest any of us will ever come to doing one of these obstacle courses.
Awfully Critical Software Updates by Jordan Landsman (Weekly Humorist) Would this newsletter be more popular if it were an app? Hypothetical question, of course. We fear technology and believe that society should return to the land.
12 Ways My Book Club Can Definitely Tell I Read War and Peace by Tara Millette (McSweeney's) Brian here! About two years ago, I saw a musical on Broadway called Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comment of 1812. It's a full musical, with a narrative arc and everything, and it's an adaptation of just 70 pages of War and Peace. The point is, this book is bonkers.
The Old Spaghetti Factory Briefly Considers a Branding Overhaul by Tom Ellison (Slackjaw) "There are many potential names for a large, affordable, family-friendly pasta restaurant that not only avoid implying the flagship dish is decomposing or produced alongside automotive parts, but actually highlight the positive."
Unfit to Print by Christopher Buckley (The New Yorker) There's a fun style of art in which incongruous things are added to paintings--like a giant robot in a landscape. This is like that, but with American history Also, my dude wrote Thank You For Smoking, so it's exciting to see him drop in on the humor world from time to time.
An Old Favorite
A Football Halftime Pep Talk Given By Someone Who Knows Nothing About Football--Namely, Me by Wendy Molyneux (McSweeney's)
Now that we're in the thick of the NFL playoffs (yup, this is a sports newsletter now) this piece seems appropriate. Truth is, it's always appropriate. Wendy is an accomplished comedy writer--she currently writes for Bob's Burgers--and this is a fantastic example of just how consistently sharp she is. This style of piece ("I don't know about this thing, but I'm going to try my darndest") is harder to pull off than it looks. The "narrator" can't just be dumb, because then there's no reason to keep reading. Instead, they have to tease a bit--getting close, and then falling off; being confident, but realizing that they're a half a step behind. When it works, it works, because you just want to see how much deeper a hole they can dig.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
On January 22nd at 9:30p at Caveat, Brian is hosting a show, with his colleagues from West Wing Writers, and friends of the Show Karen Chee and Jen Spyra. It's about speeches and the speechwriters behind them. You'll laugh. You'll learn. And you'll hear behind-the-scenes stories about writing for Al Gore. Don't miss it!
James, along with Friends of the Show Caitlin Kunkel and Tulio Espinoza are producing the first Satire and Humor Festival! Coming this March 22-24, the festival is going to be a weekend-long celebration of humor writing, with panels, shows, and workshops, including a special edition of An Evening of Humorous Readings and a workshop from Luke! Check out the website for more info and to buy tickets!
News About The Next Show
Our next Hangout of Humorous Readings will be at on January 31st at 7:00p at Peculier Pub. Come talk humor with your pals! We promise we'll be less sick by then.
The February Evening of Humorous Readings is February 26th at 8:00p at (le) Poisson Rouge. Man, if we're still sick by hen we've got to start taking real medicine.
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!