A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #72
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For January 31 - February 6, 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. Constitutionally, the team here at the Newsletter of Humorous Writing is required to give a State of Humor Writing Address. This is a responsibility we don't take lightly...but it is one that we totally forgot about while we were rage-watching the State of the Union. Now, we're kind of crunched for time, but we think it's safe to say that the state of humor writing is very strong. There hasn't been a better time for humor writing, and there are so many wonderful writers out there absolutely killing it. To them, we say, keep up the good work. [Hold for applause].
While we're on the subject of the state of humor writing, we wanted to say thank you for being part of our little humor community. But, it's a community that we'd love to see grow. So, if you know anyone who likes humor writing, who might like humor writing, or who needs some more emails in their sad, lonely inbox, we'd really appreciate you forwarding this (or any) issue of the newsletter to them - or, even better, sending them a link to subscribe, and berating them until they do it.
What We Enjoyed This Week
I Am A Pacific Northwest Man On Tinder And I Will Die If I Go Indoors by Sara K. Runnels (McSweeney's) It's easy to forget that written pieces need characters with clear, strong points of view. This piece does not forget that, and that's why we'd all want to date it, if we didn't fear the outdoors.
The Alphabet, Ranked by Reese Cassard (Points in Case) What a delightfully weird premise, and what a fantastic commitment to the bit. Bravo! (B is #12, in case you're wondering).
We're The Four White Guys Bringing Authentic Brazillian Street Cuisine To Your Neighborhood by Devin Rosni (McSweeney's) You know a piece is good when it effectively skewers (without seeming overdone) a prominent cultural trend...and also makes you want skewers of not overdone Brazillian beef.
Looking At This Thing On MY Phone: A User's Manual by Nicole Boyce (New Yorker) This piece debuted at our January Evening of Humorous Readings. It conjured up the same fears then as it did now. If you're reading this on a phone, show nobody.
An Old Favorite
Men Find Me Intimidating Just Because I'm A Sentient Robot Sent Here From The Future To Destroy John Connor by Erica Lies (Splitsider)
This is one of those pieces that nails the execution. It effortlessly marries two rich concepts (Terminator references and relationship tropes) without getting confusing, or letting one pull too much oxygen away from the other. It reads so smoothly and looks so simple, but it isn't. It's the result of carefully constructing the conceit, and of course, really tight editing.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
James and friend of the newsletter, Lucas Adams, explore the future of cash in a new article in Topic.
The workshop Luke is teaching as part of the Humor and Satire Festival is almost sold out! Just five spots left! Get in while you can!
Brian is hosting the next installment of SpeakEasy, a show about speeches and speechwriting, at Caveat in New York City on 3/5 at 9:00p.
News About The Next Show
An Evening of Humorous Readings will be back at (le) Poisson Rouge on 2/26! Doors at 7PM, show at 8pm.
And oh man, what a lineup:
- Chandler Dean (McSweeney’s, West Wing Writers, @chandlerjdean)
- JiJi Lee (The New York Times, The New Yorker, Reductress, McSweeney’s, @thejinius)
- Lizzie Logan (McSweeney’s, The Belladonna, Reductress, @lizzzzzielogan)
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!