A Newsletter of Humorous Writing #78
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For March 14-20, 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. It's March Madness time! Here at Humorous Readings HQ (HRHQ), we're not going to get any work done today. These matchups are too exciting: Personally, the one we're most looking forward to is P.G. Wodehouse (14) vs. Megan Amram (3). It's going to be a barnburner.
What We Enjoyed This Week
In The Unlikely Event That I Fall Into An Enchanted Slumber...I Consent In Advance To Any Kiss That Will Awaken Me by Lizzie Logan (The Belladonna) Lizzie read this piece at the last Evening of Humorous Readings. It absolutely killed. No wonder! It's a fantastic premise combined with a hyper-specific voice. As they say in March Madness, it's a slaaaaaam dunk.
Night Clubs For People Over 30 by JiJi Lee and Irving Ruan (The New Yorker) JiJi also read at our last Evening of Humorous Readings. She also killed. Though she didn't read this piece, which is a shame, because we imagine that both it, and Irving, would also have killed.
How To Create Your Very Own Crossword Puzzle by Dan Capera (McSweeney's) Dan has carved a unique niche for himself in the humor writing world--illustrated pieces that don't trade language for sight gags. This is the perfect example, and a great mash-up in which each element reinforces the other.
I Was Michael Jackson’s Aquarium Cleaner for 15 Years, And Admittedly This Doesn’t Seem Like A Big Deal in Comparison But That Guy Was a Very Irresponsible Fish Owner by Dan Rice (The Hard Times) Sometimes, the title just gets you. And when the piece delivers, it's all the better. In fact, you could say it's a slaaaaaam du--did we that already? Crap. We don't know anything about basketball.
An Old Favorite
The Hunter-Gatherers of 2017 by Riane Konc (New York Times)
If the news is the biggest source of inspiration for humor writers, then the second has to be Millenials. And while we love a good Millenial joke as much as the next humor newsletter, we find that the tropes start to wear thin after a while. The same premises lead to the same buzzwords, and it all feels played out. That's not to say that the generation isn't ripe for satire--far from it. The key, however, is to find a different point of view; a new way of thinking about something that a lot of people have already thought about. In this piece, Riane does this exceptionally well. The voice is so unique and clear, it unlocks a completely new space for jokes, and elevates the final product to such a better, funnier, and more creative place.
Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show
Luke has a great new New Yorker piece about toxic masculinity up today. Read it, or he'll punch you right in the face, nerd.
The Satire and Humor Festival is this weekend, and friend of the newsletter, Brian Boone, interviewed James--and co-producers Caitlin Kunkel and Tulio Espinoza--in Splitsider about what you can expect.
It's a busy week! Friend of the Newsletter, Kady Ruth Ashcraft, is part of the team behind Olive & Lark, a satirical lifestyle blog. Give them a read! They're all slaa--damnit, we did it again.
Oh, and we just want to say, for all of you who told us that a newsletter was a "dumb and stupid idea," well, joke's on you, pal.
Other Humorous Writing News
Awf Magaine, a new LGBTQ+ focused outlet has gone live--and they're looking for satire contributors. If you want to apply, you can let them know here.
News About The Next Show
Our 5 Year Anniversary Show at the Satire and Humor Festival is this Saturday at 7p at Caveat. You can buy tickets here.
Just get a load of this lineup:
- Karen Chee (Late Night with Seth Meyers, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Reductress, @karencheee)
- Chrissy Shackelford (UCB Maude and Characters Welcome, Problem Areas with Wyatt Cenac HBO)
- Riane Konc (The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Reductress, @theillustrious)
- Sarah Cooper (How to be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings, The Cooper Review)
- Kimberly Harrington (Amateur Hour, McSweeney's, The New Yorker)
- Jen Spyra (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The New Yorker, The Onion, @jenspyra)
- River Clegg (The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, The Onion, The New Yorker, Clickhole, @riverclegg)
- Colin Nissan (McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, The Best of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, @cnissan)
- Evan Waite (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The President Show, Clickhole, The Onion, MAD Magazine, @theohbits)
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!