A Newsletter of Humorous Writing: End of 2017 Edition
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
A Newsletter of Humorous Writing
For Sept 21-Dec 27, 2017, a roundup of the
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 the time of year when people look back and make lists. Since we only started this newsletter in September, we can't offer a comprehensive overview of ALL the short humor of 2017, but we still wanted to take this opportunity to remind you of some of the pieces we enjoyed over the past 14 weeks.
A Few Things We Enjoyed Over The Past 14 Weeks That Ended 2017
I Haven’t Had Sex In So Long A Tumbleweed Rolled Out of My Vagina and An Old Man Stepped Out and Said, ‘Storm’s Blowin’ In’ (Reductress)
I've Stopped Letting Guys Write the Scores of Their Fantasy Football Teams on My Kneecaps During Sex. Here's Why by Ginny Hogan (McSweeney's)
Less obnoxious ways of saying ‘I went to an Ivy League school’ by Alexandra Petri (Washington Post)
The Echo Chamber of Social Media Has Divided Us. Also, I Had Sex with A Car and Was Hoping to Quietly Bury My Apology in This Think Piece by David Mack (McSweeney's)
The Boyfriend Who Noodled on Guitar: A Horror Story by Rekha Shankar (The New Yorker)
My Linkedin Photo by Colin Nissan (The New Yorker)
It’s Me! The New Female Character In This Sci-Fi Show! Here To Ask Clarifying Questions! by Taylor Kay Phillips (The Belladonna)
Your Mass Shooting Thoughts and Prayers Are Accidentally Going to the Angry God of a Distant Planet by Sam Weiner (McSweeney's)
I'm Making a Few Changes to this Beloved Alt-Weekly by Jason O. Gilbert (McSweeney's)
Just What About the Phrase "Don't Leave Cameron Alone With The Goddamn Cured Meats" Do You Not Understand? by Lillian Stone (McSweeney's)
Your Hosts' Favorite Things They Published In 2017
Luke: I was really happy with how Seven Riddles From The Town With Two Barbers (The New Yorker) turned out. I had been thinking about the premise for a while, and tried writing it a bunch of different ways, and it was very satisfying to finally get it into shape after tinkering with it for such a long time.
James: My favorite piece I wrote this year was Caravaggio Apologizes for the Low Lighting in McSweeney's 50th Quarterly, but it's not available to read online and I would want to deny you, dear reader, the satisfaction of reading something right now, so please enjoy another piece I'm proud of, Congressional Daydreams, which ran in The New Yorker.
Wishes For The New Year
May all your topical pieces be fresh and insightful, with plenty of jokes; may you avoid the lowest-hanging fruit; may you read other people's work thoughtfully and thoroughly, and may others give your work the same attention and care; may you create and support new, exciting projects; and may we all get sweet book deals.
Happy New Year! Thanks for sticking with us, and thanks to everyone who took the time to send us a message. We can't wait to see all the good writing that's sure to come our way in 2018.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 respond to us or this email and tell us what the score is.
See you next week!
@brianagler, @lukevburns, & @jamesfolta
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!