Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, End of 2025 Edition, a roundup of the year's finest short humor pieces and funny articles, and a celebration of the fantastic writers who wrote them.

What We Enjoyed This Year (In Chronological Order)

We've spent many long nights around the End of Year List Decision Table (EoYLDT) here at Humorous Readings Headquarters (HRHQ), rereading the pieces we liked in 2025 and deciding on fifteen of our favorites. As is always the case, it's an impossible task. There was so much great writing this year, and you can still read all of our picks and commentary in our Vault of Humorous Writing (VoHW), which is teeming with great short humor.

We hope you enjoyed these pieces as much as we did, and thanks for reading!

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Introducing Georg Property, the Long-Lost Third Property Brother by Seth Rubin (McSweeney’s)

Time to Grab the Dusty Old Expired Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide to Clean This Wound by Alexis Pooley (McSweeney’s)

Various Ways How I, a Gay Man, Use the Word “Mama” by Tulio Espinoza (McSweeney’s)

A Field Guide to the Phrase “Dimly Lit”By Bobbie Armstrong (The New Yorker)

It's Great to Hear About Your Wedding, Even Though I'm a Monster Living in the Sewers by Lillie Franks (Points in Case)

Some Lingering Questions About Snow White’s Bizarre New Lore by Fran Hoepfner (Vulture)

The End of Roadside Attractions by Jane Stern (The Paris Review)

Choose Your Own Adventure (Endings Only) by Justin Bendell (McSweeney’s)

We Are Excited to Offer These Affordable Broadway Ticket Options by Tom Smyth (McSweeney’s)

Excuse Me, but Your Theme Park Is Actually a Motif Park by Caleb Coy (McSweeney’s)

Notes to the Editor of a Watch Commercial by Seth Reiss (The New Yorker)

I Feel Like You're Only Friends with Me Because of My Printer by Michelle Cohn and Madeline Goetz (Points in Case)

A Series of Messages Tied to Bricks Thrown Through My Ex’s Neighbor’s Window by Daniela Fava (McSweeney’s)

Healthy! This Woman Just Chose Chips Over Gummy Worms Because They Seem More of the Earth by McKayley Gourley (Reductress)

Texting Your Dad Simulator by Luís Leal Miranda (Points in Case)

Some Writing That Luke and James Are Proud Of

Luke’s big project this year was his second translation of a French graphic novel. The Children of Light, a trippy sci-fi odyssey featuring androids, alien civil war, and a giant god-brain, will be out in June—but Luke hopes you’ll start getting your pre-orders in as soon as possible! (And you can of course still pick up the first graphic novel Luke translated, the hilarious, absurd, Masters of the Nefarious.)

Luke is also very proud of all the great writing people did in his workshops this year. Check out this thread for some highlights. And if you’d like to join a future workshop, check out this page to see all of Luke’s upcoming offerings (including some classes starting next week)!

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James’s year in writing was focused on longer projects and a ton of writing for Lit Hub. Here is his tabulation of The Top 100 Most Frequently Used Words I Published or Produced in 2025, as well as a few pieces he’s proud of:

The world of groundhog prognosticators is much weirder—and darker—than you thought. (Lit Hub)

What if the final meeting between V.P. Vance and Pope Francis took place in a Dan Brown novel? (Lit Hub)

The definitive ranking of reading technologies. (Lit Hub)

The Undecided Voters of the New York Mayoral Election (Air Mail)

James also made a lot of Venn diagrams.

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In addition to the weekly newsletter, we also published 21 extra articles for our paid edition this year! Thanks to all our new and returning subscribers—your support truly means the world to us and makes it possible for us to keep this newsletter running.

See you in 2026!