The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Jeff Wrangler:
Talk about timely. I just finished the article about the Murtaugh murders in South Carolina (Jan. 23). Murtaugh went on trial this week for murdering his wife and son.
Front-Ranger:
Okay, this is funny. Why didn't it make it into the magazine?
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/what-i-would-have-done-differently-as-prince-harrys-ghostwriter
serious crayons:
I often find the Daily Shouts funnier than the ones in the magazine. Most recent print one was by Anand Giridharadas, who usually writes about things like wealth inequality, a subject I'm interested in, so I normally like his writing. Not in a S&M, though. I sometimes wonder if they pick the print ones based on the fame of the writer; I don't think I've found Jesse Eisenberg's pieces particularly funny, for instance.
serious crayons:
I was just reading something from the Onion that was funny. Many or even most things from the Onion are funny! It has managed to be funny -- sometimes kind of bitterly so, but still -- about 911, mass shootings and other events you'd think would be too dark to successfully satire. And it comes out every week with a new handful of new pieces, most of them satires of current events, many of them S&M length. Yet the Onion isn't as prestigious a publication as the New Yorker and undoubtedly pays far less. Why can the Onion do it but the New Yorker can't?
I've always wondered the same thing about Saturday Night Live. It's hardly ever funny, despite having what you'd think would be some of the best comedy writers in show business. There are other shows that manage to be funny, even on a daily basis like the Daily Show back in the Jon Stewart days (and maybe now; I haven't watched it for a while). Why does the lower profile place so often outdo the higher profile place?
Another example is McSweeney's, which is similar in style to S&M. I don't know how often they publish new pieces but they're often quite funny. Here's one:
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/selected-negative-teaching-evaluations-of-jesus-christ
Front-Ranger:
That's a really good observation and question. Maybe TNY focuses more on their cartoons, which I hope you agree are often LOL funny, and takes a subtler approach to their satire. Or perhaps it's because humor and satire are The Onion's raison d-etre so the best humor writers would want to write for them.
I just received the February 6 issue and am happy to report that the S&M is funny this week! I LOL'ed twice and chuckled several times. Maybe it's just that I'm a writer...I'd love your opinions!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version