The Hard Life of a Humor Writer

May 1, 2026 | by Dorothy Rosby

It’s hard to be a humor writer! I know what you’re saying. “How would you know?” And that’s one of the hard parts. Humor is very subjective. Just because you didn’t find something funny doesn’t mean no one else did, although it’s certainly possible no one else did.

Besides that readers who do think you’re funny also think you must be a happy-go-lucky person who’s funny all the time. The people who know you well know otherwise. Once a reader said to my husband, “It must be fun being married to a humor columnist.” And he said, “Why?” And when we got home, it was not fun for him.

Another thing that bothers me about writing humor is that occasionally I’m forced to exploit the mistakes and misfortunes of others because I have deadlines and no other good idea at the moment. For example, several years ago a friend told me about getting trapped in shapewear—stuck in her Spanx. What could I do? I had to write about it. People need to know the dangers of those things.

And once when I saw a fellow shopper take an olive from the salad bar with his fingers, examine it, then put it back with the other olives that, only moments before, had looked pretty appetizing, I gave him a piece of my mind in my column. I felt safe because I doubted that he reads it.

But the worst part of being a humor writer is that I have to share dumb things I’ve done because there are way more of them and because my readers prefer it if I publicly humiliate myself instead of them.

It’s not easy admitting your mistakes in such a public way, but you get through it by telling yourself that hardly anyone is going to read about it anyway. And besides, if you did a certain dumb thing, chances are good that lots of other people have done it too. Those people will be, if not amused, at least sympathetic. Only later, after the column has been published and people are looking at you oddly, do you realize that, while you may not be the only one who’s done that particular dumb thing, you’re the only one who did in that particular dumb way.

 Lots of other people have driven away with briefcases on the hood of their cars. But theirs didn’t slide off into the storm sewer like mine did. Lots of other people have gotten speeding tickets. But most of them didn’t take a call on their cell phone while they were pulled over.

Recently, my friend got a puppy. It was eight weeks old when I saw it for the first time and it was so adorable that I wanted to steal it—right up until the moment it bit me. Its little puppy teeth went right into my nostril. I pulled back, which was a mistake, because then I had a small dog hanging from my nose.

Lots of other people have been chewed on by puppies, but most of them have never had one hanging from their nose. I had two thoughts while this was happening: Geez, that hurts! And, I’m going to have to write about this.

Dorothy Rosby is a blogger and humor columnist whose column appears regularly in publications throughout the West and Midwest. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays all available locally at Mitzi’s Books in Rapid City and on Amazon.