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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of funny short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

8950+ Funny Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. The world can get dreary and overwhelming, so when you’re looking to have a good laugh, take a scroll through our free collection of funny short stories.

Funny Short Stories – Page 17 of 597

A Serpent's Holiday

Submitted to Contest #299

A Serpent's HolidayBy: Trinity HunterIf you’re interested in sentimental, lovey-dovey stories, you’re better off watching a Hallmark movie. You won’t find that sort of cheesiness here; unless it’s molded.Christmas is supposed to be everyone’s favorite time of year. The greedy human race awaits Christmas in anticipation for gifts that they’ll touch once and then forget about for the remainder of the year. As Yuletide closes in, I receive more and more letters from children who think they’re innocently writing to Santa Claus. What they don’t k...

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Overcome That Fear of Rejection

Submitted to Contest #299

OVERCOME THAT FEAR OF REJECTIONBy Cathy A. Corn(Author’s note: This was written long ago, in a far distant galaxy, when we only submitted our writing gems via mail, when Johnny Carson helped us sleep with crazy antics on his show, and the Internet and Indie publishing were just a glimmer on the horizon. Nevertheless, the principles are all the same, so this is definitely worth the read. Or at least, so my cat Cato tells me.)So, you want to be a writer. Whatever your ambitions—an occasional piece in the newspaper or the Nobel and Pulitzer pri...

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Uncle Hank's Headache

Submitted to Contest #299

Uncle Hank’s Headache One hot afternoon in 1967, Aunt Beverly parked the elementary school bus at our house and started checking under the seats for stray kids. She drove for Uncle Hank when he had a headache. As I helped my three-year-old cousin down the steps, Uncle Hank strolled out of the house. I was amazed to see him. He usually kept to himself in the garage. “Hey girls, come see my baby boa constrictor.” He held up a shiny gray snake about two feet long. Terry Ann ran to him. “Lemme hold the worm, Daddy.” Aunt Beverly ru...

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Silent Treatment

Submitted to Contest #299

Dr. Bream’s new client, Alfred, entered the office. The psychiatrist sensed his nervous energy. He seemed to vibrate like a wind-up doll. His eyes darted.They shook hands and sat.Alfred didn’t wait. Words poured out like from an open floodgate. “Doctor, I don’t know, can you do anything for me? Does this happen all the time? Only to me? Never happened to me before. Stuff always happens to me. But never… My life… My wife. My job… Agnes, nagging Agnes… and Smiley… Spinning out of control. I mean my marriage… Wife’s not spinning. She doesn’t ev...

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Dickhead

Submitted to Contest #299

Rumbold Crucible was a journeyman magician: at least, that’s what his graduation certificate said. The reality was that he had barely made the grade, couldn’t recall a spell without the aid of a crib sheet, and he liked a drink … or two … or three. But, like all magicians in Ramshot, the epicentre of all magical activity in Ransidd Province where the paranormal was … well … more or less normal, he had an assistant. Which was just as well, because although Grundle was not himself imbued with magical influence, he thankfully possessed an annoy...

8 likes 15 comments 15
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THE STORYTELLER

Submitted to Contest #299

The Storyteller J.B. Polk One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is Christopher Robin, the heartwarming tale of how a grown man's midlife meltdown gets a happy ending thanks to a stuffed bear. It brings to mind my Dad, a real-life "Christopher Robin" through and through. And by that, I mean he was a man who had a serious sweet tooth for honey and a lovely, albeit peculiar, habit of talking to animals—stuffed or otherwise. I heard him chatting away with our dog, Skippy, as if he was his closest confidant. And when I was really small, h...

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This New Weird

Submitted to Contest #299

I woke up to silence, which should’ve been my first clue something was off. No mom banging on my door with her patented, “Max, it’s 7:15, why aren’t you vertical?” No dad fumbling with the coffee maker downstairs. Just the stupid birds outside my window, chirping like they didn't get the memo that the world had basically ended and restarted with all the characters in the wrong positions.7:43, my phone said. Whatever. Not like time had any meaning during the zombie apocalypse of online school we’d been living through.7:43.Wait.School. Real sc...

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Puss Has a Conniption Then Takes Fido on a Wildgoose Chase

Submitted to Contest #299

Fido is relaxing on the livingroom rug, while Puss is watching his favorite soap: "The Bold and the Beautiful" from his favorite armchair when, suddenly, he sits up and says, "What's that stench??"Fido hears Puss and takes a sniff and says, "Not sure, Puss..."Puss says, "Fido you must be cutting farts...you just don't want to admit it!"Fido says huffily, "I am not Puss!!! That smells like your brand!""It does not, Fido. My farts don't stink." Puss takes another whiff of the stench and says, "Man, where is that stench coming from?! Make it go...

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Investment Bankers Never Say Sorry

Submitted to Contest #299

Look, in the Hong Kong trading jungle, the investment banks, the traders, the dealers, nobody ever fails—at least, not out loud. Not Banker Benny “Big Beef” Lee. Here, if you make a bad call, you'd better have a story ready. If you so much as mention the word “mistake,” you might as well turn in your market badge, your karaoke mic, and your hopes of ever eating dim sum with the high rollers again.A baking-hot Friday in Central. Skyscrapers gleamed, tempers simmered, and Benny was about to make investment history—just not the good kind. Lions...

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"YOUR HONOR, IN MY DEFENSE..."

Submitted to Contest #299

The courtroom, a monument to the sort of beige bureaucracy that sucks the very color out of existence, hummed with the low thrum of anticipation. Unless, quite possibly, faulty fluorescent lighting was the auditory culprit. Truly regardless, all eyes were on the newly sworn-in witness, a young man named Reginald Pringle. Yes, Reginald Pringle, a name that sounds less like a bank robber and more like someone who collects stamps of extinct garden gnomes.Mr. Pringle, looking rather like a startled field mouse caught in the headlights of justice...

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Do or Do Nut

Submitted to Contest #299

There were two things Nick was always concerned about: his job and his feet. His job, which paid his rent, bought his groceries, and kept his lights on in his tiny studio apartment. And his feet, which were a constant source of discomfort. Whether it was ill-fitting shoes or simply flat feet he could never find relief. So between working seven days a week and not having reliable transportation, Nick found himself walking to work on sore feet every day of the week. Except today. Today, instead of leaving at 5AM, he didn’t have to go in until ...

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Good as we Are

Submitted to Contest #299

Good as we Are Natasha and Barney had been together for ten years and still Barney hadn’t popped the question. He liked to say, ‘we are good as we are’ a lot. So Natasha had decided she should be the one to ask him. Her plan was to wait until valentine’s week and try to get him to ask her, with the fallback of her own proposal to him. She waited until February intending to celebrate the 7 days of Valentines, including proposing to him on the correct day.The days ran from the 7th-14th as follows: 7th Feb - Rose Day8th Feb - Propose Day9th ...

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Constance Power Tibbins Will Not Stand For It

Submitted to Contest #299

As I watched the man once again smoking his pipe full of candied peel and haranguing the air with great vigour, it seemed to me that in this world one could be purposeful, even whilst being quite thoroughly mad.I thought, moreover, he was hard of hearing, as he produced two tiny trumpets, placing one in each ear, before announcing himself with the prodigious volume of the extremely deaf.‘Wassup?’ he said, to nobody.He spoke often of blessings, which led me to consider whether he was a holy man. His attire was not that of the clergy - he in f...

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Fifty Ways To Leave Your Employer

Submitted to Contest #299

Okay, fellow entities, here we go.I'm sitting at my kitchen table, hungover — because I was getting my whiskey on with my bestie — trying to write something with the noble goal of making you laugh.Well — sorry if this sounds a little vain — but honestly?Nothing’s funnier than a person’s real life.Especially when that person is me.Let’s see:I'm 35 years old and I've had about 33 different jobs.(Starting at 16. Don’t worry, I didn’t peak early. I just peaked often.)Would you believe that at one point I was a camp counselor... and later, a nann...

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Life in the Fast Lane

Submitted to Contest #299

There’s something about working at a quick lube that feels like being trapped in a sitcom. The characters are there, the drama unfolds, and you’re just trying to get through the shift without another annoying customer or meltdown from a coworker.Take my manager, Greg, for example. He’s got this bipolar energy that shifts on a dime. One minute he's cracking jokes, and the next minute he’s having an existential crisis over a car lining up in the wrong bay. You can never predict it, and sometimes, it’s better to just avoid him altogether.Greg’s...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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