Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

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.

8990+ 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 2 of 600

PRIDE AND PUBLICATION

Submitted to Contest #304

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person in the process of writing a historical novel, must be in want of a Retreat. Which is how I found my niche. I provide a service clamoured after by historical novelists. It must be successful – the waiting list is so long that the bookings stretch out for a year in advance, despite their being a week long and at two-week intervals.Problems? Certainly. Fitting together the wants and needs of the multiplicity of types of historical novelist would be a huge issue if I hadn’t managed to categor...

12 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Enhancement

Submitted to Contest #304

Enhancement was a famous cosmetics company; but you already knew that, and I wish I never worked for them. I was Astrid Schneider desperately climbing my way up the corporate ladder when everything fell apart. The man in charge was stern and vicious. He was tall and wiry. While that alone didn’t make him awful it still added to his intimidating disposition. All his employees [including me] trembled in fear when he entered the room. Conversations would stop due to the paralysing fear that took over everyone. As you can probably guess it was c...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Night Crew

Submitted to Contest #304

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! “Scooooosssshhh..ha Scoooooosshhhhh.ha” “hhhsssssss” Red light flooded through the western window as the sun bid farewell to the landscape below. It cast long shadows as the light floated in, touching the drafting table, chair and table. Yawning, Len reached with his left hand and hit the alarm clock, almost knocking over the small picture that was resting beside it. He slowly rose from his twin bed and hung his feet to the opposite side and rubbed his eyes. He stood up slowly, stretched and sniffed the air which smelled...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Little Pill

Submitted to Contest #304

“Pill time.”He said under his breath. Three seconds later the whining alarm sounded and Sandy rushed to turn it off. Dick didn’t look up from his newspaper as he unscrewed the cap and popped two tiny blues in his mouth. Washed it down with the last of his afternoon coffee from the Universal Community Bank mug he’d gotten from the raffle in 1995. He’d been using it everyday since. It went in the dishwasher on Friday nights, which was the night they ran the dishwasher. In 2012 it cracked when Sandy dropped it on the front porch. She should hav...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Extended Weekend: A Deadline Story

Submitted to Contest #304

We landed in Valletta on a Friday, for an extended weekend. We wanted to escape the routine, be together, unwind, and visit the historical sites of this ancient fortress island of the Knights Hospitaller. It was already mid-afternoon when we checked into the hotel. We took advantage of the remaining daylight for a walk around the city and then enjoyed the traditional rabbit stew for dinner. It was at the restaurant that I received their message. They paid so well and entrusted me with so many missions that I agreed to always be reachable and...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Show Must Go On : The Halfway House for Disgruntled Characters Pt 2

Submitted to Contest #304

“Contractual obligations, Merlin!”“Loopholes, Malory! In your material it says Cloudbank Cabin will provide Arthurian epic re-enactments, in chronological order, in the Fog Lake and Cloudbank, within clear view of the porch of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, at all times when hosting an Artisan in Residence , except in extraordinary circumstances.And Sir Lancelot du Lac disappearing completely is definitely an extraordinary circumstance!”“If you know where he is, Merlin, I insist that you magic him back to the Fog La...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Back to the Basics

Submitted to Contest #304

“Creative Writing 101- First Thursday of each month at the Community Center on MainStreet,” I review the flyer as I stand in front of 304 W Main St, our local Community Center. I was scrolling on Craigslist under their “Events” category, and found this creative writing course for beginners. I am not one to attend in-person classes, but I am desperate and in search of inspiration since my rough draft deadline is only a couple of weeks away. On a deep breath, I remind myself, “It’s now or never,” before I head into the long-standing courthous...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Odd Bod

Submitted to Contest #304

AN ODD BOD Homeless Hugo Bamford had been sleeping in a bus shelter located at the top end of Bayswater for a few nights. The structure itself had been refurbished, courtesy of an adjacent local cafe. In exchange for a sign written ad with a large finger pointing in the Cafe‘s direction that read:“Go to the Odd Bods Cafe and try the worst coffee one woman on Trip Advisor ever had in her life.”The Odd Bods was quirky to say the least. From Hugo’s point of view the location was a safer and dryer option. The last place he frequented was open ...

1 like 0 comments 0
Read story

Clock Me In, Clock Me Out

Submitted to Contest #304

Trent hadn’t slept in thirty-two hours. His fingers trembled over the keyboard, not from the triple espresso he'd pounded at 2:41 a.m., but from the mortal terror of missing the deadline for the ThistleCraft Rebranding Campaign—a PowerPoint deck, of all things. The kind of job that could get you fired for a bad kerning decision. The kind of job that made you want to marry a toaster.Across the office, the motion-sensor lights flickered back on as Trent waved his hand in front of them like a drowning man begging a helicopter to notice. It was ...

11 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Worth The Registration Fee

Submitted to Contest #304

Ben picked at a piece of icing with his fingernail. The doughnut on the styrofoam plate was obviously a couple days old, and he couldn’t bring himself to take a bite of it. This was the “breakfast provided”, as advertised on the workshop’s flyer; stale doughnuts, various chunks of cantaloupe, pineapple, and honeydew from a plastic platter bought at the closest supermarket, and weak Maxwell House coffee.Twenty minutes in, and the workshop was exactly what Ben had expected it to be. A Days Inn ballroom with a scattering of round 6-top tables w...

19 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

You must type at least 1,000 words

Submitted to Contest #304

“The first challenge every pro writer must face is deadlines,” After class, Professor Markle put an inbox in the assignment tab and a description. “The most common excuse I here from aspiring writers who never have anything on their paper is that they don’t have the time. Between classes, supporting the family, a full-time job and kids, I can’t make it happen every day. I had all of these things before I was 30, and I made it happen.” Here he goes again with the gloating. “This assignment is a contest. Write a short story about a time, real ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

You must type at least 1,000 words

Submitted to Contest #304

“The first challenge every pro writer must face is deadlines,”After class, Professor Markle put an inbox in the assignment tab and a description. “The most common excuse I here from aspiring writers who never have anything on their paper is that they don’t have the time. Between classes, supporting the family, a full-time job and kids, I can’t make it happen every day. I had all of these things before I was 30, and I made it happen.” Here he goes again with the gloating. “This assignment is a contest. Write a short story about a time, real ...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Writing with One Eye Open

Submitted to Contest #304

Demarco had no beef with artificial intelligence. He just didn’t trust anything that didn’t eat, sleep, or panic before deadlines.So when Professor Rhee wheeled a high-tech monitor into their Writing 214 class and said, “Meet your new writing partner—PENumbra,” Demarco blinked twice, then raised a hand.“Question,” he said. “Did PENumbra pay tuition? Because this is looking like unpaid group work.”The class laughed. Even Professor Rhee cracked a smile. “PENumbra is here to help us push our creative limits. Think of it as a collaborator.”Demar...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Heck Hath Gnome Fury

Submitted to Contest #304

(Preamble: This is the first creative writing I've done in...wow...years. I actually meant to submit this story to last week's contest, but ran out of time, somewhat ironically, as I was distracted with yard work. As our little porcelain fella works at night--possibly exclusively, though I did not feel it necessary to specify for certain--I felt it was appropriate to submit this story here. Hopefully I didn't leave in any glaring mistakes and someone out there enjoys reading it, maybe even has a few laughs. Grow gardens, not hate. ~ Mark) -...

5 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Crystal Lake Inspirational Writing Workshop

Submitted to Contest #304

The flickering fluorescent lights of the old Camp Crystal Lake recreation hall hummed a mournful tune, casting long, distorted shadows across the mismatched folding tables.Dust motes, thick as snowflakes in a blizzard, danced in the anemic glow, giving the whole scene a rather… stale aroma.This was the "Crysyal Lake Inspirational Writing Workshop," an exclusive retreat promising to unlock one's inner literary genius.The current session, however, seemed more likely to unlock one's inner scream.At the head of the room stood Jason Voorhees, unm...

15 likes 6 comments 6
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.