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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.

150+ 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 8 of 10

They Die

Submitted to Contest #305

Zero floored it, the tires burning a hot smoke as the powerful V8 thundered in his Charger. Then just as quickly, he slammed on the breaks, screeching echoing off the buildings. At this intersection, he could turn right, head home and forget about it. “No, I feel the obligation, the obligation for acceleration!” Zero spun the wheel left, and headed to destiny. The Charger purred like a tiger cat on the prowl, and Zero looked for his first stop. It had only been a week since the signal came down, and the unmasking of the prune faces everywher...

12 likes 5 comments 5
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Nightmare Nook, Inc.

Submitted to Contest #305

It was a dark and stormy night, as all good horror stories begin, but this one had a twist.Instead of a lone cabin in the woods or a haunted asylum, our tale unfolds in the decidedly less spooky, yet surprisingly well-appointed, breakroom of "Nightmare Nook Inc.," a burgeoning company specializing in… well, nightmares.Business was booming, largely thanks to the stellar efforts of their top three "fear specialists": Pennywise, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger.Today, however, the usual hum of existential dread and the faint smell of popcorn ...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Doppelganger

Submitted to Contest #305

He looked between us once more and said, “It’s either her or me…” He was right of course, one of these two: either my good friend Niles Curmudgeon, or my boss Sylvia Brightenite, was a monster in disguise, a doppelganger here to steal the company's secrets. In my hands I held a torch, a machine designed by our own company, appropriately named TorchCorp. I could roast one or both of them alive in an instant if I thought that the best option. But how could I torch my good friend Niles? We’d worked at Torchcorp together for five years. We’d des...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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The Great Office Uprising: A Tale of NAP Reports, Tuna, and Triumph

Shortlisted for Contest #305 ⭐️

Chapter One: The Last Paper Clip The fluorescent lights hummed a funeral dirge over my cubicle. I stared at the mountain of "Urgent" files—neatly color-coded, alphabetized, and entirely pointless—and felt my soul crumble like a stale cookie. Across the aisle, Aaron from Accounting was muttering to his spreadsheet, still sporting the neon clown nose from yesterday’s mandatory "Wellness Wednesday." The office smelled of burnt coffee and existential dread.I picked up my stapler. Not just any stapler. The stapler. The one I’d named "Steve" durin...

14 likes 9 comments 9
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All Bottled Up

Submitted to Contest #305

“You know what? I quit.” The towering ebony man covered in teal and aqua feathers threw his hands up, about faced and got two steps toward the door before he was stopped by the force that was Maggie. “No no no.” The slender woman put a hand on his chest and he stopped as if facing an impenetrable wall. A second hand joined the first and she steered him back to the desk; gentle taps and soothing cooing noises coaxing him into a chair. He crossed his legs and pouted, but settled into the chair with a theatrical sigh. “Now. Be a good boy and co...

4 likes 3 comments 3
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Cold Turkey

Submitted to Contest #305

Good, God, doctors are the dumbest creatures on earth. The stupidity of his clients, despite them having a medical degree, boggled Mark’s mind as he lit a cigarette at the start of his ten-minute break. Well, now it was an eight-minute break because Cora had stopped him in the hall to ask him, yet again, how to set the parameters for adding customer profiles in the program so that new patients would update under the protocols they just created and not the old ones. “It’s in the updated index file,” he told her. “I get an error me...

3 likes 4 comments 4
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COCD

Submitted to Contest #305

Lamtinaland shone always at a precarious meeting point between cheerful commotion and absolute chaos. Sunlight bounced off radiant, rain-speckled hills, swept over crowded market stalls, and carried the tangy bite of the sea through narrow, jumbled streets. Evelyn knew the city not by its landmarks, but by life's minutiae: her neighbour's dry laughter, her mother's perfect piecrust folding, her father's half-magic coin tricks, or the scratchy jazz through every floorboard come breakfast time. Evelyn slipped into the swirl by instinct, piecin...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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The Knight of Unfortunate Circumstance

Submitted to Contest #305

It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost. The seconds after that were devoted to cursing every saint, deity, and my own mother for good measure. The forest had seemed a splendid escape route when Sir Oswald's men were bearing down on me with distinctly un-chivalrous intentions involving my entrails and the nearest tree branch. Now, as darkness settled like a shroud, it seemed considerably less inspired."Seven hells," I muttered, adjusting the ill-fitting breastplate that chafed my shoulders raw. The armor had belong...

7 likes 4 comments 4
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Lost and Found in Aisle Nine

Submitted to Contest #305

It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost. Not in a desert. Not in the wilderness. Not even in a sketchy part of town.No, I was lost in a SuperMegaMart.It started innocently enough. I came in to buy a lightbulb. One lightbulb. A single, solitary 60-watt soft white. But as soon as I stepped inside, the universe cracked open and swallowed me whole.The automatic doors whooshed behind me like the jaws of fate. The cold blast of industrial air conditioning hit me square in the face, and then came the lights—blinding rows ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Fruit

Submitted to Contest #305

Jessica was in a supermarket looking at the fruit. What should I take? I don't want any of this. She circled around the aisle trying to find something that might look appealing. She knows she should be eating more fruit, but she's never liked any of it. Grapes? No, too many seeds. Grapefruit? No, too bitter. Kiwis? No, too sour, and I don't like the fuzz on them. Why does a fruit have fuzz anyway? Oranges? Too orange. She took a pear in her hand and pondered it. Okay, I'll take a pear. Oh, but this one is bruised. She saw a brown spot about ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Snack Time Confessional

Submitted to Contest #305

Sometimes money actually can buy happiness. Peter pushed three quarters into the vending machine coin slot and studied his options. He’d just endured a tense meeting with the boss. “Peter, I’m not sure what’s going on with you, but you haven’t given me a single reason to rank you even average,” said Mr. Cornwell. “All your numbers are low, and these clock-ins are concerning, if I’m being completely honest. Consider yourself on probation until I see some improvement over the next three months. But if it continues like this, we’ll be talking ...

2 likes 2 comments 2
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And then what?

Submitted to Contest #305

Half way through the year and with twenty-five Reedsy Prompts written , Little Plump Jo felt she was ready to compile a book of Arthurian short stories. She would title it Cloudbank Cabin : The Reedsy Prompts Tales. She even had in her mind the page layouts, pen and ink illustrations, and the cover photograph of Cloudbank Cabin she would like to use. But the best publishing method to use was still a complete mystery to her.It was definitely not the book that her mentor Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthu...

8 likes 8 comments 8
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Ghost Author

Submitted to Contest #304

I’m a retired extreme athlete, an old man with a worn-out body. Within the last year, like my lumbar disks, I noticed my mind slipping. I cared for my Grandmother and mom through their final decade of life as they slowly slipped into dementia. I was determined to stave off brain rot. I started walking regularly again and reduced my intake of saturated fats. Mentally, I had become inactive, addicted to movies and audiobooks. I decided to exercise my neurons, in some way, beyond online games. I have always enjoyed reading, so I enrolled in a s...

6 likes 7 comments 7
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Zolton and the Red Flag

Submitted to Contest #304

I’m pacing the floor behind my desk, casting impatient glances at the setting sun. My pens and paper are ready, the lamp sitting precisely on the right corner, a cup of strong coffee steaming on the left. The night is my greatest source of inspiration.Red and yellow hues slant through the window and across the hardwood floor as day slides into the clutches of night.At last! I pull the chair from my desk and sit. Tapping a pen against the paper, I look about the room, peering into the dark recesses, searching for the critters of my imaginatio...

5 likes 11 comments 11
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Stealing is bad. Don't do dat.

Submitted to Contest #305

It was a particularly shweaty day in June 2021, 11:13 am and something came ova me. Sun must cause insanity. How ‘bout I get an extra job of sorts? I need more dolls. It seemed like a verrrry good idea at the time. I’m full of good ideas methinks.. Heat does dat. So I proceeded. Application submitted! So I paced around for two full days without food, water or bathing to hear back. Then magically, I got a call back for an interview. Thankfully.By the way, my name is Jim. Some call me Jim Bob, Jimmy, Jay, Conner, and occasionally Willie.I stoo...

1 like 0 comments 0
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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