Dan Fiorella: Writer @ large - Easy as Falling off a Blog

Dan Fiorella

Hashtag, You're It! - #Veterinarian Video Games

3/24/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

This topic was pretty fun and cute. Not a video guy, and haven't paid much attention to them since Pacman, so I did google a list of games to get me going. There were many good ones posted and I'm glad to report several of mine made the cut for WH's website.

#VeterinarianVideoGames

All the News Fit to Fake- WWN: Amazing Bubble (7/25/05)

3/19/2025

Back in the aughts, Cracked magazine was owned by the same company as the Weekly World News. During the rocky final years of Cracked, our editor, in an attempt to give the writers a pay check, had us contribute articles to WWN ("the humor magazine that nobody knows is a humor magazine.") It took me a while to get the hang of the paper but after a while, I was submitting some straight forward fake news stories.

For some reason, I feel like this story got pitched to me. I can't imagine thinking up a bubble story. It's a solid little story and a surprising show business parody at the end. It's now I started to realize that getting the article sold didn't mean it was going to get featured. I had some one and two page spreads made up from my stories, so I was surprised this was printed as a 1 column piece. Oh, well.

Hashtag, You're It! - #Give Booze The Blues

3/18/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

Happy to get my usual 6 items selected for this game, but as I'm reading the column, I really duped a number of items WH had posted first. I do try to go over them before I submit, but I didn't see them. And if I dupe with some other random post, well, I'm not there to wait for everyone to tweet first and then jump in. It was a solid topic with enough ways to squeeze a pun out.

#GiveBoozeTheBlues

Hashtag, You're It! - #Carnal Carnival Attractions

3/12/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

I'm a prude, I know it. I had almost decided to skip this hashtag game because it was yet another carnal-based theme. But I can be a bit of a completist and it started to bother me not to submit, because I always submit (this explains my career protectory so much). So I wound up submitting several, trying to be clever. Going for the double entendre. Going for the sly nod. Keeping it PG-13. A couple of phrases leapt to mind and I started going from there. All it all, I did okay. But you can be the judge.

#CarnalCarnivalAttractions

All the News Fit to Fake- WWN: Pizza Parlor Horror (7/11/05)

3/12/2025

Back in the aughts, Cracked magazine was owned by the same company as the Weekly World News. During the rocky final years of Cracked, our editor, in an attempt to give the writers a pay check, had us contribute articles to WWN ("the humor magazine that nobody knows is a humor magazine.") It took me a while to get the hang of the paper. I worked my way in with some straight forward fake news stories.

This kind of story was inevitable. Everyone knows about Chuck E. Cheese, right? The original draw was a various points, animatronic figures would appear on a stage to sing some songs and entertain the customers. It was cute, but Disneyland it wasn't. But what if one of them went all West World? Again, ridiculous situation, but if you include the right quotes from the "eye witnesses" it plays out fine. I even pulled a twist where the company decides to make rouge robtos part of their new business plan!

All the News Fit to Fake- WWN: Holy Grail Found (7/4/05)

3/5/2025

Back in the aughts, Cracked magazine was owned by the same company as the Weekly World News. During the rocky final years of Cracked, our editor, in an attempt to give the writers a pay check, had us contribute articles to WWN ("the humor magazine that nobody knows is a humor magazine.") It took me a while to get the hang of the paper but I worked my way in with some straight forward fake news stories.

I feel like now I was getting the hang of things at WWN. A the legend goes back forever. I even made sure to start the story with that. There was much actual news stories about the black market that deals with ancient artifacts. Also the usual stories of Mexican drug cartels and their elaborate compounds filled with exotic animals and valuable art and such. Combining them seemed natural. I filled with various experts and characters and thought I told a solid story.

All the News Fit to Fake- WWN: Spontaneous Combustion (5/16/05)

3/5/2025

Back in the aughts, Cracked magazine was owned by the same company as the Weekly World News. During the rocky final years of Cracked, our editor, in an attempt to give the writers a pay check, had us contribute articles to WWN ("the humor magazine that nobody knows is a humor magazine.") It took me a while to get the hang of the paper. After a while I worked my way up with some straight forward fake news stories.

This article is one of my favorites. I feel like I got to combine current events, social issues and nonsense all into one article. Stories about spontaneous combustion have been around for centuries. I think there was an "X-Files" episode about it. I know there was a "Kolchack: The Night Stalker" episode. But to link that condition to climate change (especially back when it was called "global warming") just made it one of the strongest and most original articles I submitted.

Hashtag, You're It! - #Sitcom A Rock Band

3/4/2025

Weekly Humorist, a humor magazine I often submit to and occasionally get in, runs these Hashtag Games on Twitter (X), where they name a topic and we submit humorous responses. These games play right into my gag reflex, so I always throw up something. I've taken to setting my calendar to get online every Wednesday to "play" (and by "play" I mean submit content to their website for free--I like to think of it as pun bono work). I always submit a bunch of them on X (Twitter) and some of them get selected for inclusion to their online site.

I was afraid I got skunked this week. As a scrolled down the site's page, I saw mostly Weekly Humorist's own posts. You have to read them the day-of to make sure you don't dupe them (and even if you try to read them all, you still wind up posting the same jokes). Finally, toward the end, my few came up. As always, the music based ones throw me, as I'm not a music guy. But I am a sit-com guy. But to avoid the usual log jam of recent sit-coms, I hit the internet to look up some titles from the 50s and 60s, and whatever others that popped into my mind as I was working the list of rock bands. There were a lot of good entries (including mine.) So, check it out at:

#SitcomARockBand

Stage Work: Shh! Breathe Slow! Anthology

3/2/2025

My one minute horror/parody, "The Tell Tale SFX" has been included in the anthology "Shhh! Breathe Slow!," a collection of one-minute horror plays. My play is a parody of Poe. You can view the ebook here or (if you are a theater producer with a need for 1-minute horror plays) buy a copy here.

This bit started life as a submission to Prairie Home Companion, almost got in a Halloween show and I managed to get the longer version on it's feet over at Headfone.com, as part of the "Spooky Time Theater" series.

Barely Home Companion - Cos-pet-tics (Mar. '06)

2/28/2025

From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." I learned a lot of things there, mostly how to spell 'prairie." It was a solid gig and I'm proud of my work there. But, like any other job, there were...things...

I guess I'm doing this to remind myself about all the material I've written over the years. I have no memory of this sketch. It's a quick commercial parody for a dumb product, which I must have backed into with the name of the product. I'm reading it and it definitely reads like a PHC sketch, with the couple at odds over the whole concept. I should check to see if I peddled it to the other radio outlets I was dealing with at the time. It really would fit in most places. Maybe I need to mind the files for internet content. If only I had production abilities or connections.

They didn't use the bit. And the show was taking a few weeks off before doing a series of shows on the road, some within Minnesota.

Cos-pet-tics

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