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53 Best Funny Short Story Ideas

Showing 53 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.

You're a food critic eating the best meal of your life. You're at McDonalds.

It was the most epic senior prank your high school had ever seen.

Doctor Seuss has grown weary of writing children's books and finds new work as a reporter covering violent crime for a newspaper. Despite his new line of work, he keeps his classic Seussian style.

You're a bartender at a neighborhood pub. A regular comes in and says, "Do I have a story for you!"

You are a professional hoax-buster.

You are a student working on a team project. You and your group are accidentally locked in the school library overnight.

You open a door, but before you can go through, someone sneaks in front of you without saying "thank you." You've had an awful day and this is the last straw.

Your date finds an engagement ring inside a slice of cake they ordered for dessert. You weren't planning to propose.

Emotional baggage must now be checked in at the airport.

Write a story that ends by jumping forward several years.

Write a story that ends by coming full circle.

While looking through old photos you discover something that unequivocally settles an argument that ended a childhood friendship decades ago.

It was just a regular day at the office. Then the power went out.

You're a janitor at a large school. People wouldn't believe the things you've heard.

"BOO!" you yell, grabbing the shoulders of a person you think is your friend from behind. They turn around and it's a total stranger.

You are a server at a restaurant, having the busiest shift of your life.

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