Laughing Stalk 3.0 masthead. A cornfield with a blue sky backdrop and the words Laughing Stalk 3.0 in embossed text superimposed over the field.

Current columns

Testimonials

The Laughing Stalk blog

2006 columns

2005 columns

2004 columns

2003 columns

Humor writer links

Slick Bracer radio plays

Radio Theater Groups

Radio Theater Writing

A tribute to Mister Rogers, and what he has meant to me and my family.

Photo of Mister Rogers and Daniel Striped-Tiger

Photo of Erik Deckers - he's quite handsome and his family loves him!

Erik Deckers has been a weekly humor columnist since 1993, for five weekly print newspapers in Indiana, one in Oregon, and The American Reporter.

He is also a freelance business and humor writer, public speaker, and award-winning radio theater and stage playwright.

Get Laughing Stalk delivered to you every week! It's like a little electronic paperboy flinging your weekly laugh on the porch of your life.

My current goal is to exceed NailsForMales on Yahoo Groups -- they have nearly 1000 members. So tell your friends, or just sign them up right now. They'll thank you for it!

Want to send me email? You can reach me at

Current Laughing Stalk columns

January 2007

All this Spinning is Making Me Dizzy (Do you really need an "instructor" to tell you how to ride a stationary bike?)
Ask Your Doctor How Awesome Chipotle Is (Lake Superior State University released their list of Banned Words for 2007.)
Does PETA Hate Animals? (Two PETA employees face more than 30 counts of Cruelty to Animals)
Half a Fish Tale (I take my two daughters fishing. They have better luck than I do.)

December 2006

Squirrel Violence Grips Illinois (Roving bands of squirrel gangs are terrorizing a suburban Chicago shopping mall.)
Silent Night, Fat Chance (I take my kids Christmas shopping.)
Gobbledygook, Drivel, and Tripe, Oh My! (The Plain English Campaign releases their Golden Bull awards.)
I Don't Believe In The Little Drummer Boy (A Laughing Stalk tradition -- I make fun of a kid with a goatskin stretched over a hollow log)
How to Engineer Impactful Deliverables (Not to be outdone by the PEC, Global Language Monitor releases their yearly World's Worst Words list.)

November 2006

Boycott Pencils! (Pencils cause timidity, uncertainty, and literary waffling.)
We Need Dress Like a Pirate Day (Why can't I dress like a swashbuckler in public?)
'Twas the Month Before Christmas (The Laughing Stalk tradition carries on.)
Holiday Fruitcakes. . . of DOOM! (Can fruitcakes be terrorist weapons?)

October 2006

A Day at the Luck Research Institute (Ever wonder who decided rabbits feet were lucky?)
I'm Watching This Game if it Kills Me (Spectator sports can be bad for your health)
Music Appreciation for Guys (There's more to classical music than cannons)
Tag, You're Dumb! (A school in Massachussetts bans tag because it's dangerous.)

September 2006

Karl the Curmudgeon Issues a Challenge (My friendly neighborhood curmudgeon challenges me to a writing contest)
Football Tea Party (I take my family to a football game.)
The Dangers of Daughters (My children are learning about the birds and bees, despite my objections.)
How To Raise a Spoiled Child (How do you teach a child not to do things without telling them "No"?)
Coffee Card Craze (Coffee cards are only worth a few bucks, so what's the big deal?)

August 2006

It Means Pepperoni, Sausage, Anchovies (The importance of prostate exams for men. No, really.)
My Kingdom for a Curmudgeon (Columnist Mike Royko had a curmudgeon. I want one too.)
Take Two Pills and . . . Uhhhh (Scientists have a pill that helps with short term memory loss. It also helps with short term memory loss.)
There Goes the Solar System (Stupid scientists boot Pluto out of the planetary roster.)

Other places I'm published

Indiana Theatre Works
(winner of Best Comedy Award in the 2005 Frank and Katrina Basile Emerging Playwright Awards)

The American Reporter

Indie-Music.com

JustLaugh.com

The NetWits

The Irascible Professor

Toastmasters Magazine

This site is a member of WebRing.
To browse visit Here.

Legal stuff: Please do not reproduce, reprint, or distribute, either in print or electronically, the works on this page without permission from the author (me).