Tales of the Truly Unpleasant: The Humor of Steve Johnston

When my wife and I moved to Redmond over 20 years ago, we were regularly entertained by Steve Johnston's humor column, Sunday Punch, in The Seattle Times. Steve also wrote the Just Ask Johnston question-and-answer column for the paper's Eastside edition. He was even gracious enough to answer my question about “de-beaked” chickens in one of his columns. Steve’s writing was a regular staple of our leisurely Sunday morning routine.

An Unpleasant Reality
Steve was diagnosed with MS in the 1980s. He persevered — raising his four children, and continuing his writing for the paper. He even wrote a story for the paper’s Pacific Northwest magazine about having MS. One line in the story said, “MS won’t kill me. It will just bore me to death.”  Classic Steve Johnston…

The MS has progressed to the point where Steve now lives in a West Seattle nursing home. Unfortunately, he was also recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

His daughter, Molly, has been helping him put together a compilation of his Sunday Punch columns, which have been published in book form as Tales of the Truly Unpleasant. You can find info on buying Steve’s book at Steve Johnston’s Book.