Hi friends,
It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with friends. If you're checking this out for the first time, you can sign up to get these emails here.
Live shows
NEW YORK:
Tuesday, September 6 at 8 p.m at The Slipper Room. One of NYC's longest running and best comedy shows is every Tuesday night at the Slipper Room. This week, Richie Moriarty and Matt Catanzano are taking over and bringing a night of jokes from their friends. Come see them, me, Aparna Nancherla, Anna Drezen, and more at Simply Unemployable & Friends. Link
Friday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Union Hall. My variety show / audience prize giveaway is part of this year's Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival! We'll have music from The Westerlies, poetry from Phil Kaye, comedy from Maeve Higgins and me, and so many prizes. Guaranteed to be the most positive way to spend a night in NYC. Link
Saturday, September 17 at 4:30 p.m. at The Bell House. You're the Expert returns to the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival with Jo Firestone, Hari Kondabolu, a mystery scientist, and special celebrity guests. Link
You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
Gene Wilder was a comedian unlike any other. He was smart enough to make you laugh at the dumbest joke. He was so obviously kind that you loved any character he played. And he was so graceful that his biggest laughs came when he made you think he'd lost control of his body. There have been so many lovely tributes to Wilder's life this week, but personally, I've most enjoyed hearing from the man himself. His 2005 interview on Fresh Air is full of gems like when an 8-year-old Gene decided to cheer his mother up after her heart attack by making her laugh: "It was the first time I ever tried consciously to make someone else laugh, and when I was successful, after peeing in her pants, she'd say 'Oh, Jerry, now look what you've made me do.'" Gene Wilder Explains How He Learned To Get Laughs
(My favorite Gene Wilder bit is when he had Baryshnikov teach him how to dance. If you haven't seen it, it's five minutes of pure enthusiasm and joy: Baryshnikov in Hollywood)
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Kristen Schaal is one of the funniest people on the planet. What I especially love about her work is how she approaches every part of comedy with an eye to the absurd. For example, in her Comedy Central standup special, she had to deal with a heckler. But it turns out the heckler was a 10-year-old girl who not only mocks Kristen but gets up on stage and teaches her how to actually deliver a joke. It's one of my favorite bits of all time and the kind of thing that I really think only Kristen could have come up with. I think about this randomly all the time and just start laughing. "Bam! Joke Sold!" Kristen Schaal: All-Ages Show
1 Interesting Thing:
Wendy Zukerman is the host of Gimlet Media's new podcast Science Vs. They call it "the show that pits facts against everything else." It's fantastic and I love Wendy. She's funny and clever and has a spectacular Australian accent. She's also able to tackle hot-button issues in a very new way that's both fun and informative. I thought her two-part episode on guns was surprisingly hilarious and entertaining. I'm excited to see where this show goes next. Science Vs Guns (h/t Mollie)
Ok, thanks for reading this! Feel free to find more details on shows and my full schedule online at www.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/
Have a great weekend,
Chris