Hi friends,
It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my upcoming shows, one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting.
Upcoming Shows
EVERYWHERE:
On the latest episode of You're the Expert, Michael Showalter, Roy Wood, Jr. and Sarah Kay talk to Rutgers snake expert Sara Ruane about discovering new species. Link
NEW YORK:
Monday, February 5 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. I'll be telling jokes at Butterboy, one of the very best standup shows in NYC, hosted by Jo Firestone, Maeve Higgins, and Aparna Nancherla. Link
Saturday, February 10 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. This month on You Get A Spoon, a performance by Obehi Janice, improvised music from Rebecca Vigil, and prizes. Link
Sunday, February 18 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert tapes live with three hilarious comedians and one incredible scientist. Link
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at National Geographic. I'll be back with NatGeo Live for another You're the Expert taping. Link
My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.
This week's list
GREAT:
Nayyirah Waheed is a poet with an enormous audience. She's the unofficial poet laureate of Instagram, where she has hundreds of thousands of followers. Social media and thought-provoking poetry do not seem like a natural mix, but Waheed is able to use the medium to capture your attention and send you elsewhere. Take a few minutes and let her into your brain. Nayyirah Waheed
(Was the phrase "let her into your brain" weird? I'm pretty sure it was, but I'm leaving it anyway.)
FUNNY:
Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams are two of the most naturally hilarious human beings on the planet. Their podcast "2 Dope Queens" was a runaway hit and today you can watch the first of their four hour-long specials on HBO. To promote the shows, they've been doing a press tour and I can't imagine what could be a purer delight than watching the two of them explain cocoa butter, the movie Waiting to Exhale, and the newest slang to Stephen Colbert. The 2 Dope Queens Introduce Stephen "Zaddy" and "Hot Peen"
INTERESTING:
One of my all-time favorite TV shows is BoJack Horseman. It manages to be funny and thoughtful and beautiful, while also being a show about an anthropomorphic horse who's a washed-up sitcom actor. One of the main characters, Diane Nguyen, is voiced by Alison Brie. Diane is Vietnamese. Alison is not. The show's creator, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, gave a long and interesting interview where he talks about why that is. The resulting article is a rare example of an artist owning his blind spots and answering for them honestly and self-reflectively. Pilot Viruet is a fantastic writer and handles this conversation beautifully. The Creator of 'BoJack Horseman' Doesn't Want to Ignore Animation's Diversity Problem Anymore
Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone forwarded you this email and you want to sign up, you cansubscribe here.
Have a great weekend,
Chris