Happy 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:
The newest episode of You're the Expert features Dr. Christine Austin, whose research uses chemical signatures in our teeth to discover everything from stress levels to what we ate as babies. Comedians Todd Barry, Michelle Buteau, and Negin Farsad learn all about it. Link
On last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, Wyatt visited Seattle to look at how police are changing their approach to drugs, even highly addictive ones. I worked on this story, so see if you can spot all the highly specific Seattle jokes I've learned from marrying a Seatteite. Link
Speaking of the West Coast, I betrayed my native New York roots for the comedy debate show Uptown Showdown and revealed the lies we tell ourselves to pretend like the East Coast is better. The video is now online. Link
NEW YORK:
TODAY! Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. I'm telling jokes with the other writers from Problem Areas. The show is going to be hosted by Wyatt Cenac, and all proceeds go to charity. (NOTE: The ticket website was not working earlier, but should be back online now. Either way, there will be tickets available at the door too.) Link
Sunday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Maeve Higgins, Emmy Blotnick, and Dillon Stevenson. Link
My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.
This week's list
GREAT:
I love Mary Karr's writing. She's got such an interesting personal story too. She's a poet who went from being a staunch atheist to a religious conversion. In my opinion, she's managed to stay very open and accepting even as some of her core beliefs about what happens after we die have shifted. And her poems are full of humor and fun and completely unpretentious. They're good poems to read when you need a break from yet another terrifying news day. "Ninety percent of what's wrong with you could be cured with a hot bath." The Voice of God by Mary Karr
FUNNY:
Ali Wong's Baby Cobra has become one of the legendary standup specials. She's filthy, hilarious, and nine months pregnant. There was no other comedy special like Baby Cobra. The designers and writers at The Pudding put together this very cool data visualization using Ali's jokes to show the mechanics behind how an hour of jokes come together. Ali Wong and the Structure of Standup Comedy
INTERESTING:
Nicole Ramos is a 38-year-old lawyer from suburban New Jersey who runs "a shoestring nonprofit called Al Otro Lado, or To the Other Side." She and her law partner are the only two American attorneys based in Tijuana who "work pro bono with both asylum-seekers and deportees people — people approaching the United States from the south seeking safety and those pushed into Mexico from the north, banished by the U.S. government." California Sunday Magazine has an amazing profile of her work and of how the population of Tijuana has swelled as U.S. policies have become more restrictive. Tijuana: City of Exiles
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Have a great day,
Chris