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:
This week's episode of You're the Expert features Dr. Helen Fisher from the Kinsey Institute talking about the biology and evolution of human love with comedians Bowen Yang, Michelle Buteau, and Matt Koff. Link
BURLINGTON, VERMONT:
TOMORROW Sunday, August 26th at 5:30 p.m. I'm teaching a workshop at the Vermont Comedy Club on writing for television. Link
NYC:
SOLD OUT Monday, August 26th at 7:30 p.m. at The Wild Project. A short play I wrote is making its debut as part of Cherry Picking, an annual festival of new work. Link
Saturday, September 8th at 7:30 p.m. at the Magnet Theater. I'm the monologuist for the always hilarious improv show, The Armando Diaz Experience. Link
Sunday, September 16th at 7:00 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert is back for a new live taping with a mystery scientist and a panel of incredible comedians. Link
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
JUST ANNOUNCED: Saturday, October 20th at 7:30 p.m. at National Geographic. I'm doing a live taping of You're the Expert with panelists Jo Firestone, Josh Sharp, and an incredible scientist who is named Dr. Jennifer Lopez (not a joke). It's going to be amazing. Link
As always, you can find my schedule with all upcoming dates online here.
This week's list
GREAT:
Mattie Kahn does some fascinating reporting from a new prison unit designed to reduce recidivism in Connecticut. I've gotten very interested in the concept of restorative justice this year (after we did an episode of Problem Areas about it: watch here or read about it here). I've been reading as much as I can. Connecticut's program seems to be a better solution to prisons both morally and financially. So why are people still so opposed to it? Kahn dives into the thorny philosophical issues as well as the practical ones. Inside a Radical Experiment to Transform the Lives of Incarcerated Women
FUNNY:
There's this very pervasive myth that standup comedians are loners who bristle at human interaction and are intensely competitive with each other. I'm sure that's true for someone, but I've found it to be very much the exception rather than the rule. In my experience, comedians are very much a community who are inspired by each other's jokes and often can't stop talking about how perfect someone else's bit is. So I loved this article onVulture where great comedians (including Mulaney and Patton Oswalt) were asked which joke they wished they could steal from another comic. The bits they picked are so funny (I especially died at Matt Knudsen's "Buffet" bit, which I hadn't heard before). Which Jokes Comedians Would Steal If They Could Get Away With It
INTERESTING:
Across the globe, priceless works of Chinese art are being stolen in daring break-ins out of a movie. The thieves cause a distraction in another part of the city, smash through a wall or window in the museum, steal what they're looking for in five minutes or less, and then disappear. Different cities across Europe, different museums, same M.O. The thefts are so professional and the thieves leave behind so much valuable art that's not Chinese that questions have arisen about whether this is an operation for profit or to repatriate art that was looted during colonial times. Revenge or profit or something else entirely? It's an amazing story and it's happening right now. The Great Chinese Art Heist
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Have a great day!
Chris