3 Things: Liz Fosslien, Documentary Now!, and Tattoos

Hi friends,

If you're new to these emails, welcome! Every week, I send out a short email with three great things. If you feel like you haven't gotten these emails in a while, try checking to make sure this email is a trusted address so they aren't getting filtered to spam. For live shows, I've got a bunch featured below and a complete list on my website. Feel free to spread the word about these emails! Anyone can sign up for the mailing list online and/or check out the archive with all past emails here.

SHOW UPDATE:  

Apologies that this email is a day late and a dollar short! But to make up for it, I've got lots of fun stuff for you today.

BOSTON: TODAY! You're the Expert at the Davis Square Theater is SOLD OUT. But there are still some tickets available for Taste Test Comedy at 7:30 p.m. with Jo Firestone, Josh Sharp, and more. I'll be telling standup jokes just about food, we've got free samples from Patty Chen's Dumpling Room, and we're ending the show with a dumpling-themed improvised musical. It's going to be amazing. Get tickets here!

NYC: Monday, I'll be telling jokes at Joe Rumrill and Julio Torres' lovely free standup show Fresh Perspectives. Wednesday, I'm hosting Megawatt comedy night at the Magnet Theater all night. And Saturday, I'll be performing and emceeing in Hudson River Park from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the free marine science festival Submerge! 

BAY AREA: You're the Expert is at the Bay Area Science Festival on Friday, October 23 at the Castro Theatre. Details/tickets here

You can see my full schedule up on the website now.

Ok, on to this week's list!
 

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Liz Fosslien is an artist and illustrator who combines a light whimsical style with her background in economics and math. As a result, her cartoons and stories always present the world from an angle I wouldn't have seen before. I've shared some of her work in previous emails, but I just came across this essay in Bound. I love it. Life as told through houseplants left behind. On Growing by Liz Fosslien

 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Bill Hader and Fred Armisen's new IFC series "Documentary Now!" is unbelievable. I actually have trouble believing how painstakingly they recreate a famous documentary each week and how much hilarity they wring out of some pretty esoteric pieces. Their parody of Grey Gardens is just perfect, but I laughed the hardest at this spot-on takedown of Vice News called "Dronez." Jack Black as "Dronez" Founder in IFC's Documentary Now!

1 Interesting Thing:

Bianca Giaever makes videos at This American Life helping people "say things to their friends and loved ones that they cannot bring themselves to say." This video is ostensibly about tattoos, but it's really about religious belief and forgiveness. With Pope Francis visiting the US this week and focusing attention on faith's power to expand our compassion and empathy, I found this to be particularly resonant. Hopefully you will too! Also it's undeniably got some badass tattoos in it. This American Life Videos 4 U

Ok, thanks for reading! More details on shows and my full schedule online atwww.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/

Have a great weekend,
Chris

You Get A Spoon! w/ Aparna Nancherla, Alexandra Schwartz, Nora Fox and Ethan Philbrick

Another fun night at Under St Marks for the September edition of You Get A Spoon! a monthly variety show and audience prize giveaway. (You can see more details and buy tickets for future shows online here)

Aparna Nancherla

Aparna Nancherla told jokes and recommended:

1) Yawning

2) Speculoos cookie butter

3) The song "Verona" by Geographer

Alexandra Schwartz

Alexandra Schwartz read from a new fiction piece she's working on and recommended:

1) The movie Obvious Child

2) The Reply All podcast

3) Extra large paper flowers from PanAmerican Phoenix 

Nora Fox and Ethan Philbrick

Nora Fox and Ethan Philbrick played songs and recommended:

1) Bionic Barbie

2) Sailboats

3) A ball of mozzarella (preferably bought by Nora's mom)

4) A jar of crunchy Jif Peanut Butter (bought shamefully late at night and eaten from the jar)

5) Indecision

Of course, we ended, as we always do, with my passionate endorsement of the Tovolo Silicone Mixing Spoon in Candy Apple color. This month, the winner of the spoon was David West. Thanks to everybody who came out! 

The next YOU GET A SPOON! is on Sunday, November 15 at 7 p.m. at Under St Marks (94 St Marks Pl in Manhattan).

Information and tickets: http://www.horsetrade.info/event/3bf6735e6870605b54cdeac298006105

3 Things: Overweight Kids, Ortberg Aliens, and Community Schools

Hi friends,

If you're new to these emails, welcome! Every Saturday, I send out a short email with three great things. If you feel like you haven't gotten these emails in a while, try checking to make sure this email is a trusted address so they aren't getting filtered to spam. For live shows, I've got a bunch featured below and a complete list on my website. Feel free to spread the word about these emails! Anyone can sign up for the mailing list online and/or check out the archive with all past emails here.

SHOW UPDATE:  

NYC: TODAY! It's Saturday, September 19, which means that at 4:30 p.m, You're the Expert is at The Bell House with Jo Firestone and 30 Rock's Scott Adsit.Details/tickets here 

Tomorrow (9/20), You Get A Spoon! is back at Under St Marks with a reading by Alexandra Schwartz (The New Yorker), music from Nora Fox and Ethan Philbrick, and stories/jokes from Aparna Nancherla (Conan, Comedy Central). Plus so many audience prizes. Get tickets here!

Boston: Sunday 9/27 You're the Expert in Boston featuring Jo Firestone, Josh Sharp, and more. Later that same night, stand up and free snacks at Taste Test Comedy.Details here!

San Francisco: You're the Expert is at the Bay Area Science Festival on Friday, October 23 at the Castro Theatre. Details/tickets here

You can see my full schedule for September up on the website now.

Ok, on to this week's list!
 

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Elna Baker brings such empathy and compassion to her writing about herself and others, but she also always manages to make it funny and charming as well. She's one of my absolute favorite storytellers. Her latest piece is about how to talk to your kids about self-esteem and staying healthy, but even if you don't have kids (I don't) it's a fascinating and revealing personal essay. If you do have kids, I imagine it's even more relevant. Either way, it's a great read and the rare piece of writing on the internet that will leave you with more sympathy for the people around you. Helping Your Child with Body Image: Advice from a Formerly Overweight Kid

[Also, if you want to see Elna live and you live in Massachusetts, she and I are doing a show together with poet Sarah Kay on October 1 at Johnny D's in Somerville. It's almost sold out but I believe there are a few tickets left. You can check here]

 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Speaking of human bodies, they're all pretty weird, huh? That's what makes Mallory Ortberg's latest piece for The Toast so hilarious. Mallory's writing never stops making me laugh. I feel like she has a superpower for seeing what's funny about every part of the world. This particular piece is excerpts from a romance novel "written by an alien pretending not to be horrified by the human body." Everything in here is great, but here are some of my favorite lines: 

"Everything was just a mess."

"Various parts inched forward, then retracted, rather as turtles do."

"Together they put all of their clothes in a pile on the floor, where the dog lives."

Read the whole thing here: Mallory Ortberg on The Toast

1 Interesting Thing:

When I was teaching fifth grade, I found out partway through one year that a student's family had recently become homeless. Everything - the missing homework, the falling asleep in class, the acting out - suddenly clicked into place. Places like Mott Haven Academy Charter School are inspiring new ways to walk that delicate line between understanding what's happening outside of class and making school a safe escape where learning comes first. 

Two thirds of the elementary students at Mott Haven Academy Charter School are in the child welfare system. Needless to say, it's challenging to learn in school when there's so much stress going on at home. But Haven Academy is pioneering effective ways to make students cope. "The entire setting at Haven Academy is geared towards making kids feel safe enough to learn. The school is housed in a bright and colorful new building, every classroom has two teachers, and classes never have more than 26 students. Art, music, or dance is offered every day. There are two social workers - a behavioral specialist and an outreach worker." The teachers and staff also spend a lot of time thinking about a culture where acting out is addressed without students being sent out of class. It's a beautiful and thought provoking way to think about education. When Home is Tough, Making Kids Feel Good at School

[If you're interested in getting deeper into this, one of my favorite books about teaching isChoice Words, which is all about how the way we talk to kids and the words we choose help form their internal conceptions of themselves.]



Ok, thanks for reading! More details on shows and my full schedule online atwww.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/

Have a great weekend,
Chris