The Boston debut of You Get A Spoon! w/ Sarah Kay and Elna Baker
Thanks so much to everyone for completely packing the house at Johnny D's in Somerville on Thursday! We had a great time performing for you all. Photos and video coming soon. But in the meantime, here were the recommendations:
I told jokes and stories and recommended:
1) Sock Club - a monthly sock delivery that is one of the best gifts I've ever been given.
2) Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd
3) Tovolo Silicone Mixing Spoon (duh)
Elna Baker told stories and recommended:
1) Metal toothpaste roller clips - get every last bit out of your toothpaste!
2) Laffy Taffy (banana flavor)
3) The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
Sarah Kay shared some new poems and recommended:
2) Pocky (oh my goodness, we had SO much Pocky)
3) When My Brother Was An Aztec by Natalie Diaz
And the big winner of the night was audience member Sarah Kate! She got the spoon!
3 Things: Bo Burnham, Mobile Steam Unit, and Kids Dating
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 UPDATES:
NYC:
CANCELLED: Submerge!, the marine science festival in Hudson River Park has been called off today due to weather. Much as I'd love to stand outside during a hurricane next to a river for an event named "Submerge!", I think they made the right call.
Monday (10/5), Evan Barden and I try to teach you Japanese in a special edition of Most Incredible 1-Hour Language School. A reporter from the NYT is coming to this show, so we'd love to have a packed house. Please come! Details here
Wednesday (10/7), You're the Expert is at The Bell House in Brooklyn for a New York Super Week edition featuring Jo Firestone, 30 Rock's Scott Adsit, and a surprise guest. Get tickets
SAN FRANCISCO:
Just added a bunch of Bay Area shows to the website! The biggest one is You're the Expert is at the Bay Area Science Festival on Friday, October 23 at the Castro Theatre. Details/tickets here
Other highlights include Taste Test (free food samples and jokes about food) at The Hall on Monday, October 26 and You Get A Spoon! (variety show and prize giveaway) at The Lost Church on Tuesday, October 27
LOS ANGELES:
I'm heading your way and just put up a bunch of shows on the website. Your best bet to see me do a full comedy set and also win prizes is at a one-night only LA-version of YOU GET A SPOON! on Sunday, November 1 at 8:30 p.m. at the Lyric-Hyperion Theatre & Cafe. Details and tickets here
SAN DIEGO:
I'm doing a private, unrecorded version of You're the Expert for a convention of scientists on Wednesday, October 28. This is closed to the general public, but if you're in the area and want to see the show, email me! I should be able to get at least some people in.
You can see my full schedule up on the website now.
Ok, on to this week's list!
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
Last night, I went to see Bo Burnham's new show Make Happy. If you don't know who Bo is, he's a 25-year-old comedian who became famous from YouTube videos he made in high school. I can't think of any phrase that more likely predicts someone will be an offensive idiot than "famous from YouTube videos he made in high school" but Bo is not. In fact, he's one of the most thoughtful and surprising comedians I've ever seen live. Make Happy was such an insane blend of high/low. At one point he literally made a fart joke and at another he made serious academic points about the blurring distinction between observer/observed. The show was a huge theatrical production, with songs, lights, and several particularly good jokes involving fog machines. It was hilarious and inspiring and definitely worth seeing. Make Happy is on tour now and he'll be performing in New York City all this week. In the meantime, you can see all of Bo's last special online for free. Bo Burnham: what.
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
The band members of Mobile Steam Unit dream differently from other bands. Their goal isn't a record deal, playing in stadiums, or even becoming famous. They just want to record an answering machine message for their favorite Indian restaurant. This video chronicles their quest to write the perfect phone jingle and then get the very skeptical manager to accept it. The song they came up with is amazing and has been stuck in my head all week. Plus everything about this video, from the song to the guys to the way it's shot, makes me cackle with joy. Check it out. Mobile Steam Unit presents Kanan Indian Restaurant
1 Interesting Thing:
Do you remember what it was like to date in middle school? When I think back, I just remember that my "girlfriend" and I at the time very ardently held hands and it was an enormous deal. The only fluids we ever swapped were copious amounts of palm sweat (we never kissed), but I was certain that I now understood everything I'd ever seen in rom-coms and love songs spoke to me on a personal level. This video from The Atlantic where they interview tweens captures so much of what's hilarious and amazing about that stage of life. My favorite is the kid who says his favorite spot to take a date is CVS. Ask A Tween: What's Dating Like? (h/t Ciara Gay)
Ok, thanks for reading! More details on shows and my full schedule online atwww.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/
Have a great weekend,
Chris
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
