3 Things: Nina Katchadourian, Bill Wurtz, and Laura Miller

Hi friends,

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 Live shows

NEW YORK:
Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. On this week's Sensible Show, we've got standup from Josh Gondelman, Aparna Nancherla, Julio Torres, Mary Mack, and a new surprise guest. Link

Monday, March 14 at 8:30 p.m. You're the Expert is at Brooklyn's Union Hall. This is my biggest show in NYC for the next few months, so if you have been meaning to come see something, come to this. Link

BOSTON:
Monday, February 29 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. We're doing two You're the Expert tapings at the Davis Square Theatre. 7 p.m. features Bobby Smithney, Julia Claire, and Gary Petersen. 9 p.m. is Sam Ike, Steve Macone, and Kenice Mobley. Link

ATLANTA:
Tuesday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. You're the Expert heads down south to the Atlanta Science Festival. On the panel, we've got Amber Nash from Archer, Josh Sharp, and Shalewa Sharpe. Link

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

 This week's list

 1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Nina Katchadourian creates artworks on airplanes using only a camera phone and materials she can find onboard. I don't think she'd describe herself as a comedian, but her photographs make me laugh so much. She says the idea for her project comes from "optimism about the artistic potential that lurks within the mundane, and from curiosity about the productive tension between freedom and constraint." That's a lovely sentiment and also a hilarious way of explaining why she took these photos in an bathroom recreating famous paintings. They are spectacular. Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style
(h/t Alexandra Schwartz)
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Bill Wurtz is a genius. I don't know how else to put it. I discovered him this week and I have gone deep down the rabbit hole. He fuses video, music, and comedy in a way that I haven't really seen before and it's amazing. This video, where he covers the history of Japan from the year negative one billion to present day, is a great example. Oh wow. It's so good.History of Japan 

If you like the video, check out his insane and hilarious website: Bill Wurtz
(h/t Sunday Content) 
 

1 Interesting Thing:

I am a very big fan of talking to little kids. It's definitely the thing I miss most about being a teacher. So I loved this essay by Laura Miller about the joys of chatting with her friends' toddlers. It's from a series in NY Magazine about "the ups and downs of being a woman, uncoupled." As an man in a serious relationship, I am clearly their target demographic. I Don't Want Kids, But I Love Other People's
 

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

Have a great weekend,
Chris

3 Things: John Oliver, Sleep Science, and Suzanne Koven

Hi friends,

If you're new to these emails, welcome! 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. 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.

 Live shows

NEW YORK:
Wednesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. Every Wednesday, I co-host The Sensible Show at the Annoyance Theatre in Williamsburg with Josh Gondelman, Emma Willmann, and Evan Kaufman. We put together 60-minutes of the best standup around at a sensible hour. Last week, our surprise guest was Judah Friedlander from 30 Rock. This week, we've got Dan Soder (Comedy Central), Phoebe Robinson (Broad City), Joel Kim Booster (MTV), and a new celebrity surprise guest.  Link

Monday, March 14 at 8:30 p.m. You're the Expert is back in Brooklyn with a live taping at Union Hall. Watch three hilarious comedians try to guess what a leading scientist does all day. Link

BOSTON:
Monday, February 29 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. We're doing two You're the Expert test tapings to try out new segments and new panelists. It's an experiment so the tickets are cheap and the pressure is low. Link

ATLANTA:
Tuesday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. I'm hosting You're the Expert at the Atlanta Science Festival. On the panel, we've got Amber Nash from Archer, Josh Sharp, and Shalewa Sharpe. If you know anyone in Atlanta, send them my way. Link

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

 This week's list

 1 Thing I Think Is Great:

I don't think I could admire John Oliver any more. Not only has he created one of the funniest shows on television, but he's also gloriously unwilling to compromise on anything. I love his description of using his show as a way of testing limits and how disgusted he seems by the idea of starring on a sitcom. This is a great read. In Conversation: John Oliver
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Dr. Gary Fireman is one of the world's top nightmare researchers. He was our guest on the newest episode of You're the Expert and it's one of my favorite shows we've ever done. Between Gary analyzing his own recurring dream about a giant turtle and discussing the effects of cheese on your sleep, there's no shortage of moments that made me laugh. I try to not put my own projects in here too often, but if you don't listen to You're the Expertregularly, this is an episode I'd definitely recommend. The Science of Nightmares

 

1 Interesting Thing:

Suzanne Koven has a beautifully written piece up on The New England Journal of Medicine this week. It's ostensibly about burnout among doctors, but I think it's applicable to everyone. The question is basically: how you do you balance time pressure/deadlines against the necessary work it takes to build relationships. Koven describes a moment when a doctor breaks from his regular questions and asks a woman about her work as a baker. "The moment when Weinberg takes the plunge, when he asks the woman about pastry, seems very familiar. It's a moment we have all inhabited and, all too often, pulled back from - a threshold we fear crossing. We imagine ourselves, now, in Weinberg's place, and we recognize a double bind, a new doctor's dilemma: if we ask about the pastry, we fall hopelessly behind in administrative tasks and feel more burned out. If we don't ask about the pastry, we avoid the kind of intimacy that not only helps the patient, but also nourishes us." The Doctor's New Dilemma
 

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

Have a great weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Will Ferrell, Family Feud, and Jo Marchant

Hi friends,

If you're new to these emails, welcome! 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. 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.

 Live shows

NEW YORK:
Wednesday, February 17 at 7 p.m. It's the first ever Sensible Show, a new weekly standup show that I'm co-hosting at the Annoyance Theatre in Williamsburg with Josh Gondelman, Emma Willmann, and Evan Kaufman. Each week, we'll put on a show at a sensible hour with the best standups around and some very special guests. This week, we've got Jo Firestone, Myq Kaplan, Aparna Nancherla, and a surprise guest who you'll recognize from30 Rock. Every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Link

Friday, February 19 at 7 p.m. Evan Barden and I host another edition of An Hour Abroad.Each month, we give you the full experience of having studied abroad (language skills, delicious foods, and insider knowledge) in only 60 minutes. This month, we take the audience to Romania, with help from celebrity Romanian Jo Firestone and actual Romanian Oana Paun. Link

BOSTON:
Monday, February 29 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. You're the Expert just announced a bunch of new live tapings in Massachusetts. We're going to do some smaller test tapings to try out new segments and new panelists so these tickets are only $9. It's kind of an experiment but also definitely fun. Link

MALIBU, CA:
Saturday, April 30th at 1:45 p.m. I'm going to be giving the Keynote Address at the 2016 Spring Conference for the California Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. This is definitely a ways away, but if you happen to be an environmental or outdoor educator (or just interested in that), registration for the conference is open now. Link

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

 This week's list

 1 Thing I Think Is Great:

One of my favorite things about Will Ferrell is how willing he is to commit to a joke. It's a pleasure to watch someone have so much fun. Ferrell came on Stephen Colbert's show to offer up his expertise as an animal expert. The two of them improvise names for the animals and Ferrell keeps raising the stakes, until finally both of them break and start laughing. I thought Colbert's whole post-Super Bowl live show was great, but this was the highlight. Will Ferrell, Exotic Animal Expert
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Family Feud is not a show that I watch regularly. But that might change after this week's episode featured one of the funniest clips I've ever seen on TV, when a family could not figure out other ways people might say "Mother." Steve Harvey has a complete and glorious meltdown and the game show literally came to a halt as the directors backstage tried to figure out how to deal with the insanity. The producers thankfully released the full unedited version and you have to watch it all the way through. I love it. Family Feud - Oh, mother...

 

1 Interesting Thing:

Jo Marchant has a fascinating article in Mosaic this week about a pioneering investigation into whether our brains can train our bodies into believing they've had medicine. It's far beyond the well-documented placebo effect that everyone knows about, and it has massive potential to "reduce side effects and slash drug costs." The very fact that scientists have documented a direct connection between the brain and the immune system is revolutionary and Marchant makes a persuasive case that Nobel Prizes have been awarded for less. But the scientists whose work she focuses on are toiling in obscurity. It's a really remarkable story, both about the future and the politics of medicine. You can train your body into thinking it's had medicine
 

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

Have a great weekend,
Chris