3 Things: Gideon Irving, Matteo Lane, and Chance the Rapper

Hi friends,

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with friends. If you're checking this out for the first time, you can sign up to get these emails here.

 Live shows

NEW YORK:
Wednesday, August 31 at 8 p.m at Littlefield. Guerilla Science is putting on an event called Sensory Speed Dating, where you can "smell, hear, taste, touch, see, and move your way to a greater understanding of the subconscious processes that drive our behavior and desires." I'm the host and it's not just for singles. Also, your ticket includes free food! Link

Friday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Union Hall. My variety show / audience prize giveaway is part of this year's Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival! We'll have music from The Westerlies, poetry from Phil Kaye, comedy from Maeve Higgins and me, and so many prizes. Guaranteed to be the most positive way to spend a night in NYC. Link

Saturday, September 17 at 4:30 p.m. at The Bell House. You're the Expert returns to the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival with Jo Firestone, Hari Kondabolu, a mystery scientist, and special celebrity guests. Link

You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Gideon Irving is one of a kind. He's a musician who tours the world, performing almost exclusively in strangers' homes. His shows are ambitious and funny and amazing. I truly believe that if he wanted to, he could be playing to crowds of thousands. But he prefers the intimacy and magic of bringing his act to out of the way places and making lasting connections with audience members who are also his hosts. Gideon performed in our apartment last year and it was unforgettable. Now, some of Gideon's magic has been captured on tape by his frequent collaborator, Nate Sloan, who documented their trip through Scotland together for his podcast. Switched on Pop: The Gideon and Hubcap Show

(If you'd prefer to watch a video rather than listen to the podcast, here's a very fun music video that Gideon made.)
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Continuing this week's musical theme: Matteo Lane is not just a comedian, he's also a trained opera singer. He puts his skills to good use in this hilarious standup set. Matteo is one of those standups who kills every time he performs, but he's also such a genuinely nice and friendly guy. It's a real pleasure to watch him succeed. Late Night presents Matteo Lane


1 Interesting Thing:

Chance the Rapper is one of the biggest musical acts performing today. He's also an independent artist who's turned down every major label. He's a lyrical genius, relentlessly positive, and dedicated to using his fame for good. Chance has everything going for him right now. So how did it happen? Zach Baron has a great profile in GQ. How Chance the Rapper's Life Became Perfect

(P.S. Baron says that it was a questionable decision for Chance to spend months working on a cover of the music from Arthur on PBS, but I couldn't disagree more. I hope Chance does a whole album full of just children's television theme songs. Judge for yourself.)
 

Ok, thanks for reading this! Feel free to find more details on shows and my full schedule online at www.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/

Have a great weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Rachel Klein, Norm Macdonald, and Arthur Miller

Hi friends,

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with friends. If you're checking this out for the first time, you can sign up to get these emails here.

 Live shows

NEW YORK:
It's a week full of comedy festivals here in NYC! You can catch me at two of them: 

Tomorrow, Sunday, August 21 at 8 p.m at Brooklyn's Shea Stadium. I'll be telling jokes at the Macaulay Culkin Summer Comedy Festival along with a lineup of the very best and most insane in NYC comedy right now. Only $5 for the whole thing and includes an ice cream sandwich. Link

Wednesday, August 24 at 7:00 p.m. at The Annoyance Theater. The Sensible Show is part of this year's Brooklyn Comedy Festival. My co-hosts have taken the reins for the last few weeks, so I'm really excited to be back performing and also to watch Josh Gondelman, Brooke van Poppelen, Myq Kaplan, Adam Mamawala, Hadiyah Robinson, and special guests. Link

You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Rachel Klein wrote this jaw-droppingly beautiful piece about raising her teenage child who is navigating gender identity. It's the kind of nuanced and powerful piece I wish we had more of these days. Also, Rachel is just an incredible writer and comedian. She brings that openness and vulnerability to writing about her own struggles as a parent. Everyone should read this. Rachel Klein: Their Body, Themselves
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Norm Macdonald is one of the greatest standup comedians of all time. He also appears to be a very strange human being. That makes sense. This profile for the Washington Post by Geoff Edgers is a little too fawning for my taste (we get it, Geoff, you think Norm's the best), but the bonus features are hysterical. The Post printed Norm's text messages in full and also included two hilarious never-before-seen sketches from an unaired pilot calledNorm Macdonald is Trending. I couldn't stop laughing at the sketch about Norm putting on an invisibility cloak. It's so dumb but also perfect. Will Somebody Please Give Norm Macdonald Another TV Show?


1 Interesting Thing:

If there's one conversation topic that's come up every day this summer, it's the heat. But this incredible New Yorker piece by Arthur Miller puts all my sweating in perspective. It's a reminiscence of the days before air conditioning. "People on West 110th Street, where I lived, were a little too bourgeois to sit out on their fire escapes, but around the corner on 111th and farther uptown, mattresses were put out as night fell, and whole families lay on those iron balconies in their underwear." Arthur Miller: Before Air Conditioning (h/t Hannah Fenlon)

Ok, thanks for reading this! Feel free to find more details on shows and my full schedule online at www.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/

Have a great weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Emily Gordon, 2 Dope Queens, and Maeve Higgins

Hi friends,

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with friends. If you're checking this out for the first time, you can sign up to get these emails here.

 Live shows

NEW YORK:
Saturday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m and 9:30 p.m. at The Wild Project. TONIGHT! You're the Expert tapes two live episodes featuring The Daily Show's Roy Wood Jr, Zhubin Parang, Evan Kaufman, Shalewa Sharpe, and Jo Firestone. There are still a few tickets left! Link

Sunday, August 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Under St Marks. It's my variety show and prize giveaway, You Get A Spoon! This month featuring comedian Anna Drezen reading from her new book, music from America's Sweethearts, and so many prizes. Link

BOSTON:
Wednesday, August 17 at 7:00 p.m at Oberon. You're the Expert returns to Cambridge, MA for a live taping with Ken Reid, Obehi Janice, and Julia Claire. Link

You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

For this week's email, I'm switching it up a little bit and giving you an all-podcast edition. But if you're not into podcasts (or don't have the time for the episodes), I'll also give you some non-podcast links to the same people. 

First up is Emily Gordon. Emily is a writer, therapist, and comedy producer. She's married to Kumail Nanjiani and she produces The Meltdown in LA, which I think is the best live standup show in the country. It's clear that Emily works very hard to make people feel safe and accepted. Her conversation with Pete Holmes, one of her best friends, is fantastic from start to finish. It's funny and touching and thoughtful. I'm not sure how someone could listen to this and not want Emily to be their best friend too. Whether she's talking about recovering from a coma, navigating differing levels of professional success in a relationship, or just her favorite jokes, she's the best. You Made It Weird: Emily Gordon

(Note: It appears you can only listen to this episode by streaming through a web browser unless you subscribe.)

If you want to check out more about Emily or just don't want to do the whole podcast thing, she's got a blog where she gives advice to strangers, a book, and all sorts of other stuff you can find online.
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson host a live standup comedy show and podcast called 2 Dope Queens. They're both hilarious and raunchy and perfectly themselves. They book great comics to perform on every show and also banter and discuss their lives with the crowd. Because Jessica Williams got her start at The Daily Show, at a recent show that was also her birthday party, Jon Stewart dropped by and performed. The episode won't be out until next season, but in the meantime, they put up this video. The quality isn't great but you can see how much Jon loves and respects Jessica. As a bonus, the way he responds to Phoebe when she starts shamelessly hitting on him is truly spectacular. Jon Stewart on 2 Dope Queens

(And here's a link to the podcast if you want to listen to past episodes)


1 Interesting Thing:

You think it's boring, but it's actually amazing! That's the conceit behind every episode of Surprisingly Awesome. Over the course of an hour they've convinced me that concrete and mattresses are actually fascinating and they're just getting started. One of their most recent episodes featured guest co-host Maeve Higgins learning about why flossing is incredible. It also features a cameo from Josh Gondelman (another amazing comedian and human) bragging about the superpowers he has now that he flosses. I'd say that the episodes lives somewhere between hilarious, informative, and disgusting, which is exactly where you always find the best stories. Surprisingly Awesome: Flossing

(Here's Maeve Higgins outside the podcast world. Her book is particularly great and I strongly recommend it.)

Ok, thanks for reading this special podcast edition! I'll be back with the standard email next week. In the meantime, feel free to find more details on shows and my full schedule online at www.chrisduffycomedy.com/calendar/

Have a great weekend,
Chris