3 Things: Jon Favreau, Colin Nissan, and Shazaam
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.
Upcoming shows
No shows this week. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
The Hollywood Reporter published a long piece on creativity where Jon Favreau asks Issa Rae, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Donald Glover, and Damien Chazelle about their processes. It's amazing to get a peek into how they think about "success, struggling, and staying sane."One Epic Conversation
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Colin Nissan's humor pieces in The New Yorker and McSweeney's always make me laugh. He's very, very good at taking something mundane and breaking it down until you see the insanity. One of his best targets is a Christmas carol that truly makes no sense. What is Colin going to do with all these birds? The Twelve Days of Christmas by Colin Nissan.
1 Interesting Thing:
Ok, this next one is crazy. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people, claim that they have memories of watching a cheesy Nineties movie called Shazaam where the comedian Sinbad played a genie. To be honest, I vaguely remember seeing it myself. But here's the thing: that movie does not exist and it never has. Sinbad himself is baffled when people ask him about it. But online, there's a community of people who are certain they've seen it. They remember the cover, the plot, the music... everything. So what does it tell us about how memory works and how slippery our grasp on reality can be? The Movie That Doesn't Exist and the Redditors Who Think It Does
Thanks for reading. Happy holidays! Take care of yourselves,
Chris
3 Things: Mr. Rogers, Joe Pera, and Lizzie Presser
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.
Upcoming shows
LOS ANGELES:
Tuesday, December 20th at 9 p.m. at The Nerdist Showroom. For one night only, I'm bringing my variety show / prize giveaway You Get A Spoon to LA. Featuring music from Johanna Samuels, comedy from Zach Sherwin, Max Silvestri, stories from April Wolfe, and so many prizes. Link
MADRID, SPAIN:
Friday, January 26th to Sunday, January 28th at Only You Hotel Atocha. I'm headlining a weekend of standup shows for a NYC-themed festival in Madrid sponsored by Seagram's. If you're in Spain or just looking for a way to theme a vacation around my comedy, gin, and eating tapas, this is your chance. Link
NEW YORK:
I'm confirming 2017 dates now. They will be up on the website soon.
You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
For a dose of kindness and humanity, watch Mr. Rogers testify about the importance of children's television and convince a room of skeptical politicians to fund public broadcasting. It's a remarkable piece of footage from one of the most influential educators and entertainers of all time. May 1, 1969: Fred Rogers testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications. (h/t Kumail Nanjiani)
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Joe Pera is like no other comedian today. He's a complete original and he's making some hilarious and wonderful comedy specials for Adult Swim. First, they aired his animated "Joe Pera Talks You To Sleep" in the middle of the night. This week, they released his holiday masterpiece, a special where he helps you select the perfect tree for your home. It's almost impossible to describe Joe, but I guess I'd say he's an equal mix of kindly old grandfather, muscular young man, and subversive alternative comic. Two things are for sure: he's always got a great sweater and he's always making me laugh in very unexpected ways.Joe Pera Helps You Find The Perfect Christmas Tree
If you want a shorter taste of his comedy, here's Joe on Seth Meyers.
1 Interesting Thing:
Lizzie Presser is one of the smartest writers and most insightful journalists out there. She made a name for herself reporting from Northern Thailand and she's worked with Nicholas Kristof and The New York Times. Her latest piece for Harper's is about Rodrigo Duterte's presidency in the Phillipines and his enduring popularity even as he encourages extrajudicial killings. It's a fascinating postcard from inside the war on drugs. One of Us by Lizzie Presser
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend,
Chris
3 Things: Elizabeth Craft, John Early, and Christopher Schroeder
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.
Upcoming shows
BOSTON:
TOMORROW! Sunday, December 11th at 8 p.m. at The Rockwell. You're the Expert tapes live in Somerville. Tickets still available. Link
LOS ANGELES:
Tuesday, December 20th at 9 p.m. at The Nerdist Showroom. For one night only, I'm bringing my variety show / prize giveaway You Get A Spoon to LA. Featuring music from Johanna Samuels, comedy from Zach Sherwin, Max Silvestri, more special guests, and so many prizes. Link
You can also find my full up-to-date show schedule online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
Elizabeth Craft is a television producer and screenwriter. She's had a long and successful career, so you might think she'd feel fully secure in her job. But that's not how it works. In this fantastic thirty minute interview, she talks about the fear of being fired, what it's really like to work in television, and how insecurity and uncertainty can fuel the creative process. She says so many things perfectly that I've struggled to verbalize for myself. It's obviously relevant for anyone in entertainment, but also for anyone who worries about job security. (So... everyone.) Writer Elizabeth Craft on Fear h/t Mollie
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
I haven't recommended John Early before now. That's astonishing. I went back to the archives three times and checked. I'm not sure how that could have happened because he is one of the most deeply, hilariously funny people on the planet. I'm glad to now fix that obvious oversight. Here's John Early doing his iconic Britney Spears impression for Conan.
And here's John Early giving pitch-perfect life advice to Esquire readers. Ask a Comedian: John Early
1 Interesting Thing:
The news coverage of politics and international relations has been pretty universally negative for the past couple weeks, so it's easy to forget that there are promising trends too. Christopher Schroeder, a Silicon Valley investor, visited Tehran last year and wrote about the emerging entrepreneurs he met there. It's a different face of Iran that we don't often get to see. Schroeder met a ton of inspiring young people, like Nazanin Daneshvar, a woman who's built a huge Groupon-like business in Iran. She's got more than two million users and 10,000 businesses as customers. The Iran I Saw
Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend,
Chris
