3 Things: Birdmen, Mike Drucker, and Chocolate Milk
Hi friends,
It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my upcoming shows, 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 see the archive and sign up to get these emails here.
Upcoming shows
EVERYWHERE:
Three comedians try to guess what a leading scientist does all day and then find out why their research is important and exciting on You're the Expert. Link
On The Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I try to learn about money from a team of financial experts. Link
NYC:
Tuesday, June 20th at 7:30 p.m. in Brighton Beach. As part of a series of pop-up walking tours, I'm going to be taking a group around Brighton Beach in search of my favorite funny signs in NYC. Free to attend and at the end, we'll all get dinner together at the beautifully named "Cafe at Your Mother-In-Law." Link
Thursday, July 27th at 8 p.m. at The Wild Project. You Get A Spoon is back with a reading by best-selling author AJ Jacobs, a presentation by viral pranksters The Good Liars, and more surprise guests. Link
SAN FRANCISCO:
Wednesday, July 19 at 8:30 p.m. at The Lost Church. Join me for a one-night only Bay Area edition of my variety show You Get A Spoon. Jokes from me, a reading by Joe Wadlington, and music from Lily Stern. Plus a chance to win the world's greatest spoon! Link
My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
The New York Times Magazine had an amazing graphic issue a few weeks ago and I only just had the time to sit down and go through it all. I loved seeing how the Metro section stories were transformed into comics. The results were beautiful but also highlighted the visual moments and emotions that words can't always capture. If you haven't seen the issue, it's all online: New York Stories. My personal favorite story was the one about guys illegally smuggling finches into NYC so they can compete in underground competitive singing matches. It's wild. The Birdmen of Queens
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Mike Drucker is a very accomplished comedy writer. Whether you know it or not, you've almost certainly seen his jokes. He was the head writer for Bill Nye's new show, he wrote for Fallon for years, and he's great on Twitter. I love his most recent piece for McSweeney's: Hi, I'll Be Your Waiter Interrupting a Really Hard Conversation
1 Interesting Thing:
When I was teaching at an elementary school, I remember the day my students discovered that lettuce was a plant. "You're telling me salad comes out of the dirt? That's disgusting!" At the time, I was surprised. But it turns out my kids were not alone. According to a recent study, more than 16 million Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. That's so funny and also so disturbing. The Washington Post has a great breakdown of why we don't know what our food is and how that makes a difference in what we eat. Wonkblog: The surprising number of Americans who think chocolate milk comes from brown cows.
Have a great day,
Chris
3 Things: John Mulaney, Mo Amer, and Caveh Zahedi
Hi friends,
It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my upcoming shows, 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 see the archive and sign up to get these emails here.
Upcoming shows
EVERYWHERE:
Three comedians try to guess what a leading scientist does all day and then find out why their research is important and exciting on You're the Expert. Link
On The Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I try to learn about money from a team of financial experts. Link
NYC:
Tuesday, June 20th As part of a series of pop-up walking tours, I'm going to be taking a group around Brighton Beach in search of my favorite funny signs in NYC. Free to attend and at the end, we'll all get dinner together at the beautifully named "Cafe at Your Mother-In-Law." Link
SAN FRANCISCO:
Wednesday, July 19 at 8:30 p.m. at The Lost Church. Tickets are on sale for the Bay Area edition of You Get A Spoon. Jokes from me, a reading by Joe Wadlington, and music from Lily Stern. Link
My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
John Mulaney is my favorite comedian to watch perform. If you're not already familiar, do yourself a favor and watch his specials New In Town and The Comeback Kid. They're classics. Mulaney has been making some of the most cutting and hilarious jokes about Trump since long before he ever thought about running for political office, but this week on Colbert, he came up with the perfect metaphor for politics today. Trump is a Horse Loose in a Hospital
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Since we're on the topic of hilarious people and jokes about Trump, watch this standup set from Mo Amer. He's a Muslim-American refugee and one of the funniest human beings on the planet. On a flight to a gig recently, he was upgraded to first class and seated next to Eric Trump. He made the most of that opportunity, to say the least. Mo Amer
1 Interesting Thing:
I've been spending a lot of my time and energy over the past year pitching television shows. It's a strange and fascinating process. Independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi succeeded in getting his own television show on the air and it's one of the weirdest and funniest things I've seen. It's a show about him trying to persuade "a Brooklyn Cable Network to give him money to make a meta-series TV show in which each episode will be about the making of the previous episode." I guarantee you that you've never seen anything like this before. (NSFW, but worth it) The Show About The Show h/t Bianca
Have a great day,
Chris
3 Things: Charlie Hankin, Emmy Blotnick, and How We Gather
Hi friends,
It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my upcoming shows, 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 see the archive and sign up to get these emails here.
Upcoming shows
EVERYWHERE:
On the new episode of The Payoff, I learn about how to save money from blind taste test parties, extreme coupons, and more. Link
Three comedians try to guess what a leading scientist does all day and then find out why their research is important and exciting on You're the Expert. Link
Explorer airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on the National Geographic Channel. This week, Ted Danson is back as host. Link
NYC:
TONIGHT! Saturday, June 3rd at 7:30 p.m. at The PIT. My variety show and audience prize giveaway You Get A Spoon is at the PIT for one night only with jokes from me and Myq Kaplan, music from Dear Georgiana, a fantastic spoon, and so many prizes. Link
BOSTON AREA:
TOMORROW! Sunday, June 4th at 4:00 p.m. at The Rockwell. You're the Expert records a live episode with a scientist who studies the bacteria inside your nose and three comedians trying to understand her work. Link
ALSO TOMORROW! 7:30 p.m. at ImprovBoston. I do an hour of standup comedy at ImprovBoston. Link
SAN FRANCISCO:
Wednesday, July 19 at 8:30 p.m. at The Lost Church. Tickets just went on sale for the Bay Area edition of You Get A Spoon! Jokes from me, a reading by Joe Wadlington, and music from Lily Stern. Of course, this is also a rare West Coast chance to glimpse the legendary spoon in person. Link
My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
Charlie Hankin is a mathematician, painter, actor, cartoonist, comedian, and probably a dozen more things that I'm forgetting. He is a true Renaissance man. Of all his projects, the ones I love most are Charlie's videos as one half of the award-winning comedy duoGood Cop Great Cop and his cartoons. I love seeing his work in The New Yorker, but some of my favorite jokes are from cartoons that were rejected, which Charlie posts on his Instagram. They're so funny but also frequently beautiful and poignant too. Charlie Hankin
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
Emmy Blotnick is a standup who I am sure is about to be a famous person. She's an amazing writer (she's currently working on Comedy Central's The President Show) but also a natural performer who kills every time. She's been joining me for a few of my Living Room Comedy Club shows this past week and without fail, after the show, audience members come up and ask "Who was that?" See for yourself. Here's a great clip of Emmy talking about how her mom disagrees with her politically, fake news, and why she'll never go see another comic book movie. Emmy Blotnick
1 Interesting Thing:
Two Harvard Divinity School students, Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile, set out to understand where young people today find community and fellowship if it's not inside religious institutions. The report they produced, How We Gather, is a fascinating look at how events from community dinners to exercise classes like SoulCycle are filling a gap typically reserved for religious communities. Whether intentional or unintentional, it's interesting to see how these secular institutions are being asked to provide emotional support, mentorship, and a sense of greater purpose. Whether the idea of CrossFit literally being a person's church makes you laugh or rings true, I found the whole report really thought provoking. What happens when so many young people say they're "spiritual but not religious"? What does that even mean? Casper and Angie try their best to find an answer. How We Gather (Note: it's the PDF on the left side of the webpage) h/t Mollie
Have a great weekend,
Chris
