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
NEW YORK CITY:
Wednesday, August 9 at 11 p.m. at Upright Citizens Brigade Chelsea. Dylan Marron and I are guests on Jo Firestone's Unexpectashow. True to its name, I have no idea what to expect. Link
Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. at The Bell House. You're the Expert joins the lineup at the 2017 Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival with Roy Wood Jr, a mystery scientist, and more celebrity guests. Link
Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. at Caveat. My variety show You Get A Spoon, kicks off a monthly residency at this great new theater, Caveat. September's show features comedy from Aparna Nancherla, a reading by best-selling author A.J. Jacobs, a presentation by MoMA-displayed video artist Neil Goldberg, and of course, the spoon. Link
My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.
This week's list
1 Thing I Think Is Great:
Dylan Marron gives me hope that dialogue and empathy are possible. A writer and performer who's primarily known for his viral videos on topics like race, sexuality, and religion, Dylan has predictably gotten a lot of hate mail. That's just the nature of modern life, right? People say terrible things to each other and c'est la vie? It doesn't have to be.
Dylan just launched a podcast called Conversations With People Who Hate Me where he calls up the people who have sent him violent or negative messages online and talks to them. It's astonishing to listen to, because rather than insult or diminish them or try to convince them of anything, Dylan simply presents himself as a human and recognizes them as human too. You hear two people, with very different beliefs and politics, discover compassion and empathy for each other. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. FromWIRED: The Man Who Calls His Trolls to Talk It Out
And here's a link to the podcast itself: Conversations With People Who Hate Me
1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:
I love Nathan Fielder. His show Nathan For You is brilliant and he's responsible for so many of my favorite comedy bits. There really is no one else like him. If you don't know the premise, on his show he tries to help real people by working as a business consultant for them. One of my favorite segments is when he helps a moving company get free labor by convincing people that the latest fitness craze is picking up boxes and furniture. The Movement
But television show aside, one of the things that made me laugh hardest in the past week is discovering this 30-second video Nathan made called Thin Watermelon
1 Interesting Thing:
Leann Bertsch runs North Dakota's prisons. She was a major in the National Guard, has run the prison system under three Republican governors, and is the president of the Association of State Correctional Administrators. But after a trip to Norway, she changed everything about the way she thinks about incarceration. Now she's at the forefront of answering a fascinating and complicated question: can humane prisons work in America?North Dakota's Norway Experiment
Have a great day!
Chris
