Hanging out with "Miss Manhattan" by Chris Duffy

Elyssa Goodman is a super talented photographer and writer who picks a different New Yorker to shadow each week. She then emails out a newsletter with the report to all her subscribers for  "Miss Manhattan Hangs Out." 

In her words: "Come along as I spend a day hanging out with New Yorkers and other humans. In exactly 500 words and 15-20 photographs, I'll give a peek into the life of someone you know or someone you've never met."

Sign up for her emails here: https://tinyletter.com/MissManhattanNY

And check out my edition (which includes doomsday prepping, standup comedy, and podcasting) here: http://tinyletter.com/MissManhattanNY/letters/miss-manhattan-hangs-out-with-chris-duffy

Photo by Elyssa Goodman

Photo by Elyssa Goodman

3 Things: CJ Hunt, Simon Rich, and Wunsiedel by Chris Duffy

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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 Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I try to learn about money from a team of financial experts.  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

NEW YORK CITY:
TODAY, August 19 at 6 p.m. in Prospect Park. I'm telling jokes at Nadia Pinder's combination picnic party and comedy show. Free! Link

Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. at The Bell House.  I'm hosting You're the Expert at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival with Roy Wood Jr, a mystery scientist, and more special guests. Link

Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. at Caveat.  The monthly NYC residency of You Get A Spoon starts with comedy from me and Emmy Blotnick, a reading by best-selling author A.J. Jacobs, a presentation by MoMA-displayed video artist Neil Goldberg, and of course, the spoon. Link

WASHINGTON, D.C.:
Friday, October 27 at 6 p.m. at National Geographic.  I'm bringing You're the Expert back to NatGeo headquarters for another live taping as part of Tig Notaro's Bentzen Ball. Link

My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:


CJ Hunt is one of those multi-talented people who do everything. He's a comedian, storyteller, actor, TV producer, and I'm sure many more things too. But for the past few years, when he's not telling jokes, CJ has been working on a documentary about confederate monuments. He drove to Charlottesville to cover the rally last weekend and ended up capturing a small but very disturbing moment. "Nothing troubled me more than when I watched a Nazi disappear." It feels a little strange to call this "great" but I find CJ to be one of the most insightful and talented writers out there, so I highly recommend reading his take. CJ Hunt: Scared White Supremacist Takes Off His Uniform
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

 
If we're going to talk about Nazis, let's also take a moment to appreciate some of the brilliant comedy that's made fun of the Fuhrer over the years. Nothing deflates a dictator's power like being laughed at. Maybe take a break to watch The Producers or Charlie Chaplin's The Little Dictator. Or here is one of my personal favorite WWII comedy bits, Simon Rich's "Stopping Hitler." It's only a paragraph long but it's truly brilliant. Stopping Hitler


1 Interesting Thing:

The town of Wunsiedel in Germany has had a longstanding problem with neo-Nazis. As the burial place of Rudolf Hess, it attracted marches each year. The town tried counter-demonstrations, they even exhumed Hess' body and moved it elsewhere. Nothing seemed to work. Until they decided to prank the Nazis. It's a fascinating story that highlights a very important point. Extremists attract disaffected young people by seeming powerful. So we need to condemn them, but we also need to make sure that we undercut their message as well. One way to do that is with satire. They're not strong and forceful, they're misguided doofuses. How to Make Fun of Nazis 

(related: here's a group of Syrians using the same comedic techniques to undercut ISIS)


Have a great weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Ocean Vuong, Matteo Lane, and Razan Ghalayini by Chris Duffy

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 Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I try to learn about money from a team of financial experts.  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

NEW YORK CITY:
Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. at The Bell House.  I'm hosting You're the Expert at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival with Roy Wood Jr, a mystery scientist, and more special guests. Link

Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. at Caveat.  The monthly NYC residency of You Get A Spoon starts with comedy from me and Emmy Blotnick, a reading by best-selling author A.J. Jacobs, a presentation by MoMA-displayed video artist Neil Goldberg, and of course, the spoon. Link

WASHINGTON, D.C.:
Friday, October 27 at 6 p.m. at National Geographic.  I'm bringing You're the Expert back to NatGeo headquarters for another live taping as part of Tig Notaro's Bentzen Ball. Link

My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:


Ocean Vuong is the author of the best-selling Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Ocean's poetry has won all sorts of awards and I find his work to be the kind of writing that sticks in my head for days afterwards. Especially when the news or life gets overwhelming, I try to take a few minutes to read and appreciate this poem: Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong  (h/t Adina)
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

 
Matteo Lane isn't just a hilarious standup comic. He's also a professionally trained opera singer, an actor, and fluent in Italian. Matteo puts all of his talents to excellent use in this appearance on Colbert. It will change the way you think about both Italy and pharmacists forever. Matteo Lane


1 Interesting Thing:

Razan Ghalayini is a true joy of a human being. I've had the good fortune to cross paths with her a few times and she's always smiling, asking great questions, and provoking a fascinating conversation. Her ability to put people at ease is part of what makes her such a talented documentary producer. She's able to pull relatable stories out of dense, tough material. Her short film, Entrapped, about brothers in New Jersey sentenced to life in jail in a flawed terrorism investigation is impossible to turn off. And on the lighter side, as a field producer for Samantha Bee, Razan has made topics like Kurdish independence andfemale freedom fighters funny, human, and real. Razan Ghalayini


Enjoy the weekend!
Chris