3 Things: Julia Wertz, Amy Sedaris, and Kevin Roose

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. 

 Upcoming shows

EVERYWHERE:
Listen to Antonia Cereijido and I learn about money on The Payoff. Link

Hear three comedians try to understand a leading scientist's research on You're the Expert. Link

Get a taste of my variety show You Get A Spoon and my Living Room Comedy Club.

NEW YORK CITY:
Wednesday, September 27 at 8 p.m. at Upright Citizens Brigade. I'll be telling a story at the very fun show Nights of Our Lives. Link 

Thursday, October 5 at 8 p.m. at Caveat in Manhattan.  You're the Expert is monthly at Caveat, a gorgeous new theater on the Lower East Side. Featuring Jo Firestone and more. Link

TORONTO:
Saturday, September 30 at 4:15 p.m. at Second City. I'll be performing in Toronto for the first time as part of the Just for Laughs comedy festival. I'm hosting You're the Expert and our guest is incredible. She's the world's leading expert in raccoon intelligence. I can't wait. Link 

My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Julia Wertz's drawings aren't just beautiful, they're also incredibly clever and funny. She describes herself as "a professional cartoonist and amateur historian." I'm very excited for her new book, Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City. It comes out in two weeks. In the meantime, I'm passing the days by reading this new piece in the New Yorker Julia drew. It's about a year in her thirties when she had to move back in with her mom after being evicted. Conversations with Ma
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

 
Amy Sedaris is delightfully insane. She's the queen of taking a very normal scene and heightening it into chaos and absurdity. When you hear famous comedians like Stephen Colbert get asked who is the most fun person to work with, her name comes up all the time. Amy is the voice of Princess Carolyn on Bojack Horseman, which is my favorite TV show out right now and she also has a new show of her own coming soon called At Home with Amy Sedaris. From what I can tell, the show is what would happen if Martha Stewart accidentally took a lot of LSD. Here's a clip where Amy and Jane Krakowski sing about glue. Glue with Amy Sedaris


1 Interesting Thing:

Kevin Roose is a New York Times columnist and author whose beat is technology and the future. Kevin also used to host a show for Fusion that produced two of the most astonishing episodes of television I've ever seen. (Hackers and Revenge Mogul). I've yet to see something Kevin's worked on and not think about it again days or months later. His latest column is about Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg's efforts to rein Facebook in and whether it's now too large for them to control. Facebook's Frankenstein Moment


Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend or come say hi at a live show.

If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.  

Have a great day,
Chris

3 Things: HAIM, Eugene Mirman, and David Guttenfelder

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. 

 Upcoming shows

EVERYWHERE:
Video producer/editor extraordinaire Tessa Kramer has been helping me capture some of my more eccentric ideas on tape. Thanks to her you can see inside my variety show You Get A Spoon and my Living Room Comedy Club.

On The Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I learn about finances and what it means to be good with your money.  Link

Three comedians try to guess what a leading scientist does all day and then find out why her research is important and exciting on You're the Expert.  Link

NEW YORK CITY:
TODAY! Saturday, September 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. I'm emceeing SUBMERGE! a festival of marine science in Hudson River Park. Lots of fun activities for families and kids. I'll be playing some audience games and interviewing scientists about venomous snails, underwater robots, and vampire squid. Free! Link

TOMORROW! Sunday, September 17 at 2 p.m. at The Bell House. I'm hosting You're the Expert in Brooklyn and we have the most insane lineup: Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer), Roy Wood Jr (The Daily Show), poet/author Sarah Kay, and an incredible scientist. Come to this show! Link

Tuesday, September 19 at 6 p.m. I'm doing warmup comedy for Jordan Klepper's new Comedy Central show "The Opposition." You can get free tickets to be in the audience and see the show tape. Link

Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. at Caveat.  Comedy, readings, artwork, audience prizes, and, of course, a spoon. It's everyone's favorite variety show, You Get A Spoon. Link

My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

I know that I'm about four years behind the times here, but I just discovered the band HAIM and I love them so much. It's not just that their music is great but also that they're total goofballs. It's impossible to watch these three sisters rock out with each other and not smile. Check out their cover of Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" for an Australian radio station. One of my biggest goals for this week is to master their dance moves from this video. I'm also working on my own version of "The Bass Face." 
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

 
Eugene Mirman is the patron saint of New York's alternative comedy scene. He's truly, deeply hilarious, he puts a lot of effort into supporting younger comedians, and he's always full of ridiculous ideas. Case in point: The Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. Started to skewer of how self-important comedy festivals can be, Eugene's parody unexpectedly became a hit. Instead of after parties sponsored by brands, Eugene has a bouncy castle full of accountants who can give you tax advice. Another year he had a mime explain climate change. The 10th and final year of the festival is this weekend in NYC. 

But let's not forget that Eugene is first and foremost a standup comedian. Here are some of my favorite jokes of his: Eugene Mirman on Good News


1 Interesting Thing:

David Guttenfelder is a National Geographic photographer who's made more than 50 trips to North Korea. His photos have exposed a side of everyday life inside the country that Americans have never seen before. I obsessively follow his Instagram and I was very excited to see that NatGeo posted this video of a talk Guttenfelder gave about his work. A Rare Look Into the Lives of North Koreans

Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend or come say hi at a live show.

If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.  

Have a great day,
Chris

3 Things: Shadow Art, Stuck in a Window, and Hotel Hackers

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. 

 Upcoming shows

EVERYWHERE:
On this week's episode of the The Payoff, Antonia Cereijido and I learn about how to navigate credit card rewards and get another visit from Erin Lowry, "The Broke Millennial."  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.  We just added MICHAEL SHOWALTER to the lineup for Sunday's You're the Expert taping! You know him from Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, and so much more. Showalter, Roy Wood Jr, one more surprise guest, and a leading scientist who discovered a new species called "The Ghost Snake"... you don't want to miss this one. Link

Thursday, September 21 at 8 p.m. at Caveat.  Comedy, readings, artwork, audience prizes, and, of course, a spoon. It's everyone's favorite variety show, You Get A Spoon. Link

My full calendar with all upcoming shows is online here.

 This week's list

1 Thing I Think Is Great:

Damon Belanger is an artist who transforms the mundane. He brings joy to everyday objects by painting shadows on the ground. At first glance, pedestrians assume it's just a normal shadow but then they do a double-take at its shape. All of a sudden, walking on the sidewalk becomes an adventure. I could tell you more about his work but it's much better to see the photos for yourself. Next time I'm in Northern California, I'm determined to get to Redwood City and see Belanger's shadows in person. Art in the Shadows: Damon Belanger
 

1 Thing That Made Me Laugh:

 
Every once in a while, a news story is funnier than any joke. Here is some spectacular reporting on a British man's date gone wrong (so wrong). Liam Smyth's date went to the bathroom in his apartment, discovered the toilet wouldn't flush, and panicked. When she tried to throw her poop out the window, it got stuck, so she tried to reach in to grab it, and then she got stuck. The night ended with the fire department destroying the window to save her. Liam started a GoFundMe to pay for the window replacement and he ended up getting a lot more than he expected. Woman Ends Tinder Date Stuck in Window


1 Interesting Thing:

In WIRED, Andy Greenberg has the fascinating story of Aaron Cashatt, a serial burglar who discovered a way to hack into nearly any hotel room. The story itself is wild, but what's even crazier is that the vulnerability still exists. Here's what happens when digital security meets analog criminals and a large corporation decides it's too expensive to solve the problem. Inside An Epic Hotel Room Hacking Spree

Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, forward it to a friend or come say hi at a live show.

If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here.  

Have a great day,
Chris