3 Things: Lena Waithe, Joe Lycett, and E. Tammy Kim

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 every episode of You're the Expert, three comedians try to figure out what a scientist does all day and why their research is so important. Link

NEW YORK:
Sunday, January 21 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. Jo Firestone (Comedy Central, Fallon), Gary Richardson (SNL), and I interview a leading scientist about her work on a live taping ofYou're the Expert. Link

Saturday, January 27 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. My variety show and low budget Oprah prize giveaway is back with comedy, a reading by Sandra Allen, and music from Celisse Henderson. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Lena Waithe played Aziz Ansari's best friend on Master of None. She won an Emmy for writing the show's best episode, "Thanksgiving," which was inspired by her own experience of coming out to her mother. Her latest project, The Chi, is about life on the South Side of Chicago and she came on Desus & Mero to talk about it. She is fascinating and hilarious and I am a huge fan of her work, despite the fact that she has deeply offensive views about what is and is not pizza. Lena Waithe.

(Or if you prefer an extended cut of the interview that's on YouTube instead of FB, click here)

FUNNY:
Working in an office, it's important to find ways to entertain yourself. Joe Lycett is a British comedian who put his co-working space to great use. Listen to him tell the story of a missing cat named Samantha Peterson, a very earnest office administrator, and his battle involving a private investigator. Joe Lycett live at the Apollo. I cued the video up to the story for you. 

(h/t Seicha Turnbull)


INTERESTING:
I'm lucky enough at my current job to be writing with not just comedians, but also investigative journalists. E. Tammy Kim is a researcher on our show and I'm convinced she knows everything. It's been fascinating to see her uncover surprising details about stories that I thought I already knew, like the creation of Scripto, the software we use write our TV show. Rob Dubbin, a former writer for The Colbert Report and tech wiz, got frustrated with the program they were using to script and programmed his own. The company co-founded by Rob and Stephen Colbert, is now the software of choice on late night variety shows. Tammy covers Rob's unlikely journey from award-winning comedy writer to tech mogul for The New Yorker. How Scripto, the App That Stephen Colbert Helped Build, Became a Fixture of Late-Night Comedy News


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, feel free to forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone sent this newsletter your way and you want to join, you can subscribe here. 

Have a great day,
Chris

I'm launching a new business venture on LinkedIn

Well, it finally happened. I had a good 18-month run as "CEO of LinkedIn" on LinkedIn. Just when I allowed myself to start planning a 2 year work anniversary party, I received an email from Faith at LinkedIn's "Trust & Safety" team.

Faith said they "had concerns about the authenticity of my account" and asked me to "provide documentation." So I took a photo of my license and sent it in to prove my real name is, indeed, Chris Duffy.

She wrote back and said "No, the issue is that your profile contains language that could imply you're affiliated with or employed by LinkedIn. This violates the 'Don'ts' section of the User Agreement." I wrote back and said, "That's a good joke, Faith, because I am the CEO and owner of LinkedIn. I wrote the 'Don'ts' section by hand." 30 seconds later, she deleted my account.

After several unsuccessful efforts at re-contacting Faith, I had to give up on recovering my account. But I will never give up on professional networking! I took some time off to travel and find myself, and I'm happy to announce that I am starting a new chapter in my career, one that I believe solidly falls under the "Do's" section of the User Agreement.

I'm now the owner of a business-networking-themed bed and breakfast called Lincd Inn. Please connect with me here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-duffy/

FOR THE BACKSTORY CLICK HERE

3 Things: Ayad Akhtar, Mary Houlihan, and Sandra Allen

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 every episode of You're the Expert, three comedians try to figure out what a scientist does all day and why their research is so important. Link

NEW YORK:
Friday, January 12 at 8 p.m. at Union Hall. Jo Firestone and Aparna Nancherla present "Live & Order" a comedic tribute to the true crime genre. I'll be performing a very special role. Link

Saturday, January 27 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. My variety show and low budget Oprah prize giveaway is back with comedy from Hari Kondabolu, a reading by Sandra Allen, and music from Celisse Henderson. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
"A living being before a living audience. Relationship unmediated by the contemporary disembodying screen. Not the appearance of a person, but the reality of one. Not a simulacrum of relationship, but a form of actual relationship." The acclaimed playwright Ayad Akhtar gives a defense of the power of live performance in our age of digital entertainment. He captures so much of why I love performing and watching shows live. An Antidote to Digital Dehumanization


FUNNY:
I think the funniest impressions aren't of celebrities, but of people that we all know but have never thought twice about. Mary Houlihan is a master of catching all the tiny nuances in her comedy. The video of her "SNL audition" shows her at her very best. "Audience Member Next to Audience Plant" is perfect. Mary Houlihan SNL Audition Tape


INTERESTING:
"Sandra Allen did not know her uncle Bob very well. As a child, she had been told he was 'crazy,' that he had spent time in mental hospitals while growing up in Berkeley in the 60s and 70s. But Bob had lived a hermetic life in a remote part of California for longer than she had been alive, and what little she knew of him came from rare family reunions or odd, infrequent phone calls. Then in 2009, Bob mailed her his autobiography. Typewritten in all caps, a stream of error-riddled sentences over sixty single-spaced pages, the often incomprehensible manuscript proclaimed to be a 'true story' about being 'labeled a psychotic paranoid schizophrenic,' and arrived with a  plea to help him get his story out to the world." 

Sandra Allen's new book is a masterpiece. She takes her uncle's story and "translates" it, weaving in historical context and family history of her own. The result is unlike anything else I've ever read. It's breathtaking. I cannot recommend the book enough. A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise

Thanks for reading! Stay warm this week.

If you like these emails, feel free to forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone sent this newsletter your way and you want to join, you can subscribe here. 

Have a great day,
Chris