Tonight's You Get A Spoon in NYC

Our first afternoon session of You Get A Spoon was a success! If you came, you saw:

- a reading from Sandra Allen, whose new book A Kind of Mirraculas Paradisecame out this week! Sandra recommended: 1) bag balm 2) a pastry blender 3) The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee

- standup from Myq Kaplan. Myq recommended: 1) Ramin Nazer's art 2) Zach Sherwin's album Brutus 3) I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn & Allison Rasking

- music by Maggie Katz (of Doll Parts). Maggie recommended: 1) the music of Charisma.com 2) Sun Butter Cups 3) Hatch Green Chiles

And Ericka won the spoon! Next show is Saturday, February 10th!

3 Things: Tessa Kramer, Josh Gondelman, and Daphne de Marneffe

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 You're the Expert, Michael Showalter, Roy Wood, Jr. and Sarah Kay talk to Rutgers prof Sara Ruane about her discovery of the ghost snake and why you never want to ride in a car with a snake scientist. Link

NEW YORK:
TODAY Saturday, January 27 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. My variety show and low budget Oprah prize giveaway is back with comedy from me and Myq Kaplan, a reading by Sandra Allen, and music from Maggie Katz. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Today's three things are all about love. Tessa Kramer made this fantastic short film about a high school physics teacher in Michigan who decided he wanted to have a field of bison in his backyard. Tessa shows him trudging through feet of snow to feed the bison and describing how he's spent all of his money on this esoteric quest. But most of all, you see how happy he is to be doing this very weird thing that he loves. It's wonderful. The Most Sincere Bison Field


FUNNY:
Josh Gondelman is an Emmy Award-winning writer for Last Week Tonight, an author, an all-around great guy, and an excellent stand up comedian. He told some jokes on Seth Meyers this week and it's so refreshing to see his positive perspective on love and marriage. I also guarantee he has the best joke you've ever heard about Margaret Atwood.Josh Gondelman


INTERESTING:
Speaking of marriage, couples counselor Daphne de Marneffe had a column in The New York Times that captured so much of what I think we forget to celebrate about long term relationships. (Also, has there ever been a more perfect name for a NYT couples counselor than "Daphne de Marneffe"?) She writes about how we only celebrate or focus on dealing with positive emotions with our partners, but the skills that really matter are how we deal with the tough times. 

"In our conflict-averse culture, we don't necessarily think of these skills as part of romance. But I've seen how the best marriages involve people who can deal with strong negative emotions — and who are cleareyed about how hard it can be... we come together in a rush of passion, then we achieve love through continuing conversation." The whole essay is definitely worth reading. The Secret to a Happy Marriage Is Knowing How to Fight


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone forwarded you this email and you want to sign up, you cansubscribe here.

Have a great weekend,
Chris
 

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