3 Things: Nayyirah Waheed, 2 Dope Queens, Raphael Bob-Waksberg

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 the latest episode of You're the Expert, Michael Showalter, Roy Wood, Jr. and Sarah Kay talk to Rutgers snake expert Sara Ruane about discovering new species. Link

NEW YORK:
Monday, February 5 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. I'll be telling jokes at Butterboy, one of the very best standup shows in NYC, hosted by Jo Firestone, Maeve Higgins, and Aparna Nancherla. Link

Saturday, February 10 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. This month on You Get A Spoon, a performance by Obehi Janice, improvised music from Rebecca Vigil, and prizes. Link

Sunday, February 18 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert tapes live with three hilarious comedians and one incredible scientist. Link

WASHINGTON, D.C.:
Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at National Geographic. I'll be back with NatGeo Live for another You're the Expert taping. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Nayyirah Waheed is a poet with an enormous audience. She's the unofficial poet laureate of Instagram, where she has hundreds of thousands of followers. Social media and thought-provoking poetry do not seem like a natural mix, but Waheed is able to use the medium to capture your attention and send you elsewhere. Take a few minutes and let her into your brain. Nayyirah Waheed 

(Was the phrase "let her into your brain" weird? I'm pretty sure it was, but I'm leaving it anyway.) 

FUNNY:
Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams are two of the most naturally hilarious human beings on the planet. Their podcast "2 Dope Queens" was a runaway hit and today you can watch the first of their four hour-long specials on HBO. To promote the shows, they've been doing a press tour and I can't imagine what could be a purer delight than watching the two of them explain cocoa butter, the movie Waiting to Exhale, and the newest slang to Stephen Colbert. The 2 Dope Queens Introduce Stephen "Zaddy" and "Hot Peen" 

INTERESTING:
One of my all-time favorite TV shows is BoJack Horseman. It manages to be funny and thoughtful and beautiful, while also being a show about an anthropomorphic horse who's a washed-up sitcom actor. One of the main characters, Diane Nguyen, is voiced by Alison Brie. Diane is Vietnamese. Alison is not. The show's creator, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, gave a long and interesting interview where he talks about why that is. The resulting article is a rare example of an artist owning his blind spots and answering for them honestly and self-reflectively. Pilot Viruet is a fantastic writer and handles this conversation beautifully. The Creator of 'BoJack Horseman' Doesn't Want to Ignore Animation's Diversity Problem Anymore

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

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