4 Years of 3 Things!

Hi friends,

As of today, I've been sending this newsletter for four years exactly. That's four years of three things (or 618 things to be exact).

Over the past four years, I've gotten to meet and email with tons of people I wouldn't have interacted with otherwise. I've made some close real life friends, which I wouldn't have expected. And once someone stopped me on the subway and said "I'm reading your email right now!" (which I wouldn't have expected). 

For me, sending these every week has been a way to make myself focus on the things I find great, funny, and interesting in the world, rather than just terrible and upsetting. I've really enjoyed that. And it's helped me get over my own hangups about telling people about the work and live shows I do. So thank you all so much for reading. I really appreciate it.

I'll keep sending and I hope you'll keep responding too. I'm always trying to keep improving (for example, is it weird that the email is called 3 Things but then the list is almost always names of humans? Should it be called something different?). But no matter what, thanks for inviting me into your inbox for the past four years.

And now, it's Saturday! So here's this week's list:

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Next Friday at 11:30 p.m. tune into HBO for the premiere of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas. Link

On this week's episode of You're the Expert, Aparna Nancherla, Baratunde Thurston, and Maeve Higgins learn the sexy secrets of giant pouched rats from Dr. Danielle Lee live at NatGeo. Link

WASHINGTON, D.C.:
NEXT SATURDAY! April 14 at 7 p.m. at National Geographic. I'll be back with NatGeo Live for another You're the Expert taping with Negin Farsad, Jo Firestone, and 30 Rock's Scott Adsit. Link

NEW YORK:
NEXT SUNDAY! April 15 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert is back at Caveat withSNL's Gary Richardson, Ashley Brooke Roberts, and Nadia Pinder. Link

Saturday, April 28 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You Get A Spoon with a performance by Dylan Marron (Conversations with People Who Hate Me), magic by Nate Dendy, and music from Friends Who Folk. Link

BOSTON, MA:
Saturday, April 21 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Science Festival.  I'm doing two live You're the Expert shows, both open to the public (and free for MIT community thanks to generous funding from the DeFlorez Fund for Humor) Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Molly Ringwald was the star of three of the most iconic films about teenagers ever made:Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. She did more than just recite her lines, she played an active part in shaping the movies. Now, thirty years later, you'd think she'd be sitting on her laurels. But instead, she wrote this fascinating and beautifully written re-examination of her roles for The New Yorker. "How are we meant to feel about art that we both love and oppose? What if we are in the unusual position of having helped create it?" Read Molly Ringwald's fantastic essay: What About "The Breakfast Club?"


FUNNY:
Joe Zimmerman is endlessly curious, incredibly likable, and hilarious. He's told jokes in some of the biggest theaters in the country and has his own Comedy Central special, but now he's hit a new milestone: a fan took one of his bits and animated it. Watch as Joe walks us through the truly bizarre personal history of President Andrew Jackson.


INTERESTING:
Rukmini Callimachi is doing the painstaking and dangerous work that makes journalism so important. Her incredible expose based on analysis of thousands of documents ISIS left behind in Iraq is jaw-dropping. It also forces us to ask some uncomfortable questions, like what does it mean if a terrorist group is, in some ways, able to provide more reliable civil services to the population? Reading this piece will change the way you see the war on terror. The ISIS Files


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.

Four more years! Four more years!
Chris

3 Things: Gary Richardson, Nicole Byer, and Alex Jung

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:
Just two weeks until the premiere of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas on HBO! Friday, April 13th at 11:30 p.m.

 Link

On the most recent episode of You're the Expert, Jo Firestone, Charlie Hankin, and Shalewa Sharpe learn about the evolution of teeth. 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 with Negin Farsad, Jo Firestone, and 30 Rock's Scott Adsit. Link

NEW YORK:
Sunday, April 15 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert is back for a live taping. Link

Saturday, April 2i at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You Get A Spoon with a performance by Dylan Marron (Conversations with People Who Hate Me), magic by Nate Dendy, and music from Friends Who Folk. Link

BOSTON, MA:
Saturday, April 21 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Science Festival.  I'm doing two live You're the Expert shows, both open to the public (and free for MIT community thanks to generous funding from the DeFlorez Fund for Humor) Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Gary Richardson is the real deal. He's a writer for Saturday Night Live, a naturally gifted actor, and one of my favorite people. Gary is the kind of guy who you can discuss books and life and big questions with, and then two minutes later be laughing until you cry about the dumbest bits. At one show we did together, I watched Gary antagonize a room of high school freshmen to the point that they were screaming at him, and then win them back over so thoroughly with his jokes that the kids all took selfies with him after the show. I'm very excited that Gary's popping out from behind the scenes more so the world can see how insanely talented he is.

Check out this short film Gary released this week: Places, Thank You Places.  

And another short that shows off Gary as an actor: Phone Story


FUNNY:
Nicole Byer is another one of those naturally hilarious people. She's been a star of the improv world for years because every time she gets on stage, she brings so much energy and genius, and now she's taking over television. Nicole's Netflix series Nailed It just got picked up for a second season of baking disasters and she's been making the talk show rounds. I think she's the only guest I've ever seen leave Conan speechless. Watch her absolutely hilarious (and totally NSFW) two part interview: Nicole Byer on Conan part 1and part 2


INTERESTING:
Alex Jung's essay about moving to Korea is a beautifully written meditation on identity, belonging, and how we figure out what we need in life. "When I moved to Seoul after growing up in America, I was a foreigner who looked native. I ended up staying for three years — but eventually I had to go home." Alex Jung's I Thought Going To Korea Would Help Me Find Home


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: Emma Gonzalez, Marcia Belsky, and the Children's March

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, Jo Firestone, Charlie Hankin, and Shalewa Sharpe learn about the evolution of teeth. Link

NEW YORK:
TODAY Saturday, March 24 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You Get A Spoon with performances by Celisse Henderson (who sang backup for Kesha at the Grammys), comedy from Ashley Brooke Roberts, and a reading by Emma Carmichael (former editor-in-chief of Jezebel). All proceeds are going to be donated to Everytown For Gun Safety Link

Sunday, April 15 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. You're the Expert is back for a live taping. 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 with Negin Farsad, Jo Firestone, and 30 Rock's Scott Adsit. Link

BOSTON, MA:
Saturday, April 21 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Science Festival. It's been way too long since I performed in Boston and I'm doing two live You're the Expert shows, both open to the public (but free for MIT community thanks to generous funding from the DeFlorez Fund for Humor) Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Go the the March for Our Lives today. It's not too late. There's almost certainly one happening somewhere in your city or town today. This is our chance to make a difference on an issue that's felt so impossible for so long. The Parkland survivors and activists are high schoolers, but they're speaking with more clarity and vision than any of the rest of us. If you haven't read it yet, Emma Gonzalez's op-ed in Teen Vogue is incredible. I wouldn't have expected Teen Vogue would be the publication giving me the most hope for America, but 2018's been a weird year. Emma Gonzalez on Why This Generation Needs Gun Control


FUNNY:
Marcia Belsky is an outstanding example of how you can fight tooth and nail for justice and still be hilarious. She's a delightful, hilarious, goofy standup, who tackles sexism and misogyny head-on. Whether she's writing and performing a sold-out musical version ofThe Handmaid's Tale, writing for The New York Times, or just telling jokes at a comedy club, Marcia always challenges the audience to think critically while also making them laugh. As soon as a savvy TV exec catches on, Marcia is going to have a huge hit show of her own. Listen to her fantastic, funny, and thoughtful conversation with an anti-feminist on the podcast Conversations With People Who Hate Me (also on iTunes/Spotify/etc) and read her great interview in Splitsider: Marcia Belsky on "Headless Women of Hollywood" and Calling Out Sexism Online


INTERESTING:
Since we're talking about the power of activism, let's not forget that children have been a major part of protest movements before. There's no better day than today to brush up on Birmingham, Alabama and the history of the Children's March. Fifty Years After the Birmingham Children's Crusade (or, if you're in a PBS documentary kind of mood,Birmingham and the Children's March)


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.

Keep fighting the good fight,
Chris