3 Things: Hanif Abdurraqib, Vanessa Bayer, and Kirill Vselensky

Happy 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:
This week's episode of You're the Expert features Dr. Alicia Perez-Porro, an expert on the sea sponge. She teaches comedians Josh Gondelman, Maeve Higgins, and Gary Richardson the truth about SpongeBob. Link

Last night's episode on Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas we looked at why police carry guns and the less-lethal options available to them. I think it's the best episode we've made so far, so if you watch just one episode, make it this one. Link

NEW YORK:
TODAY Saturday, May 19th at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting my variety show / prize giveaway You Get A Spoon with a reading by Justin Ellis (ESPN, HBO), comedy from Nore Davis, and music by Tokyo Driftwood. Link

TOMORROW Sunday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Nikki Glazer, Michelle Buteau, Bowen Yang and an amazing expert, Dr. Helen Fisher. Link

Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. I'm telling jokes with the other writers fromProblem Areas. The show is going to be hosted by Wyatt Cenac, there will be a celebrity guest, and all proceeds go to charity. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. As a performer, Hanif's words create beautiful, searing images. As a writer, he cuts to the quick of issues. This Wednesday marked the first day of Ramadan and Hanif's latest essay is about his faith and what the tradition means to him even as his beliefs have shifted. "I know the ways in which I fail in the face of my beliefs, and yet I wish to consider myself forgiven once each year." Why I Still Fast During Ramadan


FUNNY:
Vanessa Bayer has always been one of the most delightful comedians to watch. In all her sketches on SNL, you could clearly see how much fun she was having and her joy was infectious. There's a kindness and a silliness to her comedy that I love. It also lets her absolutely skewer celebrities without it coming across as mean. I've been re-watching her criminally under-appreciated web series Sound Advice. The HAIM episodes are perfection. Sound Advice: HAIM and Sound Advice: HAIM 2


INTERESTING:
Kirill Vselensky calls himself a "rooftoper and urban explorer." He's become famous on Instagram for his photos dangling from hundreds of feet in the air. I can't decide if what he does is amazing or dangerously stupid. Maybe it's a little bit of both. But this short doc about Kirill by Geoffrey Feinberg is incredible. "Defying death and the law, Kirill chases freedom atop Moscow's tallest buildings." The Hanging


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.

Take care of yourselves,
Chris

3 Things: Tim Kovar, Alyssa Limperis, and Jia Tolentino

Happy 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:
The latest episode of You're the Expert features Dr. Tal Rabin, one of the world's leading cryptographers. She teaches comedians John Hodgman, Josh Sharp, and Shalewa Sharpe all about Bitcoin and how to protect their secrets. Link

Last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas looks at banking deserts, the discovery of the color mauve, and how local police departments treat mental illness. On your TV or streaming now. Link

NEW YORK:
Saturday, May 19th at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting my variety show / prize giveaway You Get A Spoon with a reading by Justin Ellis (ESPN, HBO), comedy from Nore Davis, and music by Ryan Dieringer and Sam McDougle. Link

Sunday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Nikki Glazer, Michelle Buteau, Bowen Yang and an amazing expert. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Tim Kovar is an arborist and tree climbing evangelist. Every year, Tim "takes a select few on a climb up one of the tallest trees in the world —a summit he says fewer people have attempted than Mt. Everest." The short documentary MEL films made about him is stunning. After watching it, I've added climbing an 850-year-old tree named Grandfather to my bucket list. Look Up


FUNNY:
Alyssa Limperis is a comedian, writer, and actor who specializes in disappearing into her characters' quirks. You can see how sharp Alyssa's joke writing is in her beloved "Mom" videos. I loved her latest, Mom When I Visit Home, but you can watch the whole collection on her website. Alyssa Limperis 


INTERESTING:
I get legitimately excited every time I see Jia Tolentino has a new article in The New Yorker. She's an amazing writer and always picks topics that are surprising, funny, and oddly moving. Her latest is about how "teens have taken a technology that was supposed to help grownups stop smoking and invented a new kind of bad habit, molded in their own image." I haven't been able to get the piece out of my head. Also, I challenge you to not laugh as Jia describes her friend Erin's multiple Juul grips. The Promise of Vaping and The Rise of Juul


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.

Enjoy the weekend!
Chris

3 Things: Dylan Marron, Sharp & Jackson, and Michelle McNamara

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 most recent episode of You're the Expert, Aparna Nancherla, Zhubin Parang, and Ashley Brooke Roberts discover the mysterious celestial bodies known as "brown dwarves" with help from Dr. Jackie Faherty. Link

On last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, Wyatt visited Elgin, IL to learn about an innovative police program that asks officers to live in the neighborhoods they serve. But first, we tackled solar energy and how to solve the millennial housing crisis. I'm biased, but I think this was a great episode. Link

NEW YORK:

TODAY! 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

Thursday, May 3 at 9 p.m. at Upright Citizens Brigade East. I'm doing standup on the great Fresh Out show, hosted by Ashley Brooke Roberts and Jim Tews. Link

Sunday, May 20 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Nikki Glazer, Michelle Buteau, and Bowen Yang. We're going to be talking to a scientist who studies love and relationships. Don't miss this one! Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Dylan Marron's TED talk just came out this week. In an era where everything from pop culture to politics can be polarizing and heated, Dylan has found a way to create respect. "Empathy is not endorsement. Empathizing with someone you profoundly disagree with does not compromise your own deeply held beliefs and endorse theirs. It just means acknowledging the humanity of someone who was raised to think differently." The video is a must-watch. Dylan Marron: How I turn negative online comments into positive offline conversations


FUNNY:
Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson are correspondents on Comedy Central's The Opposition. They are naturally-gifted comedians who can get huge laughs out of something as simple as a pause or a turn to camera. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the two of them get their own show. In the meantime, they have created a masterpiece of a field segment. It's part Planet Earth parody, part investigative report into climate change, and all scathing satire of what the EPA's Scott Pruitt believes is "science." From speedos to jet skis to so many jokes about crab genitalia, this piece has it all. Can Climate Change Save These Crab Dicks?


INTERESTING:
Michelle McNamara spent the last years of her life obsessively researching and writing about the Golden State Killer. Her best-selling book, I'll Be Gone In The Dark, was published posthumously, but the renewed interest and attention she created seems to have led to the killer's arrest. If you're into true crime, the stories don't get much darker or more fascinating than this one. Michelle McNamara Died Pursuing the Golden State Killer. Her Husband, Patton Oswalt, Has Questions for Him. (And then, if you're like me and you end up going even deeper down the rabbit hole, this is a wild interview and profile of the daughter of another notorious serial killer, BTK.)


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