3 Things: Nathan Fielder, Zach Galifianakis, and Kirk Wallace Johnson

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:
Last night was the season finale of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas. All ten episodes are up on HBO Go / HBO Now and available for streaming. I've loved getting to write for this show and I hope you watch and enjoy. Link  

Jo Firestone, Zhubin Parang, and Shalewa Sharpe encounter the chambered nautilus on this week's episode of You're the Expert. Dr. Jennifer Basil teaches them all about these mysterious creatures of the deep and how they're helping her understand memory and navigation. Link

NEW YORK:
TOMORROW! Sunday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Maeve Higgins, Emmy Blotnick, and Dillon Stevenson! Link

Saturday, June 23 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You Get A Spoon, my variety show and audience prize giveaway. Link

Tuesday, June 26 at 8 p.m. at The Bell House. Sarah Kay's Wordy Thirty. A night of poetry, music, and performances put together by the incredible Sarah Kay. All proceeds to benefit Hispanic Federations' UNIDOS program for Puerto Rico relief and recovery efforts. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Nathan Fielder makes me laugh like nobody else. His show, Nathan for You, is consistently genius and painfully funny. If you haven't seen it, Nathan helps real small businesses using his knowledge as a consultant. Even though his ideas are insane, they often work. For example, he once helped a real estate agent differentiate herself by getting her certified as a psychic / exorcist, so she could be the first realtor to guarantee you weren't buying a haunted house. Shows as far out and original as his rarely win Emmys, even though they should. Nathan wants to make sure that the Emmy process is fair though. Which is why he released this video: Nathan Fielder has a step-by-step guide on how you definitely shouldn't hack the Emmys for him


FUNNY:
Despite becoming very famous, Zach Galifianakis has not lost his edge. Or he has an amazing team of writers. I'm not sure. Either way, his latest episode of Between Two Ferns is unbelievably good. He just attacks his guest Jerry Seinfeld and then forces him off the show when "a better guest, Cardi B" comes along. It's brutal and so so so funny. Jerry Seinfeld & Cardi B: Between Two Ferns


INTERESTING:
Kirk Wallace Johnson has an op-ed in the NYT about a leading ornithologist, Dr. Christopher Filiardi, who was attacked by a digital mob for his conservation work. It's a story about how quickly, given a little information and even less context, the internet can unleash its fury on a regular, anonymous person. Johnson unpacks the story carefully, revealing the realities of both modern science and social media, and the whole thing reads like a thriller. The Ornithologist the Internet Called a Murderer


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 day,
Chris

3 Things: Nore Davis, Natasha Vaynblat, and Ann Friedman

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:
On last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, Wyatt took a look at "restorative justice" and what kind of resolution we really want after a crime. Link  

Todd Barry, Michelle Buteau, and Negin Farsad learn all about the chemical signatures in teeth on the most recent episode of You're the Expert. Link

NEW YORK:
Sunday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Maeve Higgins, Emmy Blotnick, and Dillon Stevenson! Link

Saturday, June 23 at 4 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You Get A Spoon, my variety show and audience prize giveaway. Link

Tuesday, June 26 at 8 p.m. at The Bell House. Sarah Kay's Wordy Thirty. A night of poetry, music, and performances put together by the incredible Sarah Kay. All proceeds to benefit Hispanic Federations' UNIDOS program for Puerto Rico relief and recovery efforts. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
Nore Davis is one of the great NYC standups performing today. He's got an easy, open confidence that audiences immediately respond to, he's a smart joke writer, and his material is socially conscious without ever feeling preachy. In fact, a lot of the time, Nore gets you laughing and only later do you realize he was saying something profound. He made his late night debut on Conan this week and even internet commenters got on board. Nore Davis is Helping His Friends Unlearn Toxic Masculinity


FUNNY:
Natasha Vaynblat is a sketch and character comedian who, in just moments, creates entire bizarre worlds and takes you there. At a recent comedy festival in San Francisco, Natasha was asked to interview some other performers and audience members. It's a job that typically ends up being very generic, with a few awkward questions, maybe a laugh or two, and some shots of the venue. But when Natasha took over in character as a Russian troll, all of a sudden it's a must watch video. I particularly loved her interaction with Maria Bamford as the two clearly enjoy each other's weirdo genius. Natasha the Russian Troll Invades Clusterfest (For more, check out Natasha's Instagram, which is largely high fashion photography of her characters in action: @NatashaWearsClothes.)


INTERESTING:
Bon Appetit put together an online feature about beloved neighborhood restaurants. "We asked 80 of the most interesting people we know... to let us in on their most trusted haunts, from a Tibetan dumpling stand in a grocery store in Columbus to a landlocked fish market in Tulsa." It's a mouthwatering tour of America, but also an excuse for some amazing writers to indulge in food-based nostalgia. I always enjoy Ann Friedman's writing and I think she may have even sold me on the monstrosity that is Happy Joe's Taco Pizza. You can read the entire list here: Neighborhood Restaurants.

The world of food writing and entertainment would not have been the same without Anthony Bourdain. He's someone whose work I always admired and someone who spent his career trying to make people less afraid of each together. Between him and Kate Spade this week, it's an important reminder that money, fame, and success don't fix problems and can even amplify them. It's also a reminder that everyone and anyone can struggle with mental health. Please know that people out here care about you and if you're suffering, there are resources out there. You can text the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or find someone to talk to (on the phone or in person) here. 

Take care of each other,
Chris

3 Things: Mary Karr, Ali Wong, and Nicole Ramos

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 newest episode of You're the Expert features Dr. Christine Austin, whose research uses chemical signatures in our teeth to discover everything from stress levels to what we ate as babies. Comedians Todd Barry, Michelle Buteau, and Negin Farsad learn all about it. Link

On last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, Wyatt visited Seattle to look at how police are changing their approach to drugs, even highly addictive ones. I worked on this story, so see if you can spot all the highly specific Seattle jokes I've learned from marrying a Seatteite. Link  

Speaking of the West Coast, I betrayed my native New York roots for the comedy debate show Uptown Showdown and revealed the lies we tell ourselves to pretend like the East Coast is better. The video is now online. Link


NEW YORK:
TODAY! Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. I'm telling jokes with the other writers from Problem Areas. The show is going to be hosted by Wyatt Cenac, and all proceeds go to charity. (NOTE: The ticket website was not working earlier, but should be back online now. Either way, there will be tickets available at the door too.) Link

Sunday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Caveat. I'm hosting You're the Expert with comedians Maeve Higgins, Emmy Blotnick, and Dillon Stevenson. Link

My full schedule with all upcoming dates is online here.

This week's list

GREAT:
I love Mary Karr's writing. She's got such an interesting personal story too. She's a poet who went from being a staunch atheist to a religious conversion.  In my opinion, she's managed to stay very open and accepting even as some of her core beliefs about what happens after we die have shifted. And her poems are full of humor and fun and completely unpretentious. They're good poems to read when you need a break from yet another terrifying news day. "Ninety percent of what's wrong with you could be cured with a hot bath." The Voice of God by Mary Karr


FUNNY:
Ali Wong's Baby Cobra has become one of the legendary standup specials. She's filthy, hilarious, and nine months pregnant. There was no other comedy special like Baby Cobra. The designers and writers at The Pudding put together this very cool data visualization using Ali's jokes to show the mechanics behind how an hour of jokes come together. Ali Wong and the Structure of Standup Comedy


INTERESTING:
Nicole Ramos is a 38-year-old lawyer from suburban New Jersey who runs "a shoestring nonprofit called Al Otro Lado, or To the Other Side." She and her law partner are the only two American attorneys based in Tijuana who "work pro bono with both asylum-seekers and deportees people — people approaching the United States from the south seeking safety and those pushed into Mexico from the north, banished by the U.S. government." California Sunday Magazine has an amazing profile of her work and of how the population of Tijuana has swelled as U.S. policies have become more restrictive. Tijuana: City of Exiles


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 day,
Chris