3 Things: Rob Delaney, Ellie Shechet, and Andrew Boryga by Chris Duffy

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:
Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas returns to HBO on Friday, April 5th. Season 2 is a deep-dive into education in America. I've loved writing for the show and I'm so glad you'll get to see it soon. Check out the trailer here

You can listen on any podcast app to You're the Expert, my show where three comedians interview a scientist about her work and why it matters.  Link

ON TOUR:
I'm currently on tour with Pop-Up Magazine XQ and our shows in Tennessee and Colorado were so much fun. I'll be in LA this coming week, then Chicago, and then Seattle (tickets/details coming soon for that one).
-3/15 in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre SOLD OUT
-3/30 in Chicago at the Harris Theater

You can find ticket links for all those shows (and more, as they're announced) online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
The television show Catastrophe delivers a powerful combination of emotions. It's funny and heartbreaking and charming and beautiful and cringeworthy all at once. Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney have created something very special and different from any other show about love. Going into the final season, Rob Delaney talks about the personal tragedy of losing his son and how he used humor and the show to help him survive. This interview is full of that same mix of quick absurdist jokes followed by almost stunning vulnerability. Rob Delaney Still Wants to Make You Laugh 


FUNNY:
Ellie Shechet is a writer and editor in Brooklyn. She's written for places like Jezebel andThe New York Times. But her true masterwork is a weekly newsletter called "Horrible Lists." It's exactly what it sounds like. Every Monday, Ellie sends out a short email with a list of items from a different horrible category and they are always laugh out loud hilarious. She is a comic genius. Previous issues have included "the real names of beetles," "things Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard said during an Architectural Digest tour of their Brooklyn home," and "backup pitches for my TV writing class." I often find myself pulling up her emails so I can show them to a friend and watch the pure joy on their face as they read. Here's my all-time favorite: 9 Times My Local Cafe Owner Has Fired Back at His Haters (h/t Emma Carmichael)


INTERESTING:
The best part of this Pop-Up Magazine tour has been meeting the other contributors and folks who work behind the scenes. This week, I've gotten to have some great conversations with Andrew Boryga, a writer and educator who teaches in colleges and prisons when he's not working on his novel or a magazine feature. Andrew often incorporates photographs into his stories. A beautiful example is this article about "growing up in the Bronx, and never truly leaving it." It's a piece that will stay with you long after you're finished reading. A Place I Could Call My Own


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If you're reading this for the first time (maybe someone forwarded you this email?), you can subscribe here.

Have a great day!
Chris

3 Things: Paul Ford, Roy Wood Jr., and Marcia Belsky by Chris Duffy

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:
You can listen on any podcast app to You're the Expert, my show where three comedians interview a scientist about her work and why it matters.  Link

ON TOUR:
Tickets are running very low for the high-school themed tour I'm doing with Pop-Up Magazine XQ so don't delay if you live in one of these cities:
-2/28 in Memphis at the Crosstown Arts Theater SOLD OUT
-3/2 in Nashville at the War Memorial Auditorium
-3/7 in Denver at the Ogden Theatre SOLD OUT
-3/8 in Colorado Springs at the Shockley-Zalabak Theater
-3/15 in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre SOLD OUT
-3/30 in Chicago at the Harris Theater

 You can find ticket links for all those shows (and more, as they're announced) online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
It's amazing how many complicated social situations are suddenly not that tricky at all when you remember your manners. I think there's sometimes a misconception that being polite also means being stuffy and formal, but that doesn't have to be the case. Paul Ford makes an excellent and entertaining argument for courtesy in this lovely essay. It's from 2014 but I just discovered it this week and I'm very glad I did. How to Be Polite


FUNNY:
Roy Wood Jr. is hilarious and sharp-witted in just about any context. He's fantastic in field pieces on The Daily Show but also great as a character. He kills in comedy clubs, bars, and on college campuses. And his Instagram stories are funnier than three quarters of the comedy specials Netflix will release this year. This compilation of Roy reviewing every film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars had me rolling. Roy Reviews 


INTERESTING:
Marcia Belsky is first and foremost an amazing comic. She writes killer jokes. She co-created and stars in the hit live show Handmaid's Tale: The Musical. And she is constantly creating new shows and material. But Marcia's been doing more than just making people laugh. She's also gone toe-to-toe with the leaders of the biggest social networks on Earth. And because she wouldn't stop making jokes and drawing attention to the hypocrisy of repeatedly banning female comics for making jokes against sexual predators and harassers, she attracted enough media attention that Mark Zuckerberg and his deputies had to consider the principles underlying their platform. Here's a look at the conversation Marcia started. "Men Are Scum": Inside Facebook's War on Hate Speech


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If you're reading this for the first time (maybe someone forwarded you this email?), you can subscribe here.

Have a great Saturday,
Chris

3 Things: Sharon Van Etten, Desus & Mero, and Hans-Jurgen Topf by Chris Duffy

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:
You can listen on any podcast app to You're the Expert, my show where three comedians interview a scientist about her work and why it matters.  Link

NEW YORK CITY:
TONIGHT, February 23 at 9:30 p.m. at Brooklyn Comedy Collective. I'm improvising with some of NYC's funniest comedians in Carley Moseley's Monster Mash show. Link

Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m. at The Bell House. I'm opening for the great Aparna Nancherla. SOLD OUT

ON TOUR:
Shows are rapidly selling out for the high-school themed tour I'm doing with Pop-Up Magazine XQ. I'll be telling a story onstage with a group of journalists, musicians, and more. Get your tickets now!
-2/28 in Memphis at the Crosstown Arts Theater SOLD OUT
-3/2 in Nashville at the War Memorial Auditorium
-3/7 in Denver at the Ogden Theatre SOLD OUT
-3/8 in Colorado Springs at the Shockley-Zalabak Theater
-3/15 in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre SOLD OUT
-3/30 in Chicago at the Harris Theater

 You can find ticket links for all those shows (and more, as they're announced) online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
Sharon Van Etten is a true renaissance woman. I really recommend her new album "Remind Me Tomorrow," especially the song "Seventeen" which has been on repeat in my house nonstop. In the years since she first became famous, she's had a child, acted in a hit Netflix series, scored feature films, and gone back to school to get a degree in psychology. Her goal is to be a full-time therapist by the time she's fifty. In the meantime, she just happens to be making incredible music and selling out world tours. The Many Lives of Sharon Van Etten


FUNNY:
Desus and Mero are two of the funniest human beings on the planet. They never have a dull moment, they constantly give other a hard time, and they manage to make every celebrity interview surprising and informal. More than anything, they are clearly having fun. It's so hard for television shows to capture that infectious, high-energy hilarity that you get from goofing around with your friends, but these two have done it over and over again. And they're doing it right now on Showtime with a budget (and writers like Josh Gondelman and Heben Nigatu, two of the best of the best). In their premiere episode, they roast Vladimir Putin, interview Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and parody The Green Book.Desus & Mero


INTERESTING:
If you're a rock band on a worldwide arena tour, you're going to need clean clothes. And that's where Hans-Jurgen Topf comes in. The premiere laundry specialist for rock tours, he's cleaned for everyone from U2 to Elton John to David Hasselhof. His biggest regret is once damaging a vest for Janet Jackson. This article is such a weird and fascinating look into a profession I had never imagined existing. He knows the Stars' Dirty Laundry. Because He Washes It


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If you're reading this for the first time (maybe someone forwarded you this email?), you can subscribe here.

Enjoy the weekend!
Chris