3 Things: D'Arcy Carden, Flight of the Conchords, and Choe Sang-Hun

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you want to start getting them yourself, you can sign up here.

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Last night's episode of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas was another that I co-wrote. Wyatt looks at how a high school in Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood is dealing with gentrification and fighting to make sure their kids have the same access to education as wealthier neighborhoods. Link

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

NYC:
TONIGHT! Saturday, May 4 at 9:30 p.m. at The Brick. I'm on Carley Moseley's improv show alongside some of the funniest people in NYC. Plus this show features a talk/tasting with Jake Dell of Katz's Deli. Link

Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m. at the 92nd St Y. Mollie and Liz are doing a talk and book signing for their bestseller No Hard Feelings. The 92 St Y is an NYC institution and I'm so excited to get to see them onstage there. Come learn about emotions with me! Link

Tuesday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Symphony Space. I will be performing on the always hilarious Uptown Showdown, a comedic debate. This month the topic is thinkers vs feelers and features me and Aparna Nancherla. Link

SEATTLE:
Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. Join me in the audience for Liz and Mollie's book talk and discussion about emotions at work for No Hard Feelings. Link

You can find ticket links for all upcoming shows online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
D'Arcy Carden stars in some my favorite TV shows. More than that, she's almost always my favorite character. It's because she has this infectious electricity onscreen. She's hilarious, energetic, and incredibly versatile. On a single episode of The Good Placealone, she regularly plays a good, bad, and neutral version of her character Janet. And if this Washington Post profile is at all accurate, she's just as great offscreen as well.  How D'Arcy Carden Finally Found Her Good Place


FUNNY:
I've been going back through old Flight of the Conchords videos and songs this week. It's so fun to rediscover how good they are at extremely silly musical comedy. I love that even years after their show went off the air, they still get together to write more goofy songs. They're clearly having a lot of fun. If you're not already familiar, you gotta start with this all-time classic: It's Business Time. But I also love this newer hit I just discovered: Father and Son.


INTERESTING:
One of the many downsides of slimmer budgets at newspapers is there are fewer reporters on the ground outside the United States. It means that Americans tend to only hear about wars and tragedies abroad. When there are pieces about everyday life, they can sometimes be reductive or even stereotypical. But Choe Sang-Hun bucks that trend. His South Korea stories for The New York Times are deeply reported and often very beautiful. I loved this piece about elderly women in rural communities deciding to go back to school. Running Out of Children, A South Korean School Enrolls Grandmothers


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone sent you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Enjoy the weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Cocoon Central, Tim Robinson, and Chuck E. Cheese

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you want to start getting them yourself, you can sign up here.

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Season 2 of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas is in full swing. This week, Wyatt's looking at California's fight to teach comprehensive, inclusive health classes in high schools. I co-wrote this episode and I'm proud of how it turned out! Link

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

NYC:
Saturday, May 4 at 9:30 p.m. at The Brick. I'm on Carley Moseley's improv show alongside some of the funniest people in NYC. Plus this show features a talk/tasting with Jake Dell of Katz's Deli. Link

SEATTLE:
Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. Join me in the audience for Liz and Mollie's talk about their best-selling book No Hard Feelings. link

You can find ticket links for all upcoming shows online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
Last night, I got to see the 10th anniversary celebration of Cocoon Central Dance Team. I was skeptical the first time I heard about a "comedy dance group." But watching them is a laser beam of pure joy straight into your eyeballs. I've never had more fun at a show. They are three of the most original and talented performers around. Whether it's creating a dance intro for the NYC Marathon, parodying dance movie tropes, or starring in a surreal space odyssey, no one makes comedy like them. Cocoon Central Dance Team


FUNNY:
Tim Robinson had a short-lived (but memorable) stint as a cast member on SNL. Then he co-created and starred in the beloved but under-watched classic Detroiters. And now, he and Zach Kanin (an incredible cartoonist and writer) have put together a truly bonkers sketch comedy show. I could not stop laughing. Find it on Netflix or read a review here: I Think You Should Leave is Comedy Perfection


INTERESTING:
We spent several hours at work this week really digging deep into Chuck E. Cheese. First of all, did you know his full name is Charles Entertainment Cheese. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! His biography is wild and surprisingly dark. Apparently, he never had his own birthday so he "fills the void by hosting birthday parties for everyone else." The Backstory of Charles Entertainment Cheese


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone sent you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Have a great day,
Chris

3 Things: Jenny Lewis, Taryn Englehart, and ProPublica

It's Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with one thing I think is great, one thing that made me laugh, and one thing I found interesting. Feel free to spread the word and share these emails with your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you want to start getting them yourself, you can sign up here.

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Season 2 of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas is in full swing. Last night's episode was all about mental health in schools and why we tend to only talk about it after a tragedy. Link

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

NYC:
TONIGHT! Saturday, April 20 at 9:30 p.m. at The Brick. I'm on Bit Tank, a parody show where comedians pitch jokes to comedy entrepreneurs for real money. Link

Saturday, May 4 at 9:30 p.m. at The Brick. I'm on Carley Moseley's improv show alongside some of the funniest people in NYC. Plus everyone in the audience gets a snack cooked by a professional chef. Link

SEATTLE:
Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. Join me in the audience for Liz and Mollie's talk about their best-selling book No Hard Feelings. link

You can find ticket links for all upcoming shows online at my website here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
I love Jenny Lewis' new album On the Line. But I didn't know almost anything about her other than her music until I read this great profile of her in Pitchfork. "After a turbulent childhood and two decades of brilliantly vulnerable songs, the L.A. idol has finally arrived at something like happiness." She was born on Elvis' birthday, became one of the most famous child actors of her time, and then reinvented herself as a critically acclaimed musician. Jenny Lewis Escapes the Void


FUNNY:
Everything Taryn Englehart writes is perfectly crafted and hilarious. She's one of those comedy writers who sees the code inside the comedy matrix and can just pull punchlines out of thin air. (Does this Keanu Reeves metaphor make any sense? I bet it would've really resonated in 1999.)  If you watched last night's episode of Problem Areas, Taryn was the one who pitched "Adult Baby Walkers" and watching that idea come to life was incredible. She's also the author of some of my favorite Reductress pieces like "How to Stay Up Late for No Reason Other Than Ruining Tomorrow" and "People Think I Hate Millennials, But Really I Just Hate My Son, Brian" You can see more on her website here: Taryn Englehart.


INTERESTING:
Tax Day is officially past, so we've all settled up with Uncle Sam now. (If you're only discovering that your taxes are overdue right in this instant, I'm so sorry. But also, you need to hire an accountant.) Income tax in America is needlessly complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. (See Joe Zimmerman's perfect joke about this.) But it's also the way we fund so many crucial government services and programs. Which makes the lengths wealthy people go to avoid paying their fair share even more reprehensible. To put some numbers to the problem, "the top 0.5 percent in income account for fully a fifth of all [unpaid taxes]... that's more than $50 billion each year." ProPublica has an extremely important and surprisingly fascinating investigation into how they do it. The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn't Go Well.


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or come say hi at a live show. If someone sent you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Enjoy the weekend,
Chris