3 Things: Jessica Leigh Hester, David Shrigley, and the Marchetti Constant

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Every week, I send out an email with my show dates and recommendations of things I think you might enjoy. This past week has been an extremely LA week for me. I worked one day as a stand-in on a new game show, where I was a placeholder for a "Big Name Celebrity TBD." Another day, I took a Lyft and it turned out that the driver was an incredibly successful screenwriter. And then I took an improv class where four of my classmates were professional Instagram influencers and one described what she did for work as being "a living mannequin." So I guess what I'm trying to say is Los Angeles is living up to expectations. It's glorious.

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Both full seasons of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas are streaming online and on HBO Go. Link

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

ON TOUR:
I'm about to leave for my tour with Pop-Up Magazine's Escape Issue. "A night of live storytelling, music, art, and performance devoted to escapes big and small, daring and mundane, physical and mental."

TOUR DATES
SOLD OUT San Francisco: Friday, September 20th at the Sydney Goldstein Theater
Oakland: Saturday, September 21st at the Paramount Theatre
San Diego: Monday, September 23rd at Observatory North Park
Los Angeles: Thursday, September 26th at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel
Vancouver: Saturday, September 28th at the Vogue Theatre
Washington, DC: Monday, October 7th at the Lincoln Theatre
New York: Thursday, October 10th at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall
Chicago: Saturday, October 12th at the Athenaeum Theatre

Tickets for all shows on sale here

This week’s list

GREAT:
Jessica Leigh Hester reports on science stories "from garbage to space, archaeology, taxonomy, and more." This week, she's got a story perfect for a long summer weekend about the carnival detectives on the hunt for rigged games. "'Don't look now,' he murmurs. Richard Margittay's tone is conspiratorial—urgent, a little electric." On the Midway With the Carnival Games Inspectors Out to Protect Your Summer Fun (h/t NextDraft)


FUNNY:
David Shrigley is one of the funniest comedic minds on the planet. He's also an artist regularly shown in big name modern art museums like MoMA. I discovered his drawings and photographs in high school and they've had a profound impact on my psyche. At one point in my senior year, I made bootleg t-shirts for a bunch of my friends with one of his prints on them. If you're not familiar with his work, I am so excited for you. You're in for a real treat. Check out his drawings and paintings but don't miss the photographs too! 


INTERESTING:
"In 1994, Cesare Marchetti, an Italian physicist, described an idea that has come to be known as the Marchetti Constant. In general, he declared, people have always been willing to commute for about a half-hour, one way, from their homes each day." That seemingly simple revelation has applied for hundreds of years and defined the size and shape of cities and suburbs. Jonathan English has a fascinating look at how the Marchetti Constant has influenced our lives. The Commuting Principle That Shaped Urban History.


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you cansubscribe here.

Enjoy the long weekend,
Chris

3 Things: Ira Glass, Aparna Nancherla, and Kevin Kruse

Happy Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my show dates and recommendations of things I think you might enjoy. This week, I've been trying to get back into a regular routine. I'm very good at procrastinating. And having boxes to unpack or an apartment to clean is a great way for me to feel like I AM DOING SOMETHING, when in reality, I have accomplished nothing. But knowing that I have to send out an email every Saturday or that I'm going to take a break for lunch rather than the next several months, helps me to fight that. So thanks for reading this email! Because of you, I accomplished at least one task that could be considered work this week. 

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Both full seasons of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas are streaming online and on HBO Go. Link

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

ON TOUR:
Shows are already starting to sell out for my national tour with Pop-Up Magazine's Escape Issue. "A night of live storytelling, music, art, and performance devoted to escapes big and small, daring and mundane, physical and mental."

TOUR DATES
SOLD OUT San Francisco: Friday, September 20th at the Sydney Goldstein Theater
Oakland: Saturday, September 21st at the Paramount Theatre
San Diego: Monday, September 23rd at Observatory North Park
Los Angeles: Thursday, September 26th at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel
Vancouver: Saturday, September 28th at the Vogue Theatre
Washington, DC: Monday, October 7th at the Lincoln Theatre
New York: Thursday, October 10th at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall
Chicago: Saturday, October 12th at the Athenaeum Theatre

Tickets for all shows on sale here

This week’s list

GREAT:
I've been a fan of This American Life for as long as I can remember. One of my all time favorite pieces of comedy, a story I've listened to over and over and shared with anyone I could is their story "Squirrel Cop." Ira Glass didn't just change public radio with his show, he changed the way Americans tell stories and the narrative techniques that can apply to nonfiction. Claudia Dreifus has a fascinating conversation with him about the craft of storytelling, his life, and public radio / podcasting. To Get Things More Real: An Interview with Ira Glass


FUNNY:
Aparna Nancherla is hilarious. She's a talented joke writer, a fantastic performer, and an incredible interview. It's so hard to be funny in a profile, but she knocks it out of the park in this NYT work diary. Inspiration Is Like The Urge To Pee  

For further proof that Aparna is a master of the published diary form, check out her Grub Street Food Diary from a few years back. Also, it was her birthday this week! Happy Birthday, Aparna!


INTERESTING:
Kevin Kruse is a professor of history at Princeton. He's the author of "White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism." His latest magazine piece is a look at how explicitly racist policy decisions around infrastructure in America's biggest cities continue to influence our daily commutes. What does a traffic jam in Atlanta have to do with segregation? Quite a lot. 


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you cansubscribe here.

Have a great Saturday,
Chris

3 Things: Kate Willett, Birthday Pranks, and Zahra Hirji

Happy Saturday! Every week, I send out an email with my show dates and recommendations of things I think you might enjoy. 

Personally, I spent almost all this week trying to buy a car for the first time in my life. The things that I had to haggle over were wild. At one point, a used car salesman earnestly told me, "Floor mats are supposed to smell bad," and I had to be like "I don't think that's true." I did end up getting him to agree to give me both keys to the car for no added charge though. After visiting about a dozen places, I ended up with a solid Camry (fingers crossed that it doesn't explode as you're reading this). And the color? You better believe it's officially listed as... "Creme Brulee." As soon as I heard that, I immediately starting saying "Grab a spoon, crack the top" (That's a catchphrase for the car that I'm trying to make happen. So far, unsuccessfully.)

Upcoming Shows

EVERYWHERE:
Both full seasons of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas are streaming online and on HBO Go. Link

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

ON TOUR:
I'm on a national tour with Pop-Up Magazine this fall for their Escape Issue. "A night of live storytelling, music, art, and performance devoted to escapes big and small, daring and mundane, physical and mental."

TOUR DATES
San Francisco: Friday, September 20th at the Sydney Goldstein Theater
Oakland: Saturday, September 21st at the Paramount Theatre
San Diego: Monday, September 23rd at Observatory North Park
Los Angeles: Thursday, September 26th at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel
Vancouver: Saturday, September 28th at the Vogue Theatre
Washington, DC: Monday, October 7th at the Lincoln Theatre
New York: Thursday, October 10th at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall
Chicago: Saturday, October 12th at the Athenaeum Theatre

Tickets go on sale this Tuesday (8/20) at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET and will sell out very quickly, so mark your calendars!

This week’s list

GREAT:
I loved this interview with Kate Willett. She's able to combine insightful political commentary with very funny personal jokes. She talks about getting her start in experimental theater, the difference between audiences in San Francisco and New York, and finding her place as a standup comedian. Kate Willett Feels at Home With Intense New Yorkers


FUNNY:
Whenever people ask about my favorite jokes, I have answers I can give them about the standups I most admire and the bits they've perfectly crafted. But if I'm honest, most of the jokes that have made me laugh the hardest are just regular people messing with their friends. This is a perfect example. It's an idea so brilliant and so perfectly executed, that I can only bow down in awe. Cleveland Man Donates T-Shirts With Friend's Face to Area Thrift Stores in Surprise Birthday Prank (h/t The Ann Friedman Weekly) 


INTERESTING:
Zahra Hirji continues to put together incredibly well-written and moving investigative reports for Buzzfeed News. Her latest is about Ciara Newton, who took on Shell Oil in court. "The oil and gas industry is one of the last bastions of male-dominated work, with nearly four times as many men as women. Several of the biggest companies, including Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, have launched splashy campaigns over the past decade to recruit more women and close the gender gap. But these efforts haven't accomplished much. There is little doubt, lawyers and women in the industry say, that sexual and gender-based harassment remains rampant. And yet Big Oil has received surprisingly little scrutiny." After Being Harassed and Pushed Out of a Shell Oil Refinery, Ciara Newton Pushed Back


Thanks for reading! If you like these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Have a great weekend,
Chris