3 Things: Leila Janah, Tracy Manaster, and CollegeHumor

Happy Saturday!

I've been in New York this week working on my off-Broadway show and feeling very grateful for all the friends and former coworkers who have come out to support. It's the first time I've performed a piece that's not primarily about making people laugh and it's scary to try something new. But it's also exciting. it's also nice to be back in New York and admire just how quickly a crowd of people is able to walk directly through another crowd of people. It's a thing of beauty. Also, I've eaten a bagel every single morning I've been back.

Upcoming Events

NEW YORK
Friday, February 7th and Saturday, February 8th. SOLD OUT. These public workshops of my new stage show are sold out but if you sign up for the wait list for tonight we'll do our best to get you in. It's presented by All For One Theater. Link with more info

LOS ANGELES
Wednesday, March 25th at 7 pm at the Lyric-Hyperion Theatre. Matt Porter and I are hosting another edition of Powerful Points, where comedians give presentations. Link

This week’s list

GREAT:
Leila Janah was an entrepreneur who created jobs that paid living wages to thousands of workers. Her goal was to create work that would lift people out of poverty and she was remarkably successful at it. I'm sad that I only learned about her after she passed away. It sounds like she was an incredible person and leader. I  wonder how different things might be if we focused the same fame and admiration on business leaders like Janah instead of ones that amass the most wealth possible by any means necessary. Leila Janah


FUNNY:
Iowa's Democratic Primary was not a shining moment in America's democracy. It was confusing, overly complicated, and a complete slog. But it did lead to some great jokes. I think my favorite was this McSweeney's piece by Tracy Manaster, which gives helpful criticism, creative writing style, to the messy debacle of delegate delegation. The Iowa Writers' Workshop Takes On the Iowa Caucus


INTERESTING:
Over the past decade, so many digital media companies have become hugely popular and then suddenly shut down. It's a joke among the comedians I know that anytime someone gets a great job writing or performing for a digital outlet, the important question to ask is "So, when is this company going bankrupt?" But as this excellent article in WIRED by Kate Knibbs investigates, there's no reason that popular, exciting media companies should be going belly-up. Something is fishy. She looks at the most recent casualty, CollegeHumor, and tries to find an answer. CollegeHumor Helped Shape Online Comedy. What Went Wrong?


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

3 Things: Eddie Murphy, Paul F. Tompkins, and Economic Pie

Happy February and Happy Black History Month!

Before I get into this week's email, I'd like to ask a quick favor from you: if this email goes to your "promotions" tab in Gmail, would you please drag it over into your main inbox? Google, in a way that almost feels like a deliberate prank, has started tagging every email I send (newsletter or not) as a promotion, which I find both very funny and a validation of my deepest fears and insecurities about being too self-promotional. So if you wouldn't mind dragging this into the main inbox and helping me convince Google that I'm a real human boy and not just some sort of coupon bot, I would really appreciate it.

Upcoming Events

NEW YORK
Friday, February 7th and Saturday, February 8th. Next week, I'll be doing the first public workshops of my new stage show about long term couples and new scientific research on love. It's presented by All For One Theater and tickets are free (email info@afo.nyc to RSVP) Link with more info

LOS ANGELES
Wednesday, March 25th at 7 pm at the Lyric-Hyperion Theatre. Matt Porter and I are hosting another edition of our show where comedians give hilarious presentation on any topic they want. The show is now called Powerful Points and it's going to be great. Link

BONUS FOR EAST COAST READERS:
I am not involved in this show at all, but The Crossword Show is one of my absolute favorite comedy shows I've seen since moving to LA. It's touring the East Coast (NY, MA, VT) this month. Get tickets before they sell out. It's so unique and amazing. Link

This week’s list

GREAT:
I finally got around to watching Dolemite is My Name last night and it's as funny and great as everyone says. Eddie Murphy is so good, the script is perfect, and it's definitely one of the best films I've seen this year. As an added bonus, Eddie Murphy doing press for the movie means there are a lot of new interviews with him, like this fantastic (and NSFW) Q&A with W Magazine that includes the terrible comedy advice he once got from Rodney Dangerfield. 


FUNNY:
It's a long story that I don't have time to get into right now, but this week I debated the morals of taking a comedy job that was funded by some very shady characters. I ultimately decided not to do it. In part, that was because of a conversation with my friend Myq Kaplan, where we talked about the difference between working for someone you know is bad versus discovering that the company you work for does bad stuff once you already work there. As a follow up, Myq sent me this truly hilarious bit by Paul F. Tompkins about the morality of eating fast food sandwiches. It's so funny and hits the nail on the head. Paul F. Tompkins on Chick-Fil-A


INTERESTING:
There is probably nothing drier than discussing economic policy. But there's nothing more delicious than a freshly baked pie. Combine the two and you have a surprisingly compelling segment that's going viral this weekend about income inequality in America. It's important information and the kind of approachable, not at all condescending, explanation that you could send to any undecided voters in your life. From CBS This Morning, What Does Wealth Inequality Look Like?  (h/t Mollie)


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 start to your month,
Chris

3 Things: Jule Hall, Michael Cruz Kayne, and The Report

Happy Lunar New Year!

Last night, my friends Julie and Paul invited me to a Chinese New Year's party. We ate an enormous amount of food, sang karaoke with Julie's parents, and did our best to make dumplings with Julie's aunt. Her aunt's verdict on my attempts: "These are VERY, VERY bad dumplings." Harsh, but also accurate.

I hope you have a great start to the year of the rat. I was told I could increase my chances of good luck this year by wearing red underwear. Just passing that info along to you as well.

Upcoming Events

NEW YORK
Friday, February 7th and Saturday, February 8th. I will be back in NYC workshopping a stage show about long term couples and new scientific research on love. Presented by All For One Theater. Free (email info@afo.nyc to RSVP) Link with more info

This week’s list

GREAT:
Jule Hall is a program associate at the Ford Foundation who works on grants advancing "gender, racial, and ethnic justice." He's also a graduate of the Bard Prison Initiative who spent 22 years incarcerated. The New York Times ran a fantastic profile of his Sunday routine. I love it. It's so much better than the standard celebrity talking about their brunch. I hope the NYT does more profiles like this one. Jule Hall Knows the Joy of a Free Sunday


FUNNY:
Michael Cruz Kayne is an improviser, standup, and actor. He's universally known as a great guy and his career is taking off. He also has the most adorable family. This video, where his daughter Willa tells dad jokes to him, is perfect. (For more Michael, you can also catch his late night debut on Seth Meyers here.)


INTERESTING:
If you haven't seen The Report yet, I can't say I'm surprised. It's a pretty tough sell for a movie. "Hey! It's Saturday night! Let's have some fun and watch a factually accurate dramatization of the United States' secret torture and detention program!" Even when it's got stars like Adam Driver, Annette Bening, and Jon Hamm. But the thing is, it's a very good movie. And it's incredibly important to watch. This is a story that we need to know so we don't repeat its mistakes over and over again. You can stream it from your couch. Do it. 

(Afterwards, watch the footage from depositions this week where the psychologists who designed the program had to justify it under oath.  Then read this shocking ProPublica investigation into how Saudi Arabia's involvement in 9/11 was never fully looked into. Again, we need to pay attention to these past abuses if we want to prevent them in the future.)

Can't say that was the most positive note I've ever ended an email on, but hey, what did you expect when you signed up for a comedian's newsletter? It wasn't investigative reports on CIA malfeasance? Fair enough. That being said, if you do 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 year of the rat, pizza and otherwise,
Chris