3 Things: Charlie Kaufman, Clio Chang, and Brenda Ann Kenneally

 Hey there,

One of the ways that I have been keeping busy over the past few months is hosting remote game shows on Zoom. I did five months worth for the general public and I've done a bunch for businesses, non-profits, groups of friends, even one graduating class of high school seniors. 

It's a very different way of performing comedy, in part because you get to see inside the audience's homes, which makes for way more fun crowdwork, in my opinion. Here is a partial, highly-abridged list of things that I have seen while telling jokes on Zoom:

-a giant Canadian rabbit (live)
-a giant stuffed elk (dead)
-a homemade puppet that had dozens of possible food-inspired hairdos
-a dad who was tired of running after his son's kite when the kid let it go, so he rigged up a fishing pole with a kite on the end that he could reel in
-a mom whose backdrop was just a full wall of Nerf weapons
-a herd of goats
-a giant silver statue of a giraffe
-multiple machetes
-a person who switched on the camera and revealed that they were fully dressed as a pirate and appeared to be living inside of a pirate ship.

I'll keep you updated as I continue my anthropological investigation into the Zoom backgrounds of comedy audiences. But for now, on to this week's email...

Upcoming Events

LIVESTREAMS:
- Monday, September 7th at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET
ART SMACKDOWN. Artists compete to make the greatest artwork of all time and I’m the comedian judge. Streaming live here

- Sunday, September 20th at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET
STORY WORTHY HOUR OF POWER. I’m telling a story on this great comedy show hosted by Christine Blackburn. Get tickets here

- Wednesday, September 30th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT. I’m hosting this new storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. Tickets are free and you can register here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
When I first saw Being John Malkovich, I couldn't believe someone came up with the idea. Like, how did anyone think of that movie? It's SO weird. At a certain point, the fact that there is a little door that transports you inside the body of famed actor John Malkovich is the least weird thing happening. But the film is funny and moving (and it's got to be the best press that avant-garde puppeteers have ever gotten). I love it so much. And since then, Charlie Kaufman has written one completely unique screenplay after another. There's really no one else like him. This profile (written by the always great Jon Mooallem) is wonderful. "How do you write about Hollywood’s most self-referential screenwriter at a destabilizing moment in history? It takes more than one draft." This Profile of Charlie Kaufman Has Changed


FUNNY:
Clio Chang is one of the funniest people I've ever met who's not a professional comedian. She's a journalist and a writer and an all-around goofball. Eater sent her on assignment to find a way to "escape 2020" and Clio came back with this hilarious meditation on cooking for one. "When an escape to a rural Vermont cabin means scenic beauty, isolation, and hopefully outrunning the stubborn ghost of a five-pound roast chicken that’s been haunting you for weeks." Cooking Solo in the Woods


INTERESTING:
Some of the most iconic images of the Great Depression are folks waiting on endless bread lines. And while it doesn't seem to be getting the urgent coverage it deserves, make no mistake, that's happening every day in America right now too. I've been helping distribute food at our local food pantry (don't worry, I stretched before patting myself on the back like this), and the demand is breathtaking. Wherever you live, I'd encourage you to get involved by donating or volunteering and seeing the situation up close. Right now, nearly 1 in 5 American families with kids at home don't have enough to eat. Beginning in May, photojournalist Brenda Ann Kenneally "set out across the country, from New York to California, to capture the routines of Americans who struggle to feed their families, piecing together various forms of food assistance, community support and ingenuity to make it from one month to the next." These are the faces of America at Hunger's Edge.


Ok, that's it for this week! Thanks for reading. If you're enjoying 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.

Stay safe,
Chris

3 Things: Trevor Noah, Zach Sherwin, and Brooke Jarvis

Hey there,

Quick fun story: Jo Firestone and I are in a book club together and we scheduled a Zoom meeting, but I read the date wrong. So I popped in to her Zoom a full day early. I thought I was going to be joining a group of adults discussing a Sally Rooney novel. Instead, it was Jo and a bunch of children who were all screaming about cookie monster.

I was so confused and tried to leave but they insisted that I stay and record the Dr. Gameshow podcast with them. A truly rare case of accidentally Zoom-bombing a friend's podcast recording. But that's how this episode came to be. Jo and her co-host Manolo Moreno are so hilarious. I laughed so hard doing the show. And in the episode, you can hear a five-year-old named Sofia roast me for copying her. It's wonderful.

Upcoming Events

LIVESTREAMS:
- Wednesday, September 30th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT I’m hosting this new storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. Tickets are free and you can register here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
I just finished Trevor Noah's Born A Crime. It's an incredible book. Both the events he and his family have lived through and the actual writing itself are unbelievable. After reading his life story, I understand why he's so uniquely able to make sense of this particular moment in American history. It's because there are so many parallels to what he lived through in apartheid South Africa. As a comedian, he can turn on a dime. Just this week, he put together a very funny spoof ad and then turned around and put out this scathing indictment of yet another police killing: Why Did the Police Shoot Jacob Blake? (h/t Karen Chee)


FUNNY:
No one else makes comedy like Zach Sherwin. He combines punchlines and music and wordplay and deeply researched Internet rabbit holes into something completely new. I'm a huge fan of his standup, an even bigger fan of his live Crossword Shows, and I'm so glad he's started putting out little mini samples of his live shows as "solos." Check out the first one here or jump right to the most recent (and never forget Canada's provinces again). 


INTERESTING:
The best nonfiction changes the way I see the world or makes me pay attention in a new way. And I will never buy a cherry again without thinking about this story by Brooke Jarvis. I never realized the Herculean effort it takes to get them from the tree to my shopping cart. I never put much, if any, thought into the people involved in that process before. But Brooke's reporting (and beautiful writing) opened my eyes. The Scramble to Pluck 24 Billion Cherries in Eight Weeks


Ok, that's it for this week! if you're enjoying 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.

Thanks for reading,
Chris

3 Things: Juan Carlos Ruiz, Fred Armisen, and David Gauvery Herbert

Hey there,

I hope you're having a good morning! Here are three things for you to enjoy:

This week’s list

GREAT:
"Juan Carlos Ruiz, a Mexican pastor in Brooklyn, does everything from human-rights advocacy to grocery delivery." This profile of Ruiz and his work is such an inspiring call to action. It's easy to say "Well, what can one person really do?" in the face of systemic issues like poverty, racism, and immigration. But then you read about someone like Ruiz and it's crystal clear exactly how huge a difference each of us could make. Jon Blitzer covers immigration with a beautiful attention to detail and empathy. His writing never fails to humanize the issues. The Renegade Priest Helping Undocumented People Survive the Pandemic


FUNNY:
I once saw Fred Armisen perform live at Carnegie Hall. He had audience members call out specific regions in the United States and then he would instantly do the accent. It was so funny and wildly impressive. He could swing from precisely nailing "the Upper East Side" to "Indianapolis" to "Sagaponack" to "Santa Monica." He brings that same attention to these micro impressions of people on Zoom. But honestly, the most fun part of the clip is just watching him and Fallon give each other a hard time and make each other laugh. Fred Armisen's Zoom Impressions


INTERESTING:
I read David Gauvery Herbert's article about the NYC lifeguard corps several months ago and I still can't believe what he uncovered. This is some incredible investigative journalism and also just a WILD story. For 40 years, one man, Peter Stein, has been in charge of New York's beaches. He's the top lifeguard and a union boss. Stein holds a municipal job I never even knew existed and yet it turns out that this man is one of the highest paid and most politically powerful people in the city. He accumulated that power with tactics that wouldn't be out of place in a mafia movie. It's unreal. Boss of the Beach


Ok, that's it for this week. Thanks for reading! if you're enjoying 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.

Take care of yourselves and stay safe,
Chris