3 Things: Jiayang Fan, Mandy Patinkin, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hey there,

First of all, thanks so much to everyone who tuned in to this week's fundraiser for Basmeh and Zeitooneh! Thanks to you, we were able to raise more than $22,000 to get Syrian kids access to remote education while they're living in camps in Lebanon. That money is going to go a long way. The fundraiser is still open for a few more days if you want to donate.

The audience comment that made me laugh the hardest was my friend Tala seeing my beard for the first time: "Why is Chris doing a fundraiser for Syrian refugees if he converted to ISIS?" Another friend compared my beard to that toy with magnets where you shake it and little iron shavings attach to his face. (Apparently that toy is called Wooly Willy, a name I do not approve of at all). A thing that I genuinely love about comedy is getting roasted by friends and I'm so glad that if I can't get it in person, I can still get it over Zoom. And for what it's worth, I'm keeping the beard at least until the election is over. I will let the nation's voters decide. 

Upcoming Events

VOTING:
- There are only 17 days left until voting is over! Get your ballot in early if at all possible. Here's a nicely designed and clear state-by-state guide on how to do it.

LIVESTREAMS:
- Wednesday, October 28th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT. I’m hosting the second show of this new storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. More info here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
I love a good Grub Street Diet. It's so fun to get to be able to spy on what a person eats and snacks on over the course of a week. Jiayang Fan's edition is particularly great. She describes Muscadine grapes as "like a summer boyfriend," sleeps all day and works all night, and special orders 50 packets of hot sauce from Taco Bell. In other words, she lives exactly the life that I want a great writer to live. Jiayang Fan Misses Chinatown's Muscadines (If you're not already familiar with Jiayang's writing, here's an incredible essay about her mother that she's adapting into a book.)


FUNNY:
Mandy Patinkin and his wife Kathryn Grody are so delightfully themselves. As quarantine started, their son Gideon moved in with them and started filming their day-to-day interactions and posting them online. Those videos became big hits because they're just so funny and charming. Here's Mandy and Kathryn talking about whether they'd trade age for youth. Or here's Kathryn and Gideon making fun of Mandy's pants and then truly baffled when Mandy starts responding in a British accent. The best part is, they've used all the social media attention to get out the vote and fundraise for lesser-known down ballot candidates. Their PSAs are the rare celebrity PSAs that are actually good. And here's an interview with Mandy about his career and newfound social media presence: Mandy Patinkin Is Still Singing


INTERESTING:
I just finished reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. I read Americanah a few years back and loved that too so now I think I'm going to go down the rabbit hole and read everything she's written. Half of a Yellow Sun takes place during the Biafran War, which is a piece of history I knew nothing about. Something I've been thinking about at this dark moment in the United States is how, when countries don't learn about or reckon with the crimes and violence in our past, they keep resurfacing in new ways. And that's why writing like Adichie's, beautiful and moving, can provide an opening for learning and discussion. 


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: Daniel Alarcon, Jim Gaffigan, and Leise Hook

 Hey there,

I've been binging the TV show Alone for the past couple weeks. If you're not familiar, it's a reality show where they drop 10 wilderness experts off in remote locations and then the person who is able to survive the longest wins a cash prize. It's surprisingly compelling to watch people build a shelter, avoid bears, and eat seaweed. But the show really gets going once they've been out there a few weeks without supplies. That's when the contestants reflect on whether the suffering and struggle of wilderness survival is worth it. I can tell 2020 has really radicalized me because I've paused the show multiple times to be like, "This is exactly why we need to reform our economy! She shouldn't have to be trapping squirrels in the Arctic for a chance at escaping debt! We can't depend on the History Channel for a social safety net!"

Anyway, that's a long way of saying that early voting has already begun in most states and please make sure you vote because I now know definitively that I won't be able to construct a functional yurt or scavenge for food if society crumbles.

Upcoming Events

VOTING:
- U.S. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd. But early voting has already started in many states! Get your ballot in early if at all possible. Here's a nicely designed and clear state-by-state guide.

LIVESTREAMS:
- Thursday, October 15th at  5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
Back to School for Smile & Olive. I will be co-hosting this great comedy fundraiser with Maeve Higgins. We're raising money to help displaced Syrian kids get connected to schools and remote learning. And there's an incredible lineup including Jim Gaffigan, Lolly Adefope, Cole Escola, Marie Faustin and more. Donate to this great cause and get your tickets here.

- Wednesday, October 28th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT. I’m hosting the second show of this new storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. More info here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
Daniel Alarcón is a novelist, journalist, and the executive producer of NPR's Radio Ambulante. While events in South America tend to get minimized or even completely ignored by many media outlets here, Alarcón makes sure that those stories get told. He just reported a story about Chile's political revolution and how the fight for a new and more just constitution is colliding with coronavirus. And then, less topical, but no less well done is this story he tells about finding a book of pre-written speeches while living in Lima, Peru. It's so funny and illuminating. I think about it a lot. Peruvian Tips for Public Speaking.


FUNNY:
Jim Gaffigan writes beautiful, hilarious, perfect jokes and combines them with a relatable, hilarious delivery. Because he doesn't swear, I think he often gets thought of as non-confrontational. And while he certainly is a nice guy in person, as I've heard from anyone who's ever worked with him, I think his best bits are when he's on the attack. This is one of my favorites, where he is appalled and outraged by the idea of camping.  

(If you want even more Gaffigan, donate to the fundraiser I'm co-hosting and see him perform this Thursday!)


INTERESTING:
Leise Hook, a cartoonist and illustrator, moved from Michigan to the South the summer before she started high school. She tells the story of trying to find her way in a new place by juxtaposing her story with the history of "invasive" species in the U.S. It's really well done. Her illustrations and the story capture emotional nuances that you rarely get online. And I'll never look at kudzu the same way again. I just discovered Leise's work and I'm a big fan. The Vine and The Fish


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.

Stay safe out there,
Chris

3 Things: Sunita Mani, Weird Al, and B.J. Miller

 Hey there,

I'm celebrating this weekend because my little brother is getting married! It's not the ceremony that he and his fiancee had planned. It's not going to be a big party. There's not going to be a fancy meal and dancing. Just a tiny, short outdoor moment in a park with fewer than 10 people spaced out. But it's still a wedding and a celebration and oh my god am I excited to celebrate love and joy for a moment this year. It's a good reminder that, as the beloved rom-com Jurassic Park taught us, life finds a way. I hope you're finding something to celebrate (big or small) this weekend too.

Upcoming Events

VOTING:
- U.S. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd. But you most likely can (and should) vote early. Here's a nicely designed and clear state-by-state guide.

LIVESTREAMS:
- Sunday, October 11th at  10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET
Email Pro Live. I will be returning as the comedian guest on Ivan Anderson's hilarious and aggressive livestream show where he sends performance art emails to strangers nominated by the audience. Streaming link here

- Wednesday, October 28th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT. I’m hosting the second show of this new storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. You can submit to tell your own story or just get free tickets here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
There are some comedians whose genius translates secondhand. I can tell you one of their jokes and you'll still laugh. But then there's a whole other category of performers (in general, my favorites) who have something magical and hilarious that you just have to see for yourself. It can't be copied or communicated. Sunita Mani is like that. She's one third of the incredible comedy dance team Cocoon Central, she went viral in a Lil Jon music video, and she was one of the wrestlers in Netflix's GLOW. Sunita is able to give a look or make a small facial expression and you can't help but start laughing. She's starring in her first feature film, Save Yourselves, which came out Friday and looks so good. I can't wait to watch. And here's a great interview with her: Sunita Mani Is Taking Up Space


FUNNY:
It probably tells you everything you need to know about me that my first concert was Weird Al. I saw him live at the Beacon Theater. The woman standing next to me was apparently some sort of Weird Al super fan. She not only sang every word along with him, she also cried during several songs. I wouldn't say I like his songs that much, but I did have a great time. This week, Weird Al was able to take that horrible debate and put it into an op-ed. Incredibly, this came out 4 days ago and already feels dated. America is Doomed: The Musical 

(If you want even more political comedy songs, my friend Jeff showed me this one and it's so good. Nick Lutsko: I wanna be at the RNC)


INTERESTING:
I feel like this past year has given me a bit more empathy for and more understanding of disability. Having our lives disrupted suddenly and limits put on what we're able to do and where we're able to go, makes me simultaneously feel grieve for what's been lost and feel grateful for what I have. But it's hard to hold those two at the same time. Unsurprisingly, I find laughter and humor help a lot. Charlie Chaplin once said "In order to truly laugh you need to be able to take your pain and play with it.” While reading about some research into using comedy in medicine (promising, but oh wow do these doctors need help with their jokes...), I came across this stunning profile of Dr. B.J. Miller, a doctor and triple amputee, who works at the Zen Hospice Center. 

"He resolved to think of his suffering as simply a 'variation on a theme we all deal with — to be human is really hard,' he says... He saw unhappiness as an illegitimate intrusion into the carefree reality he was supposed to inhabit. And don’t we all do that, he realized. Don’t we all treat suffering as a disruption to existence, instead of an inevitable part of it? He wondered what would happen if you could 'reincorporate your version of reality, of normalcy, to accommodate suffering.'" One Man’s Quest to Change the Way We Die


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