A Few Thoughts about the Hasan Minhaj Story
And some cold hard numbers.
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"Sometimes the best way to collaborate is to say, 'No, that's not working for us.'"
A conversation with two Chicago-based members of Second City's educators' union, now more than 600 days into contract negotiations.
Present Dangers
A few thoughts about the Russell Brand story.
Anti-Vax Comedy Club Hosts Anti-Trans Fundraiser
“It's sad that people are utilizing their positions of power, and financial power, to host something that is ugly and hateful,” said one protestor.
Has Jimmy Fallon Done Anything Else Bad?
It's important to remember that stories like these are usually the tip of the iceberg, especially when we've already glimpsed the rest of the iceberg.
Congratulations, Racists
Revisiting Shane Gillis.
Humorism Recommends: Todd Barry's New Special, "Domestic Shorthair"
There may be a narrow level of success that heightens rather than diminishes an observational comic’s powers, and it’s whatever level Todd Barry is in.
Six Small Essays about Comedy
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I. On Forms
Obviously music comes first, then theatre, then the visual arts (painting > architecture > drawing > photography > sculpture > other), then literature (poetry
A Few Thoughts about John Wilson, Futurama, and "The Leap"
"How To" is one of the great shows of our time.
"Everything that was bad about comedy got worse."
Today I’d like to share a conversation with Chicago-based comedian and artist Whitney Wasson. The creator of Sober Rabbit, a webcomic about recovery, Whitney was gearing up for a tour throughout the Midwest just before Covid shut everything down. In the years since, they’ve pulled back from live
License to Stink
As promised, I want to do a quick followup on my Longreads essay (which you can read here if you haven’t yet). Mostly this will consist of stray thoughts on threads it didn’t make sense to include in the piece, but I’ll also share some interesting context
Check out my Longreads essay about Lorne Michaels
I have an essay in Longreads today about Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live, and their stranglehold over American comedy. You can read it here. Much of the subject matter will be familiar if you've been reading this newsletter for a while, but I like to think it offers up some
"Covid is still a big issue that we're all just pretending isn't."
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Today I’d like to share the first of hopefully many conversations with people working in and around comedy. This one is
On Fame
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This week GQ profiled a fellow named Jake Novak. You may be familiar with his work. Last June he released