• At this point, we’ve probably all gotten our 10,000 hours of podcast listening in. We’re hypersensitive to what tickles our ears and feel like we’ve heard every word that could possibly be transmitted from Pro Tools to our AirPods. Well, I’ve got a new one for you. Samantha Rager’s exceptionally unique podcast “My Eulogies Please” is that one that should be added to your carefully curated rotation. With brief episodes under 20 minutes, Rager plays the sassy, quick witted owner of a fictional morgue alongside her sarcastic intern Santiago Iglesias. After a bit of dark banter where Iglesias airs his grievances, the show has comics on to share eulogies of, well, whatever they damn well please. As a guest on the most recent episode, I chose to eulogize LIVE STAND UP COMEDY (hot take alert). For three minutes and change, I gush about all the things I miss about the #grind and some that I don’t. I’ll shamelessly admit that I’m extremely proud of my segment I recorded. Throw it a listen and let it tickle them ears.
• Anna E. Paone and I have been chugging along with our Rizzle series “Minute Made.” We diligently try to write, film and edit at least one episode a week. In the fourth of ten (found linked below), we...mock podcasts. Yes, just a second ago, I was talking about how much I love pods. Couldn’t help myself though. There’s nothing quite as fun as poking fun at those who want to start podcasts and we do that here. It’s just a minute long. Reader, can you spare a minute? Here she is.
• Found an overwhelming amount of comedy gold on the web this week. If you’re looking for something new, I got you covered here:
- One of New York City’s best pound for pound joke writers Ben Miller is unsurprisingly a scientist. What’s more surprising is how obsessed this scientist comic is with...milk. In his super quick, joke-heavy five-minute vid, Ben goes super in-depth on whether or not milk is good for you and I gotta say, you have to see this just for the Spike Lee joke. I almost spit milk out of my nose when I heard it. Subscribe to the channel in the link; there’s more wholesome, hilarious goodness coming your way.
- Ryan Dee has always been one of New York comedy’s merriest pranksters. He’s the type of comic that would switch from silly wordplay to impossible physical gags and wouldn’t even phase him. His newest project/stunt is pure Ryan Dee channeling Banksy takes place on Wall Street. Dee, a gifted carpenter, crafted a giant swirl of...excrement and placed it under the iconic bull statue that tourists gather round. This is the anarchic spirit I moved to New York for and it’s awe inspiring that he followed through on such an ambitious and ridiculous idea. For photos and the New York Post’s coverage of the gag, check this out.
- There’s a number of incredibly well-written comedy blogs and for me at the top of the heap is Matt Ruby’s Rubesletters. Insightful, focused (he doesn’t just jump from bullet point to bullet point like yours truly) and full of clever, analytical thought, I try to catch it every week. This week’s installment was my favorite yet though. As most comics are aware (as well as their significant others), Jon Stewart’s new show had a deadline for packets this last Tuesday. I submitted a page of “headline jokes” like “Fauci wins $1 million Israeli prize for 'defending science.' He said he's finally going to get Disney Plus.” Nothing SUPER in Stewart’s voice or hard hitting but I’d kick myself if I didn’t try. Matt Ruby did it the right way. In his newsletter, he lets us into his writing process sharing his packet and industry insider tips for how one should construct a packet. I loved everything about it except for one thing. Matt feels bad for the readers of everyone’s packets. To me, getting paid to read thousands of packets sounds like my dream job.
- I’m a sucker for a “See More” Facebook post (you know this) and no one writes them better than Eddie Brill. This week, Eddie shared a story about opening for Colin Quinn at Carolines a few years back. It’s an amazingly well-told tale but had Eddie not shared, this perfect moment in comedy history would have been lost to the sands of time. This is what social media is all about for comedy nerds. The link to the short story that I think is worthy of a mini-documentary is in those comments I keep mentioning.
- Major shouts to Ely Kreimendahl and Elani Nichelle’s continued virality on Twitter (click these links to check their stuff out). Every time I log on (which is far too often), they’re sitting atop the algorithm with perfect, pithy observations about our modern, indoor times. Get on the follow train if you haven’t already. They’re going to be a big deal soon and you can brag that you knew them before they were huge stars (70% of comedy is telling folks “Yeah, I knew that (SNL star/person with a Netflix special/influential podcaster) from open mics.”
• In an attempt to continue to catch up with “2020 movie releases” so I can someday put out a “10 Best Movies of 2020,” I watched a few movies this week. I also watched, listened and read to some other stuff. Here it all is:
“Nomadland” (2020): OK, THIS is what “Hillbilly Elegy” wanted to be. A grim, gruff and slight episodic tale of the ultra low class blue collar Southwestern Americans that slip through society’s cracks. Starring Frances McDormand who simply just exists as the widowed lead Fern and doesn’t show off any actorly flourishes, she travels from RV community to RV community populated by non-actors (other than the warm David Strathairn) making the most of her bleak situation. For a movie that had all the potential in the world to be incredibly maudlin, there’s quite a bit of hope in this picture. McDormand’s character always makes the best of her humble lifestyle and always aspires to do more. At one point, a plate of her’s breaks. She glues it back together and I pointed out, “That’s a metaphor for her barely keeping her life together.”
I never catch metaphors like this.
To be blunt, this movie shouldn’t work just like “Hillbilly Elegy” doesn’t. Some scenes don’t. There are stories told at a campfire and Amazon warehouse lunch table (the positive Amazon imagery feels especially out of place in the wake of their refusal to unionize) that are so on the nose about the abject poverty that these folks have faced that the viewer feels as if they’re being force fed a capital M Message. Dramatic yes, but without nuance, they feel propagandistic. Honestly, it felt like preachy morality tales I would peddle in college screenplay classes that professors would pooh pooh. With a directorial touch as deft and light as Chloe Zhao’s naturalistic style, it somehow coalesces. Non-actors named Spankie detail tragic plans to end it all and suddenly you don’t care if a Message is being shoved in your face. You’re invested. There’s many scenes of old people just being kind which is so rarely shown on film that you forget how nice that can be. I DON’T THINK IT’S CRACKING THE VAUNTED TOP 10 OF 2020 LIST BUT IT’S A MUST SEE (Streaming on Hulu which is hilarious with all the Amazon imagery).
*It’s fun to watch this movie and imagine this is Skylar White from “Breaking Bad” twenty years after the movie ended. Not important but figured I would share.
“Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” (2020): Another parable about real folks in flyover Middle America that is rarely glamorized by popular media. In this free-flowing almost-documentary, the viewer is a fly on the wall on the last day of a dusty dive bar’s existence in a small town. From the questions about “what’s next” to nonsensical drunken debates about generational differences to inebriated, ill-advised hook ups, this is perhaps the best movie about the bar experience I’ve ever seen. It’s the ultimate unassuming slice of life “hang” movie. Brought me back to walking into a dive to the back room for an open mic and passing the regulars sitting in their usual spots. I was reminded of so many of my favorite things while I watched- like a live action Moe’s Tavern, “American Graffiti” and outtakes from “The Office.” I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the perfect diegetic soundtrack featuring classic rock from Chicago and Sugarloaf (!) during the day to danceable bar anthems at night, it’s all radio tracks you love to hear while driving you’d never even think to put in a movie. Now you don’t have to. I COULD LIVE IN THIS MOVIE’S WORLD FOREVER (Streaming on Amazon Prime for $0.99).
“Cinderella” (1997): A staple of my wife Anna’s childhood. It’s one of those movies she references all the time that eventually I’ve heard so much about it that I feel like I’ve seen it. Now that it’s on Disney Plus, we made it Valentine’s Day appointment viewing. What can I say? It’s honestly one of my favorite live action Disney movies with its Klimt inspired homes, freewheeling choreography and easy to follow tale that doesn’t muss things up with complicated subplots. You’ve got a sprawling cast featuring freaking Brandy as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as the singing Fairy Godmother, Jason Alexander doing an unrecognizable accent as a manservant (I would have watched a whole movie about him planning the meal for the ball), Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber as a bickering married couple and Bernadette Peters convincingly playing evil. My only gripe was about the mechanics of the world. Why does Cinderella go back to rags at midnight but the shoe remains intact? Seriously, this makes no sense. SHOWING THIS ONE TO THE KIDS (Streaming on Disney Plus).
“Kenan” (2021): Comedy friend Tom Scudamore alerted me that SNL was unceremoniously dumping a Kenan Thompson “Best Of” this past Monday. It’s a bit unprecedented and odd that they’d drop one before a cast member’s tenure was up (also, it’s egregious that this happened before a Bill Hader or Will Forte “Best Of” came out). Once I watched it, it made sense. The “Best Of” is essentially an hourlong ad for Kenan’s new pilot that heavily featured scenes with him and the show’s co-star Chris Redd. So, I gave into NBC’s marketing ploy and checked out the 22-minute pilot about Kenan as a grieving widow/former sitcom star/current morning talk show host. It begins with an inspired wordless bit of impressive character building where the Kenan character does everything just right preparing for the day and seems to be totally in control before spilling his coffee on his shirt. Once the actors start talking, things go downhill. There’s dead air all over the place, odd, roaming camera moves when characters are statically conversing and unnecessary potshots at Kenan. At times, it does show flashes of “30 Rock” level quick paced dialogue but for the most part it leans into easy, sitcom beats about “speaking from the heart.” Yes, it’s a pilot but I don’t have a ton of faith. Maybe we’ll get another Kenan “Best Of” in ten years when he’s still on the show and doing another go-round at the whole sitcom thing.
“You Made It Weird” with Chris Kelly: Kelly is undoubtedly one of the important, unsung voices in comedy of the past decade. As the head writer of SNL’s standout 2016-17 season, showrunner of Comedy Central’s “The Other Two, writer/director of “Other People” and director on numerous shows you know like “Broad City,” ''Crashing” and The Onion, his track record is more than proven. I couldn’t wait to hear more. The pod begins normally enough. Kelly is coming from Zoom therapy. The conversation revs into full gear when Kelly and Holmes talk about how the best writing happens on the drive rather than when you’re in a writer’s room. True. That is where you focus most. Other trenchant observations were, “Taking on new projects make you accept every idea as good but OCD makes you want to focus and not just accept anything and everything,” “the job of the writer is noticing the small things” and “We’re all happier in December when it’s Christmastime” (honestly, true). I loved Kelly’s stories about the time he thought “What are we doing playing with kids?” when he was a kid, the time he lied about writing for SNL before he worked there on a plane and then almost got caught in the lie when he ran into the person he told the story to when Will Forte was in earshot and pacing during episodes of SNL when he didn’t have anything on the air just to stay busy. More than anything though, this episode is a love letter to his movie “Other People” and serves as the ultimate Director’s commentary for a movie I saw in theaters five years ago. Pete really did his homework and noticed everything down to Bradley Whitford’s boxers in the movie. They go deep into the writing process and Kelly says that he often spices things up in scenes in the movie by keeping personal ideas in scenes that felt conventional. Best of all though was their banter about what it’s like being in the hospital versus what movies show us. Watch Kelly’s movie for a more accurate portrayal than your typical hospital drama.
The Empire Podcast with Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright: I used to think I could listen to Quentin Tarantino talk forever (this is my toxic masculinity trait). Well, after this three-hour podcast, that theory has officially been disproved. Still, for film nerds, this is a fun if not overlong listen. Tarantino, Wright and a moderator discuss their favorite moviegoing experiences and I have to say Tarantino describing seeing “Aliens” was mad gripping. I felt like I was in 1986. He gushes about “Rolling Thunder” a movie I’ve never seen that he regularly programs at his second-run movie theater for too long and I began to tune out. Came back when Wright and Tarantino complained about Netflix auto-skipping the credits at the end of films, their recommendation of YouTube as the premier streaming service with the most options and discussion of Scorsese’s list of movies you “have to see.” The highlight of highlights though was unintentional. Around an hour or so in, Tarantino bashes the new “Joker” film for being a direct homage to “Taxi Driver.” Bro, have some self awareness. I love you but you’re the king of blatant homage.
SNL with Jean Rene Page: A relative unknown hosting SNL is always an exciting proposition. The last time I remember this happening was 14 or so years ago where the host wasn’t on my radar at all. That was Jon Hamm (to be fair, I didn’t really know who Halsey was either when she hosted). Well, this was a pretty damn solid show. Jean Rene Page shone (I’m predicting a Robert Pattinson-like career ahead) and Ego Nwodim and Pete Davidson each had their best shows ever respectively. I even liked Mikey Day as a “sex technician” and that dude annoys me to no end. My two favorites were easily the “five to one” where Kyle, Beck and Andrew Dismukes palled around shooting a silly rap video at a grocery store before being asked to stop that felt too real to life and a loopy job interview sketch that I barely paid attention to the first time that Anna suggested I give a second shot. After seeing it a second time, I realized how dumb I was for barely paying attention to the madness at hand. Beck Bennett plays a harried ad exec with intentionally failed ads and his and Page’s interviewee ads are somehow simultaneously dumber and less logical. Plus, there’s a great Ghislaine joke. Also, I have to give it up for the grandiosity of the musical Sea Shanty sketch, the one upmanship in the prayer sketch that was reminiscent of “Key and Peele,” and the scarring, nightmarish oddness of the “wrong legs” visual in the “Chicken Leg Pageant” that Anna wisely pointed out that it felt like it was plucked from the 70s era.
Jason Bateman and Judd Apatow Interview: I love the interview structure where there’s no true interviewer or interviewee; both participants are there to just talk and see if questions spontaneously pop up. In this case, two master comic directors amiably goof off talking about their craft. My favorite two excerpts were Apatow’s helpful advice that every time he’s on set he’s “thinking of himself in the edit bay in six months hoping he got everything he needed” and also that he’s the “anti-David Fincher” meaning he doesn’t care quite as much about detail because that takes all the fun out of it.
• Closing on a bit of a bummer note. The PIT’s mainstage shuttered its doors this week (The PIT Loft and Pioneers, its accompanying bar still exist). I did a hell of a lot of fun shows but more awful open mics in their stadium style seating circus-like showroom with little to no legroom than anything. With that being said, it was a great place to be weird and try new things (considering I often paid $5.00 to perform). The stakes always felt mysteriously low. Plus, there was a basketball hoop next to the stage for no discernible reason. I’ll always remember seeing Gary Gulman do a New Material Basement show, Jay Welch hilariously manning the God mic in the booth at the rare good open mics and Alan Shain’s long hair brushing against my knees while I waited to go up. Those were the days when I didn’t know any better and wore shorts onstage. It was a different time.
At the beginning of this newsletter, I eulogized live stand up comedy as a joke and closed with a true eulogy for a club.
Now that’s a punchline
