DRDB! 8: A Spitting Image of a Six-Foot Party Sub
I hope the new Comedy Central show The Other Two is good. A lot of the press around it features the former SNL writers who created the show, which makes sense. They’re the most famous people involved who aren’t All-Star SNL Alum Molly Shannon. My real hope is that it’s the coming out party for Drew Tarver, who is a delightful performer and is just ridiculously funny. My favorite podcast out there is The Teacher’s Lounge. His appearances on other shows like Comedy Bang Bang are must-listen. And maybe the best improv set I ever saw at the soon-to-be-closed UCB East Village was Tarver and Big Grande in the middle of a 90 degree summer afternoon, wall-to-wall with DCM improv nerds, and they were on the verge of bringing the building down. I’ve never heard that room laugh so hard for so long.
The title this week comes from Big Grande’s funeral sketch. Please enjoy.
Mary Oliver: Listening to the World (On Being)
If you’re reading this email and you aren’t reading Mary Oliver’s poetry, go ahead and delete this email and start reading Mary Oliver’s poetry. Start with “Wild Geese” or “The Summer Day” or anything else of hers you find.What White, Western Audiences Don’t Understand About Marie Kondo’s “Tidying Up” (HuffPo)
Today in backlash to the backlash, a short exploration of Marie Kondo’s cultural and religious influences that Americans just don’t grasp. It’s insane that people are angry at this TV show. America, your insecurity is showing.How Hollywood Failed Brad Renfro (Buzzfeed.News)
“It is abundantly clear that Renfro’s parents and his paternal grandmother did let him down. It is also true, though, that for all his many well-meaning adult colleagues, the necessities of filmmaking—from finding an actor with the ability to captivate an audience to making it through the day’s production schedule on time and on budget—ultimately steamrolled over Renfro’s best interests. Again and again, he was cast in roles that called upon him to marshall a maturity beyond his years, in locations far from home, and with a porous support structure that lasted only as long as he was an employee.”The Tale of Boozy Suzy and Her Hammer Fist: Inside the Rise and Fall of the Pillow Fight League (Longreads)
“It was empowering. We weren’t romping about in lingerie and giggling like girls at a slumber party. It pushed limits. It had some major violence. People loved it because it was different and it was raw.”Nikola Jokic and the Funky Bunch (The Ringer)
If you have even a passing interest in basketball or sports, now’s the time to check in on the Denver Nuggets. They’re one of the best teams in the league, easily the strangest, and at the center of it is a 7-foot tall Serbian playing point guard. At age 23, he already has more NBA triple doubles than Kareem. The highlights are so, so sweet.Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for January 20, 2019
The “extremely online” version of Nancy that Olivia Jaimes has created over the last year has been consistently very good. I’m a big, big fan. This strip feels like a perfect homage to Ernie Bushmiller’s iconic visual gag style but with an added dose of fourth-wall-busting modernity. Did you see this interview with Jaimes? It’s a good interview.How to Kill Your Envy (Leah Letter)
“[Envy is] the common currency of mimetic desire... Envy is a form of hostile worship. It turns admiration into resentment. Dante considered it radix malorum, the root of all evil, and [the French historian and philosopher Rene] Girard agreed. He claimed that envy is the one taboo that is alive and well in contemporary society—the vice that few will ever talk about or confess to.”Jungle - “Casio” (YouTube, 4min)
I love music videos with good dance routines. Jungle makes so many music videos with good dance routines. I love Jungle. See also: Busy Earnin’, Time, The Heat 💃🕺