Hi everyone,
This might be another quick one because I’m once again traveling and working on a freelance gig and preparing for the Writers Guild Awards, which are in less than a week somehow!
Maris came with me on the road to New Orleans this week and we had a blast eating good food and seeing friends. I had a steak “sandwich” that you could use to medically induce a coma, and I took the longest nap of my adult life immediately after eating it.
The shows at Junk Drawer Coffee/Sports Drink Social Club were amazing. My openers were SO good too. Marcus Bond and Benjamin Hoffman and Saya Mead ripped it all weekend. And my buddy Neal Stastny came out and hopped on the Friday late show and killed. Plus, Mark Caesar and AJ whose last name I forget did great spots on one show each.
My buddy Robert and I are always kind of taking the temperature of “the scene” in person and via text, and things sometimes feel kind of dire with people moving out of town or getting pulled in various directions (or into older age demographics) that stop them/us from hanging out the way we used to. But it’s so energizing to meet new people and see them making cool-ass art and building new spaces (like Sports Drink!!!) for people to practice and share that art! It’s a real antidote for how corporatized and homogenous and churning so much creative work is pushed towards being.
I also signed onto an Artists For Ceasefire letter in defense of Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer’s speech at the Oscars. Lots of Jews I Admire signed the letter as well. As Kirsten Dunst recently said “my interpretation was he was saying that genocide is bad” and that’s a pretty reasonable thing to agree with. I am a wimp, but I’m trying not to be a coward if that makes sense.
In other Josh Gondelman related business…
I’m co-hosting Butterboy at Littlefield with the great Maeve Higgins every Monday in April including tonight!
I just announced a new headlining show in Brooklyn! There are still a few tickets available to the late taping of my special on 6/21, but if you’re not going to be in town or if you’re the sleepy type, I’m running it a few times in town before then! The first one is 4/27 at the nearly-too-sensible hour of 5pm at Union Hall (tickets here), featuring special guest Isabel Levin. And, people of PHILADELPHIA, I’m doing a 4:30 matinee show at Helium Comedy Club on 6/8. I love Helium and Philly and am so psyched for you to see the way this hour has shaped up since I was last in town!
And if you’re not sick of me yet, I was on three (three???) podcasts last week.
Hey Riddle Riddle was one of the most fun podcasts I’ve ever done! The hosts are so fast and funny and nice! The show is about…riddles. (And a few weeks after we recorded, I did my first escape room with one of the hosts!)
Even More News was also a very good experience but because we were talking about the news it was understandably less fun!
I’m back on Jordan Jesse Go with my pals Jordan and Jesse! It’s always a treat to goof around with them! It is all very silly! Extremely so!
You can also look for me on this week’s upcoming Scam Goddess with Laci Mosley!!!
PEP TALK FOR THE NYC EARTHQUAKE
Now that we’ve got earthquakes in New York, I guess there’s no reason for me to ever move to Los Angeles. What’s the draw now? Slightly fresher avocados?
Okay technically the earthquake was centered in New Jersey, but it tells everyone it’s from New York. It was a 4.8 on the Richter scale. A New Jersey 4.8 isn’t bad. Or as Bruce Springsteen would say: “You ain’t a beauty but yeah, you’re alright.”
The earthquake happened when I was on my flight to New Orleans, and for some reason my response was: “You’ll never catch me, the ground!” And as we got off the plane a couple of hours later, two sweet young Tulane students asked the pilot if some turbulence we felt in the air was because of the earthquake on the ground. This was like reverse-astrology with the land dictating the terms of the sky. And at first I was like lol come on but then I was like “Wait DID the earthquake cause the turbulence?” (The answer of course was no, and also we were like 500 miles away from the quake when it happened.) It’s still good to be curious. There are no stupid questions is a maxim I don’t subscribe to, but “go ahead and ask the questions, even the stupid ones” is a nice twist that I’ll sign onto.
So, thanks for the perspective, earthquake.
(If you see these jokes repeated on Instagram Reels or TikTok, like, share, comment, and don’t make a whole THING about it, cool? There’s a real ticking clock on how long I can milk them and I’m trying to squeeze every last drop out of this…joke udder.)
PEP TALK FOR A READER
I’ve done a little condensing of this request for time and space but I can do that if I want!!!
While stalking an ex this week (I know, I know), I discovered that he took a recent trip to NYC to attend the premiere of the latest Taskmaster series. Now, while dating, one of the only things we could agree on was how excellent Taskmaster is, but I could never get him to appreciate standup. And now off he goes across the country to see you and Alex and Greg? With his email job money? Discovering this trip was more painful (I assume) than discovering a new romantic partner. How can I cope with this betrayal and still enjoy your work and Taskmaster?
- The Askmaster
They say the best revenge is living well, which is absolutely untrue. The best revenge is either pulling a “Cask of Amontillado” on your enemy or otherwise tricking them into some kind of perilous and remote circumstances, but you will for sure go to jail for doing those things. Living well is a pretty good synthetic revenge though, and you can almost definitely pull that off in the long run. They (who?) also say that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone new (First of all: who are they to tell you how to do sex?) and logistics/preferences aside, you’ll be able to do that right now if you someone new with the new series of Taskmaster.
Your old memories are still painful because you haven’t made enough good new memories yet. But you’ll love a new Taskmaster cast again, and probably new romantic partners too. (Probably those won’t be the same people but wow what a revenge double header that would be if you dated all five of the new panelists.) It doesn’t have to be Taskmaster specifically, but I think it would be the best way to achieve the out/through one-two punch.
Your ex is going to keep having a fun life, at least in bursts. Sorry! It’s just true! But you are ALSO going to have fun, which will not only make your memories of your time together recede in the rear view like Bruce Springsteen’s hometown at the end of “Thunder Road” (I’m allowed to do two “Thunder Road” references in one newsletter if I want), but also it will eclipse (topical!) your desire to snoop on what kind of fun this ex is having. Eventually, maybe you will wish them well, in a sincere way and not an emo song way. Or maybe it will not occur to you to think about whether they are out there, shushing their new partner while they watch five strangers in a different country try to throw a potato into a hole.
Your task is to have fun on your own. You have the rest of your life. Your time started already but you can functionally start now.
PICK ME UP SONG OF THE WEEK: Sunset Rubdown - “Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!”
Okay I totally missed the boat on Sunset Rubdown when they existed, but my friend Lillian is a big fan and she’s going to open for frontman Spencer Krug on a bunch of his upcoming solo dates so I gave them a listen. This song has been in heavy rotation in my headphones (well, my backup headphones because one of my Bluetooth earbuds is lost under the couch again) for a week and a half. It’s not like…a peppy song, but it’s got a bunch of different movements that all make me go “hell yeah!” when they start so I’m including it here.
Also, my pal Brittany Carney has a new standup special that just came out! I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but she’s so funny and special and unlike anyone else, and I can guarantee that several people who watch it will be like damn she’s my new favorite comedian!
Liz Miele who is also wonderful has a new special out too that I’m similarly excited to watch when I have an hour to enjoy something!
UPCOMING SHOWS
I’ve got some really fun shows coming up! Come see one! More NYC spots are listed on my website, and more road dates are coming soon! OH ALSO: In April I’ll be guest cohosting Butterboy at Littlefield with my friend Maeve Higgins every Monday! :)
4/8: Butterboy at Littlefield in Brooklyn
4/11: Top Bottoms at Club Cumming
4/12: Schtick a Pole In It at DROM
4/14: Hosting the Writers Guild of America New York City ceremony!
4/15: Butterboy at Littlefield in Brooklyn
4/22: Butterboy at Littlefield in Brooklyn
4/25: Lovett or Leave It in Washington, DC
4/27: Headlining Union Hall in Brooklyn (5PM SHOW!!!)
4/29: Butterboy at Littlefield in Brooklyn
5/2: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me Live Recording (Chicago)
5/3-5/4: Commonwealth Sanctuary (Dayton, KY) (Four shows!)
5/8: Cobb’s Comedy Club (San Francisco)
5/10: Here-After (Seattle) (Two shows!)
5/12: Helium Comedy Club (Portland)
5/16-5/18: Vermont Comedy Club (Burlington) (Five shows!)
6/15: Kismet Improv Theater (Pawtucket, RI) (EARLY SHOW SOLD OUT! LATE SHOW ADDED!!!)
6/21: NEW SPECIAL TAPING AT THE BELL HOUSE IN BROOKLYN (Late show tickets on sale now!)
it must be said: scam goddess was HILAROUS!
I LOVE that Sunset Rubdown album! Also, pretty sure I heard that they are reuniting? So pretty excited for potentially more proggy indie rock with indecipherable lyrics that somehow still hit me in my soul?!?