Hi everyone,
I’m a little behind schedule today because last night I hosted the Writers Guild Awards New York Ceremony, which I haven’t been able to shut up about the last couple of weeks. I stayed out late last night, and there may be typos in this week’s That’s Marvelous, but I sincerely do not have it in me to hunt them out. I really worked hard to prepare for the awards, and the show went about as well as I could have hoped, if not better. The audience was exceptionally gracious and generous, which isn’t always the case at these things, and soooo many of the presenters were comedy pals. I was much looser and more present onstage than I’d feared I might be, in part because backstage was a rotating cast of fun people to shoot the shit with! Also, Sandra Oh walked by me and said: “You’re fucking crushing it out there!” which made my damn week! Here’s my monologue, if you’re interested! It’s a little inside baseball, but maybe there are some jokes in there you’ll like! It was a real honor to get to do this!
Shout out to Brooklyn Tailors who loaned me this sweet dinner jacket, Sean Crowley of Crowley Vintage who let me borrow some beautiful vintage cufflinks and button studs (and who did a last minute stitching of my button holes to accommodate them, and Artists 4 Ceasefire for the pin hookup. And thanks to all the writers and producers of the show for bringing me along for the ride and making me look good!
Also last week I saw comedian Zach Zucker’s show, Jack Tucker: Comedy Standup Hour off-Broadway, and it kicked me in the face with a zillion jokes and bits and gags, which I emphasize with so many synonyms to accentuate the show’s density. It is to jokes as the Home Alone house is to whimsical but extraordinarily dangerous booby traps. Because of a scheduling conflict, the showtime got change from 7pm to 9pm, at which point Maris decided that it was no longer a suitable Tuesday night activity for her. So I brought my friend Haley who knew nothing about the show and walked out like…wow you can just DO that? Zach is bringing the show back to New York City in early June, and I recommend it, but if you are going to see it, just know that it’s extremely funny and relentless. If you are not able to see it, check out some clips on Zach’s Instagram.
Next week I’ll be in Washington DC on Thursday (4/25) for a live Lovett or Leave It recording!
Then on the 27th I’m running through my standup hour in Brooklyn at Union Hall at 5pm!
I’ve added a 4:30pm show (!?!?!?) at Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia on 6/8! So…Come hang out in the afternoon, Philly!!! I’ve also added a Saturday night show at the Here-After in Seattle on 5/11! Link below!!!
I’m also co-hosting Butterboy with Maeve Higgins at Littlefield for three more Mondays this month! It’s been a blast so far! (Tonight’s lineup is outrageous, btw. Roy Wood Jr.! Laurie Kilmartin! What else do you need?)
PEP TALK FOR ME
On Sunday morning I woke up a little bit on edge about hosting an award show in front of a bunch of friends and peers and heroes, so I decided to give myself a pep talk!
Okay, dude (that’s how I talk to me). Look, kid, it’s fine. You are going to be fine. You won’t do the best job that’s ever been done. But you’ll be far from the worst. A bunch of people in the room like you already, and it would take a frankly aggressive effort to turn your friends and coworkers against you with a ten minute monologue. And, beyond that, the event isn’t televised. You’d have to say something SO fucked up for it to make it out of the room and have additional people be mad at you.
Also, the things you do don’t matter that much! That’s true of most yous, but also you (me) specifically. It matters that I treat my friends and family well, and that I make it home in time to walk the dog. It matters that I am kind to the people I encounter in the world. (Although I was regrettably rude to the manager of a local pharmacy this week. Apparently I walked in after they had closed, and she told me they opened back up the next day at 10am to which I replied: “Thank you, but I won’t need anything then.” No need for that, bud.) But as long as you don’t hit someone with a car or give someone your life savings, you’re probably not making that big a dent in their lives on the regular. Get over yourself, big man.
Ultimately this will be fine because you worked hard on it and are experienced at doing things like this. It would be hard for it to be BETTER than fine or WORSE, and while that feels weirdly Calvinist, it’s also kind of comforting. The most likely outcome is that you do well enough that everyone says good job and winkingly offers to “buy you a drink” at the afterparty from what everyone knows is an open bar anyway. And that’s not so bad at all.
(Monday morning note: I was right!)
PEP TALK FOR A READER
I’ve done a little condensing of this request because I wanted to! So take THAT!
Hi Josh, could really use a pep talk! I work a full time office job with a horrible and toxic management team and I work a part time retail job. Both jobs barely pay my bills. In what little free time I have I am pursuing a writing career and have independently published two novels. I'm pushing through burnout and mental illness everyday.
- All Work And Low Pay Makes Etc. Etc.
So little art is made under ideal conditions (by which I mean in the sweet part of the matrix with AMOUNT OF ARTISTIC FREEDOM/RESOURCES on one axis and PROMISE OF MAKING A WHOLE BUNCH OF MONEY on the other), but your situation sounds trickier than most. It’s such a stressful feeling to have something inside you that you want to communicate through creative work but being compelled to do the other kinds of work in its place, and then for that work to not even afford a comfortable and stable life…it’s for the birds! And not even the cool birds. The dickhead ones that are bad at singing. (Sorry, those birds have just returned to my neighborhood for their spring choir concerts, and I am NOT psyched about it.)
You are doing your best with the resources at your disposal, which is huge. And you’ve already created a body of work that many people, even people with way more built-in advantages, never approach. It’s really hard to write a book. And it’s (roughly) DOUBLE hard to write two books. IMO, in some cases it’s easier because you have practice writing a book, and in other cases it’s harder because you already said a book’s worth of stuff, and that’s so many thoughts you’ve used up.
It can also get extremely frustrating to see people succeeding because they started on third and a half base (a runner taking a long lead in foul territory is what I’m picturing here). But the good thing is you are almost never in competition with those people! You’re not in any competition (unless you enter a competition, in which case, okay you’ve got me there). But, if you are going to think about how much you haven’t done (painful but unavoidable at times), it’s also super helpful to think about how far you have come. You have written two books! Even if you never write a single word more, nothing will un-write those books! That’s awesome! And every word you write (even if you delete it later, which also counts as work) builds on that foundation.
You’re as talented and accomplished as you’ve ever been, and you’re only getting better from there, even if the going is slow. You will show those birds yet! (I, however, remain at the whims of Brooklyn’s least sonorous birds.)
PICK-ME-UP OF THE WEEK: SNL - “Jumanji”
This sketch is from two Saturday Nights Live ago, but I didn’t see it until the middle of last week. It’s so stupid, which I mean as an extreme compliment. Longtime That’s Marvelous readers know that I love when things are dumb as hell. In this sketch, Kristen Wiig’s character is afraid that Jumanji is real, but also has like…a patchy understanding of what that meant in the movie(s).
Not only the performers, but also the structure of the sketch itself fully buy into the premise “a party guest believes that Jumanji can happen in real life” and it’s such a joy to see that level of investment in something so absurd.
It’s also a theme that comes up in Conan O’Brien’s episode of Hot Ones from last week. (Short term readers of the newsletter will know that I included a personal story about meeting Conan in a recent edition.) In Conan’s interview he is both extremely goofy (rubbing hot sauce all over himself) and extremely sincere in his advocacy for the idea of puttin’ on a show. There’s something he said about how it’s not about commitment to a bit it’s commitment to life that I found really moving! If ball can be life, bit can be life as well, imo.
The sincere part I didn’t mention as part of the story I recently shared about appearing on Conan’s eponymous tv show a few years ago goes like this: After my set, he shook my hand, and once the show went to commercial he leaned waaaay down and said to me…
“You looked like you were having fun out there. That’s important. Some people come on the show the first time and you can see that they’re nervous. And I learned a long time ago that it’s none of their (points to audience) business what’s going on in here (points to his heart).” I’m hungover and rambling, but that moment was very present in my head with Conan once again on tv, and me hosting an awards show. Thanks, Conan! And thanks, Jumanji!
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! :)
4/15: 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)
5/10-5/11: Here-After (Seattle) (THIRD SHOW ADDED!)
5/12: Helium Comedy Club (Portland)
5/16-5/18: Vermont Comedy Club (Burlington) (Five shows!)
6/8: Helium Comedy Club (Philadelphia) (4:30pm show!!!!)
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!)
Ooooh, if Sandra Oh says you are the shiznit, you are indeed the shiznit. Atta boy!
Vanity Fair says you killed it, so your self-pep talk obviously paid off! ❤️https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/after-the-oscars-a-looser-livelier-writers-guild-awards-emerge