Jennifer Keishin Armstrong recalls Saddam Hussein, Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, and Muammar Gaddafi as she explores the history of comedy as not only a relief valve but also as a formidable resistance tactic against oppressive regimes.
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‘Exposure Is Bullshit’: Who Should Get Paid for Live Storytelling Events?
The thin margins of the IRL economy.
The Tether Between Two Worlds: An Interview with Sergio De La Pava
His new novel is about mass incarceration, indoor football, and parallel universes. De La Pava says that when “you dig deep, you start seeing the way everything is connected.”
A Remarkable Child
My friend Sam went back to Brooklyn and his gang of peculiar white buddies watching their endless Stanley Kubrick film festival. I shall not see him again.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we’re sharing stories by Jason Fagone, Betty Ann Adam, Christian H. Cooper, Clarissa Wei, and Robert Kolker.
A Tale of Two Vegases
Gayle Brandeis takes two trips to Sin City with her mother — one while her mother is delusional.
A Tale of Two Vegases
Gayle Brandeis takes two trips to Sin City with her mother — one while her mother is delusional.
The Story of Memory: An Interview with Paula Hawkins
Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on The Train and Into the Water, reflects on two unreliable things: narrators and memory.
Sharp Women Writers: An Interview With Michelle Dean
On Didion, Arendt, Malcolm, Ephron and other women writers who made an art of having an opinion.
Sharp Women Writers: An Interview With Michelle Dean
On Didion, Arendt, Malcolm, Ephron and other women writers who made an art of having an opinion.

