‘They don’t teach us about money in high school.’ Today’s video pick is Modern Comedian’s short documentary on comedian Sara Schaefer, who fell deep into debt even while she was pursuing her dream career and earning two Emmys as a writer for Jimmy Fallon. (Schaefer now co-hosts the MTV series Nikki & Sara LIVE, which […]
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Longreads Guest Pick: Nolan Feeney on 'The New New Girl'
Nolan is an editorial fellow at The Atlantic. Jada Yuan’s profile of Mindy Kaling for New York magazine is almost a year old, but it has been a major influence on the way I write. It moves effortlessly from funny to sad, and it captures Kaling so well that it’s hard not read her quotes […]
Posted inGuest Pick, Nonfiction
The Short Life of Robert Earl Hughes, Who Weighed Half a Ton By His Late Twenties
Jane R. LeBlanc is a freelance journalist who writes for the Dallas Observer where she covers the local comedy scene and anything strange and interesting. She has written for Denton Live, Mayborn magazine, Spirit magazine and the Denton Record-Chronicle. She has a humor blog, Everyone Hates You, where she pontificates about everyday life. You can find her online. Inspired […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Regrettable
What happened when the author re-reported Bob Woodward’s book on John Belushi: “Of all the people I interviewed, SNL writer and current Sen. Al Franken, referencing his late comedy partner Tom Davis, offered the most apt description of Woodward’s one-sided approach to the drug use in Belushi’s story: ‘Tom Davis said the best thing about […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Comedian
[Fiction] On a life in stand-up: “One time on a talk show, before he made the change in his comedy, the comedian was asked why he started telling jokes. He took a sip from his mug and responded that he just wanted some attention. As a child he’d felt unseen. He was a handsome baby […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Django, the N-Word, and How We Talk About Race in 2013
A new year, and a change in the conversation about race in America: “As I left the theater after Django, it was interesting to see how diverse the crowd was, and, based on the conversations being had in the lobby, how they were all impacted in some way, whether it was by the violence or […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Players Club
A brief history of Shakespeare and alcohol: “Shakespeare didn’t just enjoy the interplay of drinking, fantasy, and theater at his favorite taverns, he also enacted this productive relationship onstage. Shakespeare began his popular comedy The Taming of the Shrew with a curious framing device, one that bears little relation to the famous barbs of the […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Random Roles: Mel Brooks on How to Play Hitler
The comedy legend revisits his most famous work—and the lessons he learned: “I would say, for me, that philosophical treatise about having black beginnings and wanting love to compensate for that, wanting audiences and wanting attention—I say, ‘Au contraire.’ Completely opposite. I want the continuation of my mother’s incredible love and attention to me. I […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Playboy Interview: Stephen Colbert
[Not single-page] The Comedy Central star on his TV character’s clash with reality, the pain of losing his father and brothers at a young age, and his fear of bears: “PLAYBOY: How did bears become a recurring motif on the show? Was it just to have something to talk about that wasn’t topical? “COLBERT: For […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Chase Is the Thing and the Thing Is the Chase: Learning to Love Failure
A writer-comedian reviews his successes and failures, realizing there’s not much difference between the two: “You might be thinking to yourself, ‘How do you know the fear never goes away?’ It could just be me. It could just be pessimism, or cynicism. The realization hit me like a ton of bricks a few years back […]
