Posts from — June 2011

I haven’t seen Paul F. Tompkins live before, but I really like his bit about canned peanut brittle:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1CEWFaiL_o)

Some of my friends whom I shared this with didn’t like this, as it’s really repetitive, but I think the repetition is well-justified and hilarious.

One of the better interviews Jon Stewart has done on Fox in a while:

Video link

I don’t really think either party convinces anyone outside of their base in these interviews, but I like seeing people have to defend their beliefs.

This chart is from an article on CNN Money:

What a terrible way to present this data. First, I didn’t even notice that there were two different scales, so it suggests that the two numbers used to be the same and have now diverged. Second, obviously, neither of the y axes go to 0, so tuition looks like it’s up way, way more than doubling. Also, why does the median income need to be graphed at all? Can the title just be something like “Rising tuition rates while median income stays flat”?

A lot of YouTube audio collages and remixes don’t come out too well, but I think this one of Radiohead’s Paranoid Android does a good job of capturing the spirit of the original while adding a wider variety of flavors:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-cfWYN0cZI)

I’ve been listening to Radiohead a lot in the last couple of weeks, especiall the albums Kid A and In Rainbows. They age really well.

Hannibal has worked as a writer for SNL and 30 Rock. I first heard him on The Sound of Young America’s Best Comedy of 2010 episode. If you haven’t heard him before, this is a good sample:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_GYjizC1XM)

My favorite part starts at 2:25, if you’re in a hurry. His delivery reminds me a bit of Mitch Hedberg in parts.

Peter Langenhahn stitched together photos of every penalty during a soccer match:

Such carnage! Reminds me of the image fusion project I did in college.
(via kottke)

I saw comedian Brendon Walsh for the first time last Friday. He was a featured comic before Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall, News Radio). Walsh was a lot better than Foley, I think. Here’s a pretty good chunk:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBwXO-vnpGg)

He also had a long story involving him and his friend wearing fake mustaches in various places, but I couldn’t find that online anywhere. Anyway, he’s definitely worth checking out if you have the opportunity.

Rob Huebel and Rob Riggle have a similar comedic acting demeanor that I really like. I saw Huebel in a live show he did with Paul Scheer last year and hope he’ll be back in SF again at some point. Riggle keeps cancelling every time he schedules a show in San Francisco for some reason. Here’s a clip of them on stage together:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBGljD0A48Y)

Another clip of Rob Huebel from Human Giant (some language NSFW):

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSL3dFcTfXY)

I love the way he yells “IMPOSSIBLE”.

John Oliver, from the Daily Show, recently did a gig in Bethlehem, PA (where I went to college). His commentary on his visit, from The Bugle:

I did a couple of gigs last weekend, and one of them was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which was so much more majestic than the Bethlehem Jesus was born in. Did you know the Bethlehem in Israel doesn’t even have a Sands Casino? Well, the one in Pennsylvania does. Just what Jesus would have wanted. If Mary had been wandering around on a donkey in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, not only would they not have turned her away, they probably would have comped her room, too, and thrown in a free breakfast.

The great thing about this particular gig was that it was in a new art center that had been built in a converted steel plant, and the back of the stage was one just massive window looking out onto this huge abandoned steel factory. It was like doing a gig in front of a visual representation of the decline of American industry. It was great to have an air of tangible sadness in the gig whenever audience looked slightly over my shoulder: “Oh, we used to produce things, didn’t we? Oh, still, an art center is nice, too…”

If you live in/around Bethlehem and didn’t go see him, then you should have. That is on you.

There’s an entire wikipedia article devoted to anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Not the Broadway one.

It’s a pretty interesting read.