10 Good Things from Jerry Seinfeld, Heather Havrilesky, Sebastian Maniscalco, and more

What it takes to be a full-time content creator on YouTube, how to disguise your crowdwork like Patrice O’Neal, tips on writing from John Steinbeck, how screwups can be a gift, etc.

📌 Heather Havrilesky: 'How Much Should I Hide?'

That process begins when you start to understand what you believe in, what you value, and how the world around you matches or doesn’t match those beliefs and values. Where there’s a gap between your belief system and the ludicrous, soul-sucking notions that are seen as practical or wise or normal by many of your fellow citizens, passion (and anger and sadness and inspiration) tends to spring out of those gaps.

Those gaps between what you believe and what’s “normal” are also where good material comes from.

📌 Jerry Seinfeld interview:

Now people are looking for depth from stand-up comics. I always think, “Well, the last thing I would want to hear was what was really bothering Rodney Dangerfield.” I do not wanna know! Just gimme the jokes. Take the pain, gimme the jokes…A true comic really doesn’t care about anything else but getting the laugh. Everything else in human life feels artificial and pointless.

📌 JB Smoove on winging it:

Stern Show @sternshow

“I refuse to go on stage with a f-cking plan.” @ohsnapjbsmoove tells Howard why he doesn't follow a specific set of material during his stand-up performances.

📌 Sebastian Maniscalco gets asked, “You talk about a kid at your kids’ school who identifies as a lion. Is that a true story?”

That’s not at my kids’ school, no. It’s a story that I actually heard from somebody. A lot of times in comedy, it’s almost like a movie, where you take things that you’ve heard or you piece them together. Another example is, I told a joke about my dad murdering animals in the backyard by putting antifreeze on baloney. He never did that. I actually heard that from somebody else and then weaved it into my act and gave that characteristic to my father. And I think nowadays people get really hopped up in regards to things that comedians are saying and think it’s true. And it’s just kind of putting a mirror on society and making light of everything.

Ahead for paying subscribers: What it takes to be a full-time content creator on YouTube, how to disguise your crowdwork like Patrice O’Neal, tips on writing from John Steinbeck, how screwups can be a gift, and more.