Taking the W
10 Good Things: Why activists struggle with victory, Louis CK on building an hour, Mel Brooks on comedy, Ira Glass on beginners, and more.
💥 Comedy lineups are way more diverse than they were years ago. Yet I mostly just hear complaining about how much comedy is still tilted towards straight white men.
Vaguely similar thing seems to be happening in publishing: 80% of debut novels are written by women. Only 20% by men. Also: LGBTQ characters are way more represented in movies and TV too. So shouldn’t activists be celebrating all that?
Freddie deBoer comments…
You are entitled to think [80% of debut novels being written by women]’s a good thing, I hear you. The problem for modern progressivism is that people within it can’t admit that it happened. It’s not that you have to say that change is a good thing; it’s that you can’t acknowledge that the publishing industry did the very thing it spent a decade pledging to do and for which we now have good quantitative evidence it did. Just like New York magazine goes on pretending that there’s no LGBTQ characters in movies or TV in 2026, despite the absurdity of that contention; modern progressivism has no tools for navigating victory. The whole culture is built on grievance and so they don’t know how to accept victory. If you’re someone who thinks that it’s good that men don’t get book deals for novels anymore, that’s absolutely your prerogative. But just take the W!
💥 On voice:
💥 Jonathan van Halem on road comic financial dos and don’ts. Here he preaches refundable tickets:
Refundable travel is more expensive! It *is* more expensive, but I find it to still be worthwhile just for the sake of ease of cancellation if you need to change your travel plans. The extra $20-$40 you spend in booking refundable travel is well worth it to never put yourself in a position to have to eat the cost of a $400 flight that you no longer need. Stand-up comedy is so fickle, whether it be venues moving stuff around, unpredictable weather, or changes to your personal schedule. I only book refundable travel now, and I’ve never once regretted it.
💥 Jason Zinoman on unenthusiastic delivery.
While low-energy comics draw an initial chuckle of surprise, this kind of muted stand-up has a much more difficult challenge ahead, since the crowd wants to know the performer is in charge. Loud, gregarious charmers have more tools than monotone deadpan artists.
Take away emotional variance and the showmanship of act-outs, and all the pressure is on the writing, the language, the precision of the jokes. You might call it a purer style of comedy. You can’t coast on charm.
💥 Mel Brooks: The Founding Farter from Mike Sacks. [via Myq Kaplan]
You once described your comedy as midnight blue, not black. What’s the difference for you between those two hues?
Brooks: I’ve never been hopeless, I’ve never been despondent, but sometimes I will hit tremendous lows. And I feel that I’ve got to show that in comedy. I need to show that characters can be despairing but not suicidal. They can be agonizingly despondent but they never quit. They will always go on to the next step; they will always get back up the ladder. Midnight blue is that thin brushstroke. It’s not pitch black. It’s the color just before darkness comes at sunset. Or just after the lightness arrives after sunrise.
Good stuff. It's like a Rothko painting in words. (Though Rothko committed suicide so maybe the blue turned to black eventually, eh?)
Up ahead: My fave Onion article, Ira Glass wisdom, Ramy on the Saudi Comedy fest, CK on prepping his latest hour, and the ways Trump and Bill Maher are the same.
