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fast food

The Fast Food News blog provides news updates and commentary on the fast-food world, and I'm pretty in love with all its bloggy glory. I find it alternately depressing and mind-blowingly awesome to be reminded that, for example, a new joint decides to fry macaroni and cheese almost one a week, or that Hardee's thinks it's good marketing to create an interactive website where hungry guys can hang out with a virtual roommate. Look: read the blog. Like so many things in our world, fast food isn't just disgusting when you look closely at it; it's also very, very weird.

[Image from Flickr user silverlinedwinnebago, by way of Creative Commons.]

The fine folks at Shecky Magazine just posted an excerpt of an interview with Larry Miller. The piece they excerpted was this:

I think that the first thing comedians, actors, musicians, painters, and a lot of people disagree with me on this, but the first and ONLY thing we should all do is entertain. That to me is a very honorable word; it's not a shallow word. It's very, very deep. Whether it's drama or comedy, I think there is great honor, passion, and light in entertaining people. I think, in particular with comedy, people are kidding themselves when they think "I'll be an engine for change." (laughs) I don't think that's ever going to occur anyway. At that point the comedian is probably making a mistake. You understand that I am not talking about political material — that can very often be hysterical. 'Cause again, funny is funny, but that's just another topic for me. Like dating or parents or loneliness or football. I don't think change should be involved. First of all, the problem is that you are telling half your audience that they are stupid. I don't want that. When the lights go down in a room, I would like everyone to think "this is a safe place and I am ready to be entertained. I can just feel like a kid again."

Here's a Meg fun-fact for you: when I was in college and depressed, back before I discovered the magic of comedy, I wanted to be an installation artist. I wanted to this so badly that I applied to transfer from my college in upstate New York to the University of Iowa. But then, the semester before I was supposed to leave, I took a class on art since 1960, and that class killed any desire I had to be a professional artist. My professor's message was this: every contemporary artist has to make art that communicates. Anything else is worthless.

While I do like spreading a good message, I wasn't interested in art because I wanted to make some symbolic gesture about the state of copyright in America or how we're so wrapped up in technology or whatever. I wanted to make something aesthetically pleasing. Of course, I recognize now that my professor was just some lady and I could have done whatever I damned well pleased with art, communicating or not. But man oh man, I am so glad that I didn't go to Iowa. I'm much happier making comedy. I want to make people laugh, and that gives me a greater feeling of satisfaction than any of the art I ever did in college.

That's why it makes me happy to hear someone defend the art of entertaining. I've gone through periods of self-doubt where I wonder if choosing to focus my creative efforts on comedy meant I was simply a base person, and I'd have to resign myself to that. But I don't think that's the case. We need plumbers and electricians, and we need conceptual artists and entertainers. They're not high and low—they're just two different things. (Frequently they even come packaged together—can anyone recommend a good plumtrician?)

I do think, however, there is potential for changing opinions with comedy. I agree with Larry that the "I'll be an engine for change" mindset doesn't really work. That headspace can create material that's more of a rant than enjoyable comedy (some of David Cross's material, as much as I love him, starts to do this). And I think that Larry is also right in that if a comedian presents things wrong, the audience can feel offended. But I also think that one of the brilliant things about comedy is that it can carry a message in a sugar pill. A comedian doesn't need to yell at the audience about how ridiculous double-standards for women are, she can instead write a sketch reversing gender roles in a hilarious fashion. As long as the comedy remains the focus, the message can come across. Throughout history, satire has always been a strong and hilarious force for change.

But anyway, that's enough serious thought for now. I have some jokes about naked people to go write.

Gregg Getherd, the host of the monthly comedy show Bedtime Stories and regular contributor to the Comic vs. Audience blog just did an interview of Dave Walk, who runs CvA. Dave is a super-sweet, humble, and hilarious guy who does an amazing service for Philly's comedy scene by keeping such an awesome blog. Take a look!

Oh, and both Gregg and Dave have shows next week at part of the Philly Improv Theater's monthly week of shows. More information on PHIT's shows page.

Oh, the things I miss out on when I a) don't live in Britain and b) don't have cable and thus completely forget about Adult Swim. Last week, my dear friends Rob and Kent showed me Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a British sitcom from 2004 that's been airing in the US on the Cartoon Network. The show satirizes both sci-fi and doctor shows from the 80's, and oh, it's done so well. Here's the first episode. And! Bonus! It features both Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry, two people I love in The IT Crowd.

Here's the first Darkplace episode:

Hey! Here's a video I made with Rob:

On Newshour this morning, a reporter was asking people why they'd vote for Barack Obama. This was my favorite:

Because he's young...and full of beans.

Full of beans! Dammit, Obama! That's why this race is so close! You're not getting back to the language values this country was built on. Psh, you might think that the reason why you're polling so close to McCain is that Americans are ignorant and will not only believe that you're a Muslim, but think that's something to be frightened of. No! The problem is that they don't know that you're the candidate that's full of beans. You're bursting with pip and vigor, Barack! Let America see it—drink more coffee! Nibble more chocolate! When you roll into a town, help promote nutrition by eating healthy, fiber-filled bean burritos!

You can win this, Obama. You're the bees knees.

Tags: obama npr

Last week was ridiculous. I have a new part-time job (more on that later), and in addition to that, Rob and I probably put in 40 or 50 hours each getting our show together. The payoff was worth it—the shows have been great so far (you should come to one of our upcoming performances). But I'd like to take this opportunity to thank a few of the things that got me through last week:

  1. My Bicycle

    A couple of years ago, Chris turned the bike my parents bought me in middle school into an awesome frankenbike. It's been a wonderful little citywide transport, and last week it saved me a lot of time by getting me places faster than public transport could.

  2. Accidentally Amazing Brownies

    I started making he recipe on the back of the Nestle cocoa powder box, but I ended up with this:

    Ingredients

    • 2/3 cup white sugar
    • 1 cup light brown sugar
    • 3/4 cup butter, melted
    • 2 T water
    • 2 large eggs
    • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
    • 1-1/3 cups white whole-wheat flour
    • 3/4 cup baking cocoa
    • 1/2 tsp baking powder
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 3/4 cup butterscotch chips

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 9" pan. Combine sugar, butter, and water in a large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Dump blower, cooca, baking powder, and salt on top of liquid mixture and mix the dry ingredients while they float precariously on top of the wet. Then mix them with the wet. Stir in chips. Put in pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until your desired brownie doneness.

  3. The "Day Man" Song from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

    More than anything else, this tiny video clip made me maniacally happy last week. Rob and I kept stopping practice to watch it:

I've become a wacky recluse in the past couple of weeks frantically working on the Meg & Rob show for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. And even though I do miss sleep dearly, I will admit: I am so excited. Rob and I are doing an entirely new show with a lot of sketches that I'm really proud of.

So hey! If you live in Philadelphia, you should come see our show. We're performing at the Adrienne Theatre at the following days/times:

Friday, August 29 at 10:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 31 at 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 3 at 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, September 11 at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 13 at 10:30 p.m.

Buy tickets here!

Plus! Thanks to incredible cosmic forces, Rob and I will be sharing the bill with improv comedy giants Rare Bird Show. I absolutely love these guys—they do wild, excitable improv that's gotten them into a ton of comedy festivals.

Still not convinced? How about I get you a steak? Here's a little preview video Rob and I put together for the show:

I hope to see you there!

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