Humor and the Abject Podcast

We've UNLOCKED the latest episode of The DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe), the podcast within the podcast, usually only available to our Drip subscribers. On this very public episode, we discussed Darcie's new dog psychic, explored the lyricism of the Mars Volta and At the Drive-in, learned about what Azikiwe's been eating, and staged a heated debate on the politics surrounding parental leave. To hear all other DSA episodes, subscribe on Drip! The outro music is the first four minutes of the thirty-two minute Mars Volta song "Cassandra Gemini." LMAO.

Live from their exhibition “Everything Speaks” at Geary Contemporary in New York City, artists Kristen Jensen and Ben Dowell join Humor and the Abject for a fun conversation on making art for non-art audiences, gravity, growing up in flyover states, studio techniques, intuitive color, caricature in material choices, skepticism, and the price of pants. “Everything Speaks” is on view through Saturday, May 19th. Check out documentation here: http://www.geary.nyc/exhibitions/everything-speaks The outro music is “Heliotrope” by At the Drive-in.

The Philadelphia Tapes Part II: Alex Da Corte. It was a real treat during my trip to Philly to have the opportunity to swing by Alex Da Corte’s studio and record an episode. He’s one of the sweetest and hardworking artists out there. On this episode, we talked about fear, his intense love of books, the time he stalked his family in New Jersey as Michael Myers from “Halloween,” his recent solo exhibition called “C-A-T Spells Murder” at Karma in NYC, what it’s like to be penpals with painter Sam McKinniss, collaboration as a matter-of-fact, the history of the “Easternsports” exhibition he produced with Jayson Musson at ICA Philadelphia, directing a Dev Hynes music video-turned-Gap-ad, making art without knowing what you’re doing or even what it’s about, why video art is so difficult, and why every single thing that he makes is really just a bong. The outro music is “Familiar Patterns” by Toronto punk band PUP.

Artist James Allister Sprang is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. On a recent weekend trip down to Philadelphia, I had the privilege of catching up with James on the very day that he completed his MFA at the University of Pennsylvania. Moments after his final critique, we popped into a small room on campus and recorded this interview. James and I discussed the birth and evolution of his performance persona GAZR, the politics of sampling and appropriation, his interest in language as material, tricksters, the exploitable failings of voice recognition technology, concrete in the literal and metaphorical senses, his history with poetry, and hot take music jokes that might be a decade late. The outro music is “Midnight Service at the Mütter Museum” by Murder City Devils.

Chris Oh is a painter’s painter. He loves wiggling a brush around on a canvas and has been weirding people out in New York for years with his photorealistic and psychedelic paintings. On this week’s episode, Chris dropped by the kitchen to talk about his recent solo exhibition at Sargent’s Daughters, his fascination with science fiction book covers, working on found materials, a love of the Dutch old masters, wrestling with making funny work, childhood terrors, mythologies, and the time he and his brother were driving a van and then it exploded. Chris told me on the episode that you could still order his book “CODEX” from Heavy Time Books in Australia, but their website says it’s sold out. LOL. I don’t know… maybe email them and see if they have an extra copy lying around? Here is the link: https://www.heavytime.com/collections/all/products/chris-oh-codex The outro song is “Running Out of Time” by Dead Moon.

Skyping in from her studio at the University of Texas at Austin, artist Ariel Jackson is my guest this week. She produces sculpture, video, performance, and installation works that are research-driven critiques of United States history and culture. On this week’s episode, we talked about science fiction and Afrofuturism, games, intuition and color, complications in comedy and her “Dave Chappelle” moment, accessing and synthesizing information versus emotion, her recent studio projects that engage the politics of education and the history of African American farming, intersectionality, a 2017 artist residency she did in Senegal, cooking, and her new obsession with Topo Chico since relocating to Austin. RSVP to the Live Humor and the Abject event at Kickstarter here: https://t.co/h2qpwQOxdH

To celebrate my big birthday, artistic and curatorial duo Loney Abrams and Johnny Stanish stopped by and talked about the history of their alternative exhibition platform, Hotel Art. We discussed the project’s formation, its various nontraditional installations, the recent construction of a shed-as-gallery in their backyard, finding primary audiences online, working with established and emerging artists, whether or not experimental physical gallery spaces have any future in New York, and the value of advocating for a presentation model that can be practiced by practically anyone regardless of their geographical location. We also caught up on their recent collaborative studio projects that are engaging ideas about genetic modifications in humans and the complicated future that these scientific breakthroughs present to the public. I made them play a new game called “What is the Critical Question This Sculpture is Posing?” and they were like okay at it, but rudely pointed out that these were just jokes I came up with that were too long to tweet. RSVP to the free, live DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe) on April 26th at Kickstarter here: https://t.co/h2qpwQOxdH

From his bed in sunny Los Angeles, CA, comedian Yusef Roach joins Humor and the Abject to talk KoЯn, a recent visit to Idaho, libertarianism, the comedy scene in his former home of Austin, making friends without a car in LA, why New York is falling apart, getting rich so he can have babies, the phenomenon of leftist Twitter personalities, whether or not Brandon Boyd from Incubus is black, competitive cooking television, MoviePass, the endearing tolerance of Juggalos, hanging out with noise musicians, and quitting standup comedy.

Artist Carly Mark caught early attention for painting grotesque and comical renderings of Haribo brand gummy bear packaging. But she’s never been content just being known for a single approach to working, and in the last several years has branched out into elaborate sculpture, immersive installations, chaotic video pieces, and has quietly pursued acting, film production, modeling, writing, and publishing. She stopped by this week to discuss her new short horror film “Know Nothing,” as well as being from Michigan, developing a career longevity plan, her interest in camp and kitsch aesthetics, whether MoviePass is good or bad, the joy of prosthetics, comedy’s dwindling appeal as artistic approach in the age of Trump, being interdisciplinary as a matter-of-fact, internet art nostalgia, a new film that she co-wrote and stars in called “Puppet” that’s directed by her pal Adam Levett, and allowing herself to take the next two years off from exhibiting art to work on her own new feature-length film. Carly art directed the new cover of King Kong magazine which will be available in print on April 14th at tasteful periodicals retailers.

54: (Teaser) The DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe) #4 by Sean J Patrick Carney

Ebony L Haynes is a writer, curator, and currently the director of both Martos Gallery and Shoot the Lobster. Despite the wicked ass Nor’Easter, she made the trek to my kitchen to sit down and talk about her life and work. We discussed the “Invisible Man” exhibition with which she re-launched Martos Gallery last year, perceptions of what constitutes “Black art,” being from Canada, Freud’s mouth, the work of artist Jessica Vaughn, whether or not selling out is still a thing, the failings of cultural capital, and why it’s important for her to help artists make money. We’re sponsored this week by any and all apps tangentially related to art. If you’d like to read the review I wrote about Jessica Vaughn’s “Receipt of a Form” at Martos Gallery last fall, you can do so here: https://www.humorandtheabject.com/blog/2017/12/7/review-jessica-vaughn-reciept-of-a-form

One of my younger sisters, Quinn, is a first grade teacher in a Denver public school. With the March for Our Lives events happening in 800+ cities around the country this Saturday to protest our nation’s lack of action when it comes to protecting our schools from gun violence, I spoke with her over Skype to get a little first-person perspective. Quinn has been an educator for eight years, having worked in her current classroom for four. We talked about the active shooter emergency drills she has to lead six year-olds through, the gross way that the concept of guns in schools has been politicized, her reasons for marching on Saturday in Denver, and what it’s like to work in an industry where people, especially children, are regularly murdered en masse. It’s a little more serious than you’re probably used to here on Humor and the Abject, but it’s an important conversation. Thanks for giving Quinn a chance to have her voice heard.

Some of you will recognize Leo Fitzpatrick from Kids, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Doomsdays, and The Wire. Others know him as a fixture in New York’s art world, having run the experimental project space Home Alone 2 Gallery in the Lower East Side with Nate Lowman and Hanna Liden for several years before settling into his current role at Marlborough in Chelsea. As part of the NADA New York Art Fair this year, Humor and the Abject hosted a live episode on-site and invited Leo out to discuss his unique history. We talked about skate videos, Alex Jones, working with artists from older generations including his decades-long friendship with Larry Clark, why the artist is always right, the time Roger Ebert said he wanted to punch him in the face, parenting, his early obsession with Uncle Floyd’s public access show in New Jersey, why he doesn’t watch his own movies, his diet of bad TV, his favorite acting role ever on Adult Swim that nobody saw, and then I get really upset that he’s never seen Drinking Out of Cups. The outro song is XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel.” Special thanks to Andrea Merkx and Zack Tornaben from NADA.

Curator Kerry Doran has been researching and writing about internet-based art practices for years. She is currently the Director at Postmasters Gallery in New York. On episode 50 of the podcast, she stopped by to discuss the paradoxical techno-utopianism in early internet art, her recent article “Re: Contextualizing the Cyborg” for Open Space, whether or not digital tools can be emancipatory, running in Ridgewood, accidental audiences, the overspecialization of coding, skepticism versus cynicism, her transition to selling art and why it’s important for the artists she works with, writing about contemporary art history, and more. We’re sponsored this week by the ability to eat cheese in physical gallery spaces. The outro music is “Dark Steering” by Squarepusher. Read Kerry's latest piece for Open Space here: https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/02/re-contextualizing-the-cyborg/

What a treat we’ve got for you this week, screedlers. One of the funniest people that Brooklyn has to offer, Peter Smith, stopped by the kitchen to discuss their life and work. We chatted about their recent run at Carolines on Broadway, Alfred Hitchcock and horror, cabaret, big reveals, opening a glass tea house and eventually making Montana gay as fuck, the complicated character of Nancy Grace, their role on Turner Masters Memory Hospital, art history, their collaborations like The Bongo Hour with comedian and photographer Sandy Honig, the Keeping Up With the Katdashians musical, and much more. Catch the next Bongo Hour this Wednesday, March 7th at the Slipper Room in New York. You can purchase tickets here: http://ticketf.ly/2H3IFAg

On Sunday, I hopped the Long Island Rail Road bound for East Hampton to visit artist David Kennedy Cutler at “Off Season,” his ambitious exhibition-in-progress with Halsey McKay that’s broadcasting his efforts 24/7 via live stream. We smoked some beers, ate pizza at a place called Sam’s, toured around the space, and we recorded a bonus episode of the podcast right inside the installation. I also stayed the night and was sufficiently creeped out by the four convincing clones he’s made of himself to populate the show. On this episode, we talked about artifice, artistic labor, the socioeconomic issues that “Off Season” addresses, whether or not Joseph Beuys borrowed liberally from Charlie Chaplin’s “Gold Rush,” the complicated history of the Hamptons, his recent solo show “1:1” at Derek Eller last summer, the Uncanny Valley, and stumbling into horror by attempting approximation. Then, David gave me a little audio tour of the show. To see a live feed of what he’s describing, visit Halsey McKay’s website here: http://www.halseymckay.com/ And, if you’re curious, read my review of “1:1” at Derek Eller from this past summer: https://www.humorandtheabject.com/blog/2017/6/21/david-kennedy-cutler-1-to-1

You know her on Twitter as @lifecreep, but IRL she’s artist Andrea McGinty. Our friendship goes back several years, and a text-based interview I did with Andrea was one of the very first posts on the Humor and the Abject blog. She stopped by the kitchen this week to talk about material choices and comedy in her sculptures, why getting dunked on by teens is the most devastating of all dunks, the absolute joys of cooking at home in Queens and new dishes she’s been perfecting, her recent two-person exhibition with Ben Dowell at Holiday Forever in Jackson Hole, acting as an occasional curator, the history of sofas, how everyone walks in LA and New York is way too spread out, true crime podcasts, her celebrity cat Larry, the current show she’s in called “Home Edition” at Essex Flowers, and an upcoming pop-up show she’s doing with Museum Gallery at 45 Stewart Ave in Bushwick on March 10th. Also, I made her play a new game segment for the podcast called “Canonization or Erasure” and I personally think she did great. We’re sponsored this week by the nasty slaps of a bass guitar, Bank of Ages, and the humble, nourishing whir of a humidifier.

For the full episode, subscribe to Humor and the Abject on Drip: http://d.rip/humorandtheabject It’s another Drip subscriber-exclusive episode of Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe talking a full hour of total shit. In this episode, we managed to cover a wide variety of topics included the ridiculous haunted house documentary “Haunters: The Art of the Scare,” long rides on Greyhound and the resulting bus butt, Azikiwe’s recent jaunt to Mexico City for the Material Art Fair, ancient astronaut theory, Fergie’s “Star Spangled Banner” performance, donating to Wikipedia while drunk, mail order mattresses, Sean’s unique relationship between the movie “The Cell” and getting cuckolded, street magic, not fucking to Thin Lizzy, whether or not daddy would like some sausages, how to talk at the urinal, Darcie not having to wait in line for the women’s room because she was at a Lighting Bolt show, and so much more. We’re sponsored this week by the San Diego Tribune, Leonardo DiCaprio, Spin Doctors mixtapes, and the hidden track from AFI’s “Black Sails in the Sunset” album.

One of Miami’s finest daughters, artist and filmmaker Jillian Mayer, currently has a solo exhibition called “Post Posture” up at Postmasters Gallery here in New York through March 31st. In the middle of her chaotic schedule in town this week, we managed to schedule some time to sit down and catch up. I’ve know Jillian for five years now and think the world of her as both an artist and a friend. We discussed her “Slumpies” sculptures currently on view, the Singularity, taking psychedelics at amusement parks, doomsday prepping and whether the rich will survive the end times, her involvement with the nonprofit Borscht Corp film collective, speaking tangentially, making tech-based art that’s actually emotional, and a whole lot more. We’re sponsored this week by angry college art history professors who take to YouTube to whine that people don’t carve shit out of marble any longer, how your attitude influences the way your life might go if you’re a cowboy or a filmmaker, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Dunked Wings, sex as an innovation, and how gracefully the Futurist Manifesto has aged. The outro song is "Mega Mega Upload," a total fucking banger from Jillian's #Postmodem film.

You may know Midwest micro-celebrity Thomas J Gamble as the author of the INFINITE HESH comics for Humor and the Abject. Or, you may know him more casually online as Twee Jay, Erie’s absolute boy. Either way, he was in New York this past weekend for his show at Interstate Projects and I dragged him into the kitchen for a conversation. I love Thomas so much that it makes me want to get him really angry. Does that make sense? Well, despite my best efforts to rile him up, he maintained his thoughtfulness and cool the entire time. We talked about uncanny perceptions of time, his new paintings, Rust Belt ennui and being an artist outside of major art cities, Tom Brady vs Tom Hardy, good books, sinking ships, whether it’s “Leviathan” or “a leviathan,” the trappings of making political art, Daniel Day Lewis, Superman’s death, that rhythm between horrific political events and pop culture aesthetics, how punks and hippies are the same people with the same logos, his early exposure to radical leftist politics, Little Dicky Spencer and the alt-right’s impotent rage, and why Italians love saying “Cincinnati.” We’re sponsored this week by Blue Takeron and when Thomas J died in “My Girl” because he went back to find Vada’s mood ring in the forest and was subsequently murdered by a swarm of wild ass bees.

Artist Andrew Kuo, AKA earlboykins on Instagram and Twitter, drops by Humor and the Abject this week for a very special bonus episode. We talked about Kuo’s early exposure to Fort Thunder as a student at RISD, how wild and elegant color is, My Chemical Romance making good on their promises as a band, the lineage of emo, the best time of day to paint, getting into self-publishing, the new Obama portrait, anxiety and jokes, literally biting your tongue, how Peter Halley has made the same painting for decades and why that’s the one of the most audacious radical painting moves out there, Kuo’s band HEX MESSAGE, why Bart Simpson is still on every single thing in the zine tent at the New York Art Book Fair, Jeremy Lin and bootleg merch beef, Kuo’s two-person exhibition “It Gets Beta” with Scott Reeder in 2015, avoiding knuckleheads so you can enjoy watching sports, being the last generation who for some reason is still afraid of selling out, his own roundball podcast Cookies, and embracing the simulation. We received generous sponsorship this week from getting dunked on by Patrick Chewing.

Behind every good podcast is a great podcast studio manager. Here at Humor and the Abject, I’m fortunate as all hell to work every week with my own studio manager, Staffonly, to bring you conversations with some of my favorite artists, comedians, writers, and filmmakers. She does all the heavy lifting by making the sound collages and editing conversations, and she also provides a nice contextual introduction every week. For months, I’ve been getting literally hundreds of emails from people asking who exactly Staffonly is, where she came from, and what happened when she was abducted last year by those dick-worshipping scorpions. So this week, I’m proud to bring you all a very special--and long overdue--episode of Humor and the Abject. My guest this week is the one, the only, Staffonly.

Artist, stand-up comedian, and occasional curator Jennifer Sullivan is my guest this week. We talked about the show she put together last summer called “Cosmic Joke” at Safe Gallery, channeling Julian Schnabel, contexts for stand-up comedy, why legal weed is strangling Denver’s artist community, balancing real life and studio residencies, early Saturday Night Live, why performance art could stand to be a little more entertaining, going off-script, quitting vices, and tons of other stuff. You can catch Jennifer performing at friend-of-the-podcast Jennifer Vanilla’s live show this week on Tuesday, February 6th at the Windjammer in Ridgewood alongside Natalie Casagran Lopez, Teeny Lieberson, Sam Regal, Jen Goma, plus a video from Peter Smith. Also -- pick up a copy of this month’s Art in America for a new feature I wrote called “The Practical Precariat” featuring Jaimie Warren, Brontez Purnell, Jillian Mayer, and comedian Chris Gethard, and come out to a live panel about the piece on Monday, February 12th at Neuehouse in New York.

This spring, Kendra Jayne Patrick is opening up a new gallery called Harrison. She and I were both previously involved--at different times--with the artist-run gallery Essex Flowers, and I had always been super thrilled with the programming that she led there. She stopped by this week to talk about the current pop-up show Harrison programmed at Bortolami, the next steps in her program as she opens her physical space, why being a gallerist and a curator are distinct roles, getting into the New York art scene after attending law school, the ironic parallels between going to law school and pursuing an MFA, and much more. Also, some fucking car alarm went off multiple times while we were recording, but Kendra was a total champ about it. We’re sponsored this week by generous cash gifts from young Keanu Reeves and old Ted Kaczynski.

Musician, performance artist, professional muse, and self-described “Culturally-Absorbent Prototype” Jennifer Vanilla is my guest this week. Following her mildly frustrating Instagram live post trying to find parking in Bushwick, she managed to locate my apartment and, subsequently, my kitchen studio. We had a great discussion about her monthly show JVL@B (Jennifer Vanilla Live at the Bar) at the Windjammer in Ridgewood, the interesting relationship she has with dance music edits, why shipping to Canada is such an outrageous pain in the ass, why I love and miss the brooding falls and winters of the Pacific Northwest, whether feeling “special” is important, the role of the producer, scandals surrounding the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, the Jennifer Vanilla aesthetic, and distinctly ‘90s humor. We also shared the end of a Toblerone and she showed off some of her commercial voice acting skills.

Subscribe to Humor and the Abject on Drip: https://d.rip/humorandtheabject In another exclusive episode for our Drip subscribers, Darcie Wilder and Azikiwe Mohammed dropped by to talk about the stupid amount of media that each of us has been consuming now that it’s winter. We learned that Azikiwe once had a treehouse, that Darcie spent her entire freshman year of undergrad without speaking to her dorm roommate, Sean’s history with DVDs of the Notre Dame Marching Band, our favorite and our most-despised karaoke jams, the occult origins of the television program “House,” which mainstream sitcoms are better than okay, why UCB moving onto Darcie’s block means that improv is (actually) all around, and why everyone is the Unabomber.

Skyping in from the Windy City this week is comedian and illustrator Sarah Sherman AKA Sarah Squirm. We talked about her outrageous monthly show HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE, why being gross rules, how Chicago is a unique city for comedy, feeling guilty all the time while constantly seeking approval, the improv bro uniform, why noise music is hilarious, the changing landscape of contemporary comedy, the origin story of Screedler, and our mutual unhealthy obsession--and close encounters--with the men of Jackass. If you’re in Chicago, make sure to check out the HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE x Wham City show on January 18th, plus Sarah Squirm headlining the Empty Bottle on February 12th, AND a show with upcoming Humor and the Abject podcast guest Jennifer Vanilla on February 20th. New Yorkers: HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE will be in Brooklyn on April 20th (nice). If you don’t already know the outro song, I’m not sure that I can help you.

For the first episode of 2018, I had the privilege of interviewing the absolutely fabulous performance artist Alexandra Tatarsky. If you haven’t seen her live, I honestly don’t know what the fuck you are doing with your life. Alex sat down in the kitchen to discuss her early comedic influences, her monstrous 2017 touring performance piece “Americana Psychobabble,” studying the intricate art of clowning and miming, creating uncomfortable spaces for audiences and herself (and why that’s a good thing), institutional critique, and much more. We’re sponsored this week by how insufferable Scotland is, how unreal Stephen Miller’s voice and hairline are, guano, restaurant closures, and how god damn cold it is in New York. The outro song is “Proud to Be” by D.F.L.

2017 is finally over, and to celebrate I had musician Zain Alam come over for the final Humor and the Abject podcast of the year. Zain is the mind behind the brilliant musical project Humeysha, which Noisey describes as “a marvelously mellow kind of psych-pop, clean and sparkly like a diamond baguette, dappled with Bollywood-toned lilts.” We talked about the band and its unique visual identity, how his time in India changed his life, odd time signatures, the South Asian diaspora, his faith in Islam, attending Harvard, musical inclination skipping a generation, racial profiling, and new music. We’re sponsored exclusively this exclusively by Minions. Buy Humeysha’s first album on Bandcamp, baby.

Merry Christmas from Colorado, my good bitches. Andy Kaufman Award-winning comedian Brett Davis stopped by this week to discuss his public access show “The Special Without Brett Davis,” as well as creating a world with hundreds of characters, recent beef with character actor Michael Rapaport, large scale collaborations, kicking off a career in comedy by opening for punk bands, ruining Tinder dates, his new podcast about laundry, and much more. We’re sponsored this week by Christmas, Colorado, and the fact that my sisters are like permanently on weed gummies. Could you imagine being as categorically uncool as Gavin McInnes?

Artist Sara Greenberger Rafferty paid a visit to my kitchen this week to talk about her recent traveling survey “Gloves Off,” as well as childhood pranks, context and timing, television shows like “Mr. Robot” and “Nathan for You,” dissecting mainstream comedy, the influence of syndicated sitcoms on her Midwest sense of humor, making work that’s about being alienated without it being alienating, and her two-volume book project “Women Aren’t Funny” that we put out through Social Malpractice Publishing. This week’s episode is sponsored by holiday video messages from your family, cashiers who steal from their idiot bosses, Mark Cuban’s obvious erectile dysfunction, and the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on 10th November, 1975.

TEASER: Full episode available to Drip subscribers... Friends of the podcast Darcie Wilder and Azikiwe Mohammed came by this week to record the first of an ongoing, Drip-exclusive project: The DSA Podcast. I assigned watching “Jim & Andy” to everyone and we talked about it a little bit but mostly focused on people sucking dick while their man plays 2K, that time Fugazi covered “Red Red Wine” live, a steampunk event that Azikiwe attended, white rap music of the early aughts, getting addicted to nose spray, the millennial whoop, Darcie’s new tattoo, Holocaust documentaries, how tiny James Lipton is, and a whole lot more. This episode is 100% sponsored by the lovely subscribers to our respective Drip profiles. Join, or die. Subscribe to Humor and the Abject on Drip for the full episode: https://d.rip/humorandtheabject

Following “People Pie Pool,” his ridiculous extravaganza for Performa, artist Brian Belott drops by my kitchen to talk about the finest aspects of the fine arts. We discussed his obsession with collecting children’s art and the legacy of early childhood educator Rhoda Kellogg, slapstick comedy, lighting his head on fire dozens of times despite understandable protests from his mother, why Dada artists would hate Dada art, the Marx Brothers, the People Pie Pool performance, cacophony, calamity, and collaboration, having your mom as your own teacher, and much more. We’re sponsored this week by a new rock supergroup featuring members of the Stooges and fronted by the one and only Morrissey, a steam-powered alternative to Bitcoin called Dirigiblecoin, and a generous donation from mining mogul George Hearst from “Deadwood.” The outro song is “Tell the Truth” by Mizz.

Comedian and self-described “aspiring actress” Ruby McCollister is my guest this week. We covered a ton of ground including the true meaning of “glam” comedy, what exactly is up with Joshua Tree, growing up backstage in a Los Angeles theater, being an only child, the humble origins of the Blue Man Group, having your teen aspirations documented on film, existential Uber conversations, discovering that comedy is her true medium, supportive peer networks, and the terror of taking direction. We’re sponsored this week by anarcho-capitalism, parking lot fees, bluegrass values, and the band that Dustin Yellin used to be in before he decided to become an artist. Shout out to our new subscribers on Drip!

The absolutely hilarious comedian Mitra Jouhari (@tweetrajouhari) stopped by the studio this week. An accomplished writer and actor, she also moonlights as ⅓ of the group Three Busy Debras and co-hosts the monthly It’s A Guy Thing at Union Hall with Patti Harrison and Catherine Cohen. We talked about getting her start in the New York comedy scene, the value of vulgarity, staging a ridiculous Three Busy Debras production at the famed Carnegie Hall, the upcoming It’s A Guy Thing holiday spectacular, why comedians should be free to express their politics, the terror of receiving packages in New York, creating supportive performance atmospheres, collaboration, the Midwest, and lots of other very important things. This week’s episode is brought to you by the wonderful people who support Humor and the Abject on Drip, as well as the concept of time and the allure of danger. The outro song is “Am I Evil?” by Extreme Animals.

Support Humor and the Abject on Drip: https://d.rip/humorandtheabject In 2017 alone, artist Andrew Ross has had three solo exhibitions between New York and Milan. To say he’s prolific would be an understatement. He stopped by the studio this week to talk about his most recent exhibition, “Iceman Returns” at American Medium in Chelsea, and we also discussed science fiction and horror, corporeal tragedy, slapstick, what qualifies an event, ethically questionable ideas, leaving audiences hanging, and what he’s got in store this year. Besides our lovely founding subscribers on Drip, this week we’re sponsored by things that are objectively not that bad, but are insufferable because of the people who like them.

One of my dangdest friends, Chloe Wise, came by the studio this week. She and I got to talk about her recent solo exhibition in Paris (France, not Texas), whether being Canadian automatically makes you funny, trying out new mediums, her new kitten named Pluto Chicken Nugget Wise, the politics of dairy, Ubering to incredible pizza in Philly, food in general, sculptural carbohydrates, and a terrible joke I tried to tell to the man who owns my local wine store. We’re sponsored this week by bootleg ranch dressing hacks, impostor designer handbags, clowning on The Creators Project, and partying LOL.

Orlando Estrada, who just wrapped up a month-long fellowship in Seoul, South Korea, is my guest this week. On this episode, we talked about mysticism, his extended family of spiritual mediums, psychedelics, camp, his nightlife performance series Incarnata Social Club, paranormal research, and I got the run-down on his unique experience living abroad in September. We’re sponsored this week by the Milkshake Duck, a new bar snack called Drinkaroos, and Matthew Arnold’s classic poem “Dover Beach.”

Bonus mini episode! Jason Powell, lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for Guantanamo Baywatch took some time out of his busy tour schedule to catch up with me. We’ve known each other for almost a decade, and I was there when he drunkenly came up with the ridiculous idea for his band. We spoke about their current tour, new album, stealing drugs from fraternity houses in Boston, his old conceptual punk band PISS and their bad luck-filled mini-tour of Iceland, why Las Vegas rules but sucks, French audiences, and much more. We recorded in a bar before their live show last night, but at least the bartender had a cool playlist on in the background.

Columbus, Ohio’s finest, Brett Payne and Bryan Quinby from Street Fight Radio, joined me this week for the first-ever live Humor and the Abject podcast. We covered many of their favorite topics: shitty bosses, stealing from shitty bosses, the Midwest, doing drugs, anarchism, and why Republicans and Democrats will always suck. But we dug a little deeper as well, unearthing the Street Fight Radio origin story and the roots of their individual senses of humor that led to becoming “anarcho-comedians.” It also turns out that--wait for it--they kind of love New York. Special thanks to comedians Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres for opening up the show, to Taylor Moore for running sound and bartending, and to Throne Watches for hosting us. This week’s episode is sponsored by the United States Military, the D.A.R.E. program, and your fucking boss.

Artist, writer, curator, and gallerist Eileen Isagon Skyers is our guest this week. We spoke about her signature approach to experimental video art, what Florida is all about, her research on internet art and web interface histories, travel, contemporary modes of viewing, her new project with Eva and Franco Mattes, the co-founding of BedStuy gallery HOUSING, community engagement, the future of screens, why Stranger Things is good and Black Mirror is bad, hologram friends who advocate for brands, and so much more. This week’s episode is sponsored by the City of Tampa, trains, and Hungry Howie’s pizza. There was an event going on in the background at Kickstarter while we were recording, which is why you can hear all of those ghouls way low in the mix. LOL.

Alix Pearlstein is known for her unique video projects and perplexing installation work. She dropped by the studio this week to talk about working with professional actors for her pieces, her recent solo exhibition at On Stellar Rays, complicating traditional notions of the viewer’s gaze, watching bad TV, not buying video equipment, and her constantly-shifting relationship with the genre of performance art. Episode twenty-two is made possible by generous sponsorship from manifestos, bong rips, knife-wielding toddlers, mysterious dipping sauces, and undercover detectives rising from the dead to infiltrate motorcycle gangs engaged in the narcotics trade. We hope to see you on Sunday, October 22nd for the free live show with Street Fight Radio in Brooklyn!

Artist Molly Soda, one of the most recognizable names in internet-based practices, joins Humor and the Abject this week. We gabbed about growing up online, selfie feminism in hindsight, her recent solo exhibitions at 315 Gallery in Brooklyn and Annka Kultys Gallery in London, perceptions of sincerity and honesty in her work, isolation, aesthetic and interface evolutions in social media, how we actively present ourselves for internet audiences, and shitposting. We’re sponsored this week by wooden logs and liberal-presenting media people who participate in email chains with Milo Yiannopoulos. Make sure to come out to the live Humor and the Abject event with Street Fight Radio on Sunday, October 22nd at Throne Watches in Bushwick. Check the blog for details.

It’s officially the spookiest time of year, and to celebrate I hopped on Skype with Los Angeles-based poet Mira Gonzalez. She’s the author of the books “i will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together,” published by Sorry House, and “Selected Tweets,” a collaboration with Tao Lin. We talked about The Babadook, alt-lit, sexism in the literary industry, Twitter-as-writing, mental health, poetry, healing through humor, unlearning grammar, and weed. This week’s episode is sponsored by the fact that Bret Easton Ellis has no idea what autumn is. I hope you fuckers like AFI. LMAO.

Portland-based artist Daniel J Glendening joins the podcast this week to talk about his new science fiction novel, “The Gardener, The Visionary, and The Traveller,” out now through Small Editions. We discussed hauntings, astral projection and remote viewing, interstellar methods of communication, site memory, California-as-metaphor, and his interdisciplinary art practice that incorporates sculpture, performance, video, writing, printmaking, and installation. Daniel is part of a two-person exhibition, “the barometric pressure is all over the place,” with Laura Bernstein of Brooklyn opening Friday, September 29th at Anytime Dept. in Cincinnati, OH. This week’s episode is sponsored by the Devil’s Lettuce, Katy Perry Instrumentals, GlueTube, and the Hot Lake Hotel. The outro music is "Dead to Me" by the band Daniel’s little brother drums for, Kim and the Created out of Los Angeles.

Sincerest apologies for the delayed podcast this week! The Juggalo March on Washington had me busy all weekend. But the episode you’re getting is extra fantastic and extra long, featuring Pastiche Lumumba. Pastiche is a Brooklyn-based visual artist, curator, co-founder of the LOW Museum in Atlanta, educator, DJ, meme maker/philosopher, and one of the most articulate folks around. We chatted about studio practices, masculinity, sports, oppression, Atlanta, senses of humor, and--of course--memes! We could have kept going for hours, so I’ve invited Pastiche back to do a part two soon as to discuss satire in contemporary art and comedy, and who should quit using it. Pastiche's Instagram is currently @wokeback_mountain, and you should follow it quickly because the name changes hilariously and pointedly every couple of weeks.

In 2014, filmmaker Scott Cummings temporarily relocated back to his hometown of Buffalo, NY and befriended the local Juggalo Community. Over several months, he collaborated with them to produce an experimental portrait film, "Buffalo Juggalos," which won the Grand Jury Prize for Live Action Short at the 2014 AFI Fest. Leading up to my own visit to the Juggalo March on Washington this weekend, I invited Cummings to stop by, recount his story of collaborating with his Juggalo friends, and talk about a couple of new movie projects he’s got in the works including an experimental portrait of the Church of Satan. This week’s bonus episode is sponsored by lots of different genres of clowns. If you’re at the march this weekend, let me know!

The co-creators of the certifiably insane Turner Masters Memory Hospital podcast, Catherine Cohen and Steven Markow, came by the studio to talk about this new epic miniseries produced by the Forever Dog network. We also chatted about ghost stories, having lovers, people from our high schools who later became kind of famous, Catherine’s new show coming up at UCB, whether or not Steven and I should become closer friends, how to really wow people during an audition, and whether or not we’ve ever actually seen improv. This week’s episode is sponsored by Malcolm in the Middle, and local nightly news consumer report-style stories specifically targeting the restaurant chain T.G.I. Friday’s. The outro song is from an inimitable video by Miami-based artist Jillian Mayer, who is a fucking national treasure.

The prince of prints, Paul John, joins the Humor and the Abject podcast this week. We discussed his imprint, Endless Editions, as well as growing up as a first-generation American, competitive running, the Risograph bubble, urgency in contemporary art, how much I hate Sonic Youth, why soccer goalies can be out of shape, squatting, and never wanting to visit Boston. This week’s episode isn’t sponsored by anybody because Staffonly has suddenly decided that she’s a socialist and wouldn’t let us have any advertisers. Also, we recorded outside the studio, so the audio sounds like we recorded outside the studio. I think you can probably handle it though.

Los Angeles-based writer Amelia Gray has a brand new novel out on FSG, “Isadora.” During a recent trip to New York to visit the set of the new Emma Stone and Jonah Hill Netflix series “Maniac,” for which she was a writer, she dropped by the studio. We talked about writing, making lists of gross stuff, reading Amazon reviews of your own work, her hometown of Tucson, the economy of one-liner comedy, and how writers should choose their studio spaces. This week’s episode is sponsored by Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Buffalo Wild Wings, and both my and Gray’s alma mater, Arizona State University.