Humor and the Abject Podcast

March is apparently Toronto month, because we’ve got artist Bridget Moser joining this week. Bridget is currently an artist-in-residence in Cleveland at SPACES, where she’s got a solo exhibition of brand new work, generated in-residence, opening up next month. Over the course of this episode, we got to talk about many important topics including: the slow death of mall culture; how ugly Toronto is; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; reading Adbusters and making political art in college; why painting is so boring; learning performance art by just doing one thing for a really long time; prop comedy; obsessively rehearsing; accounting for time and tech; organizing a performance by color or other compositional tools; why everything in a gallery sounds like shit; and the lovely work of festival staff. The outro music is “Kids” by PUP.

Toronto artists Amy Lam and Jon McCurley have been collaborating for 13 years as Life of a Craphead. On this week’s episode, we talked about their current exhibition, “Entertaining Every Second,” which has toured throughout Canada to its current site of Montreal; self-organizing a 30-show live even series called Doored; why cutting your teeth on stage makes you a better sculptor; the glaring problems with Ken Burns’ “Vietnam” documentary; King Edward VII; whether or not people in Toronto live in bars; and so much more. The outro music is “Ontario” by Neil Young.

It’s episode 100 of the Humor and the Abject podcast! To celebrate this unholy milestone, we brought back our very first guest ever: Darcie Wilder. THIS IS NOT JUST A DSA PODCAST WITHOUT AZIKIWE. Over the course of this latest conversation, Darcie and I discussed her weekly conceptual newsletter, “sentences”; the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos scandal; the nuances of reporting for jury duty; that time Mayor de Blasio killed a groundhog and tried to cover it up; and we play a brand new game called Better Take Than Never. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear cameos from multiple previous Humor and the Abject guests. The outro music is a total travesty by alumnus Daniel J Glendening. Buy Darcie’s book here: https://store.nytyrant.com/products/literally-show-me-a-healthy-person-by-darcie-wilder Subscribe to the “sentences” newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/darcie Support Humor and the Abject on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/humorandtheabject

Western Mass artist Emma Kohlmann was visiting Austin for a printmaking residency at the University of Texas last week, and was kind enough to drop by to record an episode. We talked about zines and doing book fairs; bakeries and why sourdough is printmaking; liberal arts colleges; Scooby Doo; flirting with anti-civ tendencies; punk festivals; assuming you can’t be an artist; our siblings; the 2007 Toyota Prius; walking everywhere; what is wrong with parents today; and even more. The outro music is “Time to Stand” by Deep Wound. Check out Emma’s work here: http://ekohlmann.com/

As part of fabled collective Paper Rad, artist Jacob Ciocci co-produced animations, video collages, and HTML works that have had a profound influence on almost every artist working with technology today—whether they realize it or not. On this week’s episode, Jacob joins from his new home of Chicago to discuss fatherhood; his early days as a student at Oberlin College with Cory Arcangel and Paul B Davis; the genesis of Paper Rad with his sister, artist Jessica Ciocci, and Ben Jones; the aesthetic break between Paper Rad and postinternet art; his beguiling experience encountering Fort Thunder in Providence; the craft beer craze and artifical scarcity; being scared of watching brain-rotting cartoons; his longtime musical collaboration, Extreme Animals, with David Wightman; being so uncool that it becomes cool; a recent teaching gig in animation; and the devastating pain of archiving your work. The outro music is “SURFING/SUFFERING” by Extreme Animals. Additional Extreme Animals tracks play throughout the episode. Want to hear more Extreme Animals? Buy a digital download of their movie, "The Urgency," here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theurgency

Performance artist Jordan Wayne Long moved to Los Angeles in 2013 with his collaborator Matt Glass. Over the last six years, they’ve written, directed, and produced multiple film projects and taken home numerous Emmys as HCT.Media. On this week’s episode, Jordan joins first to talk about shipping himself in a crate across the country, tackling PTSD through performance, the complications of audience participation, knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing, and getting knocked off a horse. Following a short break filled with fun facts about Richard Brautigan, Matt joins the episode to talk about HCT.Media’s ambitious history of DIY filmmaking and what’s in store for the future. The outro music is a song called “Football” by Jordan and Matt. Check out the trailer to their first feature narrative, “Squirrel,” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2bySkOp58

Comedian Lorelei Ramirez returns to the podcast to talk about why founding—and sustaining—their monthly show NOT DEAD YET was important; the behind-the-scenes process of producing an 11-minute infomercial epic called “Pervert Everything” for Adult Swim; collaborating to identify resources for community organizing through the event series Incite Action (and how you can get involved); curating a new video series at Syndicated in Bushwick; the podcast “A Woman’s Smile” with Patti Harrison; and when acting sucks. The outro song is “Cologne” by Trans Am. LOS ANGELES — Get tickets to “Alive! (For Now)” here: 2/09 @ The Ruby: https://therubyla.com/events/lorelei-ramirez/ 2/10 @ Lyric Hyperion: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lorelei-ramirez-alive-for-now-tickets-55254306117 CHICAGO — Get tickets to “Alive! (For Now)” here: 3/18 @ The Hideout: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lorelei-ramirez-alive-for-now-tickets-54432922336

With partial federal government shutdown over, the Humor and the Abject furlough comes to an end. We’re kicking off 2019 with the 11th episode of the podcast within the podcast, the DSA Podcast, which stands for Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe. Get yourself into the groove of reopened national parks, a funded TSA, and federal I-9 work verifications courtesy of a conversation blossoming with 2019 predictions, Stephen King lore, the hottest Ja Rule takes, over-participation in contemporary art exhibitions, and getting kicked out of bars. The outro music is “Am I Evil?” by Extreme Animals.

Humor and the Abject is taking a little holiday break, but to celebrate the end of 2018, it’s episode 10 of the podcast within the podcast, The DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe). On this Christmas-themed episode, the comrades discuss their holiday plans, recent encounters with cinema, a super obscure book about Jesus that Darice has, screaming tips, the upcoming season of True Detective, and they even do a little bit of radio theater for your listening pleasure. The outro song is “Silver Bells” by Twisted Sister. See you in 2019.

New York poet Peter BD is about to release a new mixtape, “Milk & Henny,” a follow-up to his 2018 book of the same name from Inpatient Press. Peter and I connected to talk about accidentally channeling Jack Handy, his broad animal care skills, the “Milk & Henny” origin story, writing in Gmail drafts, studying biology, JC Chasez, inadvertently becoming an alt-lit darling, collaborating with musicians and other writers, writing stories about people and emailing them to them, actually liking “The Corrections,” tall people, our first cars, and The Narrows. He also participated in a new game, and even let me leak a couple of his new tracks. The outro song is “Reading Rainbow” from his forthcoming mixtape. Buy the "Milk & Henny" book here: https://inpatientpress.bigcartel.com/product/milk-henny-by-peter-bd