Humor and the Abject Podcast

Dena Winter, FKA May Waver, is an artist and production designer known for her audiovisual explorations of intimacy, environment, memory, and selfhood in the so-called digital age. She joins Humor and the Abject this week from the frozen tundras of her home in St. Paul, MN to talk about the advent of her online alter ego May Waver, the value of tenderness in art and life, self and ego, perceptions of authenticity, working in set design for stage and the big screen including a new movie she’s part of called “American Tender,” life in the Twin Cities, and more. Halfway through the episode, you’ll hear the Custom Sound Collage for November’s Patreon Lottery winner, Jacob W. For a chance to win your own, support Humor and the Abject on Patreon. The outro music is “Mall of America” by Desaparecidos.

Are you feeling experimental? I am. On this week’s episode, I’m trying out something that I hope to do more of in the future: writers reading their work. To break the ice, I’ve opted to offer myself up as the sacrificial lamb and read two pieces of my own. The first, “Jalipaz Kirkham: In Profile,” is something I wrote for the release event of poet Peter BD’s book “Milk & Henny” last spring. The second is a very, very stupid piece of erotic fiction about Westworld titled “Have We Met Before?” that I read at a comedy night called Into the Woods, organized by Ari Richter, this past summer. If you just want to hear one or the other in the future, these are the timestamps: 04:40 — “Jalipaz Kirkham: In Profile” 20:57 — “Have We Met Before?” The outro music is “Fiction” by Joni Mitchell. I’m currently open to requests for writers I’ve had on the podcast that you’d like to hear read their work and get the Humor and the Abject audio environment treatment.

Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe are back for another podcast-within-the-podcast, and this time they’re talking about cheese—and animals! The outro music is “Cheese Roll Call” from Pinky and the Brain.

Photographer Matthew Leifheit’s most recent body of work, “Fire Island Night,” is on view at Deli Gallery in Brooklyn through December 2nd. He joined Humor and the Abject this week to talk about his independent photo journal MATTE, trying to maintain a practice while juggling multiple adjunct teaching gigs, the importance of building trust and allowing for coincidence in photography, his years as photo editor at VICE, a three-month stint on Fire Island in the pursuit of his latest project, looking to the future while archiving the past, still working with film, generational shifts in queer communities, and more. We’re occasionally joined by his dog, Debbie Harry. The outro music is “Raw Deal” by Judas Priest. View documentation from Matthew’s “Fire Island Night” here: https://www.matthewleifheit.com/fire-island-night/

Joshua Citarella has a phenomenal new book out, "UNTITLED (Post-Left Politigram)," that you can read an excerpt from via his website linked below. It’s a collection of his research, writing, and artwork over several years related to accelerated political identities in adolescent online culture. He joins from his efficiency living unit in New York City this week to talk about his involvement with historically notorious Tumblr art collective the Jogging, accidental audiences, the not-yet-readymades he designed with Brad Troemel for Etsy under the banner of Ultraviolet Production House, startling overlaps between rightwing doomsday preppers and rooftop gardening Pinterest libs, freelance purgatory, Deftones, not getting an MFA, the byzantine philosophies of politically-radical Instagram posters, reading “Ishmael” once, and photography. The outro music is “Hearts Frozen Solid, Thawed Once More By The Spring Of Rage, Despair And Hopelessness” by AFI. About halfway through the episode, you’ll hear the first Custom Sound Collage from October’s subscriber lottery, made for OK Fox and Lucia Love of the Art and Labor podcast. If you’d like a chance to win one of your own, back Humor and the Abject on Patreon for just $3/mo. Get excerpts from Joshua Citarella’s new book here: http://joshuacitarella.com/_pdf/Politigram_Post-left_2018_short.pdf

Fresh off her solo exhibition, “Utopia Without You” at Williamson | Knight in Portland, OR, artist Tabitha Nikolai linked up with me to talk Nightcore, earnest rites of suburban occult, post-cataclysmic world-building, junk food asteroids, crust punk elves in the Pacific Northwest, a general malaise with liberalism and prescriptive visibility, isolation and the gamer's den, her fictitious corporation called Dynamic Horizons Limited, upgrade culture, planned and perceived obsolescence, cosplay and D&D, performative allyship in art institutions and gallery spaces, and growing up in Utah. The outro music is Don McClean’s “The Flight of Dragons (Nightcore Remix).” Humor and the Abject just migrated over from Drip to Patreon. Subscribe today for just $3/mo: https://www.patreon.com/humorandtheabject Check out Tabitha’s website here: https://tabithanikolai.com/ See images from “Utopia Without You” here: https://www.williamsonknight.com/tabitha-nikolai/

New York comedian and artist Alex Schmidt has a solo exhibition, “Group Fail Pony Play,” on view through October 28th at Leslie-Lohman Museum. We connected this week to talk about her Midwest roots, loving queer culture enough to satirize it, why they don’t make movies about Chicago anymore, what constitutes an actual family reunion, how breaking a horse is a metaphor for dom/sub relationships, creating IRL spaces for queer connections of all stripes from love to skillshares, her band Las Thumbelinas, pop-up dyke bars, teaching improv to diverse communities, and the upcoming event she’s co-organizing at Leslie-Lohman with Black + Pink on Thursday, October 25th. The outro music is “Willie” by Las Thumbelinas. Learn more about the October 25th event, and RSVP, here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-pink-orientation-and-pen-pal-matching-tickets-50081283467

Philly comic Kyle Harris visited Austin recently for a gig at Altercation Comedy Fest. He kindly made time to join me in the kitchen for an historic meeting of the minds that examines his dislike of not only his chosen art form, but also the city that he calls home. We chatted about sleep paralysis, Good Good Comedy (the only good thing in Philly, according to him), mayonnaise versus Miracle Whip, his sketch group Darlings, the tourism industry, honky tonks, his Boston origin story, his lady’s-man uncle, food cuckolding, The Flintstones live-action film, and hypothetical sculpture. The outro song is “Voicemails” by Yung K. Support Humor and the Abject for a chance to win an original, personalized sound collage at: http://d.rip/humorandthebject

The DSA Podcast is back and bicoastal! If you count the Gulf of Mexico as one of the two coasts, that is. Your trusted hosts—Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe—are back after a brief hiatus to bring you all the hottest takes on things that have almost no impact on your everyday life. And it’s the introduction of a brand new game never before played on the pod. The outro music is “Jumpers” by Sleater-Kinney.

Austin writer and director Yen Tan released a powerful film this year, “1985.” It tells the story of Adrian, a young man living through the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York who returns home for the holidays to his conservative Texas family. Yen dropped by the kitchen to talk about the development and production of the film, telling every day stories poetically, being an independent filmmaker in Austin, his previous feature projects, and his incredible graphic design work for other directors. The outro music is “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” by U2 from the “Batman Forever” soundtrack. Find out where you can see “1985” on the film’s website: http://1985thefilm.com/