Humor and the Abject Podcast

Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House drops by this week to talk about his humble Midwest origin story, what gets him riled up most, the unending quest to post, whether political satire is dead, the millennial move towards socialist politics, why sophistication is stupid, and his morbid predictions about the supposedly imminent Blue Wave. The outro music is “I Love My Shirt” by Donovan. Buy The Chapo Guide to Revolution here: http://chapotraphouse.com/book/ Get tickets to the release event at The Strand in NYC here: https://www.strandbooks.com/event/chapo-trap-house

You’re probably already following Jenson Leonard on Instagram. He’s Cory in the Abyss, the hilarious and pointed poet, digital artist, and meme producer. Jenson dropped by the kitchen this week to talk about antiblackness in meme culture, the ways in which vernacular is appropriated for material capital, building layers and layers of comedy into his work, the tragedy of the comments section, studying creative writing at Pratt, why he wouldn’t want to be Robin Williams, and a whole lot more. Shout out to the dude Andrew Shuta for introducing us. Artist and writer manuel arturo abreu did a really, really great interview with Jenson for AQNB a while back which we talked about on the episode, and was instrumental in helping me to form my questions for the podcast this week. Give it a read and share: http://www.aqnb.com/2017/12/12/still-i-shitpost-cory-in-the-abyss-on-a-communism-of-the-visual-antiblackness-in-the-meme-o-sphere-with-manuel-arturo-abreu/ The outro music is “Summer Holidays vs. Punk Routine” by the Refused.

Artist Lex Brown makes videos, drawings, sculptures, and performances that mix science fiction with a healthy dose of dark humor. Recently, she and Aaron Fowler collaborated on a performance work called “C.E.” that debuted at the New Museum. After getting the chance to see it, I just had to invite her over for a conversation! Lex dropped by to talk about her writing process, her fascination with cartoons and slapstick, the types of science fictions she wants to put into the world, the mystery of power, the end of the fucking world, having cool parents who actually love and support you, collaboration, and much more. You can catch one of Lex’s videos in the group show “Elastic Behavior” curated by Memory Foam at Java Project in Greenpoint that opens up on July 7th: https://www.facebook.com/events/1051927431621697/

Exactly what it says in the title. Nice.

Ross Simonini’s debut novel, “The Book of Formation,” is a fascinating exploration of the cult of personality in an age where mass media has replaced traditional spirituality. But Ross isn’t just a writer, he’s also an accomplished visual artist, a musician, and a gifted interviewer. And his novel, appropriately, is told almost entirely through the format of interview transcripts. Splitting his time between Northern California and New York City, he stopped by the kitchen this week to talk about the book. We also discussed his literary influences, his experimental teaching, how the music he produces owes a lot to a fascination with writers and mythology, our collective nostalgia for the golden age of cults, “digressive” sitcoms, the art of the interview, and his somewhat-but-not-entirely useless study of astrophysics. The outro music is “Bad Past Gone Away” by Ross’s band, NewVillager.

Happy Knife Month, screedlers! On this episode of the DSA Podcast, Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe got together to talk about their shared love of knives, and further covered topics as diverse as parental sex, what’s in the fucking news, why Thomas J Gamble is a style icon, Mystic River, the greatest breakups of 2013, astrological signs, True Detective, Eminem’s sobriety, Darcie’s recent hangout with the Greenpoint police, Cartman impressions, and brrrrrup-a-ting-wah! The outro music is “Carpe Diem” by Nerve Agents.

Providence-based artist and activist Sheida Soleimani was recently in town for her solo exhibition “Medium of Exchange” at the CUE Foundation. She stopped by the kitchen to talk about how this recent body of work uses comedy and queer identities to critique the relationship between oil production in the east and military industrialism in the west. We also gabbed about multiple other things like teaching, writing screenplays, Flat Earthers, why arts administrators suck, the Creation Museum, baby boomers, death threats from Iran, why military people are such fucking nerds, the graphic design of OPEC.org, some of her all-star students, her family’s history of political radicalism, and more. The outro song is “Weave & Unravel” by Tilt. Sheida’s show is up at the CUE Foundation in New York through July 14th: http://cueartfoundation.org/sheida-soleimani

Hollywood Handbook’s best co-host, Hayes Davenport, happened to be in New York recently on a trip back from Italy and stopped by the kitchen. First of all, I’m SORRY about the scrappy audio quality. I explain what happened in the intro. ANYWAYS, this was a really fun and informative episode. Hayes and I talked about the origins of Hollywood Handbook and why certain guests have trouble on it, his new local politics show the LA Podcast with Scott Frazier, writing for Danny McBride and Jody Hill, the impossibility of ethical consumption under late capitalism, being a YIMBY vs a NIMBY vs a PHIMBY, whether or not dunking on libs by rose emoji Twitter accounts is an effective route to social revolution, problematic policing of the homeless population in Los Angeles, and being a realist about socioeconomic compromise. The outro music is “Ouroboros” by the Mars Volta. Scope below for links to the books that Hayes recommended on the episode. “Down, Out, and Under Arrest” by Forrest Stuart: http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo23530208.html “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein: https://www.epi.org/publication/the-color-of-law-a-forgotten-history-of-how-our-government-segregated-america/ “The Edge Becomes the Center” by DW Gibson: https://www.dwgibson.net/book/the-edge-becomes-the-center/

Writer Erin Schwartz drops by the kitchen this week to talk about her new gig as assistant editor at VICE imprint Garage. We also talked about why the Jersey Shore reboot is a Greek tragedy, the nonfiction publication she co-produces called Natasha, writing about culture using a lateral but rigorous approach, class appropriation in high fashion, the nuanced layers in the lyrical playground that is Limp Bizkit’s catalogue, her favorite contemporary writers, the current existential crisis in journalism, why writing fiction is terrifying, vanity plates, and New Jersey in general. The outro song is “Stokin’ the Neighbors” by Lagwagon. Check out Erin's work for Garage here: https://garage.vice.com/en_us/contributor/erin-schwartz

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.