[Landline special] Improve your scroll
Maybe laughing would help
Maybe, like me, you know doomscrolling is…diverting?…but also not good for you. You want to kick the habit but it’s hard: fear of missing out on being bummed out, or something.
Possibly, just possibly, the way out of this sick cycle, or at least a way forward, is to accept the will to scroll—but let it be scrolling thru new work by stand-up comics.
Friends, I’ve been trying this technique and it is working. Turns out dark humor is better than no humor at all, and other kinds of humor are also helpful. In my younger days I was lucky enough to have friends who were funny people: Chris Pellitteri in high school, Mark “Ed” Dyen in my freshman year in the dorms at UCLA, Peter Alberts in the Arthur magazine/Atwater years of the ‘00s. And others too. These people made/make life better—because they had to. They had to make other people laugh, it’s what they got off on. What simple and beautiful thing—a truly mutually beneficial exchange between performer and audience, going on all the time, whether or not there’s a stage around and money changing hands and so on. Fantastic!
Watching instagram videos of funny people isn’t a perfect substitute for that day-to-day friendship with a relentlessly funny person. It can’t be. But on the other hand, you do get to see a wide range of people and perspectives, anytime you need it. This can be a tremendous consolation in shitshow times like the present.
Here’s a few clips from a few people that have caught my attention in recent months, in no particular order. I’m not a comedy aficionado1, so I don’t have an idea, really, how well known these folks are. Maybe they’re huge, maybe they’re obscure, maybe they’re a well known cult taste—I don’t know! They just made me laugh. Maybe they’ll do the same for you. And if you have tips/links for others, please pass ‘em on to the rest of by commenting using the button below. Thanks!
And, leaving the IG scroll world, here’s my absolute favorite dude…
“Landline Special” is for all you paid subscribers to Landline. Material from it will eventually be used in the free-to-all, public Landline, so that no one ends up being left out cuz they’re short on cash. Thanks again for your support. More stuff on the way!
I should look into this pursuit.