#159. Homemade Cranberry Sauce and You
Hi everyone,
I'm currently on my way back from Minneapolis where I had such a fun show and enjoyed some unexpectedly mild late-November weather. Several people came up to me afterwards and mentioned that they're That's Marvelous readers which was very cool! (Also as always I'm very psyched and grateful when people come out after hearing me on Wait Wait and The Bugle and other places as well!) I really love Minneapolis and the Parkway Theater, and I can't wait to come back!
Last week I had the great pleasure of hosting the live chat for the YouTube stream of the National Book Awards. I had fun putting on a suit and hanging out late with Maris (I got to go to the ceremony and afterparty in person even though my work was all online). Jeff Hiller was a truly ideal host, funny and warm and self-effacing in a way that enhanced those other two qualities! The awards acceptance speeches were extremely moving and beautiful. Roxane Gay talked about leveraging opportunity justly on behalf of people who are not getting a fair chance to thrive. George Saunders spoke about the practice of writing as a tool to learn how to think and feel better, humanity as a series of revisions. Omar El Akkad, who won the nonfiction award for his book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This balanced gracious appreciation for this recognition with pain at the ongoing murder of Palestinian people by the Israeli military. One author, who I will not snitch on in this newsletter, thanked their drug dealer.
I didn't expect how much joy I'd feel getting to bask in the enthusiasm of the YouTube chat. Most of the 1,500-ish livestreamers watched without comment, but the viewers who chimed in were so excited for and informed about all the categories. There was a huge swell of support for Omar El Akkad and an undercurrent of excitement for fiction nominee Karen Russell. No one felt the need to talk trash or play devil's advocate at all. The closest anyone got was someone saying that they didn't love one book from one category but wasn't going to put them on blast in the chat on their big night. As the National Book Foundation-appointed conversation facilitator, I gently encouraged them to save any further disparagement for the group text, and they did.
The wide-openness of the internet leaves art shared there vulnerable to misguided and malicious critique from all sides. It's so easy for work to feel contextless and free-floating, ripe for any stranger to take a whack at for fun as it drifts by on the timeline. I'm not a ^^^posi vibes only^^^ kind of guy despite the nature of this newsletter, but I do feel sad sometimes that sharing art (or anything really) online opens you up to a barrage of strangers firing off no-stakes-to-them insults. Criticism is so important, but nothing is gained through taking fire from uninformed jerks who are in it for sport alone. I love feeling like a part of a community or even just an event where everyone is excited to hold up what's beautiful (and, in other venues, to knock down what's genuinely pernicious). It was a privilege to help maintain a digital space where, for a short time, everyone wanted to celebrate art they loved.
This week I have a day of rehearsals for Aimee Mann and Ted Leo's holiday variety show tour, and then the tour starts (with four shows in New York City)! I'm really psyched to head out on the road with Aimee, Ted, PFT, Nellie McKay, and the whole band and crew! (Full details below, but the tour goes as far northeast as Medford, MA and as far Midwest as St. Paul!)
And also: Last week I was on The Bugle making lots of politics jokes but well before Donald Trump decided that he wanted Zohran Mamdani to be his bff. And the episode of The Thrilling Adventure Hour that I recorded a few months back was released as well!
A FEW RECOMMENDATIONS
Thanksgiving week is a really nice time to watch some standup comedy, honestly! Everyone's pretty busy but also looking for a way to kill an hour or unwind late at night. Here are some recent specials that I think you might like!
Myq is one of my oldest comedy friends. Rini (which he co-created with his partner, Rini) is the best work I've ever seen him do. It is, like all of his standup, almost unbelievably dense with jokes and ideas. He works at a pace that demands and deserves attention. This new special is also a labor both of love and about it. It's a real feel-good hour of comedy that is as intricately constructed as a sudoku puzzle. I was at the taping and came away dazzled!
I was also at the taping of Anthony DeVito's new special, Straight Hoopin, and it's just terrific. While Myq's comedy shows his work the way the last episode of a mystery show reveals the twists and turns step by step, Anthony projects a casual ease onstage. His jokes are also perfect, but he tosses them off so nonchalantly that you might not realize that he knows this about them. I legitimately cannot imagine a person who doesn't like Anthony's comedy!
I did not make it to Liz Miele's taping, but she's a great comic and a great friend. Her jokes are sharp and precise and extremely funny. Liz is so prolific it is basically hurtful (she's already filmed her follow-up to this special, which just came out). So watch this one before you fall behind on the Miele oeuvre!
Ben Katzner, who opened for me in Minneapolis and CRUSHED, has a new special out called Supple Harlot. Ben is so funny! It was great to see him backstage and onstage! Big win for me! And it can be a big win for you too (onstage, via video).
If you're a Dropout subscriber, Demi Adejuyigbe's new hour wherein he attempts one (1) backflip is now available for your viewing pleasure and delight. I got to see Demi run his show before he took it to Fringe earlier this year, and it was so full of Demi's many talents (music, talking, production, movement) and a zillion great jokes and concepts. It was as abundant with elements to love as any comedy show I've seen in a long time!
Also, Rufat Agayev, who is very funny has a special I haven't seen but am excited to! There's so much good comedy being made and shared!
Wait, it's been a minute since I plugged my own recent standup special! If you're a That's Marvelous reader and haven't watched Positive Reinforcement yet, I'd love for you to check it out!
PEP TALK FOR HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCE
I am, in most facets of my life, an appreciator of the handmade and the small batch. Even a boxed birthday cake mix, while not “from scratch,” is a joyful act of creation. Sometimes, however, that level of care and attention is not necessary. For example, I am positive the quality of ingredients is higher when a restaurant serves house-made ketchup, but I have yet to meet any person who prefers that bespoke tomato chum to a smooth squeeze of Heinz. Hunts can go to hell too. (I do know many no-ketchup people, and none of them have ever been swayed by a farm to food processor to table bottle of goopy nightshades.) We have mostly learned to give up trying to replicate superior mass-produced products by hand. Band-Aid is a household name; there’s no need to fashion bandages out of cloth like you’re a Civil War medic.
I don’t relish saying this, homemade cranberry sauce, but you fall into this category. While you are more widely beloved than house-made ketchup, so is freezer burn. When most people think of cranberry sauce, they picture a wobbly purple cylinder that reverse-slurps its way out of an aluminum can. If pressed, am unsure that I could honestly say that there is for sure any authentic cranberry matter involved. When I see a homemade batch, I always think: Why are there so many cranberries in here? Who wants these orbs in their sauce?
There are many times when it’s important to do things literally and/or metaphorically longhand. Writing out a birthday card for your loved ones instead of letting ChatGPT fill it in with affection-shaped word foam, for example. In other instances, we do not need to have the most authentic version of an experience. While not necessary, it’s fiiiine to put your infant in a Ramones onesie even if they can’t name one of the band’s songs.
Sometimes doing things in the most complicated and true way doesn’t yield more desirable results. As puberty taught many of us: Sometimes things are hard for no reason. In those cases it’s better to take a deep breath, relax, and take it easy. I love what you stand for, homemade cranberry sauce, but I’m not going to the mat to take your lumps.
PEP TALK FOR A READER
I didn't edit this request much, but I did pick the nickname!
I'm thinking about taking the plunge to get a new cat after I lost my sweet old girl last month but I'm nervous! What if the new cat doesn't love me as much? What if she destroys my curtains?? How does one get a new cat assigned to you??
- More Than a Feline (to the tune of "More Than a Feeling")
First of all, I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s so painful to lose a pet. I’ve seen people’s lives thrown into chaos over a breakup from someone they’ve been dating for four months whose friends they hadn’t met yet. So the loss of a years-long companion (platonic, to be explicit about that) should be allowed to feel at least that harrowing.
My hunch is that if you are starting to feel open to the possibility of a new cat, you are probably starting to be prepared for a new cat in actuality. Your home is cat-ready, so it’s all about when your heart is too. And, in terms of a ten-pound creature for you to care for, a cat is about the easiest one to acquire. You don’t need to save up to put a cat through college. You do not have to carry a cat to term inside your body. In fact, it would be super weird if you tried. Sometimes you just like, find a cat and then it’s yours. That’s a pretty sweet deal. Other times you have to try a little harder, but again I’ve never known anyone to have protracted fertility trouble while trying to bring a kitten into their life.
(I should also put in a plug here for fostering, which is a really beautiful service to offer and also a way to know where your own head is at in terms of emotional preparedness to love a new cat.)
Speaking as someone who lost a pet (R.I.P. Bizzy the Pug, a grumpy legend) relatively recently and got a new pet even recently-er (long live Maggie the Pug, a scrappy little dumpling), I sometimes worry that I’m going to try and fail to “replace” something or someone that I’ve lost. But that’s not how it works. You won’t replace your lost cat, you’ll cultivate the capacity to live in a new and different way. Your life will grow and your heart will grow, and you’ll have space for your memory and your present to exist side by side.
Please indulge me a brief digression: When I left Boston and moved to New York, I was really worried that I’d lose my connection to where I came from and never build something new in its place. That was stupid (I am a dumbass, is why). Fourteen years later there are now two places that feel like home to me. Within us we have the ability to hold many separate things equally dearly. It’s how everyone in an open relationship claims romance should work for everyone, but it’s for SURE how it works with pets (again, platonically).
You’ll know what’s right and what’s not when it’s time to invite a new ball of fuzz and needles into your home. You’ll know like the last time, but different.
PICK-ME-UP SONG OF THE WEEK: Gladie - "Car Alarm"
Great news for me, personally: Gladie released a new single produced by Jeff Rosenstock. "Car Alarm" gets off to an excellent start and then the chorus hits and you're like "Oh, sick!" and then there's a little guitar solo that's like "Oh shit!" and the bridge hits and you're like "Hell yeah!" As a recreational kvetcher, I feel personally indicted by the couplet: "Complaining about the traffic when I'm part of it/Looking for the problem when I'm the one who started it." Especially when there's a real "Everlong" type of drum fill underneath it towards the end. This seems like a song that is destined to be shouted along with at live shows!
Oh and also De La Soul has a new album out. I haven't given the whole thing a proper listen yet, but the track that immediately jumped out at me is "YUHDONTSTOP," a swaggering walk down memory lane. There are horns and strings and O.G. confidence. I figured since I was going back to the well of some personal favorites for this week's newsletter, I might as well give you two!
UPCOMING SHOWS
Time to hit the road a bunch through the end of the year and beyond!
AIMEE MANN/TED LEO CHRISTMAS SHOW DATES
11/28-11/30 (four shows): City Winery (NYC)
12/2: The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA)
12/3: City Winery (Philadelphia)
12/4: District Music Hall (Norwalk, CT)
12/5: The Greenwich Odeum (East Greenwich, RI)
12/6: Chevalier Theatre (Medford, MA)
12/8: Agora Theatre and Ballroom (Cleveland, OH)
12/9: Royal Oak Music Theatre (Royal Oak, MI)
12/11-12/12: Mayfair Theatre at the Irish American Heritage Center (Chicago)
12/13: Stoughton Opera House (Stoughton, WI)
12/14: Fitzgerald Theater (St. Paul, MN)
THEN BACK TO MY OWN SHOWS...
12/18: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Live Recording (Chicago)
12/28: The Crocodile (Seattle)
12/30-12/31: Helium (Portland)
1/16-1/17/2026: SF SKETCHFEST (Fake TED Talks, Doug Loves Movies, Sup, Bro?)
1/30: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me Presents: Comedy Grab Bag at the Bell House (Brooklyn)
2/4: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Live Recording (Chicago)
4/10-4/11: Commonwealth Comedy Club (Cincinnati-ish)