Hangover Cure: 5, 6, 7, 8, and *Weekend*
A brazenly upbeat newsletter; a charmingly relatable series; and Funkadelic.
Hey, hi, hello, Happy Friday. If you’re getting this in your inbox, you’re a paid subscriber of Hugging the Bar, and let me just say, I appreciate you so much! And one of the ways I’m saying “thank you” is with this little weekly round-up of fun, non-beer recs. So, without further ado…!
READ: Josh Gondelman’s Newsletter, That’s Marvelous!
Are you on Twitter? Or, perhaps, were you once on Twitter before a petulant toddler at best / transphobic monster of Dr. Capitalism von Frankenstein’s making? Then there’s a decent chance you know Resident Nice Guy Josh Gondelman. A few other things you may know Josh from: his writing for shows like “Desus & Mero,” “Last Week Tonight,” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; his writing on topics like Polar seltzer; his writing in his book, “Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results”; and/or his stand-up comedy, which I have personally enjoyed several times. Oh, and he is also the pug-dad of a 16-year-old gorgeous smoosh named Bizzy.
Gondelman has one of the best reputations I can think of in comedy now, and not just because of how smart and funny his work is, but because he genuinely seems to be a kind person and his brand of positivity feels downright rebellious in These Times, with gallows humor and cringe often feeling more de rigueur. And you can, delightfully, get that nice-ness and optimism delivered to your inbox, which will always stand out among all those other stressful emails! In each issue, Gondelman gives pep talks, encouraging people with sunburns, or dogs ahead of July Fourth fireworks, or people who write in ahead of things they are nervous about. It is earnestly just lovely and still funny, and a necessary reminder that this sort of thing still exists in the world!
WATCH: “This Way Up”
I don’t know about you, but I often miss great shows on the streamers because only a handful are lucky enough to get any kind of real marketing budget and the whole system is rigged—but I won’t step onto yet another entertainment/media soapbox here and now. The point is, there’s a good chance you didn’t know “This Way Up” existed, and I think everyone should. It is written by the brilliant Aisling Bea, who also stars in it, and the icon that is Sharon Horgan plays her older sister.
We meet Bea’s Aine as she’s leaving a rehab center after having a nervous breakdown, and the show follows her navigating her way through work, relationships, and family as a woman in her thirties who’s “supposed to” “have it together,” but, you know, that is just not the reality for most of us and shit is messy. As you can tell, the show is not about anything revolutionary, but it is damned relatable and real, with a lovely and deftly done balance of vulnerability and dark-tinged humor, and it gently approaches mental and emotional health issues with an openness that says, “It’d be so much better for everyone if we all just talked about this stuff, wouldn’t it?” Plus, there are only two seasons of six episodes each, so this is an easy and simply enjoyable watch.
LISTEN: “Can You Get to That” by Funkadelic