Hangover Cure: Tegan & Sara's "Closer" Still Slaps

The one podcast that successfully breaks the rule of explaining why things are funny; you need more heirloom tomatoes in your life; get "closer" to spontaneous dance breaks.

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…!

LISTEN: “Paul F. Tompkins’s ‘Peanut Brittle’” on Good One: A Podcast About Jokes

Even if you’re not a comedy geek, if you write in any capacity, I highly recommend the Good One podcast. Host and Vulture editor Jesse David Fox spends each episode going deep—like, really deep—on the process behind standout jokes from different comedians, and it’s fascinating what every conversation reveals about the writing process. It’s honestly so interesting to see what lots of people do versus things that only one person does. It helps you think about different tools and approaches that might work for you, and also to understand the main takeaway which is that some different combination is what will best serve every individual. There’s tons to be learned about brainstorming, trial-and-error and workshopping, killing your darlings, revising, etc. And it’s a really fun way to learn all of this, considering some of the funniest people in the world are the ones walking us through it.

I love Paul F. Tompkins, and you’ll see his name pop up time and time again in my recs, much like “Taskmaster” connections (actually, PFT is how I found out about “Taskmaster!”). His peanut brittle bit is a classic, full stop. It’s a feat of both writing and performance. So, an examination of the process behind “peanut brittle” is a great way to get into this podcast.