December 2024
It's our free monthly newsletter! Featuring all the emerging comedy making us go "ho ho ho..."
It’s the last free monthly newsletter of 2024! We’re so grateful to everyone who reads and clicks and laughs with us. Never stop.
Los Angeles
Our readers know: WE LOVE EDINBURGH FRINGE. And if you’re thinking about going in August 2025? You may not even realize: NOW is the time to start planning. John Norris (creator of Fringe hits “Mr. Chonkers” and “Underground Monk Show”) will lead an info session at the Elysian on Tuesday December 10th, that will explain what Fringe is, what to expect, detailing the pros and cons, and some best practices on what makes someone have a successful festival experience.
Just outside of LA, but certainly worth mentioning in case you want to make travel arrangements now: The SF Sketchfest schedule is live!!! Watch this space, as we’ll be putting together a Cramer Guide for our paid subscribers a week before the fest…
New York
The unbelievably funny Francesca D’uva — recently named a “Comedian You Should and Will Know” by Vulture — is currently mid-run at Playwright’s Horizons with her solo show “This is My Favorite Song.” If you hate regretting things, maybe don’t miss it? It closes on December 13th.
New Yorkers might remember a few years ago when Zack Weiner, then a candidate in the democratic primary for a City Council seat in Manhattan, was “caught” on tape in a BDSM dungeon. The scandal was covered on Stephen Colbert and launched the Weiner campaign to dizzying heights. Well, now we have the full story… In Citizen Weiner, director Daniel Robbins made a film about a young candidate running for office, while the candidate actually ran for city council in real life. The result is a sort of bizarro version of Knock Down the House (2019) with shades of Nathan for You. The Abso Lutely produced comedy recently landed on VOD.
Here’s a young animator/writer/comedian that deserves attention: CAM GAVINSKI. Cam was one of six participants in the 2024 Universal Animation Writers Program earlier this year, and he continues to put out elevated, hard funny animation on the regular, including this (a simple video, which come to think of it, might be our favorite piece of social media content from all of 2024…):
On TikTok, Jessie Lee is currently offering a master class in Committing to the Bit: this expressive comedian will pivot on a dime to perform dramatic monologues (either borrowed from famous films like Anatomy of a Fall, or improvisations of her own), switching effortlessly from or into perfectly pedestrian moments. Her exaggerated, explosive sense of humor is infectious and unique.
NYC comedian Max Zavidow (aka @formerteenheartthrob) has built his page into an impressive scroll of hard-hitting, original comedy sketches (like this one from last year), but the best pieces in his repertoire are the elaborate cinematic skits which veer unexpectedly from the obvious path (oftentimes rapidly switching genres). We were recently blessed with a one such video, dropped just before the holiday…
Standup Carson Olshansky’s starting a new Substack and it has a brilliant premise. Entitled Review Mode, Carson revisits interactions from their real life and “shares their edits with the class.” The illustrations (see below) mimic the red-pen editing of a Word file:
In 2021, Chris Fleming co-wrote and starred in an Adult Swim pilot called “I’m the Mayor of Bimmi Gardens.” As of this week, that pilot is available to watch on YouTube. All things considered, we’re just happy we eventually got to see something so original and insanely funny.
Every month (here in our free newsletter) we’ll share a script from a writer that we think you should know. It’s that simple! This month’s script is…. SUGAR PIG by Lauren Knutti.
Logline: A half-hour comedy pilot about a hot-mess woman-child who dives into the seductive world of “sugar dating” after being dumped by her fiancé. Older, more sardonic, and more depressed than the typical sugar baby, she navigates the whirlwind simultaneous pursuits of financial stability and self-empowerment.
Click here to download the script.
Lauren Knutti most recently co-wrote, starred in, and co-produced the short film Me Night, which premiered online with Omeleto after a successful festival run. She hosts and performs in the popular improv show Fuck This Month at UCB and The Elysian. (It reigns as UCB's second highest grossing show after ASSSCAT.)
That’s it for this month.
Thanks!
*This newsletter features contributions from a team of comedy tastemakers:
Carly Hoogendyk
Natalie Ramirez
Cassidy Alla
Want to contribute? Send us a tip!
P.S. Oh yeah, one more thing. Watch this (and whatever Hannah Solow does next):
