Best of the Week!
Interview w/ Comedian & 'Everybody Still Hates Chris' Writer Rae Sanni, The Return Of 'Alternate Timeline' + Top 5 Jokes Of The Week!
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
[Rae Sanni] Is The Genre + Alternate Timeline is back!
Vote For Your Favorite Jokes!
David Lynch and Inland Empire
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Hey, happy Saturday! Let’s dive in to some newsletters highlights from the week!
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LATEST POSTS
PODCAST: You Are The Genre
Comedian and TV writer Rae Sanni joined me on You Are The Genre to talk about the impact entertainers with flair, from world wrestling to 80s/90s standup.
Paid subscribers can listen ahead to next week’s episode with !
POST: Alternate Timeline is back!
Over at the newsletter, I explain the short fiction I’ll be releasing this year. If you like sci-fi and mystery and somehow want even more from me, consider subscribing. I’ll be reaching out to paid subscribers of both Alternate Timeline and this one to see if you’re interested in having full access to both publications. Don’t want y’all paying twice for the stuff coming out of my brain!
![[Mamoudou N'Diaye] Is The Genre](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe7590920-5701-4593-b911-8b7f0c3b1867_3000x3000.png)
TOP FIVE JOKES OF THE WEEK!
Note: Whenever there is a tie, I become the deciding vote.
MONDAY: 1-13-2024
More than 200 years worth of U.S. documents at the National Archives are in need of transcribing and the vast majority of them are handwritten in cursive – requiring people with the increasingly rare skill of being able to read it. Finally time to put those Williamsburg hipsters who dress like bank tellers in the Wild West to the test.
[read the other jokes from that day here]
TUESDAY: 1-14-2025
NPR shopped for 96 items at Walmart to track how prices are really changing. Unsurprisingly, they only wound up with enough food to fill a tiny desk.
[read the other jokes from that day here]
WEDNESDAY: 1-15-2025
Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth recently acknowledged that locking up products to deter theft has backfired and deterred sales. Wentworth has since suggested a more reasonable and democratic approach their anti-theft measures by having a jury of the deodorant’s peers decide if it deserves going behind bars.
[read the other jokes from that day here]
THURSDAY: 1-16-2025
Joe Biden’s final address to the nation struck an ominous tone, warning of the growing power of America’s ultra-wealthy and cautioning that an emerging oligarchy threatens the foundations of US democracy. It all makes sense once you consider his last-minute replacement for the cue card guy:
Jokes aside — I, for one, commend the president for not saying “malarchigarchy.” We all know you wanted to, and yet you resisted.
[read the other jokes from that day here]
FRIDAY : 1-17-2025
David Lynch, director of off-kilter classics like Eraserhead and Twin Peaks, has died at 78. May we all find comfort in the fact that, heaven or hell, no one quite knows what to do with him.
[read the other jokes from that day here]
If you enjoyed those Five Jokes, check out the top jokes from last week!
BEST OF THE BEST!
Vote on your favorite joke among the top 5 — that way I can email the “Top Jokes of January” in an upcoming letter.
Ready? Set… Go! (You Have A Full Week To Vote)
SOMETHIN’ ELSE!
David Lynch meant so much to cinema lovers across the world and a lot of that had to do with his ability to tap into the dream logic that connects us. A few years back, my pal Ian Abramson and I made a short film/proof of concept TV pilot called Inland Empire.
It was a bold choice of title, knowing full well that Lynch had a 2006 film of the same name, but it was a way of paying homage to him, as he laid the ground for the type of weirdness we wanted to explore. Also, we’re actually from the Inland Empire, which happens to be the first place I ever heard of David Lynch, one fateful day while chatting with the friends I’d made at my first ever job — a JC Penney in the Moreno Valley Mall. My co-worker, Jason, excitedly explained to me who Lynch was and, if I’m not mistaken, let me borrow his DVD copy of Rabbits. Jason died a few years after that. If I’m not mistaken, by car crash. But it has always stuck with me… The impact of one person’s excitement at a lousy job in a desert town. Very Lynchian indeed.
Here’s an excerpt from my text interview with one of those co-workers, the amazing artist Rosy Cortez:
Tim: (5:35PM) Seeing your posts about the burgeoning art scene there has changed my old view of it as well. You mentioned earlier how people call it “Murda Valley” etc. I love that you’re at peace with it. So much of youth is about rejecting your home town. (5:35PM) I want to circle back to JC Penney for a moment to talk about Jason. I don’t remember if that’s how he spelled his name. But he’s become a bit of a myth in my mind. Another deeply creative person we worked with who sadly is no longer with us. I remember him introducing me to the work of David Lynch. Do you have any memories of him? And how has your creative path evolved since that job? Rosy: (5:48PM) Yes! Jason! Awe man he was a good dude! I think we had connected over David Lynch films too and he was musically inclined too! Actually just got a flashback one of the last times I hungout with you…we all took a coworker’s trip to SD with Jason and Naomi to watch Stomp! Man that was actually a whole creative team right there! Naomi was the one that inspired me to paint! She was so good! [Tim gives this an iPhone "❤️"] Tim: (5:50PM) Yes!! Wow. That was a lot of fun. Now that I think about it, I was really lost at the time because I had no clear plans about college or career beyond vaguely wanting to make films. We were such a fun weird group. Remember how “Closing Time” somehow always ended up playing around closing time? (5:51PM) Also, do you remember Jason’s last name? I wanted to see what there was of him on the internet a while back but couldn’t find him by just searching “Cool dude named Jason from Moreno Valley”
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