Welcome to June, 2024

Choose Your Side + The Top Jokes of Last Month + DuVay Knox, Podcast Guest Appearances & more!

— This is a longer post than usual, so if you’re reading this via email, you might want to hop on over the the web version here to read the full thing! —

Paid subscribers get early access to this monthly update!

Table of Contents:

• June Letter From African America:

  • Choose Your Side

• Last Month Right Now!:

  • The Top Jokes of Last Month!

• Stuff You Might’ve Missed:

  • You Are The Genre Episodes + Text Interview + Yub Nub & more!

• Current Obsessions:

  • TV, film, audio, and text recs!

• Somethin’ Else:

  • Bonus Pod!

• Song of the Month:

  • Hot Fun In The Summertime by Sly & The Family Stone

Letter From African America (June, 2024)

Dear readers,

I’ve been thinking a lot about that killer sky vacuum in Jordan Peele’s Nope. It could very well be the greatest symbol of our time. And, in my view, crystalizes just as much of the burgeoning 2020s as as Get Out did for the twilight years of the 2010s.

Who among us hasn’t been swallowed up and spit out by one of the many governing machines of our society?

Of course, the trick for avoiding the sky-suction, is to not seek its attention in the first place. Which reminds me of the advice we often give to people starting off in any given field. Keep you head down.

The more I think about Peele, the more I spot the connections between his current work and his specific experience as an entertainer who donned various personas for laughs. There are certain positions in the industry that are easy to hide behind, but acting isn’t one of them. I have a great deal of respect for the way people who seek being on camera or on stage swim through the requisite adrenaline, ego, competition, and doubt.

And beyond issues of race, one could argue that Peele’s Get Out/Us/Nope trilogy is just equally about performance. In Get Out you have white minds performing inside of Black bodies. In Us, you have our tossed aside alter-egos emerging from the depths to step into the roles they’ve spent their entire subterranean lives auditioning for. And in Nope you have a hovering camera lens devouring anyone who dares staring into it.

I mention all of this, because in the past few years I’ve been wrestling with my own attachment to performance. Historically, I’ve been just as much a behind-the-scenes guy as I’ve been one on stage. But as I get older, the pressure to choose a side has gotten more intense.

Last week I watched the premiere of a short film that I co-produced, co-directed, and co-starred in called Chemistry Test (written by Andrew Sanford and co-produced/co-directed by Jim Fagan). Oddly — the experience of watching it pushed all of these issues into the forefront. The intended style of Chemistry Test required me to wear a camera on my head so that the audience can see through my POV during the bulk of the story.

As a result, the short — which I love and am quite proud of — is a surreal extension of myself where I’m both the main character and the object that typically captures them.

Something I’ll be pondering in the weeks to come is whether I must in fact choose a side, or remain a presence in-between. Perhaps that limbo is “the genre” I keep searching for.

Anyway, be on the look out for Chemistry Test at a festival or Vimeo link near you sometime soon.

🎨: Joel Jackson

Best,

-Tim

last month right now! (best jokes)

Each weekday, I email five jokes and subscribers vote on the ones that make them laugh the most! Here are your favorite jokes from May, 2024!

WEDNESDAY: 5-1-2024

• In Chile, a businessman agreed to sell the “Yosemite of South America” to his adversaries — local environmentalists. So… safe to say the their covert plan to “wear suits to the meeting this time,” panned out.

[read the other jokes from that week here]

MONDAY: 5-6-2024

• Boeing is on the verge of launching people into space via capsule — and the first set of travelers became considerably nervous after noticing their spacesuits have “Whistleblower” stamped on them instead of their names.

[read other jokes from that week here]

THURSDAY: 5-16-2024

• iPhone owners say the latest iOS update is resurfacing deleted nudes. And, even stranger, that the nudes are from pioneers of the old west.

[read the other jokes from that week here]

TUESDAY: 5-21-2024

• Rudy Giuliani is selling his own brand of coffee —

• — flavors come Bold, Decaf, Morning, and I Married My Cousin.

[read the other jokes from that day here]

I’d also like to shout out the hilarious Milly Tamarez who wrote 25 jokes for the newsletter all of last week!

Here’s one of my favorite jokes of hers from that run:

FRIDAY : 5-31-2024

• Sick of swiping, some South Asian Americans consider arranged marriage. When reached for comment, one women said: “I’d rather be with a total stranger for the rest of my life, than look at another profile from 37 year old who’s ‘obsessed with “The Office” TV show’ and afraid of commitment.”

[read the other jokes from that week here]

stuff you might’ve missed

• Listen to the latest four episodes of You Are The Genre!

  Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get podcasts!

  

  

  • [Jordan VanDina] Is The Genre: How indie filmmakers like Kevin Smith and MTV’s ‘Jackass’ inspired Jordan VanDina’s screenwriting and directing career.

  • [Grant Lindahl] Is The Genre: How Barney the dinosaur and the acting bug paved the way for Grant Lindahl's animation career.

  • [Jourdain Searles] Is The Genre: How a childhood spent watching movies through one good eye led to a career in film criticism and comedy for Jourdain Searles.

  • [Roy Wood Jr.] Is The Genre: How Roy Wood Jr. almost chose firefighting instead of comedy.

• PODCAST: Yub Nub

  Yub Nub

  — the podcast that I co-host with Jim Fagan about Star Wars is back as part of The Sonar Podcast Network and we’re dedicating this season to all of the media that inspired George Lucas in the creation of the beloved franchise. Listen to our debut episode w/ special guests James III and Connor Ratliff!

  And subscribe to its newsletter!

• POST: An [EMAIL] Interview with DuVay Knox

  This marks the first installment of my text interview series that requires a rated M for mature stamp. But it’s an enthralling conversation with DuVay Knox, a.k.a.

  𝐏𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐔𝐒
  about perception, craft, and authenticity as writer.

  

  🎨: Luis Paredes

  An [EMAIL] Conversation with writer DuVay Knox

• PODCAST: Somewhere in the Ring

  Speaking of Yub Nub AND Chemistry Test — Jim and I recently guests on the Somewhere in the Ring podcast hosted by Andrew Sanford and Ryan Sprague!

current obsessions

SOUNDS:

• PODCAST: Who Shat On The Floor At My Wedding? And Other Crimes

  This podcast has become a mainstay in my home. Intensity funny and original — you can’t help but laugh.

SIGHTS:

Follow me on Letterboxd here!

• TV: Abbot Elementary Season 2 Finale

  Simply one of the finest episodes of television ever. Its hard to write a finale that wraps things up with every character while still keeping you wanting more for the seasons ahead. And they managed to do it all in mostly one apartment.

• FILM: George Lucas’ USC Student Films

  This was a research project for an upcoming episode

  Yub Nub
  and it did not disappoint! Just a reminder that you should always check out the student films of your favorite directors. You’ll have to wait until the episode comes out to hear my full options!

• TV: Evil (Season 4/Episode 1)

  Season premieres are also difficult! Especially for a show as dense with lore as Evil. And even more so for the premiere of a FINAL SEASON! Evil has always been a masterclass in defying expectations, making television cinematic without forgetting its roots, and simply scaring the hell out of anyone who watches.

READS:

• SUBSTACK: Alexandria Love took over Five Jokes a few weeks back and she has a Great! newsletter full of jokes that have the vibe of something that should be televised. Check out her latest post: How To Comment on People's Bodies

EXPERIENCES:

• Tootsie’s Video Vault at Littlefield Brooklyn

  This is where the Chemistry Test short premiered! And it was an absolute blast. I forgot what it was like to be in a room full of people who just want to laugh at something taped, edited, and scored. The team at Toostie’s does incredible work and I’ll definitely be coming back.

  

• Brooklyn Comedy Collective Pitch Fest

  It was here that performed a live reading of Shaun Menchel’s hilarious pilot script Area 27. It was great to also get a glimpse at some of the other live readings. Communal experiences again! They’re back, baby!

  

  📷: Danny Damian

somethin’ else

For good measure — here’s an even NEWER episode of You Are The Genre featuring actor/writer Anna Suzuki! It technically came out at the start of this month, so you’ll probably see it again in my July letter!

song of the month

I went on a real Sly & The Family Stone kick last month. “Hot Fun In The Summertime” is one of those songs that could have been a hit with or without the words. And it seems simple at first until you really listen to what’s happening with the instrumentation. It’s smooth, has soul, and a little bit of church while also talking about smoking weed. The perfect song. I wish I could live in it.

🎶That's when I had / Most of my fun, back / Hi, hi, hi, hi there / Them summer days / Those summer days🎶

Until next time, remember YOU ARE THE GENRE!

PAST LETTERS:

December, 2022 / February, 2023 / March, 2023 / April, 2023 / May, 2023 / June, 2023 / July, 2023 / August, 2023 / September, 2023 / October, 2023 / November, 2023 / December, 2023 / January, 2024 / February, 2024 / March, 2024 / April, 2024 / May, 2024