I’ll ask the same question I’ve asked all the great minds of the blogosphere: why don’t the icemakers built into conventional fridges ever work? Once broken, why can’t they be fixed? Name the demon associated with this horror. Feel free to pretend I didn’t even write anything just like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Scott Alexander and Jordan Peterson all did
Let's say you are given a straight-to-series order for a show that would entertain America while also trying to wake up America to the current state of things in our politics and culture. Describe that show.
Tell me more about the WWDITS comparison. I really enjoy the show and I'm curious what changes you're referencing. I kind of rolled my eyes at the whole Guillermo-coming-out plotline, sure (to be clear, I'm a gay man myself but for some reason it just came off ham handed), but other than that I don't know what has changed - tell me what you've observed.
When you were a speech writer for the EPA, how difficult was it to not insert jokes into your speeches? Or perhaps you did, and you’re simply re-hashing that material for this blog..?
Who are the writers you will drop everything to read? Please be honest - if you write "I'm on it the second Voltaire has a new one out" I'll know you're just being pretentious.
If you could become Tsar of Hollywood for a day and *make* them produce a book adaptation of your choice and to your own standards, what book would you adapt, why, and what elements of it would you consider vital to get right on the big screen?
Do you still have family in Hampton Roads, Va.? If so, which is the best place to go after Thanksgiving dinner: Headlights; JB’s; or Purple Reign? Asking for a friend.
Why doesn't FEMA have a (non-militarized) army? Shouldn't we have a professional force wearing snappy uniforms administering to the needs of disaster survivors? Sure, they should work with local officials that know the area and the people, but when the locals are incompetent or dead, there oughta be people with expertise that can step in at a moment's notice.
States are laboratories for democracy, in the same way that Wuhan was a laboratory for biology. Should we eliminate them and become the Unified Sitizens of America (still working on the name), or should we all just become our own states? If the latter, can I be both of my own senators, or could I elect you my other senator?
Do you have any advice for an aspiring comedy writer? There's some standard advice I've seen from a couple different sources about getting into comedy generally (not necessarily comedy writing) like move to NY/LA, start going to open mic nights, develop a social media presence, etc…. And while I trust that these would still be applicable to writing and may indeed be the best ways to go about it, they are unfortunately nonstarters for me. So I guess I'm really asking if you have any unconventional advice for getting into comedy? And comedy writing specifically? Something for those of us who aren't able to relocate, who are too much of a twitchy ball of nerves to ever go on stage and who harbor a blinding hatred for all social media?
Now I could lie and say I’m mentally tapped after exhausting every other avenue, but much like Ned Flanders parents, I've tried nothing and am all out of ideas. So if you could do most of the legwork for getting my career going, I'd really appreciate it.
And a quick follow-up: To build on that first bullet about moving, did your experience writing for American Auto (belated congrats, btw) lead you to believe that comedy writing will ever be a 100% work from home type of deal?
And keep up the great work w/ the newsletter and the podcast. I look forward to it each week.
Has you view of the Iran situation changed since you last wrote about it? Your article from december 2021 (https://imightbewrong.substack.com/p/we-really-fucked-this-iran-thing) argued that trump had fucked up the Iran nuclear deal by imposing economic sanctions and allowed Iran to get much closer to a nuclear weapon. But despite the Institute for Science and International Security's prediction at the time that Iran was "as little as three weeks" away from nuclear weapons, they still haven't got the bomb. And the trump-era sanctions on Iran (that Biden is noticeably reinforcing) seem to have been successful in destabilizing Iranian society and undercutting support for the theocracy. I'll concede that, as a 19 year old uni student, I'm not an expert in international relations but it does seem that the Trump admin forced Iran to choose between having a functioning economy on the one hand and their nuclear program/missile program/support for Hezbollah on the other. By choosing door B, the Iranian government has massively lost popular support and faces a real possibility of internal revolution - which would seem to vindicate the trump/pompeo "Maximum Pressure" policy
Thanks, James Macinnes
(Obviously the protests are tied closely to the brutal killing of Mahsa Ahmani but, like Tunisia in 2011, Ahmani's killing seems like the spark that lit the fire in pretty flammable tinder)
Like you, I am a poorly-informed gasbag whose primary qualification to be a writer is a grotesque infatuation with the sound of my own voice. This leads me to ask: Is this shit your job? More importantly, could it be mine? If I wanted to use a risibly meager level of local D-list notoriety as a springboard to building a one-man circle jerk on Substack capable of paying my bills, what advice would you give me?
I’ll ask the same question I’ve asked all the great minds of the blogosphere: why don’t the icemakers built into conventional fridges ever work? Once broken, why can’t they be fixed? Name the demon associated with this horror. Feel free to pretend I didn’t even write anything just like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Scott Alexander and Jordan Peterson all did
Let's say you are given a straight-to-series order for a show that would entertain America while also trying to wake up America to the current state of things in our politics and culture. Describe that show.
How can America as a nation Make Comedy Funny Again?
Tell me more about the WWDITS comparison. I really enjoy the show and I'm curious what changes you're referencing. I kind of rolled my eyes at the whole Guillermo-coming-out plotline, sure (to be clear, I'm a gay man myself but for some reason it just came off ham handed), but other than that I don't know what has changed - tell me what you've observed.
When you were a speech writer for the EPA, how difficult was it to not insert jokes into your speeches? Or perhaps you did, and you’re simply re-hashing that material for this blog..?
Why is the writing on Rings of Power so bad?
Would you rather be stranded on a desert island with Anthony Scaramucci or Kanye West
Sure, you might be wrong. And you're a comedy writer. But when was a time you were wrong in a way that wasn't funny?
If you could choose to be locked in a bomb shelter with Trump, Biden, or Putin, which would you choose and why?
boomer pro tip: try Fagen's "New Frontier" as background music in the shelter to set the mood.
Who are the writers you will drop everything to read? Please be honest - if you write "I'm on it the second Voltaire has a new one out" I'll know you're just being pretentious.
If you could become Tsar of Hollywood for a day and *make* them produce a book adaptation of your choice and to your own standards, what book would you adapt, why, and what elements of it would you consider vital to get right on the big screen?
Do you still have family in Hampton Roads, Va.? If so, which is the best place to go after Thanksgiving dinner: Headlights; JB’s; or Purple Reign? Asking for a friend.
Why doesn't FEMA have a (non-militarized) army? Shouldn't we have a professional force wearing snappy uniforms administering to the needs of disaster survivors? Sure, they should work with local officials that know the area and the people, but when the locals are incompetent or dead, there oughta be people with expertise that can step in at a moment's notice.
States are laboratories for democracy, in the same way that Wuhan was a laboratory for biology. Should we eliminate them and become the Unified Sitizens of America (still working on the name), or should we all just become our own states? If the latter, can I be both of my own senators, or could I elect you my other senator?
Do you have any advice for an aspiring comedy writer? There's some standard advice I've seen from a couple different sources about getting into comedy generally (not necessarily comedy writing) like move to NY/LA, start going to open mic nights, develop a social media presence, etc…. And while I trust that these would still be applicable to writing and may indeed be the best ways to go about it, they are unfortunately nonstarters for me. So I guess I'm really asking if you have any unconventional advice for getting into comedy? And comedy writing specifically? Something for those of us who aren't able to relocate, who are too much of a twitchy ball of nerves to ever go on stage and who harbor a blinding hatred for all social media?
Now I could lie and say I’m mentally tapped after exhausting every other avenue, but much like Ned Flanders parents, I've tried nothing and am all out of ideas. So if you could do most of the legwork for getting my career going, I'd really appreciate it.
And a quick follow-up: To build on that first bullet about moving, did your experience writing for American Auto (belated congrats, btw) lead you to believe that comedy writing will ever be a 100% work from home type of deal?
And keep up the great work w/ the newsletter and the podcast. I look forward to it each week.
Has you view of the Iran situation changed since you last wrote about it? Your article from december 2021 (https://imightbewrong.substack.com/p/we-really-fucked-this-iran-thing) argued that trump had fucked up the Iran nuclear deal by imposing economic sanctions and allowed Iran to get much closer to a nuclear weapon. But despite the Institute for Science and International Security's prediction at the time that Iran was "as little as three weeks" away from nuclear weapons, they still haven't got the bomb. And the trump-era sanctions on Iran (that Biden is noticeably reinforcing) seem to have been successful in destabilizing Iranian society and undercutting support for the theocracy. I'll concede that, as a 19 year old uni student, I'm not an expert in international relations but it does seem that the Trump admin forced Iran to choose between having a functioning economy on the one hand and their nuclear program/missile program/support for Hezbollah on the other. By choosing door B, the Iranian government has massively lost popular support and faces a real possibility of internal revolution - which would seem to vindicate the trump/pompeo "Maximum Pressure" policy
Thanks, James Macinnes
(Obviously the protests are tied closely to the brutal killing of Mahsa Ahmani but, like Tunisia in 2011, Ahmani's killing seems like the spark that lit the fire in pretty flammable tinder)
Like you, I am a poorly-informed gasbag whose primary qualification to be a writer is a grotesque infatuation with the sound of my own voice. This leads me to ask: Is this shit your job? More importantly, could it be mine? If I wanted to use a risibly meager level of local D-list notoriety as a springboard to building a one-man circle jerk on Substack capable of paying my bills, what advice would you give me?