It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Upright Citizens Brigade to comedy in New York. In their performances, at their theaters, and in their classes, they’ve influenced a generation of performers, particularly in improv and sketch comedy. These days, Matt Besser lives in Los Angeles and hosts the podcast Improv for Humans. Matt Walsh … Continue reading »
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Episode 41: Norman Rush
Randy encountered Norman Rush through his terrific first novel, Mating, winner of the 1991 National Book Award. It is, among other things, a novel of ideas that actually has some. Many. And it explores them with real insight into the human heart. His new novel, Subtle Bodies, was published on September 10th. He lives near … Continue reading »
Episode 40: Alexandra Horowitz
A professor of psychology at Barnard, Alexandra Horowitz is the director of that school’s Dog Cognition Lab. What we particularly admire about her: she is one of a very few scientists who can write about current ideas in her field in a way that a lay audience finds not only comprehensible—dayanu—but intriguing, which she did … Continue reading »
Episode 39: Lopate Brothers
On this episode there are two guests, brothers, an experiment in shared narrative, as they contradict but also deepen one other’s version of youthful events. Leonard Lopate is an institution on New York radio, but he didn’t plan to be. He studied painting with Mark Rothko and worked in advertising, hosting his first radio show … Continue reading »