Humor And The Abject Podcast

Ebony L Haynes is a writer, curator, and currently the director of both Martos Gallery and Shoot the Lobster. Despite the wicked ass Nor’Easter, she made the trek to my kitchen to sit down and talk about her life and work. We discussed the “Invisible Man” exhibition with which she re-launched Martos Gallery last year, perceptions of what constitutes “Black art,” being from Canada, Freud’s mouth, the work of artist Jessica Vaughn, whether or not selling out is still a thing, the failings of cultural capital, and why it’s important for her to help artists make money. We’re sponsored this week by any and all apps tangentially related to art. If you’d like to read the review I wrote about Jessica Vaughn’s “Receipt of a Form” at Martos Gallery last fall, you can do so here: https://www.humorandtheabject.com/blog/2017/12/7/review-jessica-vaughn-reciept-of-a-form

One of my younger sisters, Quinn, is a first grade teacher in a Denver public school. With the March for Our Lives events happening in 800+ cities around the country this Saturday to protest our nation’s lack of action when it comes to protecting our schools from gun violence, I spoke with her over Skype to get a little first-person perspective. Quinn has been an educator for eight years, having worked in her current classroom for four. We talked about the active shooter emergency drills she has to lead six year-olds through, the gross way that the concept of guns in schools has been politicized, her reasons for marching on Saturday in Denver, and what it’s like to work in an industry where people, especially children, are regularly murdered en masse. It’s a little more serious than you’re probably used to here on Humor and the Abject, but it’s an important conversation. Thanks for giving Quinn a chance to have her voice heard.

Some of you will recognize Leo Fitzpatrick from Kids, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Doomsdays, and The Wire. Others know him as a fixture in New York’s art world, having run the experimental project space Home Alone 2 Gallery in the Lower East Side with Nate Lowman and Hanna Liden for several years before settling into his current role at Marlborough in Chelsea. As part of the NADA New York Art Fair this year, Humor and the Abject hosted a live episode on-site and invited Leo out to discuss his unique history. We talked about skate videos, Alex Jones, working with artists from older generations including his decades-long friendship with Larry Clark, why the artist is always right, the time Roger Ebert said he wanted to punch him in the face, parenting, his early obsession with Uncle Floyd’s public access show in New Jersey, why he doesn’t watch his own movies, his diet of bad TV, his favorite acting role ever on Adult Swim that nobody saw, and then I get really upset that he’s never seen Drinking Out of Cups. The ou

Curator Kerry Doran has been researching and writing about internet-based art practices for years. She is currently the Director at Postmasters Gallery in New York. On episode 50 of the podcast, she stopped by to discuss the paradoxical techno-utopianism in early internet art, her recent article “Re: Contextualizing the Cyborg” for Open Space, whether or not digital tools can be emancipatory, running in Ridgewood, accidental audiences, the overspecialization of coding, skepticism versus cynicism, her transition to selling art and why it’s important for the artists she works with, writing about contemporary art history, and more. We’re sponsored this week by the ability to eat cheese in physical gallery spaces. The outro music is “Dark Steering” by Squarepusher. Read Kerry's latest piece for Open Space here: https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2018/02/re-contextualizing-the-cyborg/

What a treat we’ve got for you this week, screedlers. One of the funniest people that Brooklyn has to offer, Peter Smith, stopped by the kitchen to discuss their life and work. We chatted about their recent run at Carolines on Broadway, Alfred Hitchcock and horror, cabaret, big reveals, opening a glass tea house and eventually making Montana gay as fuck, the complicated character of Nancy Grace, their role on Turner Masters Memory Hospital, art history, their collaborations like The Bongo Hour with comedian and photographer Sandy Honig, the Keeping Up With the Katdashians musical, and much more. Catch the next Bongo Hour this Wednesday, March 7th at the Slipper Room in New York. You can purchase tickets here: http://ticketf.ly/2H3IFAg

On Sunday, I hopped the Long Island Rail Road bound for East Hampton to visit artist David Kennedy Cutler at “Off Season,” his ambitious exhibition-in-progress with Halsey McKay that’s broadcasting his efforts 24/7 via live stream. We smoked some beers, ate pizza at a place called Sam’s, toured around the space, and we recorded a bonus episode of the podcast right inside the installation. I also stayed the night and was sufficiently creeped out by the four convincing clones he’s made of himself to populate the show. On this episode, we talked about artifice, artistic labor, the socioeconomic issues that “Off Season” addresses, whether or not Joseph Beuys borrowed liberally from Charlie Chaplin’s “Gold Rush,” the complicated history of the Hamptons, his recent solo show “1:1” at Derek Eller last summer, the Uncanny Valley, and stumbling into horror by attempting approximation. Then, David gave me a little audio tour of the show. To see a live feed of what he’s describing, visit Halsey McKay’s website here: h

You know her on Twitter as @lifecreep, but IRL she’s artist Andrea McGinty. Our friendship goes back several years, and a text-based interview I did with Andrea was one of the very first posts on the Humor and the Abject blog. She stopped by the kitchen this week to talk about material choices and comedy in her sculptures, why getting dunked on by teens is the most devastating of all dunks, the absolute joys of cooking at home in Queens and new dishes she’s been perfecting, her recent two-person exhibition with Ben Dowell at Holiday Forever in Jackson Hole, acting as an occasional curator, the history of sofas, how everyone walks in LA and New York is way too spread out, true crime podcasts, her celebrity cat Larry, the current show she’s in called “Home Edition” at Essex Flowers, and an upcoming pop-up show she’s doing with Museum Gallery at 45 Stewart Ave in Bushwick on March 10th. Also, I made her play a new game segment for the podcast called “Canonization or Erasure” and I personally think she did great.

For the full episode, subscribe to Humor and the Abject on Drip: http://d.rip/humorandtheabject It’s another Drip subscriber-exclusive episode of Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe talking a full hour of total shit. In this episode, we managed to cover a wide variety of topics included the ridiculous haunted house documentary “Haunters: The Art of the Scare,” long rides on Greyhound and the resulting bus butt, Azikiwe’s recent jaunt to Mexico City for the Material Art Fair, ancient astronaut theory, Fergie’s “Star Spangled Banner” performance, donating to Wikipedia while drunk, mail order mattresses, Sean’s unique relationship between the movie “The Cell” and getting cuckolded, street magic, not fucking to Thin Lizzy, whether or not daddy would like some sausages, how to talk at the urinal, Darcie not having to wait in line for the women’s room because she was at a Lighting Bolt show, and so much more. We’re sponsored this week by the San Diego Tribune, Leonardo DiCaprio, Spin Doctors mixtapes, and the hidden track f

One of Miami’s finest daughters, artist and filmmaker Jillian Mayer, currently has a solo exhibition called “Post Posture” up at Postmasters Gallery here in New York through March 31st. In the middle of her chaotic schedule in town this week, we managed to schedule some time to sit down and catch up. I’ve know Jillian for five years now and think the world of her as both an artist and a friend. We discussed her “Slumpies” sculptures currently on view, the Singularity, taking psychedelics at amusement parks, doomsday prepping and  whether the rich will survive the end times, her involvement with the nonprofit Borscht Corp film collective, speaking tangentially, making tech-based art that’s actually emotional, and a whole lot more. We’re sponsored this week by angry college art history professors who take to YouTube to whine that people don’t carve shit out of marble any longer, how your attitude influences the way your life might go if you’re a cowboy or a filmmaker, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Dunked Wings, sex

You may know Midwest micro-celebrity Thomas J Gamble as the author of the INFINITE HESH comics for Humor and the Abject. Or, you may know him more casually online as Twee Jay, Erie’s absolute boy. Either way, he was in New York this past weekend for his show at Interstate Projects and I dragged him into the kitchen for a conversation. I love Thomas so much that it makes me want to get him really angry. Does that make sense? Well, despite my best efforts to rile him up, he maintained his thoughtfulness and cool the entire time. We talked about uncanny perceptions of time, his new paintings, Rust Belt ennui and being an artist outside of major art cities, Tom Brady vs Tom Hardy, good books, sinking ships, whether it’s “Leviathan” or “a leviathan,” the trappings of making political art, Daniel Day Lewis, Superman’s death, that rhythm between horrific political events and pop culture aesthetics, how punks and hippies are the same people with the same logos, his early exposure to radical leftist politics, Little D

Artist Andrew Kuo, AKA earlboykins on Instagram and Twitter, drops by Humor and the Abject this week for a very special bonus episode. We talked about Kuo’s early exposure to Fort Thunder as a student at RISD, how wild and elegant color is, My Chemical Romance making good on their promises as a band, the lineage of emo, the best time of day to paint, getting into self-publishing, the new Obama portrait, anxiety and jokes, literally biting your tongue, how Peter Halley has made the same painting for decades and why that’s the one of the most audacious radical painting moves out there, Kuo’s band HEX MESSAGE, why Bart Simpson is still on every single thing in the zine tent at the New York Art Book Fair, Jeremy Lin and bootleg merch beef, Kuo’s two-person exhibition “It Gets Beta” with Scott Reeder in 2015, avoiding knuckleheads so you can enjoy watching sports, being the last generation who for some reason is still afraid of selling out, his own roundball podcast Cookies, and embracing the simulation. We receiv

Behind every good podcast is a great podcast studio manager. Here at Humor and the Abject, I’m fortunate as all hell to work every week with my own studio manager, Staffonly, to bring you conversations with some of my favorite artists, comedians, writers, and filmmakers. She does all the heavy lifting by making the sound collages and editing conversations, and she also provides a nice contextual introduction every week. For months, I’ve been getting literally hundreds of emails from people asking who exactly Staffonly is, where she came from, and what happened when she was abducted last year by those dick-worshipping scorpions. So this week, I’m proud to bring you all a very special--and long overdue--episode of Humor and the Abject. My guest this week is the one, the only, Staffonly.

Artist, stand-up comedian, and occasional curator Jennifer Sullivan is my guest this week. We talked about the show she put together last summer called “Cosmic Joke” at Safe Gallery, channeling Julian Schnabel, contexts for stand-up comedy, why legal weed is strangling Denver’s artist community, balancing real life and studio residencies, early Saturday Night Live, why performance art could stand to be a little more entertaining, going off-script, quitting vices, and tons of other stuff. You can catch Jennifer performing at friend-of-the-podcast Jennifer Vanilla’s live show this week on Tuesday, February 6th at the Windjammer in Ridgewood alongside Natalie Casagran Lopez, Teeny Lieberson, Sam Regal, Jen Goma, plus a video from Peter Smith. Also -- pick up a copy of this month’s Art in America for a new feature I wrote called “The Practical Precariat” featuring Jaimie Warren, Brontez Purnell, Jillian Mayer, and comedian Chris Gethard, and come out to a live panel about the piece on Monday, February 12th at Neu

This spring, Kendra Jayne Patrick is opening up a new gallery called Harrison. She and I were both previously involved--at different times--with the artist-run gallery Essex Flowers, and I had always been super thrilled with the programming that she led there. She stopped by this week to talk about the current pop-up show Harrison programmed at Bortolami, the next steps in her program as she opens her physical space, why being a gallerist and a curator are distinct roles, getting into the New York art scene after attending law school, the ironic parallels between going to law school and pursuing an MFA, and much more. Also, some fucking car alarm went off multiple times while we were recording, but Kendra was a total champ about it. We’re sponsored this week by generous cash gifts from young Keanu Reeves and old Ted Kaczynski.

Musician, performance artist, professional muse, and self-described “Culturally-Absorbent Prototype” Jennifer Vanilla is my guest this week. Following her mildly frustrating Instagram live post trying to find parking in Bushwick, she managed to locate my apartment and, subsequently, my kitchen studio. We had a great discussion about her monthly show JVL@B (Jennifer Vanilla Live at the Bar) at the Windjammer in Ridgewood, the interesting relationship she has with dance music edits, why shipping to Canada is such an outrageous pain in the ass, why I love and miss the brooding falls and winters of the Pacific Northwest, whether feeling “special” is important, the role of the producer, scandals surrounding the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, the Jennifer Vanilla aesthetic, and distinctly ‘90s humor. We also shared the end of a Toblerone and she showed off some of her commercial voice acting skills.

Subscribe to Humor and the Abject on Drip: https://d.rip/humorandtheabject In another exclusive episode for our Drip subscribers, Darcie Wilder and Azikiwe Mohammed dropped by to talk about the stupid amount of media that each of us has been consuming now that it’s winter. We learned that Azikiwe once had a treehouse, that Darcie spent her entire freshman year of undergrad without speaking to her dorm roommate, Sean’s history with DVDs of the Notre Dame Marching Band, our favorite and our most-despised karaoke jams, the occult origins of the television program “House,” which mainstream sitcoms are better than okay, why UCB moving onto Darcie’s block means that improv is (actually) all around, and why everyone is the Unabomber.

Skyping in from the Windy City this week is comedian and illustrator Sarah Sherman AKA Sarah Squirm. We talked about her outrageous monthly show HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE, why being gross rules, how Chicago is a unique city for comedy, feeling guilty all the time while constantly seeking approval, the improv bro uniform, why noise music is hilarious, the changing landscape of contemporary comedy, the origin story of Screedler, and our mutual unhealthy obsession--and close encounters--with the men of Jackass. If you’re in Chicago, make sure to check out the HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE x Wham City show on January 18th, plus Sarah Squirm headlining the Empty Bottle on February 12th, AND a show with upcoming Humor and the Abject podcast guest Jennifer Vanilla on February 20th. New Yorkers: HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE will be in Brooklyn on April 20th (nice). If you don’t already know the outro song, I’m not sure that I can help you.

For the first episode of 2018, I had the privilege of interviewing the absolutely fabulous performance artist Alexandra Tatarsky. If you haven’t seen her live, I honestly don’t know what the fuck you are doing with your life. Alex sat down in the kitchen to discuss her early comedic influences, her monstrous 2017 touring performance piece “Americana Psychobabble,” studying the intricate art of clowning and miming, creating uncomfortable spaces for audiences and herself (and why that’s a good thing), institutional critique, and much more. We’re sponsored this week by how insufferable Scotland is, how unreal Stephen Miller’s voice and hairline are, guano, restaurant closures, and how god damn cold it is in New York. The outro song is “Proud to Be” by D.F.L.

2017 is finally over, and to celebrate I had musician Zain Alam come over for the final Humor and the Abject podcast of the year. Zain is the mind behind the brilliant musical project Humeysha, which Noisey describes as “a marvelously mellow kind of psych-pop, clean and sparkly like a diamond baguette, dappled with Bollywood-toned lilts.” We talked about the band and its unique visual identity, how his time in India changed his life, odd time signatures, the South Asian diaspora, his faith in Islam, attending Harvard, musical inclination skipping a generation, racial profiling, and new music. We’re sponsored exclusively this exclusively by Minions. Buy Humeysha’s first album on Bandcamp, baby.

Merry Christmas from Colorado, my good bitches. Andy Kaufman Award-winning comedian Brett Davis stopped by this week to discuss his public access show “The Special Without Brett Davis,” as well as creating a world with hundreds of characters, recent beef with character actor Michael Rapaport, large scale collaborations, kicking off a career in comedy by opening for punk bands, ruining Tinder dates, his new podcast about laundry, and much more. We’re sponsored this week by Christmas, Colorado, and the fact that my sisters are like permanently on weed gummies. Could you imagine being as categorically uncool as Gavin McInnes?