Humor And The Abject Podcast

Time Zero is a new podcast about the nuclearized world from Humor and the Abject creator and host Sean J Patrick Carney. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/time-zero/id1804227201 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6c4aw0DTyhYVcZkxciYb8T?si=30f54ea6d2254e71 Learn more, get an essay version of each episode, and support the show at: http://timezeropod.com

It’s slime time. In 2022, artists Christopher Michlig and Oliver Payne released, respectively, the book File Under: Slime and the film A Brief History of Slime. At the time, each was completely unaware of the other’s slime-related research. On this episode, they join to discuss peak slime culture of the 1980s and 90s, the recent resurgence of slime through YouTube and TikTok, California as a cultural funnel and filter, and the Goop lifestyle. The outro music is “Mind Fulla Slime” by Mean Jeans. /// Purchase Michlig’s book through Hat & Beard Press here: https://hatandbeard.com/products/file-under-slime-by-christopher-michlig /// View Payne’s video here: https://vimeo.com/684376655 ///

Filmmaker and artist Adam Khalil joins the podcast to talk collaboration, nonlinear time, irony’s extant potential, and the aesthetics of Indigenous cinema. Among Khalil’s many film projects are Nosferasta: First Bite (2021), Empty Metal (2018), and INAATE/SE/ (2016). Khalil is a co-founder of the public secret society New Red Order, which you can get involved with by dialing 1 (888) NEW-RED1. If you’re in Michigan, Khalil will be screening films and speaking at a variety of events as part of GVSU’s Arts Celebration this month. See the full calendar here: https://tinyurl.com/khalilgvsu

New York writer Elvia Wilk joins to discuss her recent collection of essays on ecologies, “Death By Landscape” (Soft Skull Press, 2022). Using an accessible approach she calls “fan-nonfiction,” Wilk’s latest book catalouges and considers a diverse group of writers, while ruminating on plant-becoming, slow apocalypses, mysticism, LARPing, trauma, the New Weird, consent, and black holes. The outro music is “Planta” by Soda Stereo. Purchase “Death By Landscape,” as well as Wilk’s 2019 debut novel “Oval,” through Soft Skull Press: https://softskull.com/authors/elvia-wilk/

Humor and the Abject has a special treat for all you screedlers out there: an interview with Japanther co-founder Ian Vanek. He’s about to release “Puppy Dog Ice Cream,” a new book all about Japanther’s 13-year run, published by Outlandish Press. We talked about buzzing, vibing, and dancing; Brooklyn DIY in the mid-00s; one-man motorcycle/sampler tours; the rainy charm of the Pacific Northwest; blissing the fuck out; playing a show in a castle with Penny Rimbaud of Crass (who bit them); how to make your band a sculpture, and a whole lot more. The outro music is Ian’s current band HOWARDIAN, reworking a Genesis classic. Pre-order your copy of “Puppy Dog Ice Cream” today: https://www.outlandish.press/store/p/puppy-dog-ice-cream-the-story-of-japanther

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, babyyyyyyyy. It’s the lucky thirteenth episode of the DSA Podcast, starring your pals Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe. To celebrate, the power trio ripped into some of the most important topics of the day including Jeff Bezos delivering packages to the moon, raccoon roommates, fighting a cat, Alec Baldwin sightings, and more. The outro music is “True Romance” by Tiger Army.

New York writer Charlie Markbreiter (@BerlantBro) has written about contemporary art, humor, and edgelordism for The New Inquiry, Artforum, Baffler, Momus, and Garage, among others. On this week’s episode, we talked about their interest in comedy and humorlessness; a recent interview they conducted with scholar Lauren Berlant; why the NYMPHOWARS podcast subverts right wing and liberal expectations; gimmickry, social justice, and being annoying; and the impotent self-destruction of Jackass. The outro music is “Delete Yourself!” by Atari Teenage Riot. Read Charlie’s interview with Lauren Berlant here: https://thenewinquiry.com/cant-take-a-joke/ Read Charlie’s article on NYMPHOWARS here: https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/vbaz9d/nymphowars-podcast

Janet40 is the Mexico City-based curatorial and production platform of Patricia Siller and Luis Nava. They’ve been in Austin for the last month as part of the Unlisted Projects residency program at the Museum of Human Achievement. While in town, they’ve been working on prototyping and fabricating objects for artists Canek Zapata (Mexico City) and Hannah Dubbe (Austin). We got the chance to get together in their studio at MoHA and talk about their current projects; the Janet40 origin story; having day jobs; turning URL content into IRL objects; capitalism; love; how to make rice glow in the dark; aliens; the nature of collaboration; and the totally nuts amount of upcoming projects they’ve already got in the works. The outro music is “It’s a Fine Day” by Opus III. View their project archive here: https://janet40.com/

It’s my big birthday week, babies. To celebrate, I caught up with an old friend, artist Beth Campbell from New York. She was visiting Austin this past week to unveil a new public art project as part of the Landmarks collection at the University of Texas. I got to see Beth do a great conversation with philosopher Timothy Morton, who also wrote a nice essay about her work available via the link below. During our own conversation, Beth and I discussed the arc of her practice over the last 20 years, which has won her a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pollack-Krasner Grant, and has seen her work presented in venues including the Whitney, the Drawing Room in London, MoMA PS1, and tons of other places. We talk mirrors, audience expectations, the difference between installation and sculpture, emotional time travel, and a whole lot more. The outro music is “Mythmaster” by Lightning Bolt. Read Timothy Morton’s essay, and learn more about Beth’s Landmarks project, here: https://landmarks.utexas.edu/artwork/spontaneous-f

Azikiwe is finally back from his travels all around North America, so it’s time for another installment of everybody’s favorite podcast within the podcast, the DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe). With the remake of “Pet Sematary” dropping this week, we thought it only appropriate to do a comprehensive review of the original film that is now 30 years old. We also learn a lot about different types of domestic pet breeds! Fuck it all, baby! The outro music is “Pet Sematary” by Ramones.

New York writer Mike Pepi makes his debut on the Humor and the Abject podcast to talk about the important topics currently ripping up your mind: the smooth jazz rock of Steely Dan; parvenus; the Mueller Report; restaurant lighting design; why museums are failing to confront platform capitalism; how many times one can legally donate to Bernie; that classic libertarian love of street art; the twisted history of Huntington, New York; picks for Vice President; restaurant drama across Manhattan; and, of course, neoliberalism. The outro music is “Black Cow” by Steely Dan.

March is apparently Toronto month, because we’ve got artist Bridget Moser joining this week. Bridget is currently an artist-in-residence in Cleveland at SPACES, where she’s got a solo exhibition of brand new work, generated in-residence, opening up next month. Over the course of this episode, we got to talk about many important topics including: the slow death of mall culture; how ugly Toronto is; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; reading Adbusters and making political art in college; why painting is so boring; learning performance art by just doing one thing for a really long time; prop comedy; obsessively rehearsing; accounting for time and tech; organizing a performance by color or other compositional tools; why everything in a gallery sounds like shit; and the lovely work of festival staff. The outro music is “Kids” by PUP.

Toronto artists Amy Lam and Jon McCurley have been collaborating for 13 years as Life of a Craphead. On this week’s episode, we talked about their current exhibition, “Entertaining Every Second,” which has toured throughout Canada to its current site of Montreal; self-organizing a 30-show live even series called Doored; why cutting your teeth on stage makes you a better sculptor; the glaring problems with Ken Burns’ “Vietnam” documentary; King Edward VII; whether or not people in Toronto live in bars; and so much more. The outro music is “Ontario” by Neil Young.

It’s episode 100 of the Humor and the Abject podcast! To celebrate this unholy milestone, we brought back our very first guest ever: Darcie Wilder. THIS IS NOT JUST A DSA PODCAST WITHOUT AZIKIWE. Over the course of this latest conversation, Darcie and I discussed her weekly conceptual newsletter, “sentences”; the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos scandal; the nuances of reporting for jury duty; that time Mayor de Blasio killed a groundhog and tried to cover it up; and we play a brand new game called Better Take Than Never. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear cameos from multiple previous Humor and the Abject guests. The outro music is a total travesty by alumnus Daniel J Glendening. Buy Darcie’s book here: https://store.nytyrant.com/products/literally-show-me-a-healthy-person-by-darcie-wilder Subscribe to the “sentences” newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/darcie Support Humor and the Abject on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/humorandtheabject

Western Mass artist Emma Kohlmann was visiting Austin for a printmaking residency at the University of Texas last week, and was kind enough to drop by to record an episode. We talked about zines and doing book fairs; bakeries and why sourdough is printmaking; liberal arts colleges; Scooby Doo; flirting with anti-civ tendencies; punk festivals; assuming you can’t be an artist; our siblings; the 2007 Toyota Prius; walking everywhere; what is wrong with parents today; and even more. The outro music is “Time to Stand” by Deep Wound. Check out Emma’s work here: http://ekohlmann.com/

As part of fabled collective Paper Rad, artist Jacob Ciocci co-produced animations, video collages, and HTML works that have had a profound influence on almost every artist working with technology today—whether they realize it or not. On this week’s episode, Jacob joins from his new home of Chicago to discuss fatherhood; his early days as a student at Oberlin College with Cory Arcangel and Paul B Davis; the genesis of Paper Rad with his sister, artist Jessica Ciocci, and Ben Jones; the aesthetic break between Paper Rad and postinternet art; his beguiling experience encountering Fort Thunder in Providence; the craft beer craze and artifical scarcity; being scared of watching brain-rotting cartoons; his longtime musical collaboration, Extreme Animals, with David Wightman; being so uncool that it becomes cool; a recent teaching gig in animation; and the devastating pain of archiving your work. The outro music is “SURFING/SUFFERING” by Extreme Animals. Additional Extreme Animals tracks play throughout the episode

Performance artist Jordan Wayne Long moved to Los Angeles in 2013 with his collaborator Matt Glass. Over the last six years, they’ve written, directed, and produced multiple film projects and taken home numerous Emmys as HCT.Media. On this week’s episode, Jordan joins first to talk about shipping himself in a crate across the country, tackling PTSD through performance, the complications of audience participation, knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing, and getting knocked off a horse. Following a short break filled with fun facts about Richard Brautigan, Matt joins the episode to talk about HCT.Media’s ambitious history of DIY filmmaking and what’s in store for the future. The outro music is a song called “Football” by Jordan and Matt. Check out the trailer to their first feature narrative, “Squirrel,” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw2bySkOp58

Comedian Lorelei Ramirez returns to the podcast to talk about why founding—and sustaining—their monthly show NOT DEAD YET was important; the behind-the-scenes process of producing an 11-minute infomercial epic called “Pervert Everything” for Adult Swim; collaborating to identify resources for community organizing through the event series Incite Action (and how you can get involved); curating a new video series at Syndicated in Bushwick; the podcast “A Woman’s Smile” with Patti Harrison; and when acting sucks. The outro song is “Cologne” by Trans Am. LOS ANGELES — Get tickets to “Alive! (For Now)” here: 2/09 @ The Ruby: https://therubyla.com/events/lorelei-ramirez/ 2/10 @ Lyric Hyperion: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lorelei-ramirez-alive-for-now-tickets-55254306117 CHICAGO — Get tickets to “Alive! (For Now)” here: 3/18 @ The Hideout: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lorelei-ramirez-alive-for-now-tickets-54432922336

With partial federal government shutdown over, the Humor and the Abject furlough comes to an end. We’re kicking off 2019 with the 11th episode of the podcast within the podcast, the DSA Podcast, which stands for Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe. Get yourself into the groove of reopened national parks, a funded TSA, and federal I-9 work verifications courtesy of a conversation blossoming with 2019 predictions, Stephen King lore, the hottest Ja Rule takes, over-participation in contemporary art exhibitions, and getting kicked out of bars. The outro music is “Am I Evil?” by Extreme Animals.

Humor and the Abject is taking a little holiday break, but to celebrate the end of 2018, it’s episode 10 of the podcast within the podcast, The DSA Podcast (Darcie, Sean, and Azikiwe). On this Christmas-themed episode, the comrades discuss their holiday plans, recent encounters with cinema, a super obscure book about Jesus that Darice has, screaming tips, the upcoming season of True Detective, and they even do a little bit of radio theater for your listening pleasure. The outro song is “Silver Bells” by Twisted Sister. See you in 2019.