We Comedian ‪@Jazmynjw‬ pokes fun at everything from being a single mom to dating post-divorce. It’s part therapy, part life advice, and 100% real. She chats with Sam about why she isn’t afraid to be honest in her stand-up, the realities of working as a comedian and content creator, and why, even though she has two million followers on TikTok, she couldn't care less if the app shuts down. Plus, they break down why a list of the so-called greatest songs of the century (according to Rolling Stone) misses the mark. 

Hello and Happy Halloween! I am writing this newsletter right before putting the finishing touches on my Elphaba costume for tonight. I hope you ALL have a joyous, spooky weekend. And in honor of that joy, this entire newsletter is just going to consist of a big list of things making me happy right now. Shall we begin? 

1 - Comedian Jazmyn W: She’s one of the guests on the show this week, and I’m so happy to introduce her to some of you who haven’t experienced her work yet. Jazmyn is the epitome of the multi-hyphenate internet personality. She’s all over Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Her comedic style is a breathtaking mix of self-help, cooking instruction, unboxing vids, get-ready-with-me videos, dating advice, and really incredible jokes about being a divorced single mother with a baby delivered by C-section. “I'm just trying to show people who I am authentically,” Jazmyn told me. “And it's not just one thing. It's not just one idea, and it'll never be the same idea over and over.”

It’s also a never-ending hustle. “Girl, you ain’t got no team! [The] team is YOU! Editing, writing, shooting, posting, everything.” And that hustle, Jazmyn says, can often be a bit nonsensical. “To talk into a camera — alone — in a room for 45 minutes is crazy!” GOOD crazy. Check out Jazmyn W’s comedy on her TikTok or Instagram feeds (and of course, you can hear our full chat in this week’s show). I specifically recommend her disgruntled cooking videos, like this one. 

2 - The band, Geese: I learned about Geese the same way I discover most new music these days — through my friend and colleague, KCRW DJ Novena Carmel. She told me she calls the band’s sound “barge rock,” because they “sound like they’re pirates.” I compare their sound to a lively bar fight, with the lead singer, Cameron Winter, always sounding one verse away from entering the fray himself. His vocals contain an exuberant, rageful snarl that I just can’t get enough of. Pitchfork may have said it best in their review of the band’s latest album, Getting Killed: “Desperation looks good on Geese,” writes Sam Sodomsky. It sounds pretty good, too. 

3 - Jad Abumrad’s new podcast about AfroBead legend Fela Kuti. Titled Fear No Man, Radiolab legend Jad Abumrad dives deep into perhaps the most influential African pop star of all time. The pod is about the ways Fela revolutionized protest music, globalized African music, and solidified a cosmic link between African sounds and African-American soul, R&B, and hip-hop that influences all of popular music to this day. I was particularly struck by a point made early in the show, about the ways Fela navigated the sometimes tricky cultural exchange between the African cultural imagination and the African-American. “Africa looks to America for a future,” a voice says in the show. “African America looks to Africa for its past.” The entire project is deeply thoughtful — a gorgeous meditation on art, politics, race, and above all, good music. I can’t recommend it enough. 

4 - Jia Tolentino’s recent New Yorker profile of Jennifer Lawrence. Jia does a bang-up job of humanizing a star we’ve all seemed to be collectively judging for more than a decade. Turns out, Jennifer was judging herself as well. “I look at those interviews, and that person is annoying,” Lawrence told Tolentino. “I get why seeing that person everywhere would be annoying. Ariana Grande’s impression of me on ‘S.N.L.’ was spot-on.” 

There is also brilliance in the profile. In an exchange towards the end of the piece, Lawrence sums up her acting strategy in just a few sentences. It’s profound: 

I thought of what Lawrence had told me she found most pleasurable about acting. “Even if I’m doing a really, really intense scene, if I’m very angry or very sad, it’s still an adrenaline rush,” she said. “And, when I wake up after a cut, none of it is actually happening to me, so I get to have the adrenaline, and the rush, without any of the consequences.”

“You get to double your life,” I said.

“Or cut it in half,” she replied.

I hope your Halloween weekend is full of adrenaline rushes that double or cut your life in half in all the right ways. Have a great weekend, and if you’re feeling so inclined, write back and let me know what things have been bringing you joy this week. 

Talk soon,

Sam

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