We Are Hiring!
NYC Editor
Serial Optimist is looking for an NYC intern.
Serial Optimist is an online publication that focuses on comedy, music, art and interviews. We have a strong focus on comedy and interview the best comedians in the world. Serial Optimist launched in August of 2010 and is quickly becoming the go to site for all things comedy.
You will have opportunities to interview different comedians, bands and musicians. You will be asked to attend comedy shows, festivals, concerts and events in NYC to write previews and reviews of, do on sight interviews, and take photographs. Most interviews are done through email or phone.
You will also be required to send 3-4 pitches per week and contribute 2 times per week minimum. It can be anything from the funniest people to follow on Twitter to an artist you think is doing great work. As long as it’s interesting and promotes smiles, we consider all pitches.
You must be able to handle deadlines and quick turnarounds. You also must, MUST, have a love of comedy, have knowledge about the comedy scene in NYC, and love music and art. The staff at Serial Optimist is one that believes in what we do very strongly, we are on the cutting edge of happiness, and want to provide unique, interesting, and fun content on a daily basis.
If you are a great writer, passionate about comedy, wanting to build your portfolio and get to attend the coolest events NYC has to offer, then please get in touch.
Please send resume and writing samples or links to david@serialoptimist.com. Also make sure you are familiar with Serial Optimist before you inquire. Please include your three favorite comedians and your favorite venues to see comedy in NYC.
You can also check out our Fall 2012 issue that was just released here.
David Dean Founder & Editor in Chief
@Serial_Optimist
Serial Optimist Fall 2012 Issue
Our Fall 2012 magazine came out today. Check it out for big laughs and hards smiles, and interviews with Kyle Kinane, Angela Trimbur, Eddie Pepitone, Kurt Braunohler, Lesley Arfin and many more. ENJOY! Click here for the goodness.
‘Parks and Recreation’ Season 4 Gag Reel
Here’s a full 17 minutes of hilarious moments from the set of Parks and Rec.
(Source: uproxx.com)
Uh. Whoa. Chills.
An Open Letter About Comedy & Knowing Things
Originally posted on Serial Optimist.
One of the more frequent questions we get at Serial Optimist is “why do you have a magazine that features comedy, art, interviews with COMEDIANS AND ARTISTS, and little bit of music, why not stick with just one?” I guess the whole ‘on the cutting edge of happiness’ gets lost on people. Do you have a niche that focuses on one thing only? If so maybe you should stick to your body building forums or a blog that feeds you constant celeb gossip.
The other question I get is “why don’t you feature big names, like Chris Rock or Daniel Tosh BRO” (obviously). And to them I say, “Yeah Chris Rock was prime”, and “Who is Daniel Tosh?” just to piss them off.
Serial Optimist had 6 goals when we launched two years ago: Feature the people we love. Introduce the people we love to as many people as possible. Make our interviews unique. Always be enthusiastic and positive. Make people smile daily.
I think Serial Optimist achieves those goals…daily. An interview with some arena-filling comedian might garner Serial Optimist more hits, more Twitter followers, and a day filled with social media high fives, but if those were the reasons we were doing this, we wouldn’t be doing this.
Getting into the label game of “alternative comedy” or “underground comedy” or “club comic” or whatever is something SO steers clear of. We just feature the BEST comedians and writers.
They are the people who tour on the constant, write for your favorite shows like “Parks and Recreation”, “Conan”, “Late Night”, “Chelsea Lately”, “Bunk”, “Comedy Bang! Bang!”, I could go on and on. They’re also the people writing the words that make you laugh watching your favorite movies, providing smiles through podcasts on your morning drive, putting out web shorts that make you like, totally LOL. You see them as Daily Show correspondents, showing up in shows and movies, putting out stellar albums, and performing the best live shows weekly in LA and NYC. You see them on their Comedy Central specials, you RT their brilliance, you know them, but you don’t know them.
These people ARE the new faces of comedy. And by new I don’t mean “young” or “up and coming”, they ARE what comedy is turning into.
Look at what Louis C.K. has done, well just in general, but the brilliance of “Louie“. It’s groundbreaking.
Look at what Scott Aukerman (and the Earwolf crew in general) has done with “Comedy Bang! Bang!“. It’s a live show, it’s one of the most popular podcasts, and it’s an actual show on IFC. That’s 3 mediums. Genius.
Look at Paul F. Tomkins or Andy Kindler or Marc Maron or Eddie Pepitone. I could go on and on. These people are on another level.
Read Patton Oswalts Just For Laughs Montreal keynote address.
Read Tig Notaro talking about cancer on stage, and know the true meaning of openness.
Then know Mike Burns or Jim Hamilton or Scott Moran or Emily Heller or Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer (Broad City) and then be know you’re going in the right direction.
IT’S ALL ABOUT INTRODUCTIONS. We try to introduce them to you. Just because you aren’t on the east or west coast doesn’t mean these people don’t exist. They tour constantly. They are the people behind everything you love. Think about who wrote the words the famous actor you are familiar with said. Let the credits roll slowly for that person.
To all the people who know all of this, and know what’s Serial Optimist is all about, then our apologies, this doesn’t apply to you. But for the people who think comedy is just big names saying big things in big arenas, you are big time wrong. (It’s still comedy, and props, but you get my point.)
If Serial Optimist isn’t your thing, then get to know these people through their websites or Twitter or YouTube channels or another source. You will be glad you did, and you will be introduced to people who provide the biggest smiles.
Art, like comedy, like music, like interviews, like life, doesn’t always need to be examined or explained. Except this one time (exception!). It’s all there for your enjoyment and your enjoyment only, who cares if no one else understands or doesn’t care, each joke or song or photo can be one you keep in your pocket just for you.
Rachel Bloom is just the best. Check out a super fun interview with her here. *Photo by Robyn Von Swank.
“Tragedy + time = comedy. But I don’t have the benefit of time. So I’m just going to tell you the tragedy and know that everything is going to be okay.”
So began Tig Notaro’s set last night at her show “Tig and friends” at the Largo.
Actually, that wasn’t the beginning of her set. It began when Ed Helms welcomed her to the stage and she crossed over, took the microphone, and said “Thank you, thank you, I have cancer, thank you, I have cancer, really, thank you.”
Applause gave way to reticent laughter as she explained how she had planned a set about bees flying alongside her car on the 405, but that she couldn’t possibly do her “silly jokes” when all this was going on. And that’s when she told us that 3 days ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, in both breasts.
But she didn’t just have cancer. She went on to explain that in some manic twist of fate, while her career is at an all-time high — she is moving to New York to work on Amy Schumer’s new television show, she was on This American Life — concurrently, all these terrible circumstances have befallen her over the past 3 months: pneumonia made way for a debilitating bacterial infection in her digestive tract for which she was hospitalized and lost 30 pounds off of her already small frame, days after being released from the hospital, her young mother died suddenly and tragically (fell, hit her head, died), then she and her girlfriend broke up, and then, now, cancer. In both breasts. (“You have a lump.” “No, doctor, that’s my breast.” — one of her most renowned bits is about someone remarking upon her small breasts)
For the first half of her set, even though she was telling the story in perfect grace and humor, I couldn’t laugh. For the second half, for the first time in my life, as far as I can recall, I genuinely laughed and cried at the exact same time, bewildered at the tragedy and the remarkably calm, clever prism through which she assessed her terrible set of circumstances.
While telling us anecdotes from these personal tragedies, all along the way, she assured the audience “it’s okay, I’m going to be okay.” At one part, when she reached a dark place wherein most of the audience could not find the will to laugh, she said “maybe I’ll just go back to telling jokes about bees. Should I do that?” there were several “NOs” and one insistent loud male voice who cried out
“NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE.”
She looked genuinely taken aback, and relieved. She’d managed to make the tragic not only palatable but overwhelmingly engaging. She’d done it.
Tig’s been one of my favorite comedians for a couple of years now. I told her how much I loved her work after a set at UCB one night, and she received my words so kindly that she came towards me and gave me a hug. I’ve gone downtown to bars by myself and sat for hours alone, just waiting to see her headlining set.
At the end of her routine last night, everyone in the audience gave her a standing ovation, for me her wowed, grateful, happy face blurry with my own salty eyes. She’d released her horrific story into the hearts of her fans. I’m sure we all felt like I did; we were made witness to a truly historical moment in comedy, by one of the industry of comedy’s absolute greatest.
Bill Burr followed her set, inexplicably able to make the whole audience uproarious with laughter by the end. Bill Burr then brought on Louis C.K., the surprise guest of the night, which was a shock - it was my first time ever seeing him live - but it was very difficult to give him my enrapt attention after Tig’s on-stage confessions.
My head is still swimming around what happened last night. We all saw the ultimate embodiment of what comedy is supposed to do: deeply personal tragedies somehow transformed, with the enormous, necessary power of an open-hearted audience, into brilliantly-written truths that we’ll all take home with us and keep with us as long as we’ll have a sound-enough mind to remember that show. If schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortune of others, we all shuffled into another corner last night, schadenfreude’s cousin; we’re not laughing at you, we’re crying with you but trying very hard to accept this avalanche of misfortune through the more edible prism of humor.
I’m so grateful I could bear witness to what happened last night, and more than that I’m grateful to comedy and to Tig Notaro for being not only courageous enough and not only spirited enough but for being so endlessly, achingly HONEST with all of us, the stunned, mouth-breathing strangers in the dark.
Remember the Chainsaw Kittens? Familiar with Other Lives or The Flaming Lips? Enjoy an interview with Tyson Meade.
Check out an interview with The Rebel Light!
