Matt Rife, Joe Rogan, and Langston Kerman showcase vastly contrasting styles.
It can be hard to tell, these days, what some people mean by “comedy.” By the evidence of the work that comedians are doing, jokes may have dropped out of the definition. Like other performers in our Balkanized, make-your-own-prime-time entertainment landscape, many comedians act less like artists or court jesters than like notionally humorous leaders of affinity groups or of minor, mostly harmless cults. They tend to say just what their viewers want to hear, but with the rhythm, if not the cathartic finality, of a joke.
This rather new phenomenon has to do with the fact that comedians are springing up from more corners of our media purview than ever. Increasingly, you don’t first become aware of them as comedians. One might be a podcaster you like, or make Instagram posts that show up on your “explore” page. Maybe another is a scene-stealing guest star on one of your favorite shows. Only later do you realize that they also happen to have a special on the way. There’s no Johnny Carson to introduce us to comics qua comics. They’ve got to sneak into your field of attention, often by way of some algorithmic back door, in order to grasp your affection.
This story is from the September 09, 2024 edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the September 09, 2024 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Drug of Choice - The natural world contains many billions of potential medications. The question is how to find the ones that work.
AI. is transforming the way medicines are made. Bacteria produce numerous molecules that could become medicines, but most of them aren’t easily identified or synthesized with the technology that exists today. A small percentage of them, however, can be constructed by following instructions in the bacteria’s DNA. Burian helped me search the sequence for genes that looked familiar enough to be understandable but unfamiliar enough to produce novel compounds. We settled on a string of DNA that coded for seven linked amino acids, the same number found in vancomycin. Then Burian introduced me to Robert Boer, a synthetic chemist who would help me conjure our drug candidate.
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The Mystery of Pain
Garth Greenwell’s novel of extreme affliction and ordinary happiness.
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Tales from the New World
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The Post-Moral Age
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