slowly emerging, blinking, from lockdown; then, a birthday
Hi there,
Bit of Freelance Pod news - I’m recording two more episodes to hit the big 5-0 before reassessing what I do with the podcast in the future.
The two new episodes are going to be interviews with comedians, and I’m recording the first one later today. Very excited!! Both should be really fun listens.
So.
Lockdown is kind of ending! And it’s my birthday next week! And I’m not really ready to actually do anything for it!!
(Well, this is an option:)
not if i eat them all first
https://twitter.com/bagelboi21/status/1383171154836402183
I’m unvaccinated with nothing on the horizon from the NHS (which I take as a compliment: I must be soooo young and healthy right riiiiiight?).
I’m not ready for crowds or booking pub tables or travel. Not just yet. I’m also not ready for the empty seats at a birthday celebration where my loved ones who are in worse or more complicated situations than I am can’t make it. So the going out for drinks / dinner bit of the birthday celebrations is postponed. I’m not there yet, as much as I’d like to be.
Having said that, I’m not sitting at home twiddling my thumbs on my birthday next Tuesday. I’m doing three minutes of comedy over Zoom for The Cavendish Arms’ Comedy Virgins night, which will be streamed on Facebook Live.
If you’d like to watch on the 27th, when I’m on, I’d be very grateful if you could vote for me to win (only people watching can vote, during the show), as this exciting prize is on the table:
Thanks to our friends at @CambFest, one of the 60 new comics performing online over the next 2 weeks will win a 5min spot on a pro line up at the #cambridgecomedyfestival! 🤩🤩 YOU THE AUDIENCE CAN VOTE! Full details here - #newacts #savelivecomedy #comedy
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See posts, photos and more on Facebook.
I’ve got a 1/60 chance, going down to 1/12 if I win my night. Yes, it’s tiny, but I’m still going for it! Hope springs eternal, does it not? It’s nice to have a little hope in 2021.
Thank yous
Some of you kind people scroll all the way to the end and see the Ko-Fi link and then even send me money, so I’m going to start thanking you! This section is also a nice way for you to get to know each other a bit more.
(Is there more community stuff I could be doing around this newsletter? Let me know!)
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A big thank to my former editor Nic Wistreich for sending me a Ko-Fi because last week’s caterpillar-cake-themed newsletter made him laugh. I’m working on making that newsletter into a comedy bit, so thank you for confirming that it’s a bit LOL. Check out his website here, and over here you’ll find Netribution, where I got to write about film and more for years, while I was stuck in newsrooms breaking news and wishing I was working on features.
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Thank you to Natalie Baker! Natalie is a brilliant multidisciplinary writer who has been shortlisted for an Emerging Writer Award from The Bridge Awards last October, and this powerful essay about her mother has stayed with me since I read it last year.
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Thank you Helen Zaltzman! If you don’t know Helen and her work, you’re in for a treat. Start here, then listen to all of these and after that, dive into this, oh, and don’t forget this one:
I took a lot of thoughts and feelings about humans moving around the globe and packed them into a tiny hazelnut shell for today’s edition of @BroccoliContent’s Anthems
Anthems - podfollow.com
“Anthems” is a collection of original manifestos, speeches, stories, poems, and rallying cries written and voiced by exceptional people, that celebrate and contemplate what it means to be human. Our beauty, our failures, our rich heritage, our rage, and our power. Proving that there is more that binds us together than sets us apart. These Are Our Anthems. #AnthemsPride #AnthemsHome #AnthemsWomen #AnthemsBlack
Links of the week
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“Blackness by extension, is a lifelong lesson in accepting less. Worse, it’s a lesson in believing that you deserve less and passing that logic onto your children… Being female exacerbates and underlines these lessons.”
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“We cannot ignore past and present injustices and expect to heal. Healing requires looking grief in the eyes over and over and over.”
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Our Poet Laureate approaching the subject of Prince Philip’s death
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“The funny voice videos are not satirical. Not everything has to be subversive.”
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A very old bit of additional reporting from me, but it becomes relevant again every year; I didn’t know then ohw relevant it would eventually become to me: “It’s a festival of money. Around 1.5 million visitors will flock to the Edinburgh Fringe this year (2006!!!!), spending a total of £75m, according to the city council.. Not everything has to be subversive.”
What I’m listening to
James Acaster on the latest episode of Vulture’s Good One describes the pros and cons of making trauma into entertainment and it’s very compelling.
What I’m watching
Rose Matafeo’s Horndog on iPlayer. Love her.
Any other solo shows I should be watching as research for my own?
What I’ve been up to
I really enjoyed SubFun tonight. Check them out on Facebook for more brilliant comedy each month. Thank you @nicolaisfunny for having me on the show & for being a great host. All the acts tonight are so good check them out. @SuchandrikaC @ione_brown @ms_shuangteng @rabiahcomedy
A sketch I love
A pandemic classic. One for the historians.
https://twitter.com/CharlieDinkin/status/1255413018403450883
Follow Charlie Dinkin for more very good comedy things.
That’s all from me! Thank you for reading, I’ve been Suchandrika Chakrabarti and if you fancy buying me a coffee I’d be eternally grateful <3