"I'd rather be happy than be a dope standup" -Jak Knight (R.I.P.)
I was going to complain here about seeing comedy peers I dislike get cool opportunities and how I wish I didn’t feel that jealousy but how I also wish I could just express that bile purely without trying to be a better person about it. Then Jak Knight died.
I didn’t know Jak. I had just gotten to know his work, and I love it. He was an executive producer on one of my favorite new shows, PAUSE with Sam Jay, which has been twisting the late-night format into something much more compelling, without showing off about it, for 2 seasons.
He was the supernova in a show full of stars, Bust Down, the most over-the-top, raunchy-in-ways-that-actually-dropped-my-jaw comedy I’ve seen in forever. It’s worth paying for Peacock for a month to see all 6 episodes, not just the free pilot.
He played DeVon on Big Mouth, so maybe you know his voice. He was also a standup, and holy fuck, this bit:
“I’m tryna taste… your day.” It’s a perfect punchline: a complete sideswipe, an unheard of idea, and a whole world that becomes a premise to explore.
Because of my experience being eulogized, I have a long and now predictable chain of thoughts when I see online eulogies.
I’m aware all subsequent thoughts are irrelevant because the reason people post eulogies online is they want to belong, so let them.
I wonder who will post cringey eulogies that draw more attention to themselves than the person who died.
I get disappointed in the cringey eulogies. I notice the ways a human life is flattened even by compliments. With Jak, I see comedians contorting themselves to prove the eulogy they’re posting is different than other eulogies. But don’t worry, man, it’s not! Your friend/acquaintance’s death isn’t different than anyone else’s death. And it is. But if you lean into the ways its unremarkable, you can actually expand your empathy and find common ground with more people.
I marvel at my ability to still be petty about this stuff and think it must be that, because I’m removed from my post-coma experience, I’m available to get caught up in the ebbs and flows of life, however trivial.
But today, much more important than my quiver of eulogy observations is Jak Knight’s comedy. It’s great, and I hope I can introduce some of you to it. I’m skeptical of hyperbole in eulogies, but from what I see, he really was that good.
P.S. This week’s subject line comes from this podcast interview, and boy do I find it heartening.
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
Solo episode this week. And TWO voicemails!
I’m sick of successful artists giving this advice to younger artists: “Don’t have a Plan B.” HOW, Sway? So I talked about it this week while recovering from my second booster.
How do you find a way to believe the ideas about creativity that you want to believe?
PLEASE CALL (313) MIST-URA AND LEAVE ME A VOICEMAIL TO PLAY ON THE SHOW.
MOOD BOARD
Apropos of bleak abortion stories flooding the timeline, just a reminder that absolutely anyone who wants one should have an abortion. We’re not fighting for exceptions in cases of rape and incest, or just early term abortions. It’s Free Abortion, On Demand, Without Apology.
Want to get involved with prison abolition work, but not sure where to start? Do you live in Chicago? I’ve heard great things about Midwest Books to Prisoners.
Previous This Is Your Afterlife guest Joz Norris has been documenting the creation of his new Edinburgh Fringe show, Blink. It’s taking the edge off my craving to be back in Edinburgh. It’s also a detailed, candid look at the creative process. Check out this mini documentary to see how he’s undermining auteur theory.
Holy fuck, billy woods’ album Aethiopes is an entire world I’ve been exploring. I’ve yet to dive into this skeleton key to the album, but I did watch this entire review and it only increased my enjoyment of this layered, off-kilter, poetic, heavy, beautiful rap album.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
Creeping, hard-as-hell, abolitionist rap song with a chorus that starts, “I’m down to kill a white supremacist”? Sign me up!
You can be both,
DM