In the last couple of weeks I’ve been recording and editing the first episodes of the new series Beyond a Joke. In this series, I’m asking guests to bring an object that has made them laugh. Using this object we discuss what makes us laugh, what arts practice can learn about the structures of humor and jokes and so far, quite a lot about where the ‘serious’ and the ‘ridiculous’ overlap and intersect. So far, I’ve had two amazing conversations with Anna Jackson about Snoopy and Jonny Potts about ‘Нос Nos | The Nose’ by Nikolai Gogol. Both of these episodes will be available in the next few weeks. Episodes for this series come out every two weeks.
In other news, Better off Read is shifting to a new home at Substack.
My main aim in moving to Substack is to build a bit of community around the podcast.
You will still be able to listen Better off Read for free but you are also now able to contribute financially if you’re able. I would love to make the podcast sustainable financially on an ongoing basis. An important principle of the podcast is that I pay all guests. Your money makes it possible for me to make the podcast for everyone.
Subscribe to Better off Read’s Substack
Thanks as always for listening and I look forward to being in touch.
Ep 124: Beyond a Joke 12 - Gabby Anderson talk with Pip Adam about Verb After-Hours
Ep 123: A Talk about Janet Frame by Pip Adam
Ep 122: Appetites Talk about Reality TV by Pip Adam
Ep 121: Please Unlock to Ride by Pip Adam
Ep 120: Beyond a Joke 11 - Anna Pendergrast & Kelly Pendergrast talk with Pip Adam about The Laughter Lift from Kermode & Mayo’s Take
Ep 119: Beyond a Joke 10 - Marolyn Krasner talks with Pip Adam about Hudson Valley Ballers: Lovers
Ep 118: Beyond a Joke 9 - Rijula Das, author of Small Deaths, talks to Pip Adam about a New Yorker cartoon
Ep 117: Beyond a Joke 8 - Dominic Hoey tells Pip Adam a funny story and they talk about Poor People With Money
Ep 116: Beyond a Joke 7 - Sarah Jane Barnett talks with Pip Adam about Michael Schur’s The Good Place
Ep 115: Beyond a Joke 6 - Brannavan Gnanalingam talks with Pip Adam about Kira Muratova’s film The Asthenic Syndrome
Ep 114: Beyond a Joke 5 - Rachel O’Neill talks with Pip Adam about Pockets and Everything Everywhere All At Once by the Daniels
Ep 113: Beyond a Joke 4 - Anthony Lapwood talks to Pip Adam about ’Goethe in the Roman Campagna’ by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
Ep 112: Beyond a Joke 3 - Jordan Hamel talks to Pip Adam about his poem ’Death Coach’
Ep 111: Beyond a Joke 2 - Jonny Potts talks to Pip Adam about Nikolai Gogol’s story ’The Nose’
Ep 110: Beyond a Joke 1 - Anna Jackson talks to Pip Adam about Anna’s book ’Actions & Travels: How poetry works’.
Ep 109: Andy Southall : Time, Love, Memory session from Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts
Ep 108: Bridget van der Zijpp: Time, Love, Memory session from Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts
Ep 107: Elements 21 – Character. Tatyana Kulida talks to Pip Adam about Henry Miller’s ‘To Paint is to Love Again’.
Ep 106: Elements 20 - Character. Tara Black talks to Pip Adam about René Magritte‘s ‘The Treachery of Images‘.
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