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Inspired by the accidentally feminist slogan Mitch McConnell gifted to Elizabeth Warren (and us all) last week, I designed this series of posters profiling women whose persistence had an enormous and positive impact on humanity.

All images are (to the best of my knowledge and research) in the public domain. If you want to download versions of these to print (recommended on 11x17 paper), they are available here.

Please share these freely. If you are inclined to give any monetary support, here are some organizations worthy of your donation:

The Feminist Majority Foundation The National Organization For Women Planned Parenthood Women’s Refugee Commission

or, make a donation to Elizabeth Warren’s 2018 reelection campaign.

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I Swear I’m Not High

So I was looking for a GIF of Scooby Doo, and I accidentally typed “Scoopy” in the giphy.com search bar. Then I started thinking about how funny it would be if his name was Scoopy instead of Scooby. And then I thought: I wonder if Scooby Doo is that funny of a name, but we’re just all used to it and Scoopy is novel because it’s new. Then, as I was typing this, I thought about how Scoopy would maybe be some kind of Scooby Snoopy hybrid and the names are so similar anyway, you kind of have to wonder if Scooby was a riff on the already popular dog sidekick.

Anyway, the GIF I found was this one:

It’s kind of messed up, right? Scooby Doo loves sandwiches. So much. His love of sandwiches is a defining characteristic. And in this GIF forces him into eternal lip licking while he is holding BUT NOT GETTING TO EAT a sandwich.

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I’ve edited a new directing reel of some directing things I’ve directed.

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How do you like them apples?

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Because they know my birthday is coming up, JPL has issued this beautiful series of WPA inspired space travel posters. And, because everyone should be excited about science, they've made them available to the public for free. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/visions-of-the-future/

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NAMES FOR YOUR VAPE SHOP

If you can’t think of a dumb pun for your vape shop’s name, here are some free ideas:

*UPDATED with submissions, and outgoing links to apparently already existing pun-based vape shops

THE VAPES OF WRATH

PLANET OF THE VAPES

VAPE COD

FINNEGAN’S VAPE

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE VAPES

VAPEGOAT

VAPERBACK WRITER

SEVERUS VAPE

VAPE-P U.S. HISTORY

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE VAPES

DARTH VAPOR

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE VAPEGRINE

VAPEWORMS

ESCVAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE VAPES

VAPEGHOST: SMOKE TO SMOKE

C.S. LEWIS’ THE SCREWVAPE LETTERS

SONGS FROM THE VAPEMAN

BONG OF THE PLANET OF THE VAPES

WHAT’S EATING GILBERT VAPE (by SerifsNYC)

VAPORS OF THE LOST ARK (by Daniel Schraer)

TIMOTHY MCVAPE

ROSEMARY’S VAPEY

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VEGAS VAPECATION (@BrisHemsworth)

VAPING A MURDERER

VAPE CANAVERAL (@MooreExperience)

THE SHAWVAPE REDEMPTION (@EhrinMarlow)

HIGHWAY TO THE VAPOR ZONE (@austin_b)

VAPERAHAM LINCOLN (@austin_b)

AUGUST: OSVAPE COUNTY

VAPE: PIG IN THE CITY

SWEET VAPE-Y JAMES

STAR TREK: DEEP VAPE NINE

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That Bowie GIF

Artist Helen Green made this wonderful GIF of David Bowie for his birthday last year and – of course – it’s spreading like internet wildfire after his death.

It’s a beautiful piece of artwork made of 29 detailed illustrations, each of which (I can imagine) must have taken some considerable time to create.

So, it was a bummer to see it floating all over the internet with no credit given to its creator.

This happens a lot. It happened after the Paris attacks when Jean Jullien painted the Eiffel Tower into a peace sign, Matt Furie’s Pepe The Frog, or, heck, all the way back to Milton Glaser’s iconic I♥NY design.

I think about this a lot, because I spent a decade of my life as a graphic designer. I’ve spent the other part of my life in comedy, and of course, comedians are no strangers to getting jokes stolen.

I believe that most people don’t set out to steal art, comedy, or other intellectual property. In fact, I first saw this Bowie GIF on a friend’s Instagram. It did not have Helen Green’s signature on the bottom. They had regrammed it from someone else (to whom they gave credit for posting it before them). I looked up that person, and they hadn’t credit anyone – though I doubt it was purposeful. (In fact, I only found out this GIF should be credit to Helen Green because of another friend retweeted someone pointing it out.)

That user probably got it from someone who got it from someone who got it from someone who got it from someone… who must have intentionally blurred out Helen’s name.

You know the kind. The accounts that have thousands (if not millions) of followers and mostly post other people’s work. I was thinking about it this morning, and the argument used frequently by these accounts is that they are merely “curators.”

Bullshit.

Imagine if an art gallery or museum had a piece they couldn’t attribute to anyone. Would they present it? Would they hang it in their museum? Yeah, very possibly. Now imagine that museum curator didn’t just hang the piece with “Unknown Flemish Artist” but in fact took credit for the painting themselves.

Now imagine (like in the case of Helen Green’s Bowie GIF) the artist had SIGNED THE PIECE, but this curator reframed it to purposefully cut out or painted over the artist’s signature and THEN took credit for it.

We can all agree that would be scummy, right?

So, why does it happen? What does it say about our “post first, ask questions later” culture when it’s more important to be the first person to share rather than take the time to check sources and credit an artist, or get a quote right, or fully understand a news story before clicking our trigger finger on social media to make sure everyone knows we too feel happy, or sad, or want to shame, or have an opinion about politics.

I understand wanting to use a beautiful piece of artwork to express your feelings, especially in the wake of another artist’s passing – doubly so when it was someone as influential as Bowie.

I guess I just wish more of us (myself included) thought about where content comes from and did our best to seek out and give credit to its creators before sharing. 

People who intentionally remove an artist’s name from a piece of work make me feel an angry – it’s almost like, well, it’s hard to put into words, but I painted this to express my feelings:

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(20)15 Things I’m Proud Of

I can be kind of a cynical stinker, but I’ve been trying a lot harder this year to take stock of the things I am lucky to have in my life. Here’s a list of 15 things I did or had in 2015 that I should be proud of (whether or not I remember to be).

I got to spend a lot of time with my family.

I live with my best friend who I love, and get to see a lot.

We got a kitten, and he and Batman are cute AF together.

I got to voice Michelangelo in a new TMNT project for Nickelodeon.

I paid off 100% of my student loans.

I paid off 100% of my credit card debt.

I got to direct a lot of commercials, including spots for Macy’s, Comcast, and Hasbro.

I got two promotions.

I get to perform every week in one of the best time slots at one of the best comedy theaters in the world with some of the most talented comedians in the world. We never have to advertise, and we sell out every week.

Heather and I got free drinks at a Broadway show because they recognized her from a video I directed that got 9 million views.

I’ve kept off most of the weight I lost in 2014 despite having unfair access to copious free snacks and free food at work.

I got health insurance and started going to physical therapy regularly to get my back in check.

I got a camera and started taking photographs for fun.

We finally released the Before You Were Funny webseries, and the podcast was named by the AV Club as one of the top podcasts of 2015.

I found a loophole while making a list of 15 things, by making the fifteenth thing writing the list itself.

Only resolution I’m making for 2016 is to try and focus on the things I’m proud of and excited about a bit more.

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WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? 🎄📽🎄📽🎄📽

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things nobody tells you about being a dad

here are some key things all your new parent friends leave out:

you’re going to poop while holding/wearing your baby

it’s just unavoidable. it becomes a kind of nice bonding time. hey it’s more productive than staring at your phone.

you’re going to bump her head pretty hard and tell her “you’re ok honey.”

…and guess what? she’s fine.

you’re going to forget to buckle her car seat completely and not notice until you get home.

ok so…this one sounds bad. and it is. but, because those car seats you can take out of the car are so useful as just general baby-holding devices/strollers, you unhook your baby while she’s straight chilln’ and totally forget to hook her back in. it’s only happened to me ONCE…OKAY??

you’re going to arrive at work with poop on your shirt.

you won’t notice until it’s too late. you will tell people it’s a mustard stain. you’ll frantically scrub it with wet paper towels at your earliest convenience. you will still have poop on your shirt. you will get through it. promise.

your mother will not believe any of the new medical baby rearing guidelines, advancements, or findings that have occurred since she was pregnant.

it is futile. prepare to hear, “well you turned out fine,” every time. hopefully your lifetime of guilt trips has given you the ability to manipulate her into “respecting your wishes as parents.” good luck.

you’re going to be changing two sets of diapers.

your baby’s, and your wife’s. that’s right. guess what just happened to her? she squeezed more than several pounds of baby out of her cha cha. it stretched. it ripped. it was sewn back together. like any recent wound, it’s gonna take time to heal. so stop being a stupid jerk and help her warm up some water for her rinse bottle and then go see what the baby needs. HURRAY!

you’re not getting laid.

ok you knew this one but the timeframe that book told you to expect is wrong. it’s double that. the day your pathetic advances work on your wife again are a while off. also, she won’t like it very much even then. but, luckily, you are a loving, secure, and patient husband who can remember that your sexual frustration is almost comically insignificant compared to the changes (lactating, hormones, stretch marks, depression, pumping, hair loss) your wife is experiencing postpartum.

you’re not going to be using that nursery any time soon.

yup that one your wife is freaking out about finishing. the one with all that neat salvaged furniture you sanded and painted. that crib you blackened several fingernails assembling. it’s a glorified storage room. sure, you’ll change the occasional diaper there, and you might venture in for a cute outfit once in a while, but your baby is sleeping in the bassinet next to your bed for the next 7-8 months. cuz it’s safer, easier, and closer.

your boss is going to ask “what’s been going on with you lately?”

they will immediately dismiss what you’re about to say with “i know that you’ve had a lot to deal with the new baby and all but…” and proceed to chastise your performance of late. you will be too tired to form any kind of reasonable response. just let it roll over you. you’ll get good at that. remember that they have their boss breathing down their neck to reach whatever arbitrary goal is important this week. you only have so much bandwidth. don’t take it too personal. you know your priorities.

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APP IDEA: MUSICALS/PLAYS NEAR ME

App idea: you tell it what musicals and/or plays you like, and it tells you when they are being performed within X miles of you (at the touring, regional, or even college or high school level).

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#TBT Line up for a free variety show Tremendosaur hosted at USC in 2010. Improv set was me, Justin, Drew DiFonzo Marks, Lauren Lapkus, Casey Feigh, Anne Gregory, Clay Larsen and Dave Theune. We wanted a guest monologist and Barry suggested TJ Miller but we agreed he "probably wasn't enough of a name."

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Just found this text file on my computer, last modified June 23, 2012. I’ve gotten most of these goals taken care of. Most proud of losing 40 pounds and paying off all my student loans. UCB TourCo will always be my white whale.

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“Can you write a couple lines of dialogue for the person leading the meeting that will be in the background of this scene?”

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This show is amazing. Can’t wait for Season 2.

Entertainment-seekers, I give you the trailer for season 2 of Review. This time, everything’s gonna go just fine!  That’s a promise.

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#LoveWins #Lego

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It was so hard to keep this a secret!

When it comes to boyfriends, mine might be the best. @typographynerd spent an entire year working on my 30th birthday present: a hand drawn illustrated poster of me at my many jobs. Thank you for making sure this insane workaholic made a 30 under 30 list before it was too late.