How to Be Nice With Comedian Josh Gondelman
Josh Gondelman, also known as the Nice Guy in Comedy, is joining us this week to talk about what is really good when it’s not good, and the difference between “grace” and “kindness. “. Josh is a Peabody and Emmy-winning comedy writer who worked on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and is currently Senior Staff Writer and Producer on Showtime’s Desus and Mero . He also has a stand-up album called Dancing on Weekdays and a new book called Nice Try: Stories of Best Intentions and Mixed Results .
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Highlights from this week’s series
From an interview with Josh Gondelman
On being known as the Nice Guy in Comedy:
It’s kind of natural that people don’t buy this when I’m angry on stage. Like, it seems out of place for the presentation and my personal manner … I think there have been many times, or I liked little things like, “Oh, I saw other people try these things, or do these things,” but I I just can’t sell it, or it just doesn’t match what I want to communicate. Like, it doesn’t seem like it comes from the same point of view, because, as a rule, it is not … There has never been such a complete phase when I put on a leather jacket and kind of smoke on stage and tell dirty nursery rhymes or something like that.
On the distinction between “good” and “useful”:
I think a lot about the difference between kindness and kindness. So, I think that good is nice, polite, agreeable. You can be around someone without, you know, undue conflict. And I think that in many cases these are valuable qualities. But I also think so much of good in terms of being willing to do uncomfortable things that are beneficial, be it generosity or righteousness. And so they are the same most of the time. That’s right, politeness and kindness, like a birthday present for your loved one, is good and good. But when someone asks you about something and you don’t tell them it’s a bad idea, when it’s a bad idea, you say, “Oh, I think this is great. You are wonderful. That’s great, ”maybe technically good, but not very good.
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