Preface:
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Angelica and Zack got married!
Random Thought
My good friends, Angelica and Zack, got married on Sunday. It was a beautiful ceremony held outside on a terrace followed by a beautiful and very fun reception at a local pizza place, Low Fidelity (it’s a sit down joint that specializes in Detroit-style pizza which is very good). They rented the whole place out and what I loved about this reception was that there were no designated seats. We were encouraged to walk/move/dance around and talk to whoever, wherever, whenever. The entire time good music was playing and pizza was being served all around us to scoop up and eat. An open bar didn’t hurt the cause either.
Weddings do it to me, man. I’m so happy for both of them. My heart was full of joy all day. I’ve known Zack through comedy for many years and to see him shine the way he has since Angelica has walked into his life has been amazing to watch. A lot of my comedy family feel like brothers/sisters. Zack is one of those tight ones. Zack is one of the most good-hearted people I know and in Angelica, he’s met his match. She’s also full of joy and good-hearted and to see her and Zack together and how they bring the best out of each other is super cool. It couldn’t have been a better day and it was an honor as a friend to both of them to be there and share that with them.
There were also a lot of good people at the wedding. Some I don’t see a lot, some I do. But getting them all together at the same gathering was also something very special. We don’t get many days like that. It was a day full of gratitude for sure.
Sometimes I’ll think about comedy and the ways it’s affected and improved my life. This wedding was a big example of just how great comedy has been to me and how lucky I am to have ever gotten into it. I have so many friends, people I love, because of comedy. There were so many laughs, jokes, smiles, and hugs. Sure there’s the jokes themselves and the getting up and performing and being booked on shows and all that stuff is incredible as well. But the love, man. It’s enriched my life in ways I sometimes find hard to measure.
(I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what a good job Patrick Wadleigh did as the wedding officiant. I think he’s better than me at it but if he doesn’t read this newsletter, don’t tell him I said that, thanks.)
Comics.
Movie I Watched Recently
I Love You Phillip Morris
(Prime)
The most incredible thing about this movie is that it’s based on a true story. It’s all about this dude Steven Jay Russell who makes a drastic life change and starts to lead a more daring life that involves, among other things, SEVERAL prison escapes. He falls in love with Phillip Morris in one of his prison stints. He’s a legendary con man as well. A lot of it is unbelievable and sure, since it’s a movie, I’m sure the cinematic interpretation is hyperbolic at times. But it had me running to Google right after to find out what’s real and what isn’t and a surprising amount of it was accurate or near accurate enough to not feel like the makers of this movie were pulling a fast one on me.
It also stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor which is an incredible acting duo and I honestly had no idea this movie even existed till I was scrolling Prime the other day but to my surprise, it’s been around since 2009.
Check it out if you get a chance. I totally recommend it.
I probably would’ve watched this movie in 2009 if someone showed me this promo picture.
TV show I’m currently watching
Jeopardy!
I haven’t watched a lot of TV this week and haven’t found a new show to binge yet. I’m hardly watching Jeopardy! but I have watched a couple episodes and I think it’s kinda neat and freakish that the dude who dethroned my man, Matt Amodio, is now on an 11 game winning streak himself. That’s pretty impressive. I guess it takes a true winner to knock out a true winner.
His name is Jonathan Fisher and he’s not quite as entertaining as Amodio, but he’s pretty fun to watch. He’s got a sort of sincerity to him and his answering seems less calculated than Amodio. I’m not ready to go into fits of Jonathan-mania just yet, but since I made such a big, stinking deal out of Matt-mania, I felt it was just fair to declare, I see you, Jonathan Fisher. Your game is tight.
(Update: I wrote this part a couple days ago. That’s right, it takes me days to write this newsletter [because I’m lazy, not because it’s that grand of a task]. And it turns out Fisher’s streak has come to an end since then. Still, pretty incredible to win Jeopardy! at all, never mind breaking a 10 episode threshold. Hats off on a job well done.)
He’s obviously very happy to get the name drop in the Josh Wells Weekly.
Album of the Week
Sympathy for Life / Parquet Courts
I didn’t really know a whole lot about this band but my Spotify insists on playing the same three songs by them through different band-influenced radio stations and they’re pretty good so I figured why not give their new album a shot.
It was okay. Just okay. I’m not super into it but I can imagine someone is. This feels like a band who has a bunch of super fans who’d tell me, “You just don’t get it,” and maybe they’re right. I found it to be interesting but not daring. It never shook me or hit me in any sort of emotional way. I was just sorta like, “this is okay music. I’m not gonna turn it off.” If I had to make any sort of comparison, I guess it sorta had a new wave vibe to me. Like, I get new wave. New wave can be fun and usually easy on the ears, but it’s never my first choice or go-to.
Pretty cool album cover.
Local H Live
I saw Local H live last night at (Le) Poisson Rouge in NYC and it was amazing. For those that don’t know, Local H is a bit of a carry over from the 90’s grunge/hard rock era. They’re a 2-man band with a seriously heavy and full sound. They had a hit or two back in the day and broke through for a bit but as trends changed, they sorta hit the underground and kept releasing albums, good ones at that.
I’ve seen Local H a ton of times. They’re one of my favorites to catch live and I try to catch them anytime they’re in the area. But this was the first time seeing them since the pandemic so it felt more special than usual. They rocked the place and LPR is a great venue to see a live band. It’s a small place with a loud sound, perfect for Local H’s hard rock assault.
They finished the night with a cover of TV on the Radio’s, ‘Wolf Like Me.’ But it wasn’t just them, they invited the opening band, Radkey to join them (Radkey are three young dudes, all brothers, who’s opening set was a lot of fun. They’re youthful energy reminded me that rock music will be okay and the kids are alright). They absolutely destroyed the place. One of the best encores I’ve ever seen.
Also, the concert I went to before this, IDLES did a similar thing where they invited the opening band out on the stage with them and although I don’t know what song they played, that too absolutely destroyed. I hope this is some fun, new trend where headliners invite the opener on stage to wreck the joint and send the fans home with their faces melted. I’m a big fan of it.
(I don’t have any pictures. Last night I worked on trying to be more present at shows. We’ll see how long that lasts.)
Book I’m Currently Reading
White Line Fever: The Autobiography / Lemmy Kilmister, Janiss Garza
I have not done a lot of reading this week. Also, I’m forcing myself to stay in for a few days away from the noise and the booze and that feels like the most anti-Lemmy thing to do so it’s like, how can I find the inspiration to read a book about this man when I feel like I’m the antithesis for how he thought a life lived well should be lived?
I’ll get back into it soon. I’ve also been low on free time and my job has been draining me in a way that makes me not wanna read which sounds sad in my head when I type it so I hope that changes soon.
I did promise this pic in last week’s newsletter though.
Random sports thought of the week
The World Series is upon us and it features the Atlanta Braves versus my favorite team, the Houston Astros. Why are the Astros my favorite team? Because they’re cheaters and I like that shit. I mostly don’t like baseball and think it’s boring. The only time baseball piques my interest is when there’s a brawl or someone cheats or someone flips a bat or does something else to piss off the boomers who watch this sport and complain about how it’s not like it used to be as if baseball was ever exciting. It’s just that life was more boring back then so there were less exciting options.
I hear so many people complain about the Astros cheating scandal and I could care less. In the grand scheme of things, sports is completely unimportant. It’s just entertainment and most of the time baseball doesn’t entertain me at all. So I’m glad they cheated and won. It appeases the pro wrestling fan in me who sometimes finds himself rooting for the heel because they’re just way cooler than the dumb babyface everyone else is rooting for.
In short, go Astros! Do whatever it takes and win that series.
They can’t hear you boo them over the sound of stacking victories.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
Crown Jewel happened and I didn’t watch most of it. I caught the first few matches and watched the Reigns/Lesnar match because that seemed important but I don’t know if it was. I have friends who say it was a great match. I thought it was good but nothing classic. It definitely wasn’t the greatest of this Roman title run (I would say that distinction belongs to the Mania main event against Edge and Daniel Bryan).
And I didn’t feel bad skipping most of it. A lot of WWE feels easy to miss nowadays. I find myself thinking I’m lucky if half of most of the WWE stuff I watch is good nowadays. When it’s great, it’s fun and I’m glad to be a fan. But they have a tendency to make me wade through a lot of mediocre content to get there. Throw on top if that there’s hours of weekly TV and the great video packages that get you caught up on everything anyways, why should I ever feel like anything is must-see anymore?
Meanwhile, I enjoy most of what I see on AEW. So now WWE has to compete with that. How many hours can I give to pro wrestling? I have other things I wanna write about in this newsletter. And I don’t wanna hear about ratings and how WWE does better than AEW. That doesn’t matter to me. I know what I enjoy more and in many ways, I kinda always seem to enjoy the thing less people are into. Hello, alternative rock music, weird movies, and my never-ending insistence to not watch Breaking Bad. If AEW had better ratings than WWE, they’d probably have to do a lot more people-pleasing and that’s sorta what WWE feels like now and then I wouldn’t be as into it. WWE may be the power pop group of pro wrestling, but AEW is the gritty garage rock band that plays from the heart.
Seth Rollins after reading my newsletter.
Weekly Top 5 List: Top 5 Halloween Songs
1- Halloween / Dead Kennedys
2- Halloween / Misfits
3- Monster Mash / Bobby “Boris” Pickett & The Crypt Kickers
4- Dragula / Rob Zombie
5- Are You Ready For Freddy? / The Fat Boys featuring Freddy Krueger
I’m not even sure if three of these can be classified as “Halloween” songs, but you get it.
Weekly Quote
“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.”
-Stephen King
Have a happy Halloween everybody!
Thanks for reading!
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If you haven’t seen it yet, please go to Youtube and give my 40th birthday comedy set a spin, and while you’re at it, a like, a comment, or a share would be appreciated and goes a long way as well. If you’re feeling really crazy, hit subscribe… no pressure.
got a couple other videos on my Youtube channel if you want to check that out, go here:
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Upcoming Shows
not a show, but this Friday I’m co-hosting/producing a Halloween Hang and Open Mic along with my Hell Yea! partner in crime, Erin Wohlberg. Should be spooky fun. Check it out!
Next actual Hell Yea! show will be Friday, 11/19. Stay tuned for more updates on that.
Thur, 11/4
I’ll be judging a roast battle at Scotty’s Comedy Cove in Springfield, NJ
free and 8pm-ish.