This newsletter is free however if you like the content and you think it’s worthy of any sort of gratuity, feel free to drop a donation to:
Venmo:
@joshwells666
or Cash App:
@joshaintfunny
No pressure. Now, on with the newsletter.
I’m not the bathroom selfie type but I felt compelled to let the readers of this newsletter know that sometimes shirts that are supposedly XL do this on my tall frame.
Random Thought
Sober February.
Why February? Because at age 44 I’m still trying to fight against the mainstream and go against doing things the way everyone else is doing them. Why not February? I don’t think it has to be ‘Sober October,’ or, ‘Dry January.’ Don’t fall for the marketing. Pick whatever month you like. I’ll also tack on the first couple days of March just so no one accuses me of cheating because I went with the shortest month of the year.
There’s a part of me that would’ve liked to have done 'Dry January’ though. Only because that would mean that I’m already done with it and now I can drink again. But I wasn’t ready in January. Sometimes it’s about feeling it and I just wasn’t feeling it on December 31st so it wasn’t to be. Plus I had some fun things on my social calendar that I knew I’d probably end up drinking at so that helped.
Also, when I did January last year, I had two friends give me grief (playful grief, not serious) for not going to their birthday parties. So I figured it’d be cool if I left January open as a drinking month so I could party with them. Neither of those two friends had birthday parties this year. So it goes.
I think I say this every year so if you’ve known me or read this newsletter for the past few years, pardon the repetition. I think it’s good to give the system some time off from drinking. I don’t think I drink a lot of alcohol but I do drink a small amount of alcohol frequently. I could blame it on comedy or socializing or whatever, but at the end of the day it’s on me and I’m the reason I do that. And I feel like it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day and not reflect and think about my drinking habit. So this is like a gut check. Do I need it or do I just enjoy it? I think I just enjoy it but just in case it’s become habitual in some subconscious way, I feel like this is an effective way to hit the reset button and maybe allow myself some time to come up for air.
I’d like to end this with a cheeky, “see ya next month, drinking.” But you never know. Maybe it goes longer than a month. Or maybe I fall on my face and don’t make it till the end of February. I’m not gonna write any checks here. I’m just gonna go for it and see where that brings me come March 2nd, 2024.
I imagine napping with Jinx will become one of my top hobbies that replaces drinking.
Movie I Watched Recently
Bomb City
(Prime)
Damn, this movie fucked me up good. I chose this movie mostly because it was about punk rock youth and that’s my shit. I wasn’t ready for what was to follow. This movie is a true story and I don’t even really wanna get into a lot of specifics because I was very lucky not to know anything about this story before I watched this movie. Even the blurb and trailer on Prime did a good job of burying the major plot points of the story.
Bomb City is in reference to Amarillo, TX, a small Texas town that is also the location for a facility that deals with nuclear warheads. The story is very ‘punks vs jocks’ and you’d think that’s a played out trope but like I said, it’s a true story and that’s kinda what stings the most, that in 1997 this shit was still happening. Punk rock kids were still being fucked with for being different. They had to deal with a system that looked down on them because of the way they looked.
Also, the kids in this movie are all about my age. Something about that made it hit a little deeper. I was a weird kid in 1997 (not exactly punk but I hung out with the punks) but luckily where I grew up, you could get by as a weird kid and do okay socially. I could turn on the TV and see kids elsewhere in America struggling to fit in and I’d just think, “doesn’t happen here,” and keep it moving. It’s heart wrenching to experience a story where a group of kids who were a lot like me and my friends growing up had a much harder time being themselves just because of geographical location. And maybe it was a national problem and I was just lucky. Who knows for sure?
I can’t recommend this movie enough. It’s probably the most I’ve enjoyed a movie about punk rock shit since, ‘SLC Punk.’
TV shows I’m currently watching
My So-Called Life
SKIP. Still haven’t watched any more episodes.
Jeopardy!
I am still watching Jeopardy! though. You can almost always count on that. I was thinking recently why do I enjoy Jeopardy so much when I’m really bad at it? It’s a whole lot of me not knowing things or guessing wrong answers. And I think it’s because I like the challenge. I like being reminded there’s things I don’t know and that I’m not the smartest dude in the room. There’s some saying about how if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re not challenging yourself. So I think I’ll probably watch Jeopardy for the rest of my life or at least until it becomes too easy which will probably be never.
Albums of the Week
Got a two-for-one this week and I wanna preface both of them by saying I experienced a very similar phenomenon while listening to both albums. Both bands are bands that have been at it for quite some time but I’ve never given any of their albums a listen before. I wasn’t super blown away by either album this week but a part of me thinks it’s unfair to jump into their libraries this late in the game. I have no prior context of what either of these bands should be. If you’re a fan of either, I’m sure you liked these albums. There’s nothing bad about either album. I was able to get through them both and think, “this is an okay listening experience.”
Before I started writing this newsletter, I really didn’t consume a lot of new music. I’d mostly only listen to something new if it was some opening band I saw and enjoyed or if 2-3 friends recommended the same band or one friend recommended a band with the enthusiasm of 2-3 people. One of my favorite things about doing the newsletter is constantly pushing myself to take in new music, movies, TV shows, and books.
The downside of that is there’s all these bands who’ve been around for a long time that still release new stuff that I’ve never listened to before. So while they’re established acts with fully formed fanbases, they’re completely new to me.
Anyways, here goes:
Little Rope / Sleater-Kinney
I don’t have a lot to say. The album started out strong and I thought maybe it was gonna stay that strong throughout but it felt like it mellowed out somewhere along the way and I found myself kinda hoping they’d go back to that energy they brought in the beginning of the album. But overall, not a bad album.
Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs / Alkaline Trio
First off, hell of an album name. Well done.
I can see why people like Alkaline Trio. They’re catchy and they write very relatable stuff. But for me personally, I just wish they had a little more edge to them. Maybe if they could get just a tad bit angrier. To me, Alkaline Trio is like the, ‘Friends,’ of punk rock. ‘Friends,’ was a super successful TV show. It was well written and had tons of jokes and by most measurable metrics, it did a good job of being a TV show. You could watch, ‘Friends,’ with your parents and probably not feel embarrassed except for that crush you had on Phoebe. Alkaline Trio is that band. I’m very quick to not listen to the Dead Kennedys or Black Flag if I have my mom in the car. But if an Alkaline Trio song comes on, let it play.
The title of the album comes from one of the band member’s moms who says it’s a saying they use at her hospital job when it’s busy.
Book I’m Currently Reading
The Creative Act: A Way of Being / Rick Rubin
I just finished this book yesterday and it was quite a ride. It’s heavy but also simple. It really helped take me outside myself and outside of creative things I do like comedy and writing this newsletter. It’s a fairly long how-to book on being creative and creating stuff. It’s so general so as not to leave any kind of artform out and that generalness sorta gives it an almost philosophical vibe where it’s like the way we interact with life and the universe around us can not only improve our art but also our lives. I’m not saying that was Rick Rubin’s intention but that’s a vibe I kinda got from it. We could all probably benefit from trying to be more in tune with the moment and the things around us and being open to being inspired.
There’s a consistent theme of not trying to force art to be a certain thing but instead allow it to become what it’s meant to become. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s something really great. Gotta take the ride and find out. And do the art for art’s sake and not anything else. It’s the only way to be honest to art.
I’m not sure if a lot of it translates to stand up comedy but I think in some ways a lot of it does. I could see myself probably reading this book again somewhere down the line, especially if I find myself stuck in a rut. I feel like this book provides a good mental roadmap to get yourself unstuck.
A very understated almost Zen-like book cover but I feel like it could be many things. Is it an eye looking at me? Maybe a record? Or even a boob? Or maybe it symbolizes the eternal cycle of creation?
Random sports thought of the week
I once read a book called, ‘The Bad Guys Won,’ about the 1986 Mets who won the World Series. Quick recap: that year the Mets were a team full of derelicts and troublemakers and they won the World Series. There’s something about that Mets team I found intriguing. They were ‘bad guys’ I suppose but in a way that seemed cool to me.
In this year’s NFL playoffs, the bad guys won again. But this time it’s not the cool kind of bad guys. The Detroit Lions lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game and make no mistake about it, the Lions were the good guys. They were the ultimate good guys, a team so wholesome and fun to root for that they made anyone who stood against them the villain in the story.
The 49ers did nothing wrong. They played great football all season and were touted as a fave to go to the Super Bowl the entire time. They deserve to be where they are and they deserved to win that game against the Lions because in the end, they played better football. It’s completely logical and reasonable and yet… I hate them for it. They’re absolute villains in my heart and it breaks my sports-loving heart that the Lions feel-good story is now over.
A Super Bowl will be played and someone who’s not the Detroit Lions will win it all. But when the memories of that game fade 10, 15, 20 years from now and someone wants to write an entire book about one team this season, it’ll be the Lions. That is the best story even if it ends in heartbreak. But this time around the book will be entitled:
‘The Good Guys Lost’
This fanbase came alive this season and helped create the scene for what was two of the most fun football games I’ve watched in quite some time. As a bandwagon fan, I’d like to just enjoy this moment and say what a season this team had. I don’t wanna look to next season. There’ll be plenty of time for prognostication and predictions and hope in the months to come.
Random pro wrestling thought of the week
Some random post Royal Rumble thoughts:
-I’m stoked that Bayley won and whether she chooses to go up against Ripley or Iyo, I hope she wins it all at Mania. I’m such a fan of hers and I’d love to see her get that big Mania moment. She deserves it.
-Cody feels like the right choice to win the Rumble… as long as he uses that win to “finish the story” and defeat Roman Reigns at Mania. Is it predictable? A little. But it’s the story fans need and want. Someone has to beat Roman at some point. Why not Cody? Why not at Mania?
-Bummer about CM Punk. I have mixed feelings about him as a fan these days but it’s sad to see him sidelined with an injury on the road to WrestleMania. I’m almost certain they were gonna build up to a CM Punk vs Seth Rollins match and I bet the build up and the match itself would’ve been incredible.
-Way to build off that CM Punk injury though with that promo he did with Drew McIntyre. Drew outdid all the CM Punk haters on the internet when he said on national television that he prayed for Punk’s injury. Heavy stuff. This will be a great feud for both guys when Punk’s healthy again.
-I’d say I’m over Logan Paul but I never liked Logan Paul so it’s whatever. I’d really like to see Kevin Owens get his moment though somewhere down the line. I think he’s wildly underrated and still one of the better talents on the WWE roster.
-R-Truth had a couple fun moments so that was cool. He didn’t win the match but as per the R-Truth norm these days, he won our hearts.
-Love the Jordynne Grace stuff in the women’s Rumble. She was a fun surprise and she got to rep TNA and herself. I think she had a great showing and more people are suddenly aware of what a great talent she is.
-I’m so conflicted on the four-way match with Roman Reigns. Orton, Styles, and Knight are all top guy worthy and this match sorta felt like filler. I suppose this helped create some space for the Rumble and get more wrestlers on TV and that’s always cool. But I never thought for a moment that anyone but Roman had a chance to win.
It’s sign pointing season!
Top 5 Punk Rock Movies
1- SLC Punk
2- Bomb City
3- Suburbia
4- What We Do Is Secret
5- Green Room
Weekly Quote
“Art is above and beyond judgement. It either speaks to you or it doesn’t.
The artist’s only responsibility is to the work itself. There are no other requirements. You’re free to create what you will.”
-Rick Rubin
Thanks for reading!
Share it with your friends! Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram:
@joshaintfunny
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 few other videos on my YouTube channel if you want to check them out, go here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRg2MM2mOOvh1JKnDatFiBQ
Upcoming Shows
TONIGHT!
Fri, Feb 2nd, 8pm
Suffern, NY
We’re roasting my friend, Jason Scott, for his 40th birthday. Should be a fun one!
NEXT HELL YEA! ALERT!
Fri, Feb 16th, 9:30pm
North Bergen, NJ
Thu, Feb 8th
West Milford, NJ
Fri, Feb 9th
Elks Lodge
Lyndhurst, NJ