Pete Holmes and Artie Lange in Crashing (Mary Cybulski/HBO)

Pete Holmes and Judd Apatow’s new HBO series premieres this week, and I got the chance to write about it for Rolling Stone. It’s about divorce and the open mic comedy world, but quietly a spiritual quest. Not unlike Holmes’ experiences in the pitch room, all of the longwinded references I made to Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey were (rightfully) deemed excessive.

Inside Crashing: How Pete Holmes Survived Comedy and Live to Tell About It

Richard Pryor from Richard Pryor: Live in Concert

The internet has to be loud and definitive, but every time I make a list like this, I can only think about the compromises we made in the process of putting it together. With this one, I feel like there are about 25 ironclad names and another 25 that might be occupied by 50, even 75 names about whom it’s worth having conversations. (And that sentiment doesn’t make a great headline to click on.)

50 Best Stand-Ups

Anyway, it’s always fun to think about stand-up past and future; I feel like I’ll have to convince my editor to find space to do another addendum for the 25 foundational comedians who opened the door for all of the voice-driven stand-ups on our list.

Illustration: David Perezcassar

Jesse David Fox rounded up a bunch of us to think and write a second part tothe 100 Jokes of Modern Comedy we did last year around this time. We broadened it a bit this time, talking satire and art and even more film. It was fun to ponder, and the whole thing makes my brain make connections it wouldn’t otherwise.

100 More Jokes of Modern Comedy

As a part of it, I talked with Mike Myers about the Wayne’s World “NOT” joke in particular. Apparently, there’s a mathematical formula for the joke. (True.)

Mike Myers on How the “Not” Joke Went from Wayne’s World to Donald Trump