May 2010

Babysitting a 2-year-old human is one of the most challenging things a person can do. Death and drool are ever-present threats. Many things can go wrong and many things can go right. Here are some tips to help you win at babysitting.

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1.) Sprinkle sugar all over the kitchen floor. This will keep the child busy for hours.

2.) Do something nice for mom and dad and clean around the house a bit. Any dildos you find can be soaked in the tub. Kill two birds with one stone and scrub the kid while you’re at it.

3.) Teach the child life skills such as balancing a checkbook, shaving, and not opening mail from the government.

4.) Hold a pillow in front your face. Remove it with a silly expression then quickly return the pillow. Do this in private as the child’s laughter will distract you from this fun activity.

5.) If you get bored, polish your glass candy collection.

6.) Place her in front of the television. It will capture her attention more than anything else you can do. Also, the lack of brain development will make her more open to coercion and simplicity throughout life and reduce the danger that she’ll question authority or have an independent thought.

7.) To help pass the time, see how fast you can suck baby food out of those little jars. Find other creative ways to not use spoons.

8.) 2-year-olds can survive falls up to 8 feet. Do not throw them higher than this.

9.) Read the child a book. Choose one written for 2-year-olds. Anything from the Twilight series will do.

10.) Be careful when you go to the washroom. The training potty will fill up much faster than you think.

11.) If you leave the room and come back to find her sucking on your iPhone charger plugged into the wall, take a moment to appreciate the metaphorical significance of this act. Ponder the increasing reliance her generation will have on modern technology, how it offers great freedoms yet also tethers us in ways our species has never experienced. Her life will feature a dependence upon electricity not unlike your own as each of us plays a role in the culture of consumption. What cost to our humanity do we pay when we employ machines to live life for us? Remove wire from child’s face.

12.) Steven Seagal films can make a difference in any child’s life. Since they’re only on VHS tapes they make great stacking blocks.

13.) If the neighbors see you playing with her in the yard, remove your ski mask and say, “It’s okay. I haven’t looked at her vagina and I don’t plan to.” Replace ski mask.

14.) Trade socks. See how far you can get his on your feet. When he seems confused about what to do with your socks declare yourself the victor and move on to the next challenge.

15.) Cover everything with safety foam. Safety foam can found at the grocery store next to the danger foam.

16.) If the worst happens remember that everything dies eventually. God has a plan.

17.) Children love blinking lights and buttons. Take the smoke detector off the wall and let her play with it.

18.) Take the child to a park. When a woman approaches, smile and say, “Yes, she’s mine. Since her mom died I’ve had to run the puppy orphanage by myself. It’s made it hard to focus on my poetry.” She’ll want to have sex with you. Let her.

19.) Snack time is a good opportunity to bond, especially if you snack on mentos while in the back seat of a European taxi.

20.) Twinkie’s and ho ho’s are great. You get a delicious snack and she gets a wrapper to play with.

21.) Drink. Heavily. Out of a sippy cup. Be careful to remember which cup is yours. Nothing tastes less like whiskey than apple juice

22.) Announce the arrival of nap time. Curl into a ball on the floor and go to sleep. Do not move for fifteen minutes.

23.) Order a stripper. Her motherly instincts will kick in giving you a much-needed break. Also, her own children will be grateful to have someone to play with. Pay extra to activate her blow job instincts.

24.) Put the child to work stuffing envelopes for that dude who somehow convinced you this was a way to make money. Children love repetitive activities and don’t have the vocabulary to complain about paper cuts.

25.) Alternatively, put the child to work selling frozen and steak and water softeners to old people. Old people can be talked into anything. They’re so stupid.

26.) When mom and dad come home jump for joy at their return and be grateful you are no longer in charge of their botched abortion.

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Podcast Watch- Get Your Listen On – May 2010

by Hank Thompson on May 7, 2010

The vast majority of the time I’m working I’m alone. And the last thing I like to do when alone is listen to my own thoughts so each morning I load up my mp3 player with the thoughts of others. Mostly comedy podcasts. If there’s anyone in the world who loves to share their thoughts and has the time to do it, it’s comedians. Here are a few I’ve noted recently.

In the Tank with John Fisch. As a young comedian this podcast is indispensable. Each episode is loaded with great stories and insights about comedy. The host, Jon Fisch and his swashbuckling crew of Dans interview comedians, club owners, bookers, and agents about their careers, the up ands and downs. Fisch is a strong interviewer. He controls his comedic instincts enough to actually delve into a topic, to ask questions that have some sense of direction. And to let his guests answer. A lot of comic podcasters are in too much of a hurry to crack a joke and play verbal grabass that nothing substantive is ever said. The Ross Bennett episode is great. Also Eddie Brill and Keith Alberstadt. There’s too many to list. If this isn’t in your rotation, you’re missing out on a great resource.

Doubling Up. This podcast came to my attention when they received a lot of notoriety after posting a previously unheard interview with Bill Hicks in 1992 conducted by Nick Doody, one of the hosts of the podcast. The Hicks interview is fascinating. Near the end Doody, a budding standup at the time, is invited to open for Hicks at an upcoming show. He’s clearly caught off guard and states that a prior commitment to perform in a play the same evening might prevent him from accepting the offer. Listen to the other podcasts as well.

Stop Podcasting Yourself. Only recently came across this podcast. The couple episodes I listened to were really good. In episode 107 Vancouver comedians Graham Clark and Dave Shumka are joined by guest Mike Thomas. The topic of crowd types comes up and Graham describes his experience opening up for Shane Koyczan, the slam poet who perplexed viewers around the globe at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics. You remember, right? He’s like a hipster walrus with the mind of a hipster Maya Angelou. Anyway, slam poetry crowds are apparently a bit more civilized than stand up comedy crowds.

“It was people – all ages – that had come to see a show and acted like they were at a show. And, then, the following night, I was working at a regular kind of comedy club, and it’s, like I said, feet on the stage, people showing up so drunk that they’re cross-eyed…. This is people being turned away at the door because they’re too drunk to even get their tickets out of their pockets.”

WTF with Marc Maron. This podcast is one of the best. Maron’s known for his willingness to open himself up and this trait seems to rub off on his guests. Episode 60 is with writer/producer/actor/comedian Bob Odenkirk. He talks about his career and the years he spent putting shows together and preparing pitches for executives. It’s a good guide to navigating the perplexing and maddening system known as Hollywood. On being grounded, Odenkirk says:

“If you’re not lucky enough to die young and just get to be a flaming asshole, you know, life– life– you will be humbled, you will be humbled. Everybody gets humbled. Everybody! Or, if you don’t, then you’re really broken.”

Episode 65 with Eddie Pepitone was absolutely bliss. It follows Maron and Pepitone while on a weekend road gig to arizona. Since doing long boring weekend road gigs is my dream I thoroughly enjoyed the entire listen. Pepitone, whom I’ve heard several times on other podcasts is calm and relaxed, a welcome change from the only other version of him I’ve heard: onstage in front of an audience where he is a loud wild crazy man. In this he He and Maron record much of the podcast while driving. You feel like a fly on the windshield istening to two smart, thoughtful and interesting guys have a conversation.

Also check out Maron’s interview with Robin Williams. You get to hear the entertainer in rare form: conversing like a human being. Turns out when not in jester mode he’s a really interesting and compelling guy.

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