How to get people to do ridiculous things

With a request for your input

There seem to be two guaranteed ways to get people to do a thing that they would never normally do. The first way, which is upsettingly effective: make it a dance move for a popular song. It doesn’t matter how silly it looks. People will do it. (See: Cha Cha Slide, Macarena, Achy Breaky Heart, Gangnam Style, among other songs you never wanted to witness your aunt and uncle dance to at a wedding, but now you have, and no matter how you try, that memory is never going away.)

Another sure-fire method: make a game show. But forget the insect-eating horrors of Fear Factor. All I want to talk about these days is Taskmaster.

In each season of the British show Taskmaster, five comedians compete against each other by performing ridiculous, byzantine, and often inscrutable ‘tasks’ that are set for them by the show’s creator and host, comedian Alex Horne. For example: make the most exotic sandwich—which sounds simple, but it…goes places you would not expect. The comedians’ approaches range from brilliant to devious to incompetent. The results are then judged by the titular Taskmaster, comedian Greg Davies, who assigns points to them subjectively. The stakes are non-existent, which makes the effort and ingenuity that goes into the tasks that much funnier. And every episode is available to watch for free on YouTube. 

It’s hard to sum up how delightful and hysterical the show is (I have cried with laughter multiple times), which is why I keep grabbing my friends and family and making them sit and watch an episode with me whenever they’re in grabbing distance. By the end of each season, you’ve fallen in love with the individual comedians who are competing with each other, and learned to appreciate the unique and often strange ways they each approach the tasks, but also you’ve fallen in love with the group dynamic that’s developed between them over the weeks of the season. The awkward, polite Britishness of it is wonderful, and despite how much they play at the idea of mean-spiritedness when doling out points and making fun of each other, it all feels very sweet. 

If you happen to have any British comedians that you love, there’s a decent chance they’ve been on one of the 17(!) seasons that have come out since its debut in 2015. If you happen to have a favorite season, or contestant, or task, please hit the comment button below and tell me.

I don’t have a dance move or a game show for you but I do have something else to ask of you: I’m thinking of starting a paid subscription where I could share special things from the different projects I work on—like Song Exploder, and my own music—as well as have a place to create new projects. I have a lot of ideas for different things I’d like to make, but it’s hard to justify carving out the time to actually make them without some structure, and a lot of times those ideas don't fit neatly under the umbrella of my other work. 

Also, as you might already be aware, the podcast industry has changed a lot in the last couple years, and it’s very hard these days to make a high-quality show because the ad revenue to pay for that work just isn’t there anymore. And the music industry has been a mess for decades, and it’s only getting harder, no news there. So I’m trying to find sustainable ways for me to keep making things for the people who are interested in them, and a paid subscription seems to be the best way to do that. It would mean having the support to go ahead and keep making what I make, and make new things, as well, and it would give those new projects a home. The paid subscription would be a way for people to say, hey, I care about the stuff you make. (This newsletter will stay free.)

If you’re someone who does care about the stuff I make, could you let me know by answering this very short survey?

I would love, love, love to hear from you. Tell me what sort of thing you’d be interested in getting from me for a monthly subscription. Maybe you’re very kind and would just like to support the work I’m already doing. But maybe you have thoughts on specific things you’d like from me. A podcast about heist movies? A behind-the-scenes look at how I record and edit? Snack recommendations? Ad-free versions of Song Exploder? A monthly playlist of great new music? An audiobook to fall asleep to? Or maybe there’s some ridiculous, byzantine task that you want to set for me. 

In the meantime, here are some live events that I’ve got coming up. I hope to see you at one of these:

May 19 - Keene, NH - at Nova Arts
The Thing in the Spring Festival
I’m performing new and old songs of mine at this show, along with a killer line-up of singer/songwriters that includes Buck Meek of Big Thief, Nina Nastasia, Jolie Holland, and more. Tickets

May 20 - Boston, MA - at WBUR CitySpace
Song Exploder live with Fenne Lily
One of my favorite albums of 2023 was “Big Picture” by Fenne Lily. She’ll be joining me in Boston for a live interview taping for a Song Exploder episode about one of her songs. If you’ve ever been curious to hear the full, unedited conversation that goes into the making of an episode, you’ll get to experience that here. Plus, Fenne will play a few songs of hers after the interview. Tickets

May 24 - Los Angeles, CA - at J.Crew, Century City
Song Exploder meet & greet and DJ set
Did you happen to see the photos of the Symphony Exploder event I did with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra earlier this month? I was wearing a tuxedo from J.Crew, and the lovely folks there have invited me to host a fun, casual Song Exploder event at their store at the Century City mall in Los Angeles. So come hang out with me, we can talk about music or clothes or podcasts, I’ll spin some songs, you can browse the racks. It’s free and open to the public.

June 28 - North Adams, MA - at Solid Sound Festival, MassMOCA
A conversation with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco 
Jeff Tweedy’s book “How to Write One Song” is something that I’ve turned to and found very helpful as I’ve been working on my next album. His advice about songwriting could easily be taken as advice for life in general, and I’m going to ask him about that, and his own writing with Wilco. This event is part of at Wilco’s Solid Sound festival, which also features a lot of great musical acts and talks and comedy. Tickets

July 24 - Los Angeles, CA - at The Ford
Song Exploder live with The Magnetic Fields
Twenty-five years ago, The Magnetic Fields put out their opus 69 Love Songs, a 3-volume set of songs written by Stephin Merritt that range from heartfelt to hilarious (often at the same time). To celebrate, I’m going to speak to Stephin Merritt about the creation of a few of my personal favorite songs from that masterpiece. Afterwards, Stephen will play an intimate solo set. This won’t be recorded—you just have to be there. (You can listen to the Magnetic Fields’ 2015 Song Exploder episode here.)

If you’ve read this far, you’re definitely someone I’d want to hear from about this paid subscription idea. The link to the survey again is here.

Thank you!
Hrishikesh

hrishikesh.co

me, trying to have it all