Author: Ben Totushek
I am a Rhode Island native. I went to Alaska when I was 19 to climb mountains and study environmental science. The science turned to philosophy as the days got dark, and I turned to drink to stay warm and in good spirits. I dropped out of college around the exact same time Kerry lost to Bush in the 2004 elections. Coincidence? You decide. From there I was off to India for 6 months to study Yoga intensively. Armed with a teaching certification, I returned to the US and taught yoga until the money ran out. Then I became a community organizer for economic and social justice. I rose the ranks of my organization and was soon director of an entire statewide office of community organizations in Portland Oregon. But there was this girl, and she was leaving for the peace corps, and I needed to leave too, because we'd moved to that city together, and the loneliness was too much to bear on top of life's already-unbearable lack of apparent meaning. So I renewed my own vows to myself, applied to Columbia, completed my undergrad and then my master degree there, and became a standup comic. Ironically, for the money I make at my day job, I could have just moved directly to New York at 19 and become a comic directly, but I'm pretty sure I'd be a lot less interesting of a person, if not less funny of a comic, had I assumed the "shortest distance between two points" strategy. This is probably just my way of rationalizing the incredibly zig-zaggy path my life has tended to take. Luckily, I've found what I really like to do, and that's standup and writing. I will write somewhat funny things here, from time to time.
Serious Attempt to Dissect a Miscarried Joke
Have you heard about the recent uproar in response to Daniel Tosh, whose act on stage at the Laugh Factory, according to this blog, was incredibly insensitive and even abusive toward two female audience members? […]