I’m an Innocence Project Ambassador

Nearly four years ago, we featured Chris Fabricant and the work of the Innocence Project on Adam Ruins Forensic Science. Today, I’m very happy to say that the Innocence Project has asked me be an Innocence Ambassador. If you’re not familiar with their work, Chris and the team of lawyers at the IP work to free innocent people who are suffering wrong imprisonment, using the legal system to fight back against the immense injustices of our criminal justice system. It’s important work that literally changes lives; I’m proud to offer them my support, and I hope you will too.

I Was Very Upfront About Our Emmy Awards Campaign with Gold Derby

Gold Derby interviewed me about Adam Ruins Everything and our Emmy campaign:

“Emmy voters, drop us a nom!” declares Adam Conover, a contender for Best Informational Program and Best Nonfiction Writing for the truTV series “Adam Ruins Everything.” The series comically debunks myths and misconceptions that viewers may take for granted, and in its previous season it even tackled award shows, so Conover understands the value of an awards campaign. “I’ll just be real upfront and say, toss us a nomination if you think the show deserves it because I’d sure appreciate it.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Conover above.

Check out the video above for the full interview.

I’ll be at XOXO in September!

I’m very excited to reveal that I’ll be giving talk at this year’s XOXO Festival in Portland, OR this September! For those of you who don’t know, XOXO is an incredible event featuring some of the coolest independent artists and creative people from around the Internet. I’ve been a fan for years and I’m over the moon to be invited. Register for your chance to attend!

I Sh*t You Not! – Issue One

The first issue of my newsletter, I Sh*t You Not, is here! Why start a newsletter in 2018? Well, as I write:

I’ve had enough of social media. What was once a promising new way to communicate with your fans and loved ones has become a screaming wind-tunnel that sucks your words away before the people you care about even have a chance to see them. It’s time to get back to basics. If you took the effort to subscribe to this newsletter, I’m guessing you give a shit about what I have to say. That means I give a shit about making sure you get to hear it. That’s what we’re doing here – direct communication.

If that sounds appealing to you, subscribe today.

I appeared on HuckerPunch, Emily Fleming and Micah Gordon’s new podcast where we punch up Mike Huckabee’s rather, uh, comedy-challenged Twitter jokes. It was a great time – check it out.

HousingWorks Annual Fundraiser

On June 10th, I’ll be MCing HousingWorks CA’s annual fundraiser. HousingWorks is an incredible organization that uses a “housing-first” model to help people experiencing homelessness by putting them directly in supportive housing. (You might remember Dorothy Edwards and Rudy Salinas from the organization, who appeared in our episode Adam Ruins Housing.) Their work has saved countless lives, and donations at this event will go directly towards saving more. If you live in Los Angeles, I hope you can come.

I appeared on the Citations Needed podcast to blab about the foolishness of dividing human populations into “generations” and thinking that tells you anything useful about them. Take a listen!

Adam Ruins Everything won an Environmental Media Award for our episode on lawns and suburban sprawl! Sadly the award is made entirely out of dirty coal and blood diamonds, but we’ll take it anyway. (And yes, for those of you who have seen “Adam Ruins Hollywood” – we did campaign for this award like hell. We play the game as well as anyone – we’re just upfront about it.)

New York Times Op-Ed: Michelle Wolf Did What Comedians are Supposed to Do

I have an op-ed in today’s New York Times on Michelle Wolf’s performance at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, and what the entire media class fails to understand about her, which is that she did her job:

The journalistic and political classes are very eager to borrow the cultural authority of comedians when it suits them, sending out gala invitations and posing for photos in hopes that a bit of that edgy satirical shine will rub off on them. From Senator John McCain’s chummy on-air relationship with Jon Stewart to President Barack Obama’s hyperactive zeal to appear on every comedy product from Jimmy Fallon’s “Slow Jam the News” to “Between Two Ferns,” the message was clear: Comedy is cool.

But as soon as a comic does his or her job too well and uses comedy to speak a truth that could jeopardize the press’s attempt to befriend the political players they cover, reporters put away their cellphone cameras and cry, “Who invited such a rude woman?”

No one who hired Siegfried & Roy was shocked when they brought a tiger onstage. So you shouldn’t be shocked if you book a comedian and she points out that the emperor has no clothes. Or when she points below the emperor’s waistline and makes a rude joke.

Some people noted that Ms. Wolf’s routine was poorly received in the Hilton ballroom itself. But watching her at home I recognized exactly what she was doing. Every performer who has done comedy on television knows that the people in the studio don’t really matter. They’re uncomfortable, they’re tense, and they have to be polite because they’re sitting six inches away from Chris Christie. You’re never getting a real laugh out of them. Instead, you focus on the audience that counts: the folks at home. And the folks at home don’t want comedy that’s polite and tasteful, and secures them access to an interview next Wednesday — they want comedy that stands on the rooftop and calls out hypocrisy and deceit at the top of its lungs.

Read the whole piece.