Working Methods

Newsletter of creativity advice from art legends.

Working Methods

David Bowie: Go until your feet stop touching the ground

Musician David Bowie on being out of your depth…

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17 days ago · 2 likes · Matt Ruby

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. The same is true of any endeavor: if the solution you seek doesn't exist, create it."
-Toni Morrison

Working Methods

Toni Morrison: Create the solution you seek

Novelist Toni Morrison on invention…

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7 days ago · Matt Ruby

Director Quentin Tarantino on why he writes on paper:

My little analogy of it is you can't write poetry on a computer. Why not? Well, because I'm going for a rhythm. I'm going for a rhythm and there's like a connection between my chicken scratch and this paper and this pen as opposed to this other thing.

Working Methods

Quentin Tarantino: Go for a rhythm

Director Quentin Tarantino on why he writes on paper…

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3 days ago · Matt Ruby

Bits from FUNNY HOW up ahead, but first…

Any publishers interested?

“You should get published! Like at the New Yorker or the Ringer.” That’s what one subscriber keeps telling me. (Hey Ronny!) I don’t know how to do that though. How about this? I want to write essays about the following (see below). If you know of a publication out there that might want to run one of ‘em, reach on out.

1) How social media is ruining standup comedy
Comedy is pivoting to whatever the algorithm likes and that really sucks (see: crowdwork clips). The incentives on social media are the opposite of making good art.

2) I have a unification theory for everything going on in our culture right now: It’s the ego, stupid. Smartphones are ego inflation devices that are slowly ruining us when it comes to dating, politics, mental health and so much more. As a Gen X guy, I grew up without a smartphone and, increasingly, that makes me feel like some strange experiment where I’m both the control group and the lab rat.

3) The old school masculine trait we totally need to bring back: Not complaining. A big part of being a man back in the day was, well, taking it. You didn’t bitch, moan, or complain. Now, the kvetching never ends.

4) The most overrated foods in our society
(A funny one!) The taste oligarchs keep trying to force feed us food fascism and I am here to be THE RESISTANCE. I’m looking at you, people who use the word “umami.”

Also, maybe it’s time to collect a bunch of my essays in a book. Anyone hot shot publisher types interested in that? Look, I’m just out here tryna manifest.

Funny How

Newsletter about the craft of standup.

“White people got friends that go to jail! Especially rednecks. Poor white people deal with the same stuff that Black people do.”
-Roy Wood Jr.

Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian

How George Carlin influenced Roy Wood Jr.

Always enjoy listening to Roy Wood Jr. talk shop. For example, check out his interview on A Good One podcast: Roy Wood Jr. Won’t Stop Pushing Stand-up Forward…

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11 days ago · 2 likes · Matt Ruby

“The things you do badly are as much part of your style as the things you do well.”
-Martin Scorsese

"If you keep showing up, you'll almost certainly break through — but not in the way you expected. You need enough persistence to keep working and enough flexibility to enjoy success when it comes in a different form than you imagined."
-James Clear

Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian

10 Good Things from Scorsese, Jeselnik, Barstool, Colbert, and more

💥 James Clear: “Keep showing up…

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13 days ago · 2 likes · Matt Ruby

"Your work carries an energy that is felt by the end consumer. If you are inspired by your work, the reader will be inspired too. Your reader feels what you feel. So, pay very close attention to what you feel."
-Cole Schafer

Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian

If you have fun, they have fun

I remember watching a small-room Louis CK set years ago where he was saying some of the darkest and most foul sh*t you can image – and it was killing. Every once in a while, he’d break into this grin and you’d see a devilish twinkle in his eye. It was clear he was loving the moment. And that vibe was infectious. Everyone in the room fed off it. It’s as …

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16 days ago · 2 likes · Matt Ruby

Thanks for reading.

-Matt