#367: Joe Pera

BoatZoneTV, Woody Guthrie's "New Year's Rulin's," Petey DeAbreu, and more.

Perfectly Imperfect is a newsletter offering “A Taste of Someone’s Taste” from guests like Charli XCX, John Cale, Julian Casablancas, Lena Dunham, Mac Demarco, Dasha Nekrasova, Tim Heidecker, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Imperioli, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Mel Ottenberg, Chloe Cherry, Matty Matheson, Anna Delvey, The Dare, Caroline Calloway, Snail Mail, and more. Check out our full archive here.

Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Joe Pera to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Joe Pera is a Buffalo-born, Brooklyn-based comedian, writer, and actor. His lovely Adult Swim show, Joe Pera Talks With You, is a brilliant piece of modern Americana and a truly special gem that I return to often. After JPTWY was cancelled, Joe set out to create his very first standup special, Joe Pera: Slow & Steady, which comes out on October 6th at 8pm on his Youtube channel so set a reminder. It’s completely self funded and independently produced, which we heavily support here. He and composer Ryan Dann also recently started a fully listener supported sleep podcast called Drifting Off with Joe Pera that features guest musicians such as Yo La Tengo and Dan Deacon. Lucky for us, Joe is here to tell us what he’s been into.

Without further ado

Joe Pera (instagram, tiktok, website, youtube)

🚲 Riding my bike around the park 2 times

1 time is not enough, 3 is too many cause I get too tired. But when I go around 2 times, I'm feeling real good and can get a couple more hours of writing done in the afternoon.

🛥️ BoatZoneTV

I was watching boat crash videos and came across this youtube channel. They've got some vids where the boats get into trouble but my favorites are where they just set up a camera by inlets and marinas around Florida and record boats going over the waves on their way to the ocean. 

Boat culture is very foreign to me so I find it interesting to see what type of people are on what type of boat. And all you can hear is the water and boat motors so it's fun to imagine the relationships of the boat passengers and what they're talking about.

🖊️ Woody Guthrie's "New Year's Rulin's" (New Years Resolutions) January 1, 1943

Feel kinda dumb sometimes when I put my goals together - write a few hours a day, read more, don't drink 5 beers on a Wednesday night - so these pages really struck me when I visited the Woody Guthrie Center while doing a show in Tulsa. 

It's a beautiful list and seeing it in his own handwriting was both inspiring and a good reminder that it's mostly about just staying regular with the basic stuff and trying to put some good work days together. Maybe he should have put "send Mary and kids money" higher than "listen to radio a lot" but who am I to say?

😆 Rufat Agayev's Weekly Standup Comedy Night at Scorpion Records

I've performed on this show a couple times and it's one of my favorites in the whole city. It feels like you're performing in someone's living room with cheap beers and a neighborhood crowd that's out to have a good time. Aside from the special setting, Rufat is one of the funniest people I've seen perform lately and it's exciting to watch him work on new jokes with his regular audience. 

Same as my buddy Dan Licata's Corn Beef Show at The Gutter or Rachel Kaly's regular Union Hall show, it's the best to watch a comedian take their jokes so much further than they typically could when performing for their regular audience that they have a rapport with.

Every Tuesday at Scorpion Records in Ridgewood.

🎤 Petey DeAbreu

Another standup comedian I love to watch. Extremely creative and funny.

Bonus recommendation for paid subs from Joe below! 🐔 ???