Daniel O'Brien's Newsletter: May '25!
Hello! This is the official substack of me, Daniel O'Brien, six-time Emmy-winning Senior Writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, author of How to Fight Presidents and its adaptation Your Presidential Fantasy Dream Team, Head Writer for the Cracked De-textbook and editor and contributing author for You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News (a New York Times Bestseller), and co-host of the popular hang out podcast Quick Question with Soren and Daniel (now on YouTube, support us on Patreon). I co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in Cracked After Hours, which is easily the most popular thing I've ever done, but that's in the past. This is the latest issue of my substack, a thing you signed up for on purpose.
Every month I will send an email with a list of what I'm reading, updates on whatever I'm working on if applicable and that's really it!
In addition to books, this month I'm excited to share some news about "Dead Presidents," a new old podcast miniseries exploring the mystery: "Why did we put HIM on money?"
Here are some facts:
-I wrote and hosted a podcast miniseries about presidents for an exclusive podcast platform.
-That platform disappeared, along with the podcast.
-I finally found and secured that podcast.
-Each episode covers a different president on a bill with hilarious guests Hannah Hart, Liana Maeby, Patrick Stump, Rachel Bloom and Ralph Garman.
-We’re releasing the series EXCLUSIVELY on the Quick Question Patreon.
-It is, again, about presidents and money and it’s very funny.
I loved making that show and was bummed when it seemed to have disappeared forever, lost like so many things in the pattern of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation that defines our current media landscape. I fear that one day some massive tech company that thinks it wants to dabble in being a media company will buy up all of the Cracked archives, and then a few years later will decide it no longer sees value in art and hits delete on the whole operation, erasing the work I (and others) spent over a decade building. If one day that happens, if mega-brand Dupont-Uber ultimately flushes the toilet on all the stuff I made, at least I can say I managed to claw back a cool, little podcast series I created for very little money.
It's a good show and I own it now and the only way to listen to every episode is by supporting our podcast endeavor Quick Question on Patreon.
BOOKS!
The Spamalot Diaries (Eric Idle)
An inspiring glimpse into the creative and business struggles that went into writing and staging SPAMALOT, an incredible musical I love very much. It's a crazy document if you've seen or know the show; you see Idle and Co. writing now-iconic songs over a weekend, you see them casually cutting a song that you KNOW is perfect before they do, and your breathe a sigh of relief when they decide just as casually to bring it back. SPAMALOT was so confident that it seemed to me like it just emerged fully formed; it's kind of comforting to get an unfiltered close-up look at the process to discover that even the greats-- from time to time-- have no idea what they're doing. Plus it's got some good Idle gems.
"It's interesting to me that when people raise 'head vs heart,' they always assume that thinking with your heart is somehow morally superior to using your brain… Your head is what does the thinking for you to spare you from the emotional mess you get into when you let your emotions lead… Your heart is an organ that pumps blood. It is snobbery to think you can think better with a pump than with the amazing brain we have evolved."
Funny Story (Emily Henry)
Another romance and it was… fine? It moved well, I think I just wanted more out of this, like I wanted it to be romantic AND funny or romantic AND really sad or poignant or-- I don't know-- any additional thing. Instead it just very clearly sets up your two characters who are perfect for each other and will obviously get together in the end and the whole book is just a waiting game to get to that endpoint. Which I understand is the point of this genre, I just didn't get enough joy out of the waiting that occupied the bulk of the thing.
Dancing Aztecs (Donald Westlake)
Nothing like getting burned by a book I didn't love to send me sprinting back for something reliable. I'm back on my Donald Westlake bullshit for a non-Dortmunder comic, crime novel. And it didn't disappoint, which is the whole point of comfort food. There's some pretty WILD of-the-time racism and if that keeps you from enjoying a book, I totally get it, skip this one. Otherwise it's an incredibly complex heist book with a lot of moving parts that somehow pays off. I'd be shocked if Dave Barry wasn't a fan. Westlake is a genius at taking a fun idea-- in this case, "There are 16 identical statues, one of which is worth a million dollars, and 8 different crooks are all chasing them"-- and blowing it up completely. Deceptively easy formula: inventive crime + interesting characters + ticking clock = book. Here's an insane passage for a book published in the 1970s:
"State Troopers love Fury IIs (a car). State Troopers will go on driving Fury IIs until some car company puts out a car called Kill. Then State Troopers will drive Kills. State Troopers get their self-image from Marvel Comics."
Get 'em, Donald.
That's it! Call your parents, take walks, support your local food pantry because food banks and pantries are all struggling everywhere right now.