mindpollution.org

As many of you are already aware, I spent my most recent birthday weekend playing able-bodied assistant to Jessica’s intrepid reporter in Washington, D.C., attending the D.C. Comedy Festival and covering the show for Newsweek’s website.

Newsweek.com recently posted Jessica’s story from the show, as well as several video features culled from the weekend’s tape.

Here’s an excerpt from her story:

Greek playwright Aristophanes’ satirical comedies were filled with jabs at influential citizen leaders of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. While in exile, Dante Alighieri wrote his “Divine Comedy,” in which he placed prominent political figures directly in hell. Even Shakespeare is thought to have ridiculed Elizabethan politics in some of his plays, notably “Richard II.” More recently, Mark Twain and Will Rogers stood out as eminent political satirists of their respective times. (”Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress,” Twain famously wrote. “But I repeat myself.”)

You can read the full story, “Political Punch Lines,” on Newsweek.com.

Here’s one of the video segments from the weekend, featuring “The Daily Show” writer Lizz Winstead, “The Onion” Web Editor Baratunde Thurston and NYC comedian Rob Cantrell, among others.

Here’s a segment featuring comedian Michelle Buteau that we filmed our first night in D.C.

Here’s comedian Elon James White in another segment we filmed the first night.

And finally, one of my favorite acts of the entire weekend, comedian Reese Waters.

Enjoy!