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Working: Cole Escola Provides the Perfect Comedy for Quarantine

Slate Culture Feed

Slate Podcasts

Music, Tv & Film, Arts

4.22K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Host Rumaan Alam chats with comedy writer and performer Cole Escola, who’s known for his roles on Hulu’s Difficult People and truTV’s At Home With Amy Sedaris as well as his sketch comedy videos on YouTube. In the interview, Cole talks about his new special Help! I’m Stuck!, which he filmed alone in his apartment and released on YouTube. He also discusses his comedic influences and talks through what it means for his work to have a gay sensibility.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. And if you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. It’s only $35 for the first year, and you can get a free two-week trial now at slate.com/workingplus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey Tom Sharpling here, the host of the Best Show. And if you've never heard of the Best

0:06.2

Show before, everything you need to know is right there in the title. Each week we put on the

0:11.3

best live podcast you're ever going to hear.

0:13.6

Featuring live callers, celebrity guests, music, plenty of surprises.

0:19.5

Who knows what's going to happen?

0:21.2

Last month alone we were joined by Conan O'Brien, Patricia Arquette,

0:26.0

Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, Nathan Fielder, Sunan Archives, John Oliver, the list goes on and

0:31.5

on. So what are you waiting for?

0:33.0

Join us live every Tuesday night on Twitch at 6 p.m. Pacific time

0:38.0

and find us the next day on the Forever Dog Podcast Network

0:41.0

and wherever you find podcasts. When I'm performing a scene that I'm playing all the parts in, I sort of feel it and hear it like a song.

1:02.0

Like I know the emotional arc.

1:06.8

It's like being so familiar with the melody

1:10.0

that I can hear it in my head when I'm harmonizing.

1:14.0

Welcome back to working.

1:20.0

I'm your host June Thomas.

1:22.0

And I'm your other host Raman alum.

1:24.0

Raman I am very excited to hear your conversation with writer-performa Cole Escola

1:31.0

but first in any other year I would be wishing you a happy pride right now, but this

1:36.2

is such a weird and tumultuous year that it feels weird to wish anyone a happy anything. How are things in your household right now?

1:46.7

June, I think it's an act of defiance to seize joy. So I will accept your happy pride and say right back at you. I think these are such

1:57.4

times of tumult as you say, and I've been trying to find silver linings without feeling

...

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