Matt Drufke

The Angel, The Devil, and The Bear: examining the new season of the most talked-about show where everyone calls each other “Chef”

July 10, 2024July 10, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Over the last week, I watched the new season of The Bear (F/X and Hulu) with hesitation. Like most of the world, I have loved the first two seasons, set in a Chicago restaurant. But there seemed to be a growing cloud over this new season, which was decided to release in one installment perfect for mass consumption. People were not happy with the storylines that were given and how the season was told. Look, every show, no matter how good, has a season that is not up to the usual standard of excellence (looking at you, season 4 of Fargo). So I went in expecting to not have the reaction I had with the earlier offerings. Turns out, I had nothing to be worried about.

Season 3 of The Bear fucking rules, you guys.

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politics

Go Kill Putin – written by Jordan Holmes

July 10, 2024July 9, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

I don’t particularly care what your morality is based on. It doesn’t matter, really, what system you base your morality on. What matters is who’s in charge.

Who is running your belief system right now?

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Comedy

My all-time most bizarre comedy experience…

July 9, 2024July 9, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

In general, I have a rule when I am performing comedy: Do not blame the audience if things are not going well. Too often, I have found comedians who have not done well get mad at a crowd and believe it is the fault of the audience when, in reality, they should be shouldering a lot of that responsibility themselves. If a crowd doesn’t laugh at a joke, I’m usually not one to blame the crowd. Maybe it’s not a great joke. Maybe I delivered it poorly that night. Maybe something happened earlier in my set that I failed to pick up on and now I’m seeing the repercussions of that. I find having this mindset (hopefully) makes me a better comedian and performer because it is always making me look at ways to improve my comedy.

There are, of course, notable and obvious exceptions to this rule. Sometimes an audience member has decided they are going to help the show by heckling. Sometimes an audience member is blind drunk. And sometimes a former co-worker tries to get your show cancelled before it even begins.

This story is about that last kind of example.

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politics, Pop Culture

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Path To The White House

June 20, 2024June 20, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

We are in a perilous time in our nation, and the upcoming November election is not going to make things any better. Between the two viable candidates, neither exactly presents hope for the next four years. What America needs right now, perhaps more than ever, is a candidate who is willing to not only disregard the partisan media, bloodythirsty lobbyists, and the greater demons of their own party and bring our country together in a spirit of compassion, compromise and unity. Neither President Biden nor former President Donald Trump come close to checking those boxes, and it’s gonna be rough living here for the considerable future.

“But Matt,” you might be saying, “you said there were only TWO viable candidates. What about this Robert Kennedy Jr. I’ve been hearing about on social media and some of my weirder friends? I’m sure you just forgot about him and now you are going to go back in real time and change your column because it’s only fair to include everyone with a realistic chance of becoming the next President of these great United States.” If this is you, I have a simple response: Shut up. You are wrong. RFK Jr. has no chance of becoming the next leader of the free world.

Well, that’s not exactly true. There is one path…

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture

Paddington In Peru: The Trailer Breakdown

June 16, 2024June 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Last week, we were lucky enough to get the trailer for Paddington In Peru, the third film in the PCU (Paddington Cinematic Universe). With a November 24th UK release date (January 7th for us unlucky souls in the United States), there hasn’t been a more anticipated movie ever. That is not hyperbole.

Paddington 2 is the third best sequel of all time, only behind The Godfather Part 2 and The Empire Strikes Back. As mentioned on this site, P2 usurped Citizen Kane to become the film with the highest-ever Rotten Tomatoes score of all time. With the first Paddington film, Paul King gave us an amazing and beautiful (plus very funny) story and the second film blows the first one away. To call Paddington 2 a great film would be an insult… it’s a goddamn fucking masterpiece.

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture

A true actor’s director: A review of Hit Man plus a ranking of Richard Linklater

June 9, 2024June 9, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Of the indie directors to come out of the 1990’s, Richard Linklater might be the hardest to attach a label to. He doesn’t have Steven Soderbergh’s visual style or Quentin Tarantino’s inventive storytelling skills or even Kevin Smith’s ability to write a great scene. But, if there was any director from this class I think I would like working with if I was an actor, it would be Linklater. Because the man is a true and selfless collaborator.

In his great movies, of which there are many, the Texas filmmaker works hand in hand with his onscreen talent to create the best possible product. In many of Linklater’s films, the actor has a screenwriting credit, which shows you exactly how much he wants the input of his talent. And then there is Boyhood, in which he worked with his three principal actors over the course of a dozen years to truly show the experience of growing up.

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Music/Movies, Uncategorized

The Drake/Kendrick Lamar Feud- UPDATE- Drake may be the dumbest person alive…

May 6, 2024by Matt Drufke1 Comment

Last night, after a full day of watching people respond to Kendrick Lamar’s allegations that he was a pedophile running a child trafficking ring out of his mansion, Aubrey Graham (better known to the world as Drake) finally responded. Look, I’ve never been in a feud with Kendrick Lamar. And I’ve never been accused of, by all accounts, the worst crime a person can be accused of. So I’m not going to pretend I have any idea what was running through Graham’s head as I sure he was doom-scrolling social media reading about himself.

His response came in the track “The Heart Part 6”, a reference to a series of songs Lamar has released. And as far as responses go…

It’s really stupid.

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Music/Movies, Uncategorized

Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake: A (not-so) brief breakdown of music’s biggest story

May 5, 2024May 5, 2024by Matt Drufke1 Comment

Unless you don’t care about popular music at all, you have certainly heard about the feud going on between rap stars Drake and Kendrick Lamar. When the new Taylor Swift album dropped last week, I didn’t think anything would be strong enough to knock the spotlight off of The Tortured Poets Department, but I was wrong and wrong in a big way. For the time being, there is no Tortured Poets, there are two poets out there trying to aggressively torture each other.

But, exactly what is going on?

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture

A Woman In-Between Eras: Examining The Tortured Poets Department

April 22, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

To open The Tortured Poets Department, her twelfth album (and fourth in five years), Taylor Swift gives us “Fortnight”. Swift and longtime producer Jack Antonoff give us a song that sonically feels in place with the catalog of Lana Del Rey (unsurprising, considering Antonoff also produces some of her music) as the thirty-four year old singer gives us the story of a woman dealing with a relationship gone way too wrong and delving into alcohol and thoughts of violence to her man’s new wife. “I loved you, it’s ruining my life,” Swift sings in a track that feels like something her and Antonoff could do in their sleep. It’s a good track, and Swiftboats (my term for Swift fans, many of whom have long since forgotten about John Kerry) will love it because it’s the kind of song they’ve heard and loved and sung along to before. It’s a very solid Taylor Swift song.

And that’s why it’s a little underwhelming.

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Comedy

A decade of Seeing You Next Tuesday…

April 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Open mics are weird things. As I mentioned in a piece I wrote earlier this year, you are given the chance to get onstage and talk into a microphone and the only thing you have to be able to do is show up and write your name down. On that night, a person going up for the first time is on even playing field with an experienced veteran. All that matters are the jokes.

There are some open mics that are basically booking auditions. Usually held by comedy clubs, these mics are not about working on new material, but they’re about trying to get paid work. Those mics serve a purpose (comedians should learn how to professionally try out for spots) and they are important, and because of that, they’re usually very well attended.

But See You Next Tuesday, a mic celebrating its tenth anniversary of being in the bottom level of Plainfield bar MoeJoes, is not an audition mic. It’s something much, much more special than that.

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