Spring has sprung in Texas! Go pose in front of some bluebonnets, watch some baseball, and, most importantly, read this week’s Wild Texas Newsletter!
The Houston Cougars came oh-so-close to capturing their first-ever national championship but fell just short against the Florida Gators. Even in defeat, coach Kelvin Sampson and his Cougs proved that they are Houston Tough.
Times may be precarious, but it’s still nice to be able to laugh at the world’s richest man. Elon Musk, in his ongoing quest to impress teenagers on Reddit, tried to show off his gamer skillz on a livestream. It ended as you might expect: Musk died multiple times in the tutorial as he was mercilessly trolled by the chat.
In other comedy news, veteran Austin comic Duncan Carson has launched his own open mic show. It’s funny, but unlike the infamous Kill Tony show, it’s not “a fucking Klan rally,” as Duncan so eloquently put it.
Oh yeah, and Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he is running against John Cornyn for the U.S. Senate next year — so get your popcorn out.
Happy springtime, y’all!
Austin’s Plotting a Comedy Rebellion. Welcome to The Anti-Kill Tony Show.
Veteran local comic Duncan Carson wants to prove you can be funny without being a jerk or a racist.
By Brian Gaar
For a few years now, the Austin comedy scene has been dominated by a new ecosystem led by Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe.
The city is now nationally known as a haven for their style of “say whatever shitty thing you want, it doesn’t even need a punchline” comedy. For these guys (and their disciples who moved here during the pandemic), the slur IS the funny part.
But that doesn’t mean that the old guard — the people who were doing standup before 2020 — has gone away. And veteran Austin comic Duncan Carson wants to strike back, with a new comedy show that’s committed to punching up, not just saying crappy things for laughs.
“They just think, anybody that laughs is an inherent good,” he told The Barbed Wire. “And I’m like, not if it’s a fucking Klan rally.”
In a defense of Austin’s comedy heritage, Carson is launching a new late-night show that aims to showcase the city’s old-school comedy scene, which produced such luminaries as current “Saturday Night Live” cast members Andrew Dismukes and Devon Walker.
The variety show is called “Signing Off: A Comedy Show for the End of the World” and it’ll run Fridays at 10 p.m. starting April 4 at the Fallout Theater in Austin.
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