Bonus Episode 001 – Ben Rosenfeld

This is a bonus episode, which means it was recorded before Harrison Tweed become the permanent co-host and while Jeff was still figuring out this podcasting jazz. Ben Rosenfeld creates smarter comedy for smarter people. Ben’s comedy blends his family’s experience as Russian Jewish immigrants in America with his philosophical beliefs, political observations and unique characters. Ben has appeared on FOX’s Laughs, CBS This Morning, National Geographic’s Brain Games, NPR Weekend Edition, SiriusXM Radio, Rooftop Comedy and been featured as TimeOut New York’s Joke of the Week. He has twice headlined at Caroline’s on Broadway, hosted at the Lincoln Center and performs nightly in New York City. Ben has two comedy albums, Neuro Comedy and The Russian Optimist, which has been an Amazon Top 5 Best Selling Comedy Album. Ben also created the illustrated coffee table book, Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up, an Amazon Top 5 Best Seller in Humor Books. In this episode, Sandip Sen is the co-host with Jeff McBride, and they dig into Ben's bit about fear in America and how much he and Jeff grew from early exposure to George Carlin's work. They also touch on writing material from a place of anger or outrage and working toward funny, rather than the other way around. His dark humor "shines" with incisive analysis about smart comedy, learning your style, and gently misanthropic viewpoints influence by his early years in Russia. Featured bits in this episode: - George Carlin - Dumb Americans (Life Is Worth Losing, 2006) - David Cross - Track 8 Fancy Restaurant Story (It's Not Funny, 2004) - Ben Rosenfeld - America Runs On Fear - Sandip Sen - Jenny McCarthy and Vaccines Special thanks to David Cross, George Carlin’s Big Electron, and Salt ‘N Peppa for all of our unbelievably fair use. Lastly, check out Ben Rosenfeld at http://www.bigbencomedy.com/blog/, and grab his darkly hilarious book from Amazon.com: Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up.