Sean L. McCarthy's avatar

Sean L. McCarthy

@seanlmccarthy.bsky.social

476 followers 531 following 1416 posts

You can't say I couldn't have played R2-D2 in Star Wars. Comedy journalist for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Decider. FKA @thecomicscomic on social media for olds.
fromthecomicscomic.wordpress.com/
buttondown.email/piffany

Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Isn’t this why we have Anonymous

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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In case you're wondering how the digital comedy boom is going, we're in uncharted TOO MUCH COMEDY territory. Halfway through 2024, we've spotted *at least* 253 new comedy specials, plus another 99 half-hour specials that are accessible from the US.
fromthecomicscomic.com/stand-up-com...

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I talked to my contact about this even before 2024 and received hushed shrug emojis in real life

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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What were tall Frenchmen doing before discovering hoops, tho?!?

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I’ve been describing my left eyesight pre-cataract surgery as like making everything into a Monet painting, so ok wow!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I know it feels weird to type anything outside of our ongoing geopolitical crisis, and yet, I must say to all of the entertainment posters and posers claiming that the C-suites are just reinventing cable: It's increasingly more likely that they're going to reinvent the original Hulu.

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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When people ask what we mean by "toxic masculinity," please remind them that America's collective reaction to this photo was to reject this man for the presidency (although pundits might also cite how Dukakis responded to a debate question about rape, which also answers the above)

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

rax king's avatar rax king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social
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look no matter what happens in november or indeed for the foreseeable future you have to keep being alive and you have to figure out a way to live with yourself. so. what’s that look like? what are you going to do?

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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in case you want/need to know what you're clicking on...

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Dump Truck needs to face some serious consequences soon because over the past eight years, too many people from the elected and unelected officials running the show to anybody you may encounter on these streets have gone completely bonkers-level selfish by following Dump Truck's lead

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Last big trip to CVS, I waited for a while after pressing the button in an aisle, then just asked the employee to follow me around to get the rest of my items since I’d already found everything locked up. He was quite cool about it!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Watching them beat the Yankees will suffice

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Perhaps we can blame this on the cultural longevity of “the Mason-Dixon Line”?

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

James Nostack's avatar James Nostack @semsu.bsky.social
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The fascist political project--and I guess that's now mainstream US Republicanism--is to make a mockery of the rule of law, of the very idea of rational policies practiced fairly for the common good. Getting the Supreme Court to destroy the rule of law, though, is just A+ comic book supervillainy

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

Adam Serwer's avatar Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social
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It is very funny how one of the Supreme Court’s big issues is making it impossible to outlaw bribery because they like being bribed

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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something something trying to put the social back in social media

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Tis truly wild living in Astoria where AOC has inspired our whole slate of Democratic Socialists in the state assembly and city council, but because she's not screaming genocide every single second every single day, some of my neighbors who are friends think she's a traitor to the cause already

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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also this is how I learned MISSED CONNECTIONS came back to craigslist?!?!?!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I've worked for papers previously owned by Times Mirror, Scripps Howard and Gannett, so I saw how the capitalist perils of pursuing profit margins created a vicious cycle even before the private equity vultures came calling

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Looking around my apartment full of boxes of old newspaper clippings from every newspaper I've worked at since the late 1900s and suddenly I don't feel so much like a hoarder as I do a veritable genius

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Don't look now but these 2024 Red Sox have come correct and are a legit playoff team a year ahead of schedule

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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In more uplifting news, this June I've 1) planted the seeds at the Culture Awards for Waxahatchee Katie and MUNA Katie to collab (they were both into my idea!), and 2) interviewed @hankgreen.bsky.social and told him to ditch X for Bsky.

You can listen to my podcast with Hank Green at the link.

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I learned this after I left the Boston Herald in 2006, unfortunately, but did save my actual newspaper clippings

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Jack White (48) recruits The Black Keys (Dan Auerbach, 45), Karen O (45) from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Britt Daniel (53) from Spoon, and AC Newman (56) from The New Pornographers or Rivers Cuomo (54) from Weezer A few years from now? Folklore era reunion: T-Swift with Justin Vernon, Aaron Dessner

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Love this for you! And also for me and my boxes of sentimental old Ts

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I'd ask how many Sean Evans could there possibly be, but I use my middle initial professionally for good reason

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Kwame Ture spoke the truth on this in 1973. 1973! The second half of this clip showed up on my TikTok feed recently, warning us even back then about the evils of capitalism.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMhF...

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Guessing it’s the Sean Evans who worked the gossip desk on the New York Daily News when I worked there

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Although Louis CK feels more apt as a sex pest comparison who leaned into his new fans, can still sell out MSG and still has some comedians supporting him, even now that CK is a pariah to the people who matter

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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This somehow reminded me of when Joe Rogan then Marc Maron essentially took Carlos Mencia out of the comedy game. Mencia still performs (I got an email this week about him playing a Vegas club in July) but Mencia is on nobody’s mind no more.

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

David Sirota's avatar David Sirota @davidsirota.com
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🚨This is the real democracy crisis: More than half of counties now have limited or no local reporting Two studies show corruption skyrockets after layoffs of reporters What will emerge amid the collapse of media? See here — and please share 👇

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Whenever I see a green circle on my Instagram, I’m like, oooooooh, someone considers me a CLOSE FRIEND! It’s just like making someone’s Top 8 on MySpace!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Machines were designed ideally to correct and eliminate human errors. But capitalism circa 2024 means a writer looking for work only finds slews of job listings looking for humans to train AI to correct and eliminate machine errors.

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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And the concert and livestream ended at 8pm local 11pm Eastern, with everyone leaving to the instrumental beats of, yes, Not Like Us

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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He then got Crips and Bloods and more LA factions together onstage for a group photo, and has launched into a fifth performance of Not Like Us. It is only 7:53 pm in Inglewood’s Kia Forum.

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Then all Kendrick’s friends joined him onstage as he rapped Not Like Us again!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Dre kicked off Round 1 of “Not Like Us,” Kendrick stopped the song after “a minor,” started over with the audience rapping Round 2 to the same point, then started over for Round 3 to perform the full diss!

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Watching Kendrick slay Drake live on Prime with a full arena shouting “A MINOR”

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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The Mets may have turned their season around thanks to Grimace, but for the Red Sox, it's all about giving more attention to their young crop of hitters. Look at their stats over the past 30 days. More info: www.nytimes.com/athletic/557...

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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Somehow this is only the second NBA Championship for the Boston Celtics since I used to be able to see them play at the Hartford Civic Center

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Sean L. McCarthy's avatar Sean L. McCarthy @seanlmccarthy.bsky.social
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I’ve been perpetually at 89 percent for years, and only when it hits 90 do I clear out the attachments

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

kilgore trout's avatar kilgore trout @kilgoretrout.bsky.social
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wapo: don’t answer your phone also wapo: we’ve spent millions of dollars on phone polls and that’s bad for biden

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Reposted by Sean L. McCarthy

kilgore trout's avatar kilgore trout @kilgoretrout.bsky.social
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I am once again asking you to consider that an entire information ecosystem established as the primary form of communication over a hundred years and allegedly regulated by the federal government was destroyed by scammers virtually overnight and we just don’t, like, ever talk about it

105 replies 1356 reposts 3959 likes