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My friend, colleague, and comedy idol @brianagler has passed away at 31 after a 3-year battle with cancer. You& #39;ve certainly heard words he wrote as a @WestWingWriters speechwriter for clients like [UNDER NDA]. I& #39;d like to share some hilarious work he did in his own name. THREAD!
Brian was a perennial champion of @Punderdome3000. Here is a clip of the night he was put against @rekhalshankar, a fucking hilarious person who went on to be the HEAD WRITER OF COLLEGE HUMOR. This was the kind of mind Brian could go toe-to-toe with, always with humility.
You thought Punderdome was the only pun battle Brian competed in? Of course not! Here he is at the O. Henry Pun-Off in Austin. I must stress: most puns are terrible and deservingly don& #39;t get laughs. Brian breaks that rule, winning over the most pun-savvy crowd in the world.
Now you& #39;re thinking "ok, Brian developed a niche skill. It& #39;s not like he was instantly a unique comedic talent from the beginning." Bzzzt! Wrong. Here& #39;s Brian at the 2007 CINCO RANCH HIGH SCHOOL TALENT SHOW with a chunk about cars that made me laugh out loud 13 years later.
I had the honor of being Brian& #39;s co-producer/host for a @caveatnyc speechwriting show. He was tremendous. As an emcee, presenter, and guest mingler. Here& #39;s a deeply Aglerian analysis of Mike Bloomberg& #39;s speech at the 2012 Nathan& #39;s Hot Dog Eating Contest. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uAo37TXYhwTyQtcMLXKS4Wp3kyKUfFaI/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u...
What an oeuvre! And that& #39;s just a few Brian performances. He was most notably a satire king! His "Evening of Humorous Readings" co-hosts @JamesFolta and @LukeVBurns are far better suited to share that part of his legacy than I. They recently did a roundup: https://tinyletter.com/HumorousWriting/letters/a-newsletter-of-humorous-writing-142">https://tinyletter.com/HumorousW...
THAT SAID, here are some favorites. For @tnyshouts, Brian& #39;s voice EXPLODES out of this piece from the opening "YOU FOOL!" Fun fact: I went to a fancy food hall with Brian once, and yet I did not produce an all-time great piece of satire afterward. https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/you-will-never-escape-this-fancy-food-hall">https://www.newyorker.com/humor/dai...
For @mcsweeneys, this piece captures the desperation of inflicting organized fun on your friends. Brian& #39;s work is so descriptive, so non-judgmental, I read the speaker as both hero and villain. This was selected for the McSweeney& #39;s Internet Tendency book. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-rules-of-this-board-game-are-long-but-also-complicated">https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/...
Feeling like shit because Brian is gone and the world is on fire? Well, god dammit, Brian has a @tnyshouts piece for that too. Revel in your sadness. Embrace that everything is terrible... https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/there-are-no-more-good-things">https://www.newyorker.com/humor/dai...
...but after that, Brian wrote a piece to comfort you too. Just days ago, he dropped his swan song on Medium: "Don& #39;t Worry." Imagine the generosity of character it takes to use fading fits of energy to comfort friends about YOUR OWN DEATH. That was Brian. https://medium.com/@brianagler/dont-worry-ddbfb59add66">https://medium.com/@brianagl...
I grew immeasurably from working with Brian Agler. He was the personification of consistency, humility, hilarity. He hated hot fruit and loved hot dogs. He& #39;s gone 50 years too soon, but he leaves the legacy of a fully realized lifetime. I love him, and this sucks.
