grammargiraffe

Hey Maria,

I've now watched the Special Special Special three times [with different audiences--trying to spread the gospel a little]. It's possibly one of the bravest and most honest pieces of art I've seen. [If you guys haven't seen it, really, check it out. It makes Louie look guarded and safe by comparison].

My question, I guess, is how do you keep yourself to such a standard of integrity in your act? It seems that "alternative comedy" is really in a boom period [Tig and Louis and Patton and a whole bunch of others], so is it a matter of your peers? Or is it just this lonely thing where you're out on the edge, alone? [edit: I don't mean to make you sound like this outsider artist or anything, but it just seems like you're going pretty damn deep into psychological and sociological matters in your standup]

First off, I'd like to thank you. I taught Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to a classroom of inner-city Brooklynites, and they latched onto it with particular fervor.

I'd be interested to know a little about your family. Your two brothers are also writers with books that reached wide audiences [Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains The World and Joshua Foer's Moonwalking With Einstein]. Is there a rivalry? Do you see yourselves as a kind of Royal Tenenbaums-style genius family?