Joel Stein

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Joel Stein

Living through authoritarianism is a much richer and more complex experience than I expected. Naively, I’d assumed that a dictator just sent some thugs to shut down the newspapers, built his own propaganda machine and forced through laws punishing ‘unpatriotic’ speech. A few brave Alexei Navalny-like figures would publish the truth regardless, and someone would see their work in 50 years and make an independent movie about them.

Nov 29, 2024 | yahoo.com | Joel Stein

I am here to speak truth to comedy power. I’m not saying there’s a dark conspiracy to keep us from seeing the obvious, but I’m not not saying that either. Also, I might be wrong. But I’m leaning toward the conspiracy thing. Here is what people who are smarter and know more than me always say. Jason Reitman, the director and co-writer and director of the new biopic “Saturday Night, told me this:“‘SNL’ does not have a specific style.

Jul 18, 2024 | mediacatmagazine.co.uk | Adah Parris |Mariana Silva |Joel Stein |Chris Andrews

I’ve recently spent a lot of time around climate and social justice activists, all sharing their stories of their intricate relationship with social media in an attempt to empathetically subvert the status quo. Many see it as a vital tool for expressing their values, ethics, and words of wisdom. We’ve evolved from linear methods of communication to a more holistic, many-to-many approach. Yet, amidst this shift, I often find myself wanting to retreat from the cacophony of ‘listen to me’ messages.

Apr 5, 2024 | yahoo.com | Joel Stein

In physics, the three-body problem is ugly. When you have one or two objects exerting gravity on a body, it moves in a predictable pattern. Add a third and its chaos. In 2024, the three-body problem in media is that every piece of art has a creator, a consumer, and politics. So when Netflix’s sci-fi series 3 Body Problem debuted on March 21, anti-woke crusaders such as VCs Marc Andreessen and Andrew Chen  only made it one scene in before posting that it was a cri de coeur to end the far-left agenda.

Mar 27, 2024 | lamag.com | Joel Stein

OUT OF RESPECT for both the reader and Bill Maher, I have cut every instance of the phrase “What was I saying?” from this article. Maher, who, in 2024, marks 22 years of hosting HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, was very, very stoned for his Los Angeles interview. And it wasn’t his fault.