Oliver Bateman Does the WorkVerified account

Some of my most hated things include stand up comedy (all kinds) and people who respond to arguments not with helpful criticism but exhortations to “go read [insert name]” as if that author’s tome is some kind of grimoire or Rosetta Stone

I mean, with regard to stand-up, all you need to think about are the various “joke stealing” controversies, in which you’ve got one hack ripping off some other slightly less Jacky hack. Is the bar that low? You need to get your hands on a George Lopez or Joe Rogan punchline?

And then there’s the “read XYZ” stuff. Sure, great. I’ll add it to the list. But after reading a lot during the decades when I did little else, I now try to build arguments out of my own ready-at-hand materials, rather than blindly referring to a list of “authorities.”