Upstanding citizen

CHRIS DUFFY • Wrong Answers Only

WORK • Thursday Routine

CHRIS DUFFY • comedian / host • Wrong Answers Only
Neighborhood you live in: Silver Lake

It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
As a comedian, I work from home, so my workplace is also my sleep place and my home place. It's complete chaos. This morning, I’m trying (and failing) to convince myself to put on pants that aren't old sweatpants, but I do make the bed, so I give myself a big pat on the back and feel like a responsible, upstanding citizen.

What’s on the agenda for today?
I host a comedy show called Wrong Answers Only, where a panel of three comedians try to understand what a leading scientist does all day. So I'm on a Zoom call with a professor who studies honeybee brains to ask him about his research and start writing jokes about it. I spend a few hours coming up with games for the comedians to play onstage related to his field, which means that I watch hundreds of videos of bees dancing to find the ones that’ll be funniest to mash up with hits from a wedding DJ's playlist.

I'm planning on finishing the script for this show, writing some jokes, then spending a few more hours coasting on the accomplishment of having made my bed this morning. If I feel really ambitious, I might do the laundry. Then, I'll return to my true passion: trying to read every single article that has been published on the internet that day instead of doing any productive work on the projects that I should be working on.

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
I cannot get enough of the sheng jian bao from Kang Kang Food Court in Alhambra. They're these incredible pan-fried soup filled buns that somehow spray burning-hot soup onto my shirt no matter how I try to eat them. But they're so delicious, I don't care about getting scalded and destroying my wardrobe. That's a good lunchtime reward for my morning of interviewing scientists and writing jokes.

How about a little leisure or culture?
I'm looking forward to taking my one-year-old to have a picnic in Barnsdall Park looking out over the city. It's always such a relaxed, beautiful spot, although the last time we went there, we did see a man wearing only a Speedo livestreaming himself going at max speed on a Bird scooter while screaming. But that's the great part about living in LA. You never have to go too far to see an internet microcelebrity.

I'll also try to catch a comedy show at Dynasty Typewriter, my favorite venue in the city. It's where we do Wrong Answers Only, so I'm biased, but everything they put up is fantastic. My friend Zach Sherwin has a comedy show all about crossword puzzles that's hilarious and unique, so I'm going to see that. Supporting a friend while laughing so hard I cry, what could be better?

Any weekend getaways?
Like every straight man in his 30s who moved to LA, I’ve taken up surfing. I'm planning on meeting up with some friends at Venice Beach and surfing for a few hours. I consider it a success if I catch one fun wave and see one dolphin, and these days, I can almost always check both boxes. Even better, my friends' friends Nick and Zach just opened a window right off the beach called Breakaway Cafe serving incredible breakfast burritos. So we'll go there after surfing, and I'll work on my goal of one day being able to say Nick and Zach are just my friends, rather than friends' friends. To be only one degree away from brothers making delicious burritos? That's true success, and I hope to achieve it.

What was your last great vacation?
A group of friends and I drove down to Baja Mexico and stayed at a place called Las Gaviotas. Swimming in the ocean, eating delicious tacos on the side of the road, and experiencing the natural beauty and hospitality of the people down there was a dream.