Benkharakh.com

I'm going to use Tumblr to blog from now on.

It took me a long time to say that I didn't win and it's going to take me even longer to upload all the old interviews that I've done.

The wonderfully talented Mr. Andrew W.K. has offered his support in my campaign for the ECNY award. For a limited time, if you vote for me and then e-mail your voter confirmation information to Andrew he will make a special personal phone call to you! As Andrew has demonstrated time and time again, he is an incredibly generous and intelligent man and to speak with him would certainly be an excellent experience. You can talk to him about anything from existentialism to his collaboration with dub and reggae pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry. For more information, please visit Andrew WK's Myspace .

I have briefly emerged from under the great weight that is the end of a college semester to share with you a delicious bit of irony. A month after parting with Gothamist, my contributions to said site have been nominated for an ECNY award for my work in the field of comedy news/commentary. Ha indeed. So, if you're up for it, I'd appreciate your vote. Thanks! Once the term is over, I'll upload all of my recent interviews and get started on some new stories. Until then, vote here!

As always, Tom Scharpling is a great source of encouragement. After congratulating me on my accomplishments thus far in the realm of interviews, he reminded me that I shouldn't lose sight of my own writerly aspirations. Coincidentally, I had been thinking the same thing and will be unveiling some new short pieces very soon.

Until then, please busy yourself with these Q and As with Jay Johnston and Jerry Minor , who you know from their work on Mr. Show and their various endeavors, which include Morel Orel and The Sarah Silverman show for Jay and Carpoolers, Crossballs, SNL, and Trigger Happy TV for Jerry. Here's a bonus chat with Jay about his SuperDeluxe show The Snuz Brothers and what he thinks about physical comedy.

After over 100 interviews in a little over a year, Gothamist and I are parting ways. Apparently, they are cutting back on contributors and I am one of the staff to go. Gothamist played a huge role in my career. It was a place where I was able to flesh out my talents, make great contacts, and interview a lot of exciting people. It was the perfect stepping-stone. So, now that I've moved on, let's move on to what I did last week.

First off, I did a lengthy Q and A with Maria Bamford for Pittsburgh City Paper where we discussed the environment, her dog Blossom, and how she likes to get her grump on. Next, there's another long one with Jen Kirkman for Philly City Paper, where she discussed working for a scam mag called Airs Magazine, how awkward it is to sell a CD, and how annoying it is to hear parents complain about being too busy with kids to find out if the Earth is round or not.

My Ethics professor was in the midst of arguing with the class over the result of our first exam when he made this announcement, "Look, you can't expect to do well in school and balance a full time job." I thought, "Man, I must be really special to be pulling this off," and then he added, "Unless you're willing to sacrifice your social life." How did he know my secret?!

It made me think of my first interview with Tom Scharpling where he said, "I was writing every night. Working on screenplays with a friend, sketches. I just really wanted to do that and get good at it. I would work, go home, and then write until four in the morning." That's really inspiring and I'm going to try to hustle just as much.

I am now contributing to Starpulse.com and Laist, and am doing more writing in general, so I figured I'd take a stab at keeping you up-to-date on what I'm up to.

So, my first piece for LAist was with Brandon Christopher , author of Dirty Little Alter Boy. Here's an excerpt of the Q and A

One of my favorite lines in Dirty Little Alter Boy is when you described one of the two bullies in your grade as having "A smile that made you shit yourself". What sort of smile is that, exactly?
“The smile that made you shit yourself” was very similar to an Eric Estrada smile. Imagine dark Hispanic skin surrounding a deathly white smile; the eyes squint to two razors under black eyebrows, and those thin pink lips pull back tight against the face. His crooked teeth were like weathered stones on a beach, each with their own story of “kicking some geek ass.” The smile was indeed dangerous—as dangerous as they came in junior high. You just knew there was something lurking behind the teeth.

Jim was medicated. Had been ever since he was a little kid. It kept thoughts from racing through his head and kept him focused, but he was also constantly in a haze. He called it a brain fog. He was a little slow because of it. Took longer to figure things out, grasp concepts, but he was good natured and of pleasant disposition. No one but Jim knew why he had to take pills, but he'd never say. It was never to be spoken of -that one day, when he was younger, got carried away, and hugged his little brother to death.

E-mails are difficult. I mean, do you know how a computer works? I don't. Luckily, I don't have to and neither do you, unless you’re a computer scientist. In which case, good luck! Aside from the technical and grammatical aspects of e-mail, there's always the difficult task of not putting your entire address book into the CC field instead of the BCC field. But, if you do, it'll be okay. It's no big deal. Unless you have a guy like this in your contacts:

THESE ARE 26726 GOOD EMAILS FROM THE 415, 310 AREA CODES, THIS IS ONLY A SMALL PART OF 96 MILLION EMAILS THAT I USE TO MARKET AND PROMOTE MY PROJECTS. SO NOBODY SHOULD NEED TO WORRY ABOUT HUSTLIN THE EMAILS WHEN SOMEONE DOESN'T USE "BLIND CARBON COPY". THEY ARE ALL VALID, OPT-IN, 18+EMAILS BROKEN DOWN BY DEMOGRAPHIC, AREA CODE, STATE, COUNTRY AND SPECIAL INTERESTS. SO PLUG, PROMOTE, MARKET OR JUST GLOAT; JUST GET IN WHERE YOU FIT IN.