On this week’s episode of Show Your Work, Duana and I debate the word “nice”. This is because Aidy Bryant talked about “nice” in her recent interview with Vulture. Is niceness a work asset? Or is it a detriment? Is it a compliment? Or is it an insult? Can you be nice and still be good at your job? Who gets to be nice and still respected at work? Or, rather, who HAS to be nice to be respected at work? 

Is “nice” a word you’d use to describe Alison Brie? She too spoke to Vulture about her new film, Horse Girl, which premiered at Sundance, based on her family experiences with mental illness. Duana is fascinated by the fact that Alison co-wrote the story, using examples from her grandmother and her mother, and her mother hasn’t seen it yet. When your work is informed by your personal life, how do you navigate those relationships? Even talking about the possibility of that made Duana really uncomfortable. But as we encourage people to tell their stories, stories that may not have been given a spotlight in the past, the authenticity comes with certain realities. And confronting them is quickly becoming part of the work. 

What’s also part of Alison’s work is getting people to care about it, engage with it – beyond traditional promotional tools. It’s 2020 so OF COURSE social media is a part of this. But you’d be surprised at how many people are resistant to this – or at least resistant to acknowledging that they could be better connecting with fan communities about their art. Alison isn’t above showing her work and her thirst. And, interestingly, she’s leveraging certain people’s thirst for her online into a way that would benefit her film. 

Finally…everyone is thirsting for Cheer right now. Have you watched it yet? Cheer is 2020’s first Netflix sensation. The Navarro cheerleaders are everywhere right now. Jerry has been blowing up my timeline all day today: 

Seriously. To the Netflix social media team, showing the sh-t out of their work all the f-cking time. We would LOVE to have you on this podcast! 

So, OK. Cheer is EXCELLENT. Duana and I are obsessed with the production. We wish there could be a documentary about the documentarians. But… we are a bit worried. This happened before they were on Ellen, before they became meme sensations. What now? What will season two look like now that everyone wants to be on the mat? 

THANK YOU for listening and for caring about work as much as we do. Please keep sending us your thoughts, please keep suggesting stories, please keep showing your work!