In the queue

Digging around in the pop culture mine, unearthing the gems

Author’s note: I’m certainly not pleased that columnist Joshua Kline has the flu, but I always relish the chance to jump off the bench with my two cents on pop culture. Here’s what’s on my radar in these winter doldrums …

Did he? Oh yes.

“The Jinx,” a new documentary series from HBO, examines the “life and deaths” of New York real estate heir Robert Durst. (The “deaths” refer to the demise or disappearance of several people close to Durst over the years.)

Having been obsessed with the “Serial” podcast and its true-crime mysteries for the past few months, I came to “The Jinx” with certain narrative expectations. I was ready for a “did he or didn’t he?” seesaw, with every new clue or revelation tipping that seesaw back the other way. Without revealing too much, the question that constantly rings in my head as I watch is not “Did he or didn’t he?” but rather, “How is this man still walking around, free?” The more layers the filmmakers peel back, the more surreal and unbelievable it gets. And Durst’s mannerisms in interviews with director Andrew Jarecki make the underlying mystery so engaging I’ve almost started taking notes. (In my head: “Was that facial tic more pronounced than the facial tic from the previous question? Does that mean he’s lying now, or was he then?”) It’s disturbing. It’s riveting. It’s worth borrowing your parents’ HBO Go password.

Family matters

I haven’t been the biggest fan of the Duplass Brothers and their ever-so-earnest brand of indie mumblecore. Even the stuff I kinda liked (say, “Jeff Who Lives at Home”) still annoyed me to some degree. But the brothers, Mark and Jay, turned me around with “Togetherness,” the new HBO comedy they co-created with Steve Zissis. The stiff, often uncomfortable marriage at the center of the show can ride the line between fascinating and unwatchable, but the show’s real charm lies in the relationship between the two lovable losers played by Amanda Peet (better than she’s ever been) and Zissis. How HBO keeps reloading its Sunday night lineup with gold is baffling, but they’ve done it again.

Stifled laughter

Harris Wittels died Feb. 19 of an apparent drug overdose in his L.A. home. He was 30. His was not a household name, but to a certain segment of comedy fans, his untimely passing was devastating. Wittels was best known as a writer and producer (and sometimes guest star) for “Parks and Recreation,” and as the creator of the once-viral “Humblebrag” Twitter account. But his funniest, most indelible work was in the world of podcasting. 

Wittels was a frequent guest on Scott Aukerman’s “Comedy Bang Bang” podcast, on which his recurring segment “Harris’s Phone Corner” (which inexplicably morphed into “Harris’s Foam Corner”) was the most reliably funny bit the show ever did. Harris would read jokes he had typed into his phone but deemed unworthy of his stand-up act or even his Twitter account. After delivering them with boyish, deadpan charm, Aukerman and the other guests would delight in mocking and/or being flabbergasted by them. (“Here’s my impression of a good dentist with a good family: ‘Getting my son to clean his room is like pulling teeth … really easy!’”)

He was also an unapologetic fan of the band Phish, a love that spawned the hilarious podcast “Analyze Phish,” another collaboration with Aukerman, who hated the band and couldn’t understand why someone as smart and successful as Wittels could possibly enjoy their music. Wittels attempted, over the course of many episodes, to convert Aukerman to Phish fandom, to increasingly hilarious results (mostly because the more evidence Wittels presented, the more Aukerman hated the band). No matter your stance on Phish, “Analyze Phish” is a pure delight.

All that is to say: If you enjoy comedy; or anti-comedy; or unabashed, joyful silliness—go find Harris Wittels. He’s gone, but a small slice of his comedic brilliance is still a download away. Rest in peace, Harris.

For more from Matt, check out his features on photographer Western Doughty and Honky-tonk master Jacob Tovar.