Welcome to the Cracked newsletter!

This issue is about Ken Marino, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, gruesome tourist attractions, Jimmy Fallon getting roasted, and much more.

Ken Marino on Killing It in Karaoke, Talking to Strangers on the Phone During Quarantine and Returning to ‘Party Down’

Few actors nail their characters’ essential patheticness as well as Ken Marino. In movies like Wet Hot American Summer and Wanderlust — or television shows like Party Down — the 54-year-old comic star has zeroed-in on a particular strain of clueless white doofus, elevating them into a cautionary tale of American male mediocrity. Marino is a good-looking dude, but unlike other handsome actors who subvert their attractiveness by playing dummies, he has this rare ability to contort his face until all we see is the insecurity and disappointment — almost as if the hunky exterior is some cruel joke being played on this otherwise nobody of a person. His characters may be vain and talk a good game, but give ‘em a second: They’ll reveal their rank incompetence and human frailty in no time. It’s never not hilarious.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Laughing at Cancer, Elaine’s Bad Dancing and ‘You Hurt My Feelings’

No one needed an excuse to appreciate what a talent Julia Louis-Dreyfus is. But the world got one anyway when, six years ago, she announced that she had breast cancer, inspiring well-wishes from across the globe and fresh acclaim for a singular career that has included iconic work on Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep. She’s been a national treasure for a while, but her diagnosis startled fans, reminding us never to take her for granted. (Thankfully, she’s now cancer-free.) Since then, everything she’s done has been celebrated a little more than it might have been otherwise.

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