Miss Manhattan Hangs Out...with Chris Duffy

In a corner office of a shared workspace, Chris Duffy is writing. His laptop is perched on a small metal shelf (he worries we’re all going to end up hunchbacks because of the way we look down into our computers and phones), his keyboard below. He’s working on a comedy pilot.

Chris has been doing comedy for seven years, since leaving his job as a fifth grade teacher in Boston. He hosts podcast You’re the Expert, which features three comedians trying to figure out what exactly scientific experts study. The show, which is taped live, has been featured in PBS, The Washington Post, Time, The Boston Globe, and The A.V. Club, among others. Chris also co-hosts Mic.com’s podcast The Payoff, for which he and journalist Antonia Cereijido invite expert guests to talk about how they can be better with money. He performs standup across the country, too, and will be hosting a variety show at new New York venue Caveat beginning in September.

To say that Chris is no stranger to podcasts, then, is an understatement. He even gets recognized by his voice on the street sometimes. So it makes perfect sense that he’s teaching a Podcasting 101 Seminar at The People’s Improv Theatre the day we meet. When Chris’s students arrive, they form a chair circle and he begins, speaking with both an approachable lightness and a respect-worthy knowledge. They hurriedly scribble at his every phrase. This is what microphone you need, this is the editing software you use, this is the kind of space you should record in. He listens kindly when students have ideas or questions, focused on crafting a thoughtful response, maybe the way he did as a fifth grade teacher but, you know, for adults.

After the class, we grab lunch at Dos Toros, diving into burritos wrapped and not while sitting in Union Square. We discuss literature—he’s in a comedians book club where they recently read George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo. For part of the club, they discuss the book, and the other part they discuss whatever they want. One comedian is sort of a doomsday prepper, he tells me, and she’s made him promise to get a water filter in case he ever needs to drink from the East River. So we go to REI in Soho. Chris also needs a sleeping pad for camping, so we head over to a wooden container of what look like pool floats. He tests one, laying it on the floor, and ultimately decides to take it along with the water filter.

We head into Brooklyn for a show he’s doing called Comedians in a Blanket, which is under a tree in Prospect Park, designated with big white balloons. The sun is golden, approaching twilight, while we eat gummy worms and wait for the show to start. A sizable crowd shows up and Chris, talking on a microphone while standing in between two logs in front of a giant tree, makes every one of them laugh.

Follow Chris on Instagram.
Follow You’re The Expert on Twitter. The next live tapings of the show are September 17 in Brooklyn and October 27 in Washington, D.C.