July 2015 – Hillfamily dot net

“Clean comedy” is often code for “not funny comedy”. But my favorite stand-up comedians have figured out how to be genuinely funny and insightful without being potty mouths.

Nate Bargatze
I discovered Nate Bargatze when he appeared on the Tonight Show. I love his deadpan delivery and self-deprecation. You can find a lot of clips on YouTube or watch his recent (2015) Comedy Central special, Full-time Magic.

Brian Regan
I never tire of Brian Regan. The only thing that bothers me is his delivery is so perfect that you can’t really retell his jokes with any success. You can find YouTube clips of all sorts of appearances on David Letterman and other late-night shows. See him live if you ever have the chance.

Jim Gaffigan
At a Salt Lake City show, Jim Gaffigan joked that we Mormons want to convert either him or Brian Regan, the two comedians who draw the biggest crowds here. He said he likes coming to Utah because the reaction to hearing he has 5 kids is better than most places: “Only five? Were you stationed abroad for a few years or something?”

Follow him on Facebook – he writes his own stuff and it’s usually pretty funny. He has a couple of books that are also pretty good. The audio versions are narrated by him.

Jim Breuer
It’s difficult to get a good feel for Jim Breuer with just a short clip. If you subscribe to Netflix, watch Jim Breuer: And Laughter for All. My wife and I can watch over and over the section where his wife is “broken” by their kids and Jim takes them to the drive-through Great Adventure Wild Safari Park.

Ryan Hamilton
I’ve only seen a few clips of Ryan Hamilton and they covered mostly the same material, but at least it’s funny material. Here he is on Conan:

Any others you recommend?

Three of the four Hill brothers served missions in France (two in the Paris Mission [1992-94 and 1999-2001] and one in the Geneva Mission [2004-06] which includes parts of France). We try to get back when we can, even if it’s just during a layover from somewhere else. Since we occasionally get requests for info on the best sites to see in Paris, I thought I’d publish the following, which started as an email to some friends. Print a 2-page PDF without photos.

Before you go:

Install the free TripAdvisor app on your smartphone, search for Paris, and download it for offline use. This will allow you to view the map, get directions, find nearby restaurants and sights, etc., all without using an international data plan.
Purchase or check out Rick Steves Paris from the library

Place de la Concorde — This is where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded. Now it’s a large square filled with fountains and an Egyptian obelisk. From here you can see the Eiffel Tower, Hôtel des Invalides, the Champs-Élysées, The Arc de Triomphe, and La Madeleine.

Le Marais & Châtelet-Les Halles — This is one of my favorite parts of Paris. Eat falafels in the Jewish Quarter, watch street performers by Centre Georges Pompidou. Lots of pastries in this area (along with most other areas): pains au chocolat, réligieuses, baguettes, and crêpes.

Hôtel des Invalides — home of Napoleon’s tomb and a military museum.

Rodin Museum — Balzac, The Thinker and a bunch of other naked statues.

Musée d’Orsay — Everything from Impressionism on: van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Renoir, Rodin, Whistler, etc. My favorite is Cain by a lesser-known artist.

Orsay Museum (Musee d’Orsay)

The Louvre — Everything from before Impressionism: da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s Slave, Venus de Milo, Egyptian artifacts, etc. I recommend the Stuff You Should Know podcast on the history of the Louvre.

Photos of the Mona Lisa

Arc de Triomphe — climb 400 stairs to the top for a great view of the city.

Eiffel Tower — take a Bâteau Mouche (boat on the Seine River) tour from here, spend some time in the park, buy overpriced bottled water, take lots of pictures.

Champs-Élysées — the big road that connects Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Good for people-watching and visiting fancy shops.

Victor Hugo’s home — pretty boring tour, but cool to have been there.

Quiet morning on the steps of Sacre Coeur

Basilique du Sacre Coeur — large white church on the top of a hill. Fun for street performers, beautiful inside.

Montmartre — near Sacre Coeur are a bunch of Bohemian sites: Picasso’s studio, van Gogh’s apartment, hangouts of famous poets and authors, Place du Tertre where all the aspiring artists (con and otherwise) congregate. Down the hill is the Pigalle area, home to the Moulin Rouge and tons of good music shops.

Versailles — Palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV, crowned and married at the age of four. Tour the gardens on a Sunday afternoon, the only time they run the immense (and expensive to operate) system of fountains, accompanied by Baroque music. The Versailles Treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors, ending the First World War.

Sainte-Chapelle — My wife’s second favorite. Incredible stained glass windows that tell the history of the world from Genesis to the Second Coming with the life of Christ in the center. Moses is depicted with horns because of a mistranslation of the Bible in medieval times.

Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris — took 200 years to build. Start early to beat the crowds wanting to climb to the top. After the gargoyles, my favorite feature is the depiction over the center door of the Final Judgment with Christ in the center, devils taking people off to His left, and angels taking others off to His right.

Catacombs — bunches of bones (from an estimated 6 million people) unearthed from Parisian cemeteries and arranged in various designs — hearts, doors, walls, etc. — in underground tunnels. There are apparently 200 miles of mine tunnels under Paris — you get to explore a little over a mile in about 45 minutes. If you decide you want more, check out the Cataphiles. Ours was the quickest tour on record, with my wife pulling me through the tunnel maze as quickly as she could run.

Pere Lachaise cemetery - Chopin's grave — Pere Lachaise cemetery – Chopin’s grave

Pere Lachaise Cemetery — Its claim to fame is (perhaps to the dismay of the French) the grave of Jim Morrison (of The Doors), which can easily be found by following the graffiti. Among the others buried here are Frederic Chopin and Oscar Wilde. If you like cemeteries, this is one of the best in the world. Recommended listening while you wander around: People Are Strange.

Paris Sewer Tour — I was surprised by how interesting this was. You’re walking above real sewage from the Eiffel Tower area, learning how a city rids itself of waste from a changing and growing population. And you get to imagine yourself in that Thénardier scene from Les Misérables.