We need good comedy criticism, and Madeline Lane-McKinley's new book, Comedy Against Work, assesses comedy not just as an art form but as a way of envisioning utopia. She examines our relationship to work and the kinds of futures we imagine through the lens of comedy on stage and TV.

In this episode, she shares herself as well as her ideas. She also tells me what to do for my next show.

Content warning: suicide, childbirth, constipation, the opposite of constipation, childhood abuse, misogyny, Blob.

Patreon supporters make This Is Your Afterlife possible and get awesome bonus episodes. Become an Afterhead at patreon.com/davemaher.

Buy Comedy Against Work: Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times, and read more of Madeline's work in Blind Field Journal.

Follow Madeline on Twitter: @la_louve_rouge_

Leave me a voicemail to play on the show: (313) MIST-URA (647-8872).

Subscribe to my newsletter, Definitive Answers, for weekly personal and culture essays, plus music recs. And follow me @thisisdavemaher on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript: This Is Your Afterlife on Podscribe

Music = Future: "Use Me" / James Blackshaw: "The Cloud of Unknowing" / Johnnie Frierson: "Miracles"