Interview · moment 7 of 19
DC's Colorama and Where Power Actually Lives
from The Pauper Is Just Working · #113
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minGuest
Yannis talks about starting comedy at 23 at American University in DC, then Tim riffs at length about Georgetown's Colorama neighborhood where Bezos, Obama, and Ivanka Trump all live blocks apart despite public political rivalry.
- 21:38Tim contrasts today's comedy clubs with figures like Joan Rivers, Richard Pryor, and Sam Kinison, noting their interesting life stories and perspectives are no longer present.
- 22:00Interesting, edgy people still exist but aren't being pushed by the comedy industry because of safe-box constraints and pressure not to offend.
- 22:46New York comedy used to draw mostly New Yorkers rather than people trying to make it, creating a fundamentally different room dynamic.
- 23:09Modern comedy audiences feel like aspiring comedians watching each other, constantly calculating their own shot rather than genuinely responding to material.
- 23:48Tim describes Colorama, a small DC enclave where the Obamas, Jeff Bezos, and Ivanka Trump live—supposed enemies who share the same block, restaurants, parties, and schools.
- 24:39Colorama is a very small area next to Georgetown that houses Bezos, Ivanka, Obama, Saudis, Russians, ex-spies, and ex-directors of national agencies all concentrated together.
- 25:14The Colorama area radiates an eerie energy: hidden security in vans, cameras everywhere, references to the Franklin scandal and alleged sex parties for senators and congressmen.
- 25:36Three blocks away from Colorama everything returns to normal, but Tim sees the neighborhood as a distillation and concentration of power that fascinates him.
Joan RiversRichard PryorColoramaSam KinisonJeff BezosFranklin scandalBarack ObamaIvanka Trump