Amar Risbud Has Thoughts on Flounder Representation in Media

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-isolating, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in with some of our favorite people in comedy to get a firsthand look at how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.�

This week, I gathered all my sundry mental-health medications for a virtual chat with Amar Risbud (The Pod Is Coming From Inside the House, Annoyance Theatre, tweeting at me with any and all Ween-related content) about how he’s doing during the late pandemmy. He explained to us that no, it’s not a bit, he is actually in grad school studying cuttlefish camouflage; gave some excellent advice on keeping the excitement for your passions going even when the drudgery hits; and ranked his top five late-’80s/early-’90s alternative-rock bands. He also stated firmly his position on the increasing push for accurate marine life representation in media: “And you see the problem with flounder representation in popular media with, like, The Little Mermaid right? The character of Flounder, he has eyes on either side of his head — that’s not a flounder. If we’re talking about the Atlantic flounder, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, the eyes are on the same side of the head. And we need to see that; we need to see that.�

You can find Amar on Twitter and Instagram at @bummer_no_b.