This week, we’re highlighting 25 talented writers and performers for Vulture’s annual list “The Comedians You Should and Will Know.” Our goal is to introduce a wider audience to the talent that has the comedy community and industry buzzing. (You can read more about our methodology at the link above.) We asked the comedians on the list to answer a series of questions about their work, performing, goals for the future, and more.

Hiroshi Shafer, 2008 Soft-spoken indie minimalist (and proud atheist) José González first won Stateside attention based on the strength of his whispery covers (The Knife’s “Heartbeat,” most famously) before dazzling critics with the intricate originals on his second album, In Our Nature. This Sunday, Gonzalez hits the Gowanus with a special set at New York’s “Campire on the Canal” event. This week, he spoke to Vulture about what songs he will (or will not) be playing this weekend, his upcoming tour of the Middle East, and believing in Santa Claus.

Actor Josh Brolin attends the Mayfair Gala European Premiere of “Labor Day” during the 57th BFI London Film Festival at Odeon Leicester Square on October 14, 2013 in London, England. Yet another piece of awesome Coens-related news: Deadline reports that Josh Brolin has been tapped to star alongside George Clooney in the Coen brothers’ latest original screenplay, Hail Caesar. The Coens will also direct the film, a ‘50s-set comedy about a fixer who protects stars at Hollywood movie studios.

One of the best performances of the year so far comes from Josh Lucas, in the excellent, disturbing new film The Mend. In it, the actor plays the angry, rudderless Mat, who shacks up in his brother’s apartment after finding himself homeless. John Magary’s film avoids the pitfalls of typical odd-couple movies by playing with narrative and rhythm, and Lucas’s performance — alternating between aggression and avoidance — is a key part of the film’s unique effect.

Joshua Bassett Joshua Bassett, star of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and of speculation about the lyrics of his co-star Olivia Rodrigo’s very successful new album, has confirmed in an interview with GQ that he identifies as queer, or at least as a part of the whole LGBTQ+ alphabet. Speculation about how Bassett identifies started when Bassett talked about he thinks Harry Styles is hot in a video interview and then seemingly joked, or maybe didn’t, that “this is also my coming out video.

“You know when you realize you’re getting stains on your shirt,” says Judd Apatow, “and it’s because you’re starting to sweat and there’s nothing you can do to stop it?” He shakes his head. “That’s all I could think about last night.” It’s a hot midsummer morning, and Apatow, leaning back in a chair at a conference room in the New York office, is wearing a (stain-free) Pearl Jam T-shirt and talking about the stand-up gig he played the evening before.

jeremy scott you are wanted for your crimes If Julia Roberts has any trendsetting powers, prints are in this year. Not animal or stripes but gilded-frame Getty Images pics of George Clooney stamped all over whatever clothes you happen to be wearing. You can dress a Clooney print up (like for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors that took place on Sunday in D.C.) or down (like these socks I just found on Redbubble).

Problemista. HBO may have said adios to Los Espookys (one of the most befuddling of David Zazlav’s many recent cancellations), but its co-creator Julio Torres is still booked and busy. The South by Southwest film lineup is out, and Torres’s new film, Problemista — produced by Emma Stone and starring himself and Tilda Swinton — obviously made the cut. While Torres went from TV to movies, director Boots Riley went from movies to TV.

“These people, they never learn,” says the bearded dinosaur-rights counterculture type in the Jurassic World theme-park control room when a genetically modified and relentlessly evil super-dinosaur gets loose and devours a bunch of paddock supervisors and soldiers and then makes a beeline for the 20-thousand-plus guests in the main sector. The enlightened techie had spent much time explaining to Claire, the buttoned-up, control-freak park executive played by Bryce Dallas Howard that dinosaurs are living creatures, not property to be programmed, but he might as well have been speaking in Urdu.

Early in their relationship, Amy Herzog and Sam Gold decided not to work together. But neither could resist this play. An Enemy of the People is in previews February 27. Mary Jane is in previews April 2. Amy Herzog and Sam Gold on their daily commute to the theater. Photo: Pari Dukovic for New York Magazine An Enemy of the People is in previews February 27. Mary Jane is in previews April 2.