I've been contributing to various satire/comedy/music websites since 2017. Since then, creative writing has become a huge part of my life. Here is a non-exhaustive list of various places for which I've written.
Writing
In 2016, I stumbled across a satirical article titled "Band’s Pedalboard Becomes Self-Aware, Demands Creative Control". It was posted to some weird website called The Hard Times which was filled with joke essays about punk rock, playing in bands, and the DIY band scene. Stunned, I couldn't believe that there was a website out there which had a sense of humor so tailored to my interests.
Despite having no prior interest in creative writing, I had to join the site. I agonized over every word in my submission packet and it paid off: my first article for The Hard Times ran on March 16, 2017 and thus began my love of humor/satire writing which has become one of my bigger avocations.
Since then, I have written hundreds of articles of varying styles for the website. A high point was having some of my writing included in The Hard Times: The First 40 Years book. Writing for THT has become an addiction at this point. Here are some of my personal favorite works:
- - Keith Richards Snorts All 10 Sauces During “Hot Ones” Appearance (news article)
- - Guitarist Plays $6,000 Les Paul for Three Hours Before Buying $5 Pack of Strings (news article)
- - Ya Know, Stacy’s Dad Ain’t Half Bad Either (opinion piece)
- - Top 11 Things To Do While You Wait for Metallica’s “One” to Get to the Good Part (blog entry)
- - Review: Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures”(album review)
After writing a bunch of articles for The Hard Times, I challenged myself to get publish on another satire hub. This led to my first article for McSweeney's, "Why “The Star Spangled Banner” Should Be Replaced By Mastodon’s “Crusher Destroyer” As Our National Anthem". I followed that up a little more recently with "Would You Like to Set Google Chrome as Your Default Browser, or Would You Prefer Centuries of Untold Pain and Torment?" in June, 2023.
A sister site to The Hard Times, Hard Drive is another humor site which focuses specifically on video games and nerd culture. Finally, all those hours playing Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 as a kid are paying off. The team there absolutely knows their stuff, and I feel very proud when I'm able to get a pitch through their approval process.
Here are some highlights of my Hard Drive articles:
Pittsburgh Unfiltered
When fellow Hard Times writer and Pittsburgher Chuck Kowalski founded Pittsburgh Unfiltered, a hyperlocal satirical look at my hometown region, I had to be involved. Finally, jokes my parents can understand!
Here are some of my favorite yinzer contributions:
Other Sites
I've managed to form relationships with many talented writers in the humor/satire writing space. This has led me to write for other websites such as JumpKick (which parodies GoFundMe, IndieGoGo, and KickStarter crowdfunding sites) and Plot Twist (which lampoons film criticism and film buff culture).