Hi.
So.
If you read my previous dispatch, then this will come as no surprise. I’m on the move.
In the spirit of history rhymes, or everything old is new again, or meet the new newsletter, same as the old newsletter, or, wait, comedy is supposed to be about the third thing being funny, and I somehow typed right past it, here’s the scoop.
Back when Piffany launched on Substack in 2019, I’d created this space as a place for me to write about anything and everything outside of my regular comedy journalism. Somehow during the pandemic, I convinced myself to cram all of the comedy back into Piffany in an attempt to both rebrand and expand my reach. Silly, obviously.
So much has changed in newsletters in these past four years — remember when both Twitter and Facebook boasted their own newsletter platforms (Revue and Bulletin, respectively)? Remember when both Twitter and Facebook were known as Twitter and Facebook?!? Even though they’ve already moved on to other hare-brained schemes, others have filled the void. Ghost is a popular platform for some friends of mine (Hi,
!) But in looking around, I realized WordPress is in the newsletter game, too, now — their terms and rates compare favorably to Substack’s, and since I’ve been writing The Comic’s Comic on WordPress for more than a decade already, it almost makes too much sense to spin off From The Comic’s Comic there. So I have.You can catch up on Last Month’s Specials from August, as well as additional commentary on my reporting this month for The Daily Beast.
As for Piffany, I’m moving those essays to Buttondown. Instead of charging 10 percent commission on subscriptions, Buttondown instead takes a smaller monthly or annual fee if you have more than 100 subscribers. Plus, it’s a smaller low-key hands-on operation, where the guy (it’s a guy named Justin, hi Justin!) emails with you and helps you or me in this case import all of my stuff over himself.
So if you were subscribed here, you’re already subscribed over there! Because of that, I haven’t written anything new for Piffany just yet, but plan on publishing something later today about my birthday because it’s my birthday.
Did I mention it’s my birthday?!?
I don’t say that to try to guilt you into an upgrade to a paid subscription.
I say it because it’s an ideal moment for me to reassess where I’m at and what I’m doing and where I’m focusing my time, resources and energy.
As for paying to subscribe, let me also mention this. Both From The Comic’s Comic and Piffany will be free for anyone who wants to subscribe and read. I have put a pause on paid subscriptions here while I figure out Stripe. If you’d like to upgrade to a paid subscription on either of my new newsletters — From The Comic’s Comic offers a $5 monthly donation (or $50 annually) to support my reporting there, while Piffany will become a contribute-what-you-wish offering.
If you want one newsletter but not the other, I won’t take it personally. If you don’t want to pay or cannot afford to, no worries — I’m just happy you’re interested enough in my writing to read it.
If you have any questions for me, please just ask.
OK, now back to my regularly scheduled comedy reporting (I’ve got editors waiting on my copy!)