I set a goal for myself this year to get back on McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies after a two-year hiatus. McSweeney’s is still the top-tier humour site in North America, in my opinion, and striving to get a post there was a way to force myself out of my writing doldrums.
Today, they’re running my third piece of the year. Happy Canada Day, eh?
I write this not to brag (well, maybe a little) but to point out that I probably wouldn’t have written these pieces let alone had them accepted if I weren’t a McSweeney’s patron. I pay $5 a month, and in return I not only support quality humour but I also get the McSweeney’s Patreon emails, which include calls for content. All three of the pieces above were the results of these calls.
(I’ve also had a number of rejections along the way, but editor Christopher Monks gives the kindest rejections I’ve ever received. Just don’t end up in the Jerk Folder.)
Since McSweeney’s began its Patreon campaign, they’ve also begun paying writers, which I think we can all get behind.
So, if you
- are a humour writer
- enjoy humour writing
- want to support humour writers
- want to support the best humour site going
You should consider becoming a McSweeney’s Patron. That is all.
Drinking Tips for Teens 
your McSweeney’s piece is clever! well done. I think I might become a patron because of this. . .
It’s consistently good and, these days, important. (Not my stuff, but the political satire.)
Congrats!
Thanks.
congrats to you, ross. grab a beaver tail and sit back and enjoy the ride!
Thanks.
Congrats! and Really enjoyed this piece!! Masterful mishegoss, I guess up there it’s called bon-spieling. I feel like I’ve consumed, or as you would say, scarfed down, a feast of perfect puns, like a cauldron of stewed pucks ‘n’ poutine, with candied trebek for afters. Mortified at the terms I’ve misunderstood – Canadianese is tougher than Mandarin. Those darn 5-level tonal languages, we thought it was just sinus congestion. So I’ve responded inappropriately to “Banff!” as a greeting, and hastened to tell the greeter, that I’m in a committed monogamous relationship. But feeling wrapped in self-satisfaction at how many I actually get! Greenest of gables in a hushed metric tone, beauty. All those hours sleeping through curling & hockey I must have been absorbing a bit of your dialect. Beauty piece.
I’m frankly amazed they picked this one up. It’s gibberish that will fly over most of the audience, with even a few just plain red herrings in there. (Compression bandages? Calligraphy?) Maybe through being incomprehensible they just assumed it was brilliant and were too embarrassed to suggest otherwise, my Canuck version of Infinite Jest.
And there’s that frost-bitten self-effacing thing again, so annoying.
(kidding)
Sorry, eh?