People still ask me about these posts sometimes, and I haven't worked here as staff in some time, so I thought I would update for the handful of nice folks who might watch the thread.
The long and the short of it was that in 2019 I was laid off from MAD Magazine, and almost instantaneously scooped up to be a comedy writer for this site based on my long history on comedy D&D podcasts. But the job came with the caveat that I pour a lot of extra functionality and perspective into my work so that it is never "just" a joke.
I was encouraged to gently troll the community to generate discussion, and was warned in advance that some of the community would hate it and try to get me fired. But I was told not to worry about such haters in advance, and indeed when the knives came out for me I was promoted rather than fired. After all, while I didn't regret the gentle trolling, it was an assignment I was given rather than some vile agenda I came up with. I can't even take credit for that. And people deconstructing whether I was objectively funny (while not feeling hurt) meant that I understood the assignment.
I still believe that to some extent ALL comedy is subjective. No joke can be outright dismissed as "I was only joking" and no joke is funny to everyone. Ever notice that when someone else observes that a joke you like isn't funny to them, if they produce a joke and say "now THAT is funny!" - you almost always think THAT joke sucks? That's for a very simple reason. Just because we don't have the same favorite (and least favorite) comedians doesn't mean we aren't both right the same way some people adore black jelly beans even though they are considered the necrotic cilantro of the jelly bean kingdom. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about black jelly beans, and I consider that a super power.
I only ever wanted to make as many of you laugh as possible (while being true to myself) and hope that even my haters could tell I was creating with intention and effort.
Eventually, I was let go when Hasbro / WotC acquired this site, along with many other good people. But I look back fondly, on the people I worked with and the legendarily rare opportunity it was to be a paid comedy writer here of all places. I miss when such a gig was possible. Of course there are more D&D podcasts and more D&D content than ever, but to be paid a reasonable amount to make it, on a platform this big? If that gig exists it is no longer one I can see. In this new world of AI most content writing gigs have been replaced with "editing what an AI wrote," and many companies that refuse to do such things collapsed as inflation kicked the industry while it was down.
Thank you to everyone who supported my writing here. I really did strive to make each post interesting, even to those who did not share my comedic sensibilities, or felt a need to give backhanded "it was fun sometimes BUT" compliments. I only ever wanted to bring a ray of dorky sunshine to this site and I feel I succeeded. <3
Thanks for the perspective Dan. Always enjoyed your articles (I actually used your miniature mimics that bite off fingers when I DM’d my very first D&D session).
I'm newer to the site, having only become active on the forums not long before the OGL kerfuffle. I wasn't familiar with your body of work but it sounds like it'd be right up my alley, so I'll plan to go through your backlog, or as much of it as is still accessible. Thanks for injecting humor into D&D, there's always room for more of it!
As an olllldddddd D&D gamer, I truly appreciated your stuff. It was reminiscent of Dragon Magazine of the 80's, Pinneas Phingers and the April Fools issues. You are missed, even if only by old funny guys.
Oh, and one more thing- despite my articles getting a lot of traffic and the feedback being overwhelmingly positive, some users got upset that I was "dominating the front page," and gave me a pretty hard time about it.
To the point that they sent me pleas on social media to quit- and looking up my managers to ask them to fire me or reduce the amount of my work being published. There was no professional way to comment on that while it was in progress, but I think I can offer a little perspective.
The amount of my content, or "comedy content" in general, was never under my control. I was assigned comedy, other writers were in charge of the other topics, and I could not be accountable for their output or lack thereof. At one point two of them left the site during a hiring freeze. Employment was becoming stressful to maintain, no new writers could arrive to pad the front page, and I was already being vetted for other work within the company.
So I had three options:
Slow down my output and get fired or reprimanded, accommodating people who had no appreciation for my work but were vocal and working to get my attention.
Continue with my assignment and try to keep evolving, so that even though I was trolling I was taking into account the POV of folks who didn't like what I'd written so far.
Work as hard as I could to expand my position.
I tried my best to do 2 as well as 3.
And to the credit of my managers, they were concerned about their OWN employability, and I would have been too. Completely reworking my responsibilities could not have been on their priority list.
I know that there was no way of pleasing everyone, and I always had DDB's support. So I don't mean to complain! But of all the comedy gigs I've had over the last 25 years, this is the one where I had the most aggressive hecklers.
If I could have any retort, any one message that I wish I could convey it would simply be: thank you to those who made my articles a success. I don't know that I will ever find full-time work in gaming again, but I had so much fun while it lasted.
People still ask me about these posts sometimes, and I haven't worked here as staff in some time, so I thought I would update for the handful of nice folks who might watch the thread.
The long and the short of it was that in 2019 I was laid off from MAD Magazine, and almost instantaneously scooped up to be a comedy writer for this site based on my long history on comedy D&D podcasts. But the job came with the caveat that I pour a lot of extra functionality and perspective into my work so that it is never "just" a joke.
I was encouraged to gently troll the community to generate discussion, and was warned in advance that some of the community would hate it and try to get me fired. But I was told not to worry about such haters in advance, and indeed when the knives came out for me I was promoted rather than fired. After all, while I didn't regret the gentle trolling, it was an assignment I was given rather than some vile agenda I came up with. I can't even take credit for that. And people deconstructing whether I was objectively funny (while not feeling hurt) meant that I understood the assignment.
I still believe that to some extent ALL comedy is subjective. No joke can be outright dismissed as "I was only joking" and no joke is funny to everyone. Ever notice that when someone else observes that a joke you like isn't funny to them, if they produce a joke and say "now THAT is funny!" - you almost always think THAT joke sucks? That's for a very simple reason. Just because we don't have the same favorite (and least favorite) comedians doesn't mean we aren't both right the same way some people adore black jelly beans even though they are considered the necrotic cilantro of the jelly bean kingdom. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about black jelly beans, and I consider that a super power.
I only ever wanted to make as many of you laugh as possible (while being true to myself) and hope that even my haters could tell I was creating with intention and effort.
Eventually, I was let go when Hasbro / WotC acquired this site, along with many other good people. But I look back fondly, on the people I worked with and the legendarily rare opportunity it was to be a paid comedy writer here of all places. I miss when such a gig was possible. Of course there are more D&D podcasts and more D&D content than ever, but to be paid a reasonable amount to make it, on a platform this big? If that gig exists it is no longer one I can see. In this new world of AI most content writing gigs have been replaced with "editing what an AI wrote," and many companies that refuse to do such things collapsed as inflation kicked the industry while it was down.
Thank you to everyone who supported my writing here. I really did strive to make each post interesting, even to those who did not share my comedic sensibilities, or felt a need to give backhanded "it was fun sometimes BUT" compliments. I only ever wanted to bring a ray of dorky sunshine to this site and I feel I succeeded. <3
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Dungeon Master of Nerd Poker - a D&D podcast
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Thanks for the perspective Dan. Always enjoyed your articles (I actually used your miniature mimics that bite off fingers when I DM’d my very first D&D session).
Profile pic - credit to artist unknown
I'm newer to the site, having only become active on the forums not long before the OGL kerfuffle. I wasn't familiar with your body of work but it sounds like it'd be right up my alley, so I'll plan to go through your backlog, or as much of it as is still accessible. Thanks for injecting humor into D&D, there's always room for more of it!
As an olllldddddd D&D gamer, I truly appreciated your stuff. It was reminiscent of Dragon Magazine of the 80's, Pinneas Phingers and the April Fools issues. You are missed, even if only by old funny guys.
Oh, and one more thing- despite my articles getting a lot of traffic and the feedback being overwhelmingly positive, some users got upset that I was "dominating the front page," and gave me a pretty hard time about it.
To the point that they sent me pleas on social media to quit- and looking up my managers to ask them to fire me or reduce the amount of my work being published. There was no professional way to comment on that while it was in progress, but I think I can offer a little perspective.
The amount of my content, or "comedy content" in general, was never under my control. I was assigned comedy, other writers were in charge of the other topics, and I could not be accountable for their output or lack thereof. At one point two of them left the site during a hiring freeze. Employment was becoming stressful to maintain, no new writers could arrive to pad the front page, and I was already being vetted for other work within the company.
So I had three options:
I tried my best to do 2 as well as 3.
And to the credit of my managers, they were concerned about their OWN employability, and I would have been too. Completely reworking my responsibilities could not have been on their priority list.
I know that there was no way of pleasing everyone, and I always had DDB's support. So I don't mean to complain! But of all the comedy gigs I've had over the last 25 years, this is the one where I had the most aggressive hecklers.
If I could have any retort, any one message that I wish I could convey it would simply be: thank you to those who made my articles a success. I don't know that I will ever find full-time work in gaming again, but I had so much fun while it lasted.
___________________________________________________
Dungeon Master of Nerd Poker - a D&D podcast
___________________________________________________