Friday, August 25, 2006

Brab-Bab-Bab-Bap...

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In university, I wrote for a satirical weekly paper called Golden Words. In my freshman year, one of the editors-in-chief was a guy named Jay Pinkerton. A fellow English major, Jay was this redheaded bespectacled guy whose intelligence and brilliant sense of humour floored me.

While I never had a full-blown crush on Jay, I certainly harboured a bit of an intellectual crush on the guy and badly wanted to earn his respect. Everything I wrote was an attempt to impress Pinkerton. To make him laugh just a little bit. He usually read my pieces with a straight face. I was convinced that he hated me.

Happily, this was not the case. After he graduated, Jay and I became ICQ BFFs and he invited me to join an email list called bad_craziness, which was populated with Golden Words alumni and current GW staffers who he deemed funny enough. It was like an electronic version of the Algonquin Round Table. Except with more cock jokes.

Anyway, every time I checked my inbox, I was bombarded with hilarious essays, comics, poems, discussions, etc. from the gentlemen (and few ladies) involved with bad_craziness. Sometimes I even contributed. The bad_craziness collective definitely helped me to become a better and funnier writer (and is partially-if-not-entirely responsible for my dirty sailor’s mouth and penchant for dead baby jokes).

Jay went on to sell much of the humour writing he posted, gained a rabid internet following and was eventually offered an editorial position at National Lampoon. This past winter, Jay took on a managing editor position at Cracked, which wanted to re-invent itself for a more mature audience.

The very first issue of the new-and-improved (and Jay Pinkertonful!) Cracked just appeared on newsstands this week. The magazine also includes writing from bad_craziness member Peter Lynn (hi Pete!), who is a funny motherfucker in his own right. I haven’t picked up a copy yet, but I am so confident in the writing abilities of these fellows that I urge you to buy a copy of Cracked as soon as you get the chance. You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll be horribly offended!

Congratulations, Jay and Pete!

(Now playing: “Best of my Time”, Jon Rae & The River)

P.S. For your reading pleasure, here is some vintage funny by Jay Pinkerton (he explains this particular comic's origins and the cult of bad_craziness right here).

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is so crazy. I used to read Cracked religiously when I was a wee Langthing, but then I started to grow out of all the poo/vomit jokes. And the Jay Pinkerton years were my favorite of all the GW years...my two favourite writers (some JAYLEBAYTE chick and MISS KINGSTON PEN 1993) emerged from this era...hmmmm....Maybe it's time to revisit.

-gnal

12:53 PM  
Blogger JTL said...

I sure am proud that an ex-GW editor, who used to make poo- and dick-jokes... is now making poo- and dick-jokes for MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF CASH. You're all growns-up!

Sincerely,
Frisbee Pilot
GW '04-'06

9:29 PM  
Blogger Sofi said...

Any relation to Chowder Pilot, GW '99 - '03?

10:03 AM  
Blogger JTL said...

You'd think so, but no. I've met CP a few times -- he's a grad student at Queen's now -- and we shared a Pilot moment, to be sure.

12:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When Jay left www.pointlesswasteoftime.com , he made sure that the new guys who were doing the daily news skim were competent. They're always consistently funny. It's a good comedy site, and the humour found in it is exactly the same that you're used to, otherwise Jay wouldn't have been a part of it so long.

With that said, I'll try to pick up a copy of the magazine. Anybody see Jay's Spiderman overdub comics? Brilliant.

Dan

1:38 AM  

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