Hi everyone! It’s a Pat Tuesday Thursday! How y’all doin?!

it’s been a minute! And sometimes for me, it’s gonna be a minute—that’s how it is. But I’ll always be back, because I have stuff I wanna chat about, and I’ve gotten a lot of kind words from so many of you about this lil newsletter. And that’s so kind! So here I am.

It’s been a wild couple months. In FUN NEWS, we’ve been having a blast with our new jazz/improv hybrid, The Pat Pat Club. The last show was on another level—and led to a bunch of my favorite improvisers sitting around and dissecting the form like we were level 101 students 15 years ago. It’s truly thrilling improv and the jazz music led by Patrick Sargent is other-worldly—you gotta come to the next one in ONE WEEK. Get live/livestream tickets here!

In COOL NEWS, I recently got asked to do 15 minutes of stand-up as the opener for Tig Notaro at The Largo. It was a true bucket list moment, and a surreal experience—and I only found out about it 3 hours before it happened. A real “stay ready so you don’t have to get ready” moment.

Also in PERSONAL NEWS, I’ve been doing a lot of pottery and I’m really proud of this smug ghost:

But the thing I wanna write about today (THIS IS THE MEAT) is a new title I’ve been given by a friend. I was talking about how recently, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how to get into making internet videos—and specifically, people looking to “pick my brain” about how to “get started in internet comedy”. And this friend said to me, “you help people birth their internet presences like everybody’s digital doula”. And while that was a cruel joke, and shook me to my core, I think…it might be true. I do teach a class at Emerson College about making digital content. I’m somewhat knowledgable. So if it’s interesting to you, I’d like to start imparting my teachings slowly and surely.

TODAY’S DIGITAL DOULA LESSON: “They’ll Love Me Once They Already Like Me”

You can’t love someone you don’t know. Have you ever been at a party where some rando (let’s name them Randy) you haven’t met makes some big joke that everyone laughs at—but you look around confused, like “why was that funny?” Very simply, it’s because they know Randy, and you don’t. But the next time Randy pretends to be a chicken or whatever, you begin to realize—okay, maybe that’s just Randy. And by the end of the night, when Randy puts a napkin on his head and says “who turned out the lights?”, you might just be amongst the throng shaking your head and laughing, because as you know by now, that is just so Randy.

Randy aside (I hate him), that’s kind of the natural progression of becoming a fan. It’s very rarely instant. You have to get familiar with a person before you actually seek them out, or even welcome their opinions. Some creators have the magical ability to be beloved the second they post their first video, but I’d also conjecture that those people strategically picked already beloved things to reference: a familiar parental archetype, an IP that has a massive fan base, a take on a news story that is widely relatable/amusing. If you align with a take, you feel like you know someone. If you agree with someone, you usually like them. But how do you do that without pandering?

The truth of it is, a huge part of starting on the internet is just being on the internet. This is just a life fact—you have to be present to be known. You have to go to the same coffee shop over and over before the barista asks if you want “the usual”, right? So many people want to start their internet presence with a bang—they work long and hard on their first video, perhaps even spending money and building some 8-episode arc. It’s so human to feel like this—the longer you wait for something, the more you feel like your arrival needs to be bigger, as if to make up for lost time. But it’s the wrong move: don’t think about one video—think about your one personality, with all of these videos showcasing it. All your future audience is looking for, especially from someone they don’t know yet, is something they vibe with, agree with, and want to engage with. And you have interesting, exciting, and impressive things about you, no doubt: but you can get to all that, once they know you exist.

Long story short, the first lesson from your digital doula is this: to start online, simply allow yourself to exist on the internet, as consistently as you can within your own realm of mental health. Once they know you, they people who like you wil llike you. And once they like you, they’ll love you—and “what” you do will become second-most important, because what matters most is that YOU are doing it.

PAT’S PROJECTS - things I’m doing you can check out!

The Pat Pat Club 4/23 (LIVE AND LIVESTREAMED) - it’s a jazz and improv explosion! After an incredible first show, we’re back with incredible improvisers like Paul F. Tompkins, Carl Tart, Angela Giarratana, Amanda Lehan-Canto, and so many more! Don’t miss this one!

Havin’ A Day with Kylie Brakeman - one of the greats and one of my closest collaborators, Kylie Brakeman, joined me this week on my driving podcast to go to a cat cafe! We also reveal a very special project we’ve been working on for a minute, peep the ep for SECRET INSIDER INFO!

Essays Show on 5/15 - a full show where people read essays! If you like this newsletter, maybe you’d like to hear me read my writing out loud? IDK! The show is beautiful and fun, you gotta come check it out!

PAT’S PICK - something I think you’d love!

DTF St. Louis on HBO: A deeply funny and bizarre show with a tone unlike anything I’ve ever seen on TV, “DTF St. Louis” is a criminally underrated dark comedy that had the most heart, the most humor, and the best character-driven writing that I’ve maybe ever seen in a limited series. The nuances to these people are so thorough, and the performances by Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour are out of this world. Go watch it puhlease, we need more weird-but-human comedy.

Okay love you talk soon bye!
Patrick