You know what? I know this is an account dedicated to Decker quotes, but let's get into this because they're calling me a "shill" over a shitty thing I wrote in an article almost five years ago. That article taught me several important lessons.
I wanted to write about why I thought Danger 5 ruled at the time, and in an attempt to reference how it reminded me of Tim and Eric's comedy, I insulted the shit out of Tim and Eric. Tim was, understandably so, pissed at me about it.
No one was editing my work then. I had no one to turn to really, before or after. And the next day was my birthday, which I spent receiving countless hateful tweets from Tim and Eric fans about how much I sucked. But I deserved it, it was a bad take that was public!
Even worse was that watching T&E was a huge influence on me in my teens, so seeing Tim's tweet made my heart sink. I felt like I sucked, knew nothing about comedy, and should just quit. And responses from people like this guy only confirmed that 
As humiliated as that made me feel, what I learned from it was you can't gloss over anything. You have to always be careful, thoughtful, and deliberate in what you write. Doesn't matter how small of a site it is -- people are reading, maybe even the people you're writing about.
Because people in comedy, like any art, put a shitload of love and care into their work. God knows Tim does. And the very least you can do when you write about comedy is put love and care into the way you cover it. And I didn't in that moment, I rushed it. I fell short.
So yeah, that experience was a huge reality check and a lesson to always assume that the weakest, shittiest sentence of any piece is going to be seen and deservedly dunked on. It! Will! Happen! I'll never forget the experience because man, I FELT it when it happened.
I fucking cringe when I read stuff I wrote a few years ago. And I hope that a few years from now, I look back on my current stuff and cringe. If you're not cringing at least a little at your old stuff, something's wrong.
That whole situation completely changed the way I approach covering things. I'm actually grateful for going through it, because I needed the sting of that humiliation to be reminded that people are reading, and they care. Even when it feels like they aren't/don't!
I also tried my best to make it up to Tim through other coverage in later years, and he was one of the first boosters of #FuckFuckJerry this year -- he even made a theme song for it! So that had an extra layer of value to me. Hopefully I made up for those few shitty words.
I take my job very seriously, and I love highlighting comedians I love, and while I think I DO know a couple things about comedy, I also think it's smart and mature to also say there's still a LOT I don't know. That's part of why I still like doing this.
In conclusion, it's really fucking weird to call me a "shill" for...once throwing a lazy clause in a piece when I was trying, and failing, to be critical? I mean, blog about how stupid I am and how I don't know about comedy all you want. At least I learned something and grew!
I should add: Getting dunked on by tons of fans on Twitter or seeing random blogs about how you're a "shill" comes with the territory. That's fine! I usually ignore that stuff but just wanted to note that you can't shame me for learning and getting better okay bye!!!
