bits all the way down

also: remember when you said you'd write something and then you just...didn't? i have a solution lol

Hi and honestly, if you don’t mind my saying so, how are ya?

Today is a BIG day for all things Both Are True Live - I am doing not one but TWO Live conversations, and not just that, but BOTH ARE FREE:

• At 12pm EST I am chatting with mr. funny pants himself,

  Jason Chatfield
  , the writer of
  New York Cartoons
  . Jason does cartoons for a little rag called The New Yorker which seems like a local paper but somehow came across my desk. I will ask him if he does pictures about other cities too.

• At 4pm EST I am chatting with one of Substack’s GOATs imho,

  Ava
  , who writes
  bookbear express
  . In addition to writing beautifully about her feels, she has recently started doing matchmaking for her subscribers and I am v curious to hear how that has gone.

Both of these are available to ALL - you just gotta be on substack.com or the substack app and you can watch. Cya then.

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I’ve got a nice essay from Chris Duffy down below about a phone call he and I had, BUT FIRST:

Said you were gonna write today but you haven’t written shit?

Boy do I have a solution.

Every week, we meet in the BATCAVE and write.

how it works

• You set an intention at the beginning.

• I talk and share some prompts that people seem to love.

• We write.

• We take a break and chat.

• We write again.

• We leave and, breaking news: you’ve written something.

Next session is tomorrow (Wed) at 12p EST. Cya there.

Here are some nice things that people from our last event said:

THE ESSAY NOW: bits all the way down

For today’s main course, I’m sharing beautiful words of my friend

Chris Duffy

in his weekly newsletter of banger bits,

Bright Spots

.

Chris recalls a phone conversation the two of us had in which, I don’t believe it is hyperbole to say, we figured out comedy and life.

Also Chris literally just won a Webby for best advice podcast, has a frikkin TED talk - not TEDx - the big one, TED, called How to find laughter anywhere, AND he has a god damn book coming out soon all about how to laugh more every day.

The realizations he had here are low key profound and frankly, given my involvement, I should probably get at least 45% of his book sales (Chris lmk!)

Here it is:

The Secret to Life is Maximizing Bits

By:

Chris Duffy

Everything is a surface for a bit. Let me explain.

The other day, I scheduled a chat with my friend Alex (author of the fantastic newsletter Both Are True). Alex moved to Asheville and so we haven’t gotten to catch up in a while. I was looking forward to hearing how he’s doing. But when I called him, before he said a single word, he had already made my day. Because when I called him, Apple automatically displayed this image on my phone.

Yes, I know my phone is on airplane mode! This is a dramatic reenactment for the sake of this newsletter, not the actual moment because I didn’t capture a screenshot!

Simultaneously, Apple automatically displayed this photo of me on Alex’s phone.

We had both independently identified Apple’s option to make a “custom contact photo and poster” as the perfect opportunity for a bit.

You’re telling me that I can choose, without my friend’s knowing it, what image of me pops up on their phone when I call? There’s no way I’m not going to make that something ridiculous and try to make them laugh.

Alex and I immediately congratulated each other on making excellent bit use of emerging technologies. Alex told me that his philosophy is that “everything in life is a surface for a bit.”

It’s an idea I love so much. It so perfectly sums up what I believe that I was furious he only said it to me now, after I’m done writing my book on how to laugh more every day (coming out in January 2026 from Doubleday!! Not available for pre-order yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as it is!!!).

Putting more bits into your life is central to everything I’ve learned about how to have a better sense of humor. There’s so much of our everyday life that passes by us in a blur. We’re on autopilot, not stopping to actually look around because we’re just going from one task to another, getting through the day. But then you encounter a well-placed bit and it stops you in your tracks. You’re jolted back into the moment in the most pleasant possible way, with a laugh.

While I love having friends who make me laugh with their jokes, my favorite part about funny people isn’t even the jokes themselves; it’s how many surfaces they find to put a bit. Vanity license plates, the customized embroidery on an L.L. Bean tote bag, the name of their WiFi network, the Letterbox reviews they leave for movies, or the yard sign they put in front of their home.

For me, an absolute delight of writing a book about humor was getting to share some of my favorite bits that people have created, bits that only a small number of people will ever randomly stumble upon. There are so many bits that deserve a broader audience and I hope my book can give them the spotlight they deserve!

Of course, writing a book about humor is also a prime opportunity to plaster as many surfaces as possible with bits myself. I can’t share all of them pre-publication, but I am very excited for people to see what I did in the most typically dry and serious parts of a book like the epigraph, footnotes, and acknowledgments. My author photo is one bit from the book that I can share ahead of time (at least, I think I can? I’m going to and then if they tell me to take it down afterwards, I’ll delete it from the internet and it will only live in your inbox).

I probably should have studied this book before the photo shoot… Photo credit: the always excellent Sela Shiloni

The fake book “How to Smile” was created for me by Carlisle Rutledge, who also made all the fake books for the set of Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, where we worked together. I thought those books were genius and I was so glad Carlisle was generous enough to make this one for me (with some consulting and creative guidance from another former coworker, Maggie Ruder).

The idea of having this as my author photo makes me laugh so much. I hope it makes other people laugh too, but it kind of doesn’t matter. Here’s a place where authors are typically supposed to look as impressive and serious as possible and instead I’m a full-on buffoon.

Also, I’m delighted by all the copy that Carlisle created to put on the cover jacket, even though it would be seen by literally no one except me (and now you, because you signed up for this newsletter!)

I strongly encourage you to look around your home and your life and cover at least a few surfaces with a bit. It doesn’t require hiring a graphic designer! It could be as simple as googly eyes on a mirror or changing the default image on your streaming accounts. I created a special Peacock account for my wife that’s called Troll Mollie with this image.

We laugh every time we look at the Peacock home screen.

A bit can be an inside joke with a family member or a friend or even just yourself! But you gotta do it. We need more bits out there.

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lets talk about bits baby

1. what are some classic bits you have with people you love?

2. longest bit you’ve ever done?

3. shortest bit you’ve ever done?

5. best bit that everyone thought was the worst bit?

6. worst bit that everyone thinks is the best bit?

8. hi