A Thanksgiving Note to my Audience + Phetasy Digest
You keep me asking, “What if I’m wrong?”
Hello Phetasy Pham,
Bridget here! I finally have a moment to sit down and express my gratitude for you. Being able to do what I do is truly humbling, because I get to make art for a living, and I’m nothing without you, the people who read and listen to and watch and share my work.
You are also the people I turn to in a sea of noise. As someone commenting on, well, anything in public, I get a lot of drive-by hate. It’s easy to see how people with much larger audiences and fame become captured and surrounded by sycophants. You take so much crap that it all starts to sound the same. Praise. Derision. Valid criticism. In order to survive, some part of you starts to tune it all out. Why would you want people who disagree with you in your most trusted inner circle when you have people trying to take you down everywhere you turn? It’s easy to see how one could end up in the company of slobbering “yes men.”
This is my nightmare. The thing that makes me the most proud of my audience (you) is that you have intellectual resilience, something that’s rare these days. You are the kind of people who are strengthening your immune system during insane times. It’s easy to want to wall ourselves off in fortified media silos where we are only hearing what we want and don’t have to bump up against people with whom we disagree, or that even more uncomfortable thought, “What if I’m wrong?”
I’m thankful to you all because you keep me honest. You trust me, but that trust is mutual. I trust you. You keep me asking, “What if I’m wrong?”
As a “content creator,” it can be difficult to separate myself from the work. The people aren’t commenting on my widgets. The people are commenting on me. For better or worse, I am the brand after all. I try really hard not to read the comments outside of our community here at phetasy.com, but a few weeks ago someone on Twitter wrote “biggest right-wing grifter failure lol,” and it stuck with me longer than I like to admit.
Logically, I can recognize that there are many things wrong with that statement. The first is that I’m not a failure, despite what my brain tries to tell me late at night or early in the morning or on my long drives back and forth to do comedy. My life is a success and not because of what I do, but because I know my value comes from other things like being a mother and a wife and sister and daughter and friend and generally doing the best I can to learn and take risks and be of service to people around me. Also, I make a mean sourdough.
What really bothered me about that comment is that it reveals how I’m often seen more as a commentator and less as an artist. To be honest, I have to remind myself that I’m an artist lately—or rather remember that I’m one—because I’ve managed to become someone who gets to make art for a living. All art is commentary. Some is subtle. Mine is more “mouthy broad.”
There was a time when all I wanted to do in the whole world was make my living writing and telling jokes. I’m doing that! Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I still remember when I started my original blog in 2005 and would get two readers and be excited. Two. And they were family members. And even more astonishing, this endeavor is fully audience-supported, a fact that humbles me on a daily basis.
Sometimes it feels like we are the last independent record label in this space. We don’t have investor money. We don’t have foreign money. We haven’t joined a network. We are supported only by you, the readers and viewers and listeners— and a few good old-fashioned sponsors like Sheath and Quest.
This gives us the ability to do whatever we want and say whatever we want, but as most of my peers have realized in a time of heightened political polarization—being subscriber-supported is precarious. People are quick to unsubscribe from anyone they disagree with, and I get it—it’s their prerogative and their resources. Subscriber fatigue is real. The economy doesn’t seem great despite what people keep trying to tell us. A friend with a big podcast in the UK said, “You either need to blow up or get bought up,” and well, I don’t really want to do either. Could we use more subscribers? Of course. Do I want the insanity that comes with millions of listeners or, more importantly, the insanity that comes with trying to cut through the noise to get a million listeners and readers?
No.
I’m happy to grow slowly, quietly. We are growing, and that’s all that matters.
As I move into 2026 and do my yearly review of my values, gratitude has become top five for me. Balancing ambition and being content has always been challenging. In striving constantly for more, it’s easy to lose sight of what I have right in front of me.
I’ve made thousands of tiny sacrifices on the way, and someday maybe I’ll write about all the deals I said “no” to that would have made me a lot of money but trapped me in a place where I didn’t have the freedom I have here—the freedom you allow me. I know many of you make sacrifices big and small to support our work. I’ve said many times before—as a woman who worked on my feet for decades—I don’t take your hard-earned dollars for granted.
Just know those dollars are appreciated, and it’s all going back into this little brand that could. We’ve brought in some help, freelance artists and writers who have been affected by the coming AI bloodbath. That’s all possible because of your generosity.
This is my long-winded way of saying thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Whether you’re a paid supporter or a casual reader, you make my life possible. You make so many lives possible. You are part of a movement of people who still believe in supporting independent artists. Who still believe in thinking for yourself and challenging yourself. Who still believe in the enduring human spirit even as AI tries to mimic human creativity. A group of warriors who, even while the world burns, can find a way to laugh.
Sending you and your families love. Happy Thanksgiving!
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #266
Fake Americans Are Destroying America
This week it was revealed on X just how many foreigners there are pretending to be Americans online. And they’re successfully sowing the seeds of our demise.
WALK-INS WELCOME
We’re Being Lied To Every Day - Jacob Siegel
Journalist and senior director of news at Tablet magazine, Jacob Siegel, sits down with Bridget to discuss his recent article A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century. In a chilling conversation Jacob explains the sudden pervasiveness of disinformation and how it became an organizing principle in most of the federal bureaucracy, the wholesale fraud being perpetrated on Americans, the precipitating factors, the organizations involved, and the replacing of human centric politics with data control.
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #265
Advice From A Human Dumpster Fire
Fighting the “Fuck Its”. Tips for ending the year strong and not giving into nihilism and the darkness. In other words, don’t break your ankle on the dismount.
THE SPECTATOR
It’s the cost of living, stupid
The MAGA agenda will only succeed if Americans feel material relief.
Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Bridget, you have kept us (me) going. In the sea of insanity, you bring clarity. A comfort of knowing “I am not alone” The substack thread is a long family (Pham) text that reads like siblings agreeing or not. Glimpse of our lives, tho all strangers is a comfort. We are different in beliefs & how we grew up, but still Pham. I (we) Thank you. (And of course, cousin Maggie… that laugh gets me every time) 💓
Hi there! to my favorite mouthy broad! Keep doing just what you’re doing, sending out laughs and the occasional prompt to think a second time. I’m starting to introduce my wife to your stuff, might be able to get approved for a $ sub one of these days soon!