About the Broken Pencil #101 Poster Boy

Once upon a time the internet was exciting. A constellation of odd planets, filled with fandoms, creativity, exploration, expression and freaks. For a time, even social media helped, giving a platform to the average yolk without any coding knowhow. Throwing an art party? Put a word out. Make a short film? Post it. Have some micro-lit? Spill it. An era that felt like your audience and peers were within reach, that you could create an online ecosystem that enriched your art-self. We didn’t appreciate what we had. We didn’t have it for very long.

Now being online is exhausting. Platforms popularized for bringing people together found greater fortune in driving them insane. Ecosystems became enclosures, everything else became a wasteland. Online became Mega-City One, each denizen a judge, jury and executioner. Those little dollars you could nab for your work keep getting tugged further away like bait on a fishing line. Thankfully, this won’t go on much longer. It can’t go on much longer. It’s an era of digital detritus, all getting flushed down the crap hole. Whatever is around the corner may be dumber, but if we’re going to bid adieu, let’s put on our fancy wear and count down with the silver lining of logging on: Dril.

Online’s baddest boy graces Broken Pencil 101 with his presence. The humourist perfected his craft on Twitter, and even shaped how many write on the platform, but he’s grown too big for their britches. As he expands to books, live performances, even video games, we caught up with the world wide websmith to discuss art, philosophy, life beyond social media, all that garbage.