I am Ryan Pequin. I make Three Word Phrase. It is a comic. Ask me anything.

Ryan have you ever met a bad person named "Ryan"? I have a theory that all Ryans are non-duds

I have actually, but only one, and Ryan is a very popular name so that has to say something. Also, hi Ryan.

Have you found a cure for baby weiner yet? lmao.

Ain't no such thing

umm hey just my two favorite webcomic writers in the same thread nbd.

the tallest Ryan and the shortest Ryan, hanging out and being bros in a thread about comics, life is so sweet

Is that photo of us at ECCC public? Because it is amazing.

http://mountpleasantcomics.tumblr.com/post/20269031106/being-around-ryan-north-and-tony-wilson-is

As a Ryan I can confirm there are other terrible Ryans.

Don't beat yourself up, bro

Two webcomic Ryans in one place is a bit too much to handle

I think you mean too HOT to handle! Or too hot to trot! One of those two things!

TWP is quite literally my favorite webcomic. Ever. So, thanks!

that is super rad of you to say! there are a lot of really good webcomics out there so that is high praise

Your sweet, sweet writing style has been infecting my everyday speech, I've noticed. Also, you are completely awesome. I wish I had a question, but instead I will just heap praises on you. ACCEPT MY PRAISES.

"because of reasons" is just a really good phrase

"the entire wiener" is my personal fave.

That comic still makes me laugh. I'm too proud of it.

Praises accepted wholeheartedly

For the mods looking for verification: https://twitter.com/ryanpequin/status/212286657993515009

oh right, uh, thanks dogg

Where IS Todd's dick?

Spoilers: It actually is in the graveyard

Why haven't you returned my calls? Where were you last night when I was parked outside your house?

I was actually parked behind you, admiring your handsome face, lit up by your phone. I was very sweaty.

If you could ask Ryan Pequin anything, what would it be?

I would say "How do you like THIS?" and then karate chop myself in the head or neck

Quietly files this idea for next book signing...

[KIDDING! KIDDING! TOTALLY NOT GOING TO SURPRISE KARATE-CHOP YOU!]

It only applies if it is me karate chopping myself!

do you like butts or bros more this is important

In real life, butts. In comics I am less certain.

Sometimes you seem to enjoy drawing comics that don't exactly have a "punch line." Either they just show something depressing happening or nothing at all. For example, the giant businessman who's sad that he ripped his jacket or the hunter who just kills a bunch of animals.

My favorite is the "Let's Be Sad" strip because it's literally just a dude being really sad. What makes you decide to do comic strips of this nature? They're really unique.

They make me laugh! Sometimes the lack of a joke fills in for a joke, in my mind, though I'm not sure that that makes any real sense. I like Let's Be Sad and Huntin' a lot. I think there's kind of a punchline in Huntin', though - that dude is pretty self-satisfied about murdering those animals.

There was a Tom Green skit that I saw way, way back in the day where it was just him eating oatmeal out of a bowl, quietly, for five minutes. I was 13 or 14 or something when I saw it and something kind of clicked in my brain that made me appreciate it deeply. Maybe that's why I like making similar things.

the Plane Crash is one of my personal favorites.

You and me only

Who is the inspiration for President Bird?

Also, TWP has slowly become my favorite webcomic, especially as consistency of hilarity goes

Second question/demand: ask ME anything.

It is a Real-Ass bird named Marnie, which you can find on Youtube. She is very popular and cute. The idea came about when my friends and I were joking that Marnie was so great that she should be the president of the united states. President Bird is not supposed to actually be Marnie, though, he is just a bird that says similar stuff. He is a dude, also.

My question: Are you circumcised? (How do you like that for a gotcha?)

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shhh baby shhhhhh tucks you into bed smoothes your hair puts beerbong in your mouth and funnels whiskey down your throat

whoa, look what asterisks do

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How often does Ryan say the word wiener during fornication

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shhh baby shhhhhh

I dug you a murderhole

also I wish I had a question. um. why is there a pinecone on the cover of your book. your book is also good

I will get in the murderhole.

Because I made a comic where pinecones were the punchline and people seemed to like it quite a bit. Also thanks!

I loved your metamorphosis comic, it cheers me up every time I look at it, in a weird sad way. Was there anything in particular that led to it?

'sides from that thanks for a rad comic, you are a rad dude. Once I have some spare cash i'm buying that book, it'll sit proudly in my turlet

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to thank you for "YOU'RE THE CHOAD COFFEE BRO!" It's in my fav five of webcomic strips, no fake

That comic actually, honestly, for real came to me in a dream! I always thought that was a bullshit thing that people made up but it really happened to me. And I like it too, it's one of my favourite recent TWPs by a long shot.

Also I just really like that story.

Three Word Phrase embodies me and friends' humour so much its scary. Definitely my favourite web comic out there :) How did you come to the decision of going to art-school/devoting so much time to comics? Were there any other interests that you had to push aside? Also just wanted to say your girlfriend's work is equally rad, love it all.

The crazy thing is that I really didn't have to push much aside at all. I've always loved drawing, since I was a kid, and I always aspired to be the "class clown," even though I never actually was one. I LOVE making people laugh, it delights me to my core and makes me feel important and like a big man.

I tried my hand at an English degree, I enjoy reading, I thought about trying to be a Real Writer for a while - I don't think I have the patience for it, though. Not novels, anyway. TV or something, maybe.

And yes, Emily is great and talented and pretty.

This is awesome; I only recently found out about your comic and it is fantastic. In your day-to-day life, do you dap scores of bros?

I do call people bro a lot, but I don't dap as many as I would like.

You really have a knack for bedroom talk in your comics. Are your own sexy times comparatively, verbally, funny?

http://threewordphrase.tumblr.com/post/24875230775/gettin-erotic-up-in-here this is a screenshot from some erotic talk I made with Emily JUST LAST NIGHT

Holy shit! Here's a gift for you and also, kind of, for me. I'm buying your book and as a bonus, I'll tell you my secret. Make a tray of bacon and put it on your nightstand. It's called sexbacon and it is even better than regular bacon.

I will put the bacon on my dick

i literally just now made an account on here and i will probably never return to reddit, but i wanted to tell you that twf is the only webcomic that i regularly follow. i think it's because the way you talk and your humor are incredibly similar to how i talk and my own sense of humor. that was a bad sentence.

but yeah, i draw things too and i have a tumblr for them all. if you wanna check it out, lemme know. if i just post the link now i'd feel like i'm spamming or whatever. keep doin' what you're doin'

nah, post that thing, assuming that's even allowed on here!

Hey Ryan, I work at a library and when I show your comics to my co-workers, 8/10 of them tell me "you have issues" when I chuckle or squeal loudly when I laugh out loud to them. What should I do? Should I spray them with some kind of foul-smelling substance as retaliation?

No, just judge them silently and hate them intensely

Hey! I love your comic! I remember discovering you after Kate Beaton tweeted that her pal was starting up a webcomic. Did you already know some people who happened to become popular on the webcomic scene or was it through your diary comics? I feel like the people who are or are becoming popular in webcomics are already inside of some kind of clique and it's just kind of a matter of time (not that you aren't talented!).

I met a lot of webcomics people through Livejournal, when it wasn't a huge pile of dog shit, and then a bunch more on Twitter, and then I met them in person, and now I know them For Real! That's how I met the vast majority of the cartoonists I know.

I actually met Kate before either of us really had anything going on, comics-wise, so we're knuckleheads from old times, sorta.

As for the clique thing, I'll just say that there's no webcomics clique or community or whatever that exists right now that can't be broken into by making a good thing and being nice to people. If you're not a dingus and you try hard at the thing you do you're absolutely never going to get the cold shoulder from basically anyone in webcomics, so far as I've been able to figure. It is an extremely good-natured, welcoming group of people that I've weaseled my way into!

How often do you touch your own wiener?

A lot.

You got a major shout out from Jerry Holkins from Penny Arcade at PAX East, saying that your webcomic was awesome. Is it awesome hearing stuff like that from people who are revered in the community, or just daunting? Also, my use of the word "butts" in everyday conversation has increased ten fold. So. Thanks!

Aaaagh yeah, when I heard that I freaked out a little bit. I've read Penny-Arcade for a long time and I think it is good stuff.

I don't really get daunted by things like that. It excites the heck out of me to think that my work is getting out there and that people that I respect are enjoying it.

I think I thanked Jerry on Twitter, but I've never actually interacted with either of the PA guys aside from that shoutout. Even then I didn't hear much about it except that it happened and that no one in the audience seemed to recognize the comic's name, ha ha.

For the record I threw up my hands and let out a "Woo" when he mentioned it.

thank you for representin'

The internet has jaded me to the point where its really hard for me to find things that I'll genuinely laugh at, but your comics always do it for me, especially the Bro comics.

My question is, if you had to smooch any male celebrity right on his mouth, who would it be and why?

Dinklage all the way.

How long have you been drawing? Did you go to art school? I know you do really nice drawings outside of your simplified (but still good of course) comic style, I haven't seen much of that lately. I don't know if you still post scans of your sketchbook stuff.

I've been drawing since I was five or six. I always wanted to be the "best" artist in school (though I never was).

I did go to art school! A couple different iterations of it, actually. I tried fine arts for a year, didn't really like that, then completed a diploma thingy for graphic design and illustration here in Vancouver, which, I guess, is more on the technical side.

I was always more interested in drawing things that looked like the things I was drawing than in being a Fine Artist. I envied James Jean's skills for a long time and tried to emulate the shit out of him for a while, which did a lot of good for me in the end, I think.

I don't sketchbook as much as I used to! I should get back into it.

What was the original three word phrase that inspired the comic?

Ok here is the story: Three Word Phrase does not refer to anything specific. I was looking for a good website name and I noticed that a lot of webcomics have names that are three-word-phrases, so I was kind of subconsciously trying to think of one for my own. Then I realized, very, very cleverly, that "Three Word Phrase" is, in itself, a three-word-phrase. So I used that.

It's just a goofy, self-referential joke, and an incredibly tame jab at webcomics in general for following that naming trend. Although really, it's not as common as I thought it was at the time.

That's it!

Explain the Curious George strip to me, please.

I haven't slept in a week and a half.

Chimps are actually super violent, horrifying monsters. You are meant to believe that the chimp is going to steal the Man in the Yellow Hat's yellow hat, because Curious George did that (I think) BUT, in a hilarious reversal of expectations, he does what a real chimp would do and mutilates the man's face, which has happened in real life, several times. Genitals and hands too.

Can there please be a "president bird - he is the president" shirt? Because I would buy that quicker than anybody else would buy any kind of thing. I would buy it because of reasons.

I am working on a thing that is very much like that! Maybe even. . .more than one thing that is very much like that.

what is your favourite thing about vancouver? is it the bears, or is it the rain?

Vancouver is a hella beautiful city when it's not gray and rainy. Good sushi, too. Also my friends and girlfriend live there.

I was in Vancouver a while back and I ate nothing but sushi, more or less overdosed.

How much sushi is too much sushi?

Any amount of sushi that causes you to die is too much of it

Are you from northern california? Or do they say "hella" up there in Vancouver as well?

"They" don't, really. I do!

If you could write/draw a children's book without fear of failure or being burned in effigy, what would it be about?

Tough question! Something kinda morbid, because I was into semi-scary stuff as a kid. Ghosts, maybe? A little kid is murdered by a ghost and then becomes a ghost, and then the two ghosts hang out with each other. They learn a Lesson about a Thing.

Have you ever had an audience with Queen Wiener Looker?

Let's just say that God doesn't always smile upon us all

Did you put the Brodyquest sticker I gave you to good use yet?

Yep! It's on the glass doors in my shower.

Will there be more of the Porp?

If I ever think of another porpoise-related joke, yes!

what are your three favorite three word phrases?

my roommate and i are in love with your comic, thank you for the continuation of the word "wiener" not enough people use that nomenclature for penises these days.

"Where's the dog" "Where is it" "My dog left"

All I want to do in this life is get more people to spell wiener with the "i" first

Zach Weiner is going to be a major roadblock in your life. What are you going to do about that guy?

Him and Matthew are the first on my list of Murders to Do

Do you use Photoshop or illustrator or something cray like manga studio? your lines are mad nice. PS Me and everyone else on my webcomic are super super into TWP. Give us it please.

Photoshop, and a Cintiq, previously an Intuos4. I just zoom in super far and do swoopy lines to keep them clean. I'd like to start using Manga Studio because it MURDERS PS as far as line work goes, but the actual interface is crazy hard to understand.

Also I like your comic! You are one of the good ones.

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Oh my god I have so many comics to suggest. I don't really have time to link to everything so I'll just name a bunch of stuff and inevitably forget a bunch of awesome people that I love and look like a jerk.

Look up the following people/comics: Achewood. Gunshow. Nedroid. Hark! A Vagrant. Mount Pleasant. Dinosaur Comics. Octopus Pie. Dharbin. Jess Fink. Perry Bible Fellowship. For Lack of a Better Comic. Brian Fukushima. Lose, or anything by Michael Deforge. Forming, by Jesse Moynihan. Joseph Lambert. Dresden Codak. Dr. McNinja. Wondermark. Double Fine Action Comics by the amazing Scott Campbell. Questionable Content. Anything by Nathan Stapley. Boxerhockey by Tyson Hesse. Mare Odomo. Frank and Becky's Tiny Kitten Teeth. Lucy Knisley. Overcompensating. Nathan Bulmer. Anything Anne Koyama puts out. Anything on Drawn and Quarterly. Anything on No Brow. Jeffrey Brown. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. American Elf. Michael Kupperman. Fuck, so many. I have to stop or I will go forever. There are a LOT of awesome comics out there and an endless number of insanely charming, rad cartoonists. Dig deep! Never stop digging.

Also John Campbell who does Pictures for Sad Children, which is maaaaybe my favourite webcomic ever.

• If you could have any guest artist on your strip, who would it be?

• Do you have a webcomic nemesis?

• If you could revive any film/tv/book series what would it be?

1. John Campbell, who I just realized I didn't mention in that big stupid wall of names up there, FUCK
2. Not at all! Except every other webcomic, which I want to crush under my heel like a bug.
3. Mission Hill, because they had big plans for it and it never got to hit a proper stride.

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smooch

How old are you? How long have you been doing comics / comedic work? Did you practice getting as hilarious as you are, or have you just always been?

Absolutely adore your work, own the book. You're amazing, bro. My favorite webcomic by far!

EDIT: Also, do you have any advice for people wanting to do webcomics of their own? How did you get started?

I am 28. I have been making comics for something like eight or nine years now, but they weren't funny until kinda recently. I did journal comics for four years until I realized I wasn't very good at that and tried something else.

I didn't really practice getting funny until I had to think about writing "jokes" and even then it's kinda mostly intuitive? I was very frightened to try to be funny for the internet at first but now I really like it.

Thank you for buying the book that I did! That is the best. You are the best.

I loved your journal comics. They were how I found out about you!

Yeah! I dunno! I just. . .other people do journal comics a lot better than that and I never had the strength to dig deep enough to make mine as good as I wanted. I feel bad about sneaking them out of existence sometimes but I think it is for the best.

As for making a webcomic of your own:

Study the people that do things that you like, and figure out why they are good at it. Develop your taste beyond anything else. An ability to know when you've done something shitty is very important, at least to some degree.

Above and beyond anything else - just make a thing. Make it. Don't worry about whether it's perfect or not. Try really hard at it. Don't settle, but don't be too scared of failure to try something. People forget and forgive your crappy first projects after they've fallen in love with your awesome new projects.

And don't advertise your comic by shitting all over it! So many people do that and it's never a good idea. "Here's my crappy comic I made, want to read it?" Well, no, not really. If you don't even like it I can't imagine that I will.

And, you know, buy a domain name, make a website that is simple and functional and has an archive. Update enough for people to remember that you're alive.

Oh, and be nice to your heroes on twitter. They'll be nice back.

So what inspired you to make such classics as "Pigeons with Tits" or "President Bird"?

Pigeon with tits was back when the comic was basically my own version of KC Green and Anthony Clark's "100 Bad Comics" - the point for me, at first, was to write and draw the comics as fast as possible with as little consideration as I could. Pigeon with Tits grew from that, and even then I thought it was too stupid to actually post. Then, after scratching it out, it became funny again. So it's up, and she is my mascot.

And when can we expect them to cross-over?

I thiiiiink that PWT was a one-time deal. That joke ain't exactly layered.

I only just realized that I can sort the comments in this thread by "new" so I don't have to scroll down the entire page to answer stuff. I am the dumbest.

I enjoy your comic very much. Keep up the good work. You'll keep up the good work, right?

I can't promise that but I will try my darnedest

How did you meet your girlfriend? Are you planning on selling more books with your comics? Because I would immediately purchase it. Immediately.

We went to school together! Different years, same program.

And yeah, I am! I just have to, like, make 120 more comics or so first.

Hey, I met you a couple weeks ago at VanCAF but I'm not good at saying words to people and all that, so I thought I'd tell you that I really admire your work and TWF is, like, one of my top 5 webcomics (how can you pick a favourite out of TWF and Dinosaur Comics AND Nedroid AND Pictures for Sad Children AND a softer world seriously) and I think you're pretty rad too.

I can't think of any interesting questions so just pick whichever cliche question you want (where do you get your ideas from, can you draw such and such for me, can I have/sire your babies, etc.)

I could not pick a favourite out of those comics either! They are all amazing. And thanks!

Not that it's any of my business, but are you, y'know... gay? Cause some of your funniest shit is when the bros start making out passionately or whatever.

Not yet

Are you planning on coming to NYC ever to sell and sign your book? If not, you should!

I currently do not have plans to do much of anything at all except try to pay rent and student loans, but maybe someday! I've been to New York and I like it a lot so I'll definitely show up there again sometime.

Where do you get your ideas??????

I steal them from my friends and I pay attention to stuff

I guess kinda personal but, do you make any money from the comic? I always wondered how online comic artists can afford to update regularly and pay for their domains. I mean, some sites don't even have ads! Thanks for the AMA! I love your comic!

I make enough from ads to pay for my phone bill and a dinner or two, or at least I did when the ad wasn't just a big ad for my new book. My book, however, has made me some actual money! Not an insane amount (YET), but enough to make me realize I should have put a book out a year ago. Some comics people are WAY better and smarter when it comes to monetizing their stuff. I am a bad businessman.

Big fan Ryan, met you a few times at TCAF.

My question: A lot of artists find it difficult to look back at their old work since they've grown in writing, drawing, etc.

Do you find this is the case? And is there anything you've pushed to the public that you now regret?

Not really! I took my journal strips down eventually because I started to feel like they didn't represent what I was about as an artist anymore, but I don't regret having made stuff, ever. I have TWP comics I don't particularly love, obviously, but nothing that makes me cringe too hard.

Do you have any favorite old or contemporary cartoon shows?

Simpsons season 3-8 had a HUGE impact on my sense of humour, much like everyone my age. I love Adventure Time. I love old Loony Tunes. I very much enjoyed Mission Hill when it existed. Futurama. Spongebob. King of the Hill was good. Agh, so many! Bob's Burgers is definitely up on my favourites list these days. Pixar movies, etc

Did you have any favorite comic strips growing up? Have any of them influenced your style and humor with Three Word Phrase?

Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side were the two hugest ones. I would say that The Far Side had the most impact on my actual, personal sense of humour, but I think I appreciate C&H on a deeper kind of level. I am sure I'm not alone in that. I also read Superman comics for a long time as a kid but that probably had less to do with the eventual existence of TWP.

Where do you find inspiration for your comics? They're each so unique!

Do they come to you in dreams?

I steal them from friends and I pay attention, and yes, one of them did!

Give me the most slipperiest answer possible. The slipperiest answer is the kind of answer I want. I want this because of reasons.

slp slrp plpp plrp

Any advice for making money with web comics or as an artist in general?

Haha WELL, no, I mean. . .not really, since I don't make a lot from my own. Just make something that you think is good and try really hard at it. Put some ads up if you want to, no one will get mad at you for trying to make some beer money or whatever. Make a product to sell once there is some demand for it! Maybe consider Kickstarter if you can't find a publisher. I was pretty late to the monetizing train so I can't really offer much more advice than that.

Ryan, how is it being a small man with a tiny girlfriend? Do you ever lose Emily? I feel I probably would.

It is weird sometimes but mostly normal. Being short is funny and shitty at the same time, as any short man will attest. I don't have a chip on my shoulder about it or anything though!

I imagine being small had a lot to do with my attempts to become funny, so I owe it that much I suppose.

I have yet to lose Emily down a storm drain or anything, but I hold her hand a little tighter when we walk over them anyway.

In the big bad world of online comics what makes your comic unique? Why should I read it? What would you describe your comic is about?

(I mean this in the nicest way possible btw, it's just hard to sound polite over the internet. I already follow XKCD and Order of the Stick and dabble in LFG and The Zombie Hunters from time to time. I can only read so many!)

You should read it because XKCD links to it and you like XKCD. Would Randall lie to you? WOULD HE???

Ryan! I just wanted to say that Three Word Phrase is so very good, I feel like it was written specifically for me and my own sense of humor at times!

I am going to be ordering both your book, and the Mount Pleasant Journal here in the near future! You both are great, and I hope you both find lots of success!

Thanks! A lot of people say that to me and it makes me happy.

Favorite icecream flavour?

Something with peanut butter in it. Is there just Peanut Butter ice cream? If so, that one.

i couldnt think of a question so uhhhh..... what do you listen to?

I listen to a ton of stuff! I have stupid tastes. I like silly pop music and ridiculous angry music and nerdy mathy stuff and a lot of the stuff in between. I like the Dismemberment Plan a lot. I got my girlfriend to appreciate a Dream Theater album (scenes from a memory). I like The Hives. I can feel people judging me through my computer monitor.

can i see your pig?

i have to prepare it first

How/when did you decide to settle on a comic-strip format, start posting them regularly, and seal the deal (i.e. get a domain name, I guess)? Any similar but failed projects that preceded TWP?

I had a journal strip that I ran for four years that I gave up on slowly.

TWP started at a time when I was sort of floating around, trying to figure out what kind of comics-person I was gonna be. I knew I wanted to make SOMETHING that had words and pictures, but wasn't sure what direction to go. I made The Walk ( http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0/the_walk/1 ) in. . .08? and thought for a while that I would try to be a Chris Ware/Clowes kinda guy, but that sort of faded after a while. I still want to make more serious comics, but maybe not for a while.

Then John Campbell dared me to write a comic about anxiety as fast as I possibly could and put it up on Livejournal. I had never written a joke before, really, and was scared to try to be funny, but I did it anyway and people seemed to like it (it's the "whole lotta babies" one). I really liked the idea that I could make people laugh, so I kept making joke strips, not really intending for it to become my "thing."

At first the idea of the strip was just to not give a shit about anything and put up absolutely anything I came up with, but it's kind of...matured since then. I try to keep things in that general spirit, but I'm more selective and I think a little deeper about what makes a "good" joke before I post, now.

The comics you put out don't seem to follow a very concrete schedule. Would you say that this has maybe hurt your popularity, or do you think that if people like something, they'll search it out?

Love the comic, and the more frequent updates even more.

In all honesty, it probably has kept my daily readership down a bit, yeah. Regular updates seem to be a thing that the internet really, really likes. But I'm just not funny every day! Not enough that I would be able to look back on my archives and feel content, I don't think. I figure if my content is good then people will come back.

I try to update a couple times a week. Failing that, I try to keep up awareness that I am alive by tweeting and posting goofy stuff that I like on tumblr, like the video of the 20th century fox logo with the flute playing over it.