And then across the mists of time we found each other

June 13, 2017 11:19 AM

A brief history of Mallory Ortberg and The Toast.
posted by Chrysostom (21 comments total)

/pours one out for the fallen blogs of 2015-2016.
posted by Artw at 11:20 AM on June 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since they folded The Toast. The internet is feels diminished.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 11:23 AM on June 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

I still sneak back all the time just to see if there's one last post.
posted by mittens at 11:24 AM on June 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

God I have just been working on a pitch and thinking it was perfect for the Toast
my entire life was a pitch that would have been perfect for the Toast, but alas! it is one with Nineveh and Tyre
posted by Countess Elena at 11:25 AM on June 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's delightful to know that Mallory Ortberg used to live in West Coviiiinaaa, Califoorniaaaa!
posted by likethemagician at 11:28 AM on June 13, 2017 [19 favorites]

I wish Mallory and Nicole were still on Twitter. :(

(I absolutely understand why they're not though.)
posted by kmz at 11:37 AM on June 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

The Toast's "Hey Ladies" series (read from bottom to top if for some strange reason you haven't read them yet) are among the most hilarious, cringe-inducing, astute social commentaries that I have ever, ever, ever read. As in, literature and gender studies students in the year 3028 should be poring over them if they're studying the early 2000's.

ok let's do a deep dive! --ali
posted by rogerrogerwhatsyourrvectorvicto at 11:46 AM on June 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

I believe there's going to be a Hey Ladies book, which I eagerly await.
posted by ferret branca at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I list my toast bylines before my New Yorker bylines.

Much more proud of those.
posted by The Whelk at 12:28 PM on June 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

I have such a giant enormous brain crush on Mallory Ortberg. I've been listening to her Dear Prudence podcast and she dedicated one of her openings recently to those terrible toilet paper bears. She expressed all the terrible things about them in her wonderful Mallory way and it was like she read my mind and then said it better.

Then on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast last week she said, "Don't date somebody who thinks that your preference in TV or movies is the same thing as a character trait," which is also perfection and my crush got yet a bit more embarrassing.
posted by Squeak Attack at 12:28 PM on June 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

ferret branca, WHAT AND OMG AND AAAAA. I can only hope.
posted by rogerrogerwhatsyourrvectorvicto at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2017

I wanna go back to the timeline where Clinton won and The Toast still updates daily.
posted by Space Kitty at 1:47 PM on June 13, 2017 [36 favorites]

I just spent a good part of a 10-hour flight listening to a Dear Prudence podcast backlog and it was delightful. It's not The Toast, but it's great for a Mallory Ortberg And Friends experience (moreso than the written column, for sure).

I was so sad about The Toast folding and I still am, but I really appreciate and respect the choice they made. As it is, the archives are still there, and it stands as a close-to-perfect collection of essays and stories. By which I don't mean that everything in it was perfect, but that it existed as a close-to-perfect embodiment of the creators' vision, which is always sort of a glorious thing to experience.

In addition to Hey Ladies, the Toast also featured Femmeslash Fridays, which was seriously some of the best pop culture analysis out there.
posted by lunasol at 3:51 PM on June 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Huh. Mallory just turned 30? Which means she and Nicole founded The Toast when she was just 26 or 27? How did I not know this? That's pretty rad.
posted by mhum at 6:28 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm shocked the Toast was only around for 3 years. It has had such an outsizsed impact on a generation of young womens' humor. For instance I hear the Toast in every Alexandra Petri article (and I see that she wrote "a salute" to it last year.)
posted by Emily's Fist at 7:35 PM on June 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's delightful to know that Mallory Ortberg used to live in West Coviiiinaaa, Califoorniaaaa!

I screamed, gasped, and read the line out loud to my husband.
posted by purpleclover at 8:20 PM on June 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I miss The Toast. It's presence validated my experience, especially as a queer English and Women and Gender Studies major. So many shared thoughts, all the time.
posted by yueliang at 10:02 PM on June 13, 2017

I miss The Toast so much.
posted by sarcasticah at 10:08 PM on June 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Does anyone know how to join the toast slack group? I miss the toast community almost as much as Mallory and you don't get to see them pop up on random podcasts and in your email.
posted by zymil at 4:00 AM on June 14, 2017

Toast Slack has been a sanity saver this horrible past year. Folks who want in, MeMail me and I'll help you sort out access. (Zymil, I'll message you in a bit when I'm off this bus and at my desktop.)

Toast Twitter is also robust, thriving, and getting me through our current godawful year.
posted by Stacey at 5:00 AM on June 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I adore this article and The Toast and Mallory so much. Her instagram account and the Shatner Chatter has been a godsend.
posted by numaner at 1:04 PM on June 14, 2017