Looking back, Pundaze has been many years in the making.
In high school, I was doing the normal coming-of-age thing where you try to find out what is and isn't funny. I've always had a knack for all things "words", so wordplay made sense to me and it got a reaction from people.
I started by "stealing" puns I found online and posting them to Instagram on sporadic Mondays with a caption and the hashtag #PundayMonday. I never tried to pass these off as if I made them, but I never gave credit to the original owner either.
At first I posted nearly anything, but I eventually became somewhat of a connoisseur. I had a specific taste, and a level of quality I wanted my name associated with. At some point, this internet scouring just didn't cut it. I had ideas. I needed freedom to express my ideas.
And so I kind of just started making my own? Sometimes, not all the time. It's a loose, dotted line when you trace it back and see the path.
Eventually, I realized that people liked (or at least reacted to) my "custom" puns more than the ones I would find online. So I made more of those. Also it became something that I dedicated more and more time and creativity to.
It actually started to become quite the production. I had phone notes full of good and bad and awful pun ideas. For some reason, I also set myself the rule that I couldn't "plan ahead", and all of my puns needed to be created on the day they were to be posted or they weren't "pure".
Many people got involved. I had photographers. I borrowed props. There were 2 photoshop experts on speed dial. Getting to see the behind-the-scenes was a privilege, getting to guest star in a pun was an honor.
The puns took on a bit of a life of their own. They by no means made me popular, but sometimes I would meet someone new and after a few minutes of them trying to place me, they would say something like:
"Are you the guy who makes the puns on Instagram?"
"Yes"
"Oh cool, I see those every Monday!"
Another satisfied customer.
So I did that every week for years, to the delight of my fans and the dismay of my enemies (and there were a surprising number of these in the comment section). But after graduating and starting a full-time job, things felt a lot more…stressful? Partially, for sure, because I had a full-time job now, but there was more to it.
#PundayMonday seemed more like a chore that needed to be completed each week. I was relieved when it was done and had a 6 day break again, but this self-imposed cycle was never ending. It had lost its whimsy, and I really missed the whimsy.
So after 6 years of posting puns, and the last 4 years posting every single week without a single miss, it felt like a good time to end things. I planned my final post, said my goodbyes, we all shed our appropriate amount of tears, and that was it.
Puns didn't leave my life entirely, but there was a lot less stress about them. I did feel myself yearning to do something with puns again, but reviving #PundayMonday just never felt right. That was a chapter that had its storybook ending, and it wouldn't have been fair to drag it out of a well-earned retirement.
Then in March of 2024 the idea for bringing something pun-related came into being. On the heels of NYT-daily games the idea for a puzzle came up. At first I thought I'd do it weekly, as #PundayMonday was. But daily just felt better.
After getting the right name "Pundaze" (in homage to all my "Pundays") I started working on building the website. I'm no developer, but I knew a little HTML and Javascript and figured I wanted something simple, and I'm a smart, capable guy. I could figure it out probably.
It was early March. April 1st (April Fools' Day) was on a Monday that year (perfect), and I couldn't wait to spend the next few weeks building this and getting Pundaze launched. How hard could it be?
So anyway, over a year later I finally launched, and it was obviously a lot more work than naive past-Tom expected, but it's also been a lot of fun. It's been so rewarding to build this and share it with you. I'm a one-man team. From building the website to brainstorming the puns to drawing the doodles, it's all me. For better or worse.
Pundaze has brought the whimsy back into puns for me again and I hope it can bring a little whimsy into your days too.
-Tom