All Good Things Must Come to an End
This is the most difficult post I’ve had to write and coincidentally, it will also be my last. Today marks a day I was never convinced would come. Today, LAFS is two years old. It has been an incredible two years, absolutely incredible filled with more excitement, laughter, awe and humility than I could have ever dreamed. However, today is bittersweet, because today is also LAFS’ last day.
Due to sudden unforeseen and unexpected circumstances, LAFS’ time as an active comedy resource is coming to an end. As of today, LAFS will remain alive as is with all the interviews, reviews, videos and content from the last two years, there just won’t be anymore moving forward.
LAFS has achieved more than I could have ever imagined. It has spread from coast to coast and has become such an incredible resource for the comedy community that major publishers, gaming companies, technology start-ups, producers and dozens of teams and individuals throughout the country have reached out to become involved in various ways. LAFS was established as an experiment for me to learn more about digital marketing and I chose a subject I truly loved — the Chicago comedy community. I could have never anticipated the level of success LAFS would reach and this has truly been the most flattering and humbling experience of my life.
I started building LAFS in April of 2012 and launched it September 5, 2012. It was just me until this past January, when I brought on Cameron Scheetz as the Operations and Marketing Manager. As of this past July, LAFS had expanded to a team of nine. It has grown from 3,000 pageviews a month to tens of thousands and from three to four posts a month to three to four posts a week. This little blog has opened doors I never knew existed and I have never been more proud of or grateful for anything.
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing dozens of people in comedy including Matt Besser, Dan Bakkedahl, Jet Eveleth, Tim Baltz, TJ Jagodowski, Dave Pasquesi, Greg Hess, Jeff Griggs, Colleen Doyle, Charna Halpern, Scott Adsit, John Lutz and so many more. I’ve reviewed over 50 shows and this will be my 165th post. But the craziest thing that LAFS has accomplished is somehow gaining the love, support and loyalty of thousands of individuals in the comedy community and there are no words to express how grateful I am to every single person who ever emailed LAFS, requested a show to be reviewed, responded to a social media post or stopped me in a bathroom to tell me how much they appreciated this blog.
There are so many thank yous I have to give, there’s no chance I’ll ever cover all of them. But first, I need to single out one individual specifically, to whom I owe an infinite amount of gratitude. Cameron Scheetz joined LAFS and committed himself entirely. He believed in me and he believed in LAFS and his unconditional support and loyalty are two of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. LAFS might not have made it to two years if it wasn’t for him. He is one of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever met, so Cameron, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’d also like to thank Brynne Ramella for stepping up in such a big way, even for a short period of time, as well as Michael Jordan and the rest of the LAFS team for believing this thing was worth their time and energy.
I started this blog to give the Chicago comedy community a larger voice and I think it’s safe to say that LAFS has succeeded. I apologize that LAFS will no longer be able to assist in continuing this mission, however, I am certain that you will find new outlets for your voices to be heard. You are the reason LAFS came as far as it did, so thank you, thank you very much.
This blog has been a part of my identity for over two years and it is with a very heavy heart I finish this post. Thank you for your support. Thank you for believing in me and for continuing to believe in the strength and importance of comedy. After two years, the greatest insight I have discovered about life and comedy is that they are synergistic. While they fuel one another, experiencing them together is far greater than experiencing them individually. We laugh when we’re happy and we laugh when we’re sad and in the end… life’s just one big funny scene.
Thank you to everyone for everything. I love you all.
Kiley
