Jay Pinkerton

{{short description|Canadian writer}}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Gdc 2012 wolpaw faliszek pinkerton cropped (cropped).jpg

| imagesize =

| name = Jay Pinkerton

| caption = Pinkerton in 2012

| pseudonym =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|6|15|mf=y}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

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| occupation = satirist, humourist, webmaster, managing editor

| nationality = Canadian

| alma_mater = Queen's University

| period =

| genre = Comedy, video games

| subject =

| movement =

| notableworks = Portal 2, Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life: Alyx

}}

Jay Pinkerton (born June 15, 1977) is a Canadian humourist known for co-writing, with Erik Wolpaw, the story of Valve's video game Portal 2.{{cite web|last=Braga|first=Matt|title=Q&A with Portal 2 writers Erik Wolpaw and Jay Pinkerton|url=http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/19/qa-with-portal-2-writers-erik-wolpaw-and-jay-pinkerton/|work=National Post|date=Apr 19, 2011}} A former editor of both Cracked.com and Cracked magazine, PlayStation World magazine referred to him as a "one-man gag machine".{{cite web | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/184487/previews/this-is-vegas/ | author=PSW Staff | title=This is Vegas Gameplay Preview | date=March 13, 2008 | access-date=December 4, 2012}} Prior to joining Cracked, Pinkerton served as the managing editor of NationalLampoon.com, the website of the national comedy and film brand.

Jay Pinkerton initially registered his website, Jaypinkerton.com, to be a portfolio of his comedy and artwork. Afterwards, Pinkerton joined the forums of the Internet humour website "Pointless Waste of Time" (PWOT), and took the attention of the site's owner, David Wong, with whom Pinkerton worked on a now-defunct satirical news commentary, the "News Skim", and other comedy articles. Around this time, he first published his redone Spider-Man comics, spawning an internet phenomenon.

In addition to Cracked, Pinkerton's work has also appeared on McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Modern Humorist, CollegeHumor.com and numerous other sites. He has also had his humour writing published in print, including in Jest Magazine, McSweeney’s Best Non-Required Reading 2003, National Lampoon’s Big Book of Love, The CollegeHumor Guide to College and Golden Words.

Pinkerton joined Valve in 2008 and served as a writer for their games. In June 2017, he announced he had left Valve for unspecified reasons.{{cite web | url = http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/07/jay-pinkerton-becomes-the-fourth-valve-writer-to-leave-in-two-years | title = Jay Pinkerton Becomes the 4th Valve Writer to Leave in Two Years | first = Hope | last = Corrigan | date = June 7, 2017 | access-date = June 7, 2017 | work = IGN }} However, he returned to resume working as a writer for Valve in July 2018.{{cite web | url = https://www.mcvuk.com/business/veteran-writer-jay-pinkerton-returns-to-valve | title = Veteran writer Jay Pinkerton returns to Valve | last = Dransfield | first = Ian | date = July 30, 2018 | access-date = July 30, 2018 | work = MCV }} Some of his work on return included writing for Half-Life: Alyx, the first original AAA VR title released in 2020.{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw | title = The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx | date = November 21, 2019 | access-date = November 21, 2019 | first = Geoff | last = Keighley | author-link = Geoff Keighley | via = YouTube }} Pinkerton worked as a writer on Team Fortress comics and helped confirm the release of the seventh and final issue in 2024.Stanton, Rick. [https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/not-a-hoaxvalve-writers-confirm-the-official-team-fortress-2-comic-will-continue-over-7-years-after-the-last-issue/ "'Not a hoax!'—Valve writers confirm the official Team Fortress 2 comic will continue, after over 7 years on ice"], PC Gamer, 11 July 2024.