Original Commentary
Of course, You Say it First starts where Unlike Minerva ends.

Modern Commentary
In Unlike Minerva, Brisbane and the cast lived and worked in The Minerva Theatre, a vaudeville establishment theatre. So the sequel starts with the theatre being dismantled.
The overarching theme of You Say it First as a whole is tearing down the past to build yourself a future. It started there and it ended there. We didn't know where it was going when we started it, so it worked out nicely- Terrence

Original Commentary
Peter Nelson is a singer. He and Brisbane performed together, at least sometimes. See Unlike Minerva (http://unlikeminerva.com) for the story in full detail.

Modern Commentary
Yeah, the standard singer-and-comedian pairing, like Martin and Lewis. Or the comedian-with-a-singer-on-his-show pairing, like Jack Benny and Dennis Day. Brisbane would've called Peter his best friend.
It's funny. The comic starts, not with introducing its minor characters, but seeing them off. They wouldn't show up again for several years. They are the past. The past must be torn down to make room for the future. - Terrence

Original Commentary
To be more precise, You Say it First starts with Unlike Minerva being disassembled. That grey fellow is Goliath, who oversaw the day-to-day operations of the theatre.

Modern Commentary
Goliath was one of those characters who I never quite found a place for. He was prominently featured in the various planning documents for Unlike Minerva and on paper he was important, but he barely showed up in the comic itself. This is Goliath's last speaking appearance. He showed up again in the background of a flashback a year later. Dude didn't even get a mention in the ten-year reunion.
After Unlike Minerva, I had a rule: "No work means no work". If I don't have anything for a character, they don't show up. This was because in Unlike Minerva, Caleb (who shows up next comic) had this whole set of obsessions - "the outside world doesn't exist", "I don't know what a woman is". After correcting him two or three times and not getting through, Brisbane and Kimberly just kinda...stopped correcting him. They had their own thing going on and no real reason to care about his delusions. But I had Caleb show up every few weeks just to remind readers that he was around. So I decided I wasn't going to do that again. - Terrence

Original Commentary
Peter, Caleb, and Goliath's last appearances, at least for a while. They showed up here because I like them enough to give them a proper send-off. But their world had to be torn down for Brisbane's story to go on.

Modern Commentary
Caleb was Brisbane's rival/antagonist. He was a talented performer who could do just about anything vaudeville-related and almost nothing else.
"Spike" was Caleb's nickname for Brisbane. I was directly inspired by Peanuts, where Charlie Brown was either "Charles", "Chuck", or "That round-headed kid", depending on who was talking to him.
There was a whole lot of Caleb lore that never really made it into the comic because there wasn't anybody who'd think to ask him about it - Terrence

Original Commentary
Of course, Brisbane should know by now that Sofia would never admit to needing help.

Modern Commentary
Yes, his younger sister (who is decidedly not a performer) is staying at the theatre too. She was at a private school and was sufficiently headstrong that it was decided she should go on independent study elsewhere. They didn't care where as long as it wasn't nearby. So she got sent to live with her brother in a vaudeville theatre. - Terrence