Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)

Where do you go from pivoting your brand to nihilism? Horny, my friends. WILDLY horny. In our final installment of the Sentient Horny Brand series, Jamie speaks to the mind behind Duolingo’s chaotic, wildly horny social media presence Zaria Parvez. Remember when you couldn’t get the owl giving birth to sponges off your feed? Remember when you didn’t even WANT to? That was her, and getting there was a wild ride.

Picture this: it's 2020, you're clinging to sanity, and a frozen steak your mom used to eat after school called SteakUmm is now tweeting in the hopes of turning you into a socialist. But... what? Can one be radicalized by hot dog grade meat? Is what's being sold here an idea or microwaveable meat slop? In our penultimate installment of the Sentient Brands series, Jamie gets into the weeds with the mind behind the SteakUmm account, ...

In part two of our 'Sentient Brands on Social Media' series, Jamie speaks to the GOAT of online joke writing -- the great Amy Brown, who defined the Wendy's brand on Twitter, then got radicalized and left Twitter in a blaze of bullying Elon Musk. We take a look at the brief moment where getting replied to by a cheeseburger could get you on the national news, and take a look at how a girl from Ohio goes from "Amy from Myspace" ...

In part one of our ‘Sentient Brands on Social Media’ series, Jamie speaks with Serenity Discko, the original media writer behind the teenage edgelord Denny’s Tumblr account. But worry not, we go DEEP — Jamie sets the stage by tracing back our history of parasocial relationships with brands all the way back to World War I. Buckle in, the brands are getting angry, the brands are getting horny, and the brands w...

This week, Jamie talks with Adam Aleksik aka The Etymology Nerd about how relying on algorithms to communicate is changing the way we talk and scream at each other, and the inevitability that your nephew is going to grow up to say "seggs" without a shred of irony. 

Learn more about Adam's work here: https://www.etymologynerd.com/

Pre-order Algospeak: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468266/algospeak-by-aleksic-adam/978152994914...

Jamie continues her conversation with Liam Kyle Sullivan, AKA Kelly of "Shoes" fame, Mrs. Cunningham of "Muffins" fame, and an actor and comedian workshopping a show about what it all means. Bonus: Jamie's cousin Chloe stops by to explain why kids from New England had no idea Mrs. Cunningham was "doing an accent."

Come to The Bechdel Cast's Oscars Spectacular Celebration this Sunday: https://www.dynastytypewriter.com/calendar-squad...

This episode rules. This episode does not suck! Jamie meets up with Liam Kyle Sullivan, one of YouTube's earliest stars with his character Kelly of "Shoes," "Muffins," and much more, before he workshopped his one-person show in Los Angeles. Nearly two decades out from Shoes, Liam reflects on learning what YouTube was by becoming famous on it, how Hollywood struggled to translate internet fame to conventional media in the 2000s, and...

When Zoë Roth was four years old, her dad snapped a photo of her in front of a neighborhood home being burned with its owners permission to clear the land -- and the rest is internet history. This week, Jamie goes in depth with Zoë twenty years later about becoming a meme just as she started to form memories, how she's chosen to interact (or not interact) with it over the years, and why she chose to forge her own path. Al...

Our weirdest episode yet? Let's GO. This week, Jamie gets to the bottom of the backrooms, one of the most famous images on the internet -- posted to a horror-themed 4chan board in 2019, one blurry picture of an empty expanse of offices inspired teenage horror fans, online sleuths, and adults sinking into existential dread alike. We're looking at all three corners of the backrooms' history, from its legacy as a monster-filled creepy...

In honor of the ten year anniversary of the left shark moment at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show in 2015, a very special rerun!

Sixteenth Minute exclusive! We’ve got the first in depth interview with Bryan Gaw, aka the Left Shark himself. 

This week, Jamie revisits the 2015 Super Bowl saga that was Left Shark — the costumed cartilaginous fish that went rogue in 2015 beside Katy Perry during a chorus of ‘Tee...

You earned it, Sixteenth Minute listeners! As a little treat, Jamie talks with fellow Cool Zone Media host Ed Zitron of Better Offline about the nature of the Hawk Tuah crypto scam, and whether he thinks anything will come of the pending lawsuit. 

Listen to Better Offline: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart 

Ed's Links:

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

Between June and December 2024, Haliey Welch completed one of the most astounding main character runs of all time. Beginning as someone with no social media, catapulted to fame all but against her will after talking to on-the-street YouTubers targeting drunk women, the end of the year saw Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch acting as the face of exploitative memecoin scandal. In our final part of the Hawk Tuah series, we look into the history...

In this Hawk Tuah bonus episode, Jamie connects the man on the street TikTok content that made Haliey Welch famous to its media ancestor — the Girls Gone Wild craze of the 2000s. We talk with former GGW street team member and incredible podcaster Courtney Kocak to learn more about how exploiting drunk women for men’s profit became a million dollar industry. 

Follow Courtney’s work @courtneykocak and listen to...

Let's do some discourse on that thang. To start our series on 2024's Main Character Haliey Welch, AKA Hawk Tuah Girl, we're taking a closer look at how a Tennessee twenty-something with no social media and a factory job became a household name in a matter of weeks in 2024. Jamie looks at the culture of TikTok and YouTube man-on-the-street surveillance channels, and tracks where the channel that catapulted Haliey Welch to fame faile...

Wildfires have devastated Southern California in the past week, while mainstream media has remained fairly fixated on the wealthier communities and celebrities affected. Meanwhile, the majority of lives lost were in the middle class neighborhood of Altadena, and mutual aid efforts have blossomed across the city to address those affected. This week, Jamie reaches out to writers and organizers in Los Angeles to take a closer look at ...

To celebrate Willie McNabb's big 30-50 feral hogs win, we're re-running his debut on the show! Next week, we're starting the year right with an in-depth look at Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch's moment in the spotlight that even surprised Jamie with how much research was required.

LA, SF, and Portland tour dates here: https://linktr.ee/smalliceresurfacer

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Legit question for rural Americans - How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs...

In our final episode about the manosphere, Jamie talks to people who have been directly involved with and continue to navigate being targeted by the ever-evolving space over more than two decades. Three people across three generations explain how they got in and out of red pill and MRA spaces, a teacher in Texas explains their struggle to get through to teenagers taken in by Andrew Tate, and a researcher on incels expands on her st...