Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) is a weekly show from Jamie Loftus that takes a closer look at the internet’s main characters – one part reported, one part interviews, and one part Jamie collapsing her permanently internet-damaged brain. Whether it’s an enduring meme or a dreaded Character of the Day distinction, it’s the kind of notoriety that often results in little money, unwarranted attention, and a confusing blurred line of consent. What do you do when you get more attention and judgement than any one person is built to handle? The Sixteenth Minute of Fame is the place where we figure that out, putting people in the context of the moment they've been frozen inside of.
Jamie Loftus concludes the "Sentient Horny Brands" series by interviewing Zaria Parvez, the mind behind Duolingo's wildly successful and chaotic social media presence. They discuss Zaria's journey from a viral Catholic school video to transforming how Gen Z engages with advertising. The episode explores the strategy, ethics, and impact of Duolingo's unique brand voice on social media.
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, writer and social media director Nathan Allebach. Spoiler alert: ...
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" at the mall to a generation-defining social voice. Next week: nih...
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 want to be your best friend. Follow Serenity’s work here: Se...
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/9781529949148 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
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-up See Liam's show in Los Angeles this Thursday: https://www.eve...
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 how his relationship with Kelly has changed over the years. Do t...
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. Also, a deep dive into meme managers, and why there are so many dea...
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 creepypasta for the teens, a 'liminal space' for doomscrolling millenni...
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 ‘Teenage Dream,’ capturing the world’s heart. The person ...
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 https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@...
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 of crypto, a play by play of the Hawk Coin scandal, and what it ...
In part two of our deep dive into Haliey Welch, aka Hawk Tuah Girl, Jamie looks at the media blitz Haliey was sent on after her viral moment and securing management. Without the Ellen Industrial Complex to reel her in, we dig into the world of vaguely conservative video podcasts, and how all roads lead to sports gambling scams. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 Private Parts Unknown here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...
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 failed to get proper consent, what their business model is, and why Ha...
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 who will be at the forefront of this ongoing crisis. Theo Henders...
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 --- Legit question for rural Americans - How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?...
This week, Jamie hosts the iconic award show THE MINNIES, where listeners voted on their favorite moments on Sixteenth Minute this year and Jamie talks about the year in fifteenth-minute internet history. See you in the new year, babes! Bechdel Cast tour tickets here: https://linktr.ee/smalliceresurfacer Learn more about Kulture City here: https://www.kulturecity.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
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 struggle to manage her mental health while exploring a world that d...
You win, I'll talk to men -- and for part three of our manosphere series, it's two brilliant men who are experts in this space. After taking a wide look at the manosphere, Jamie speaks with FD Signifier and Robert Evans about their experience studying the manosphere, and what to expect in the near future. Our final part airs next week! Follow FD Signifier's work: https://www.youtube.com/@FDSignifire Follow Robert Evans' work: https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/liste...
In part 2 of our manosphere series, Jamie takes a look at what the manosphere has become since it became a mainstream topic a decade ago. She traces its media and in-community responses from Gamergate and the Isla Vista killings, through the first Trump administration, into the #MeToo era, around the Kavanaugh hearings, and all the way to manosphere podcasts being name-checked at the second Trump acceptance speech. How has this space mutated to enter our governing -- or was it always that way? P...
The manosphere isn't just one of the election's biggest trending topics, it's also one of the biggest outputters of internet main characters -- so why have most of the conversations around it been so unproductive? In our first part of our series on the manosphere, Jamie interrogates the flawed ways in which media is talking about this space, and traces its origins from the 1970s all the way to Gamergate and the Isla Vista shootings. Then, she speaks with researcher Becca Lewis about where we go ...
A video of two Canadian men screaming at each other about whether Glinda the Good Witch was a witch or a princess has been going viral every six months since 2018... but no one knows who they are. UNTIL NOW. Jamie sits down with living legend Matt Passero to talk about his moment of infinite virality, why he's the rare character of the day who wants nothing to do with the spotlight, and why Glinda is a princess, actually. WE GOT THE EXCLUSIVE, BABY! Follow Day Bond and see Matt's tattoo here!: h...
Hello Sixteenth Minute heads! We'll be back next week with a brand new interview with the guy from the ~*sHe cAmE dOwN iN a bUbBlE bRo*~ video, but this week we are re-airing our episode on the 2015 phenomenon of The Dress. Tickets to Jamie's show 11/29 in LA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-tiny-man-is-trying-to-kill-me-tickets-1089424250259?aff=oddtdtcreator Donate to the Native Women's Collective: https://www.nativewomenscollective.org/ --- In 2015, the world was gripped by one question: is ...
For one day in 2021, all of social media was obsessing over... Gorilla Glue? Tessica Brown ran out of göt2b hair product and used Gorilla Glue instead and one month later, her hair hadn't moved at all. She turned to TikTok for help and immediately became a main character, prompting a complicated months-long saga that included custom surgery, Hollywood managers, a botched rap career, and some of the most startling and scary days of her life. Jamie talks to Tessica about the ordeal four years late...
In part two of our William Hung series, Jamie takes a look at two of the biggest conversations that William sparked upon his debut: the representation of Asian Americans in the U.S., and how reality shows remove authorship from their subjects. Twenty years later, what can we take away from this moment? We speak with sociologist Nancy Wang Yeun about her experience first encountering William’s narrative and the legacy of Asian representation up until that time, and reality show editing vet Steve ...
Twenty years ago, William Hung of "She Bangs" American Idol fame became one of the earliest people to straddle traditional media and the internet to become an overnight sensation. A notorious "bad audition" on one of the world's most famous shows, William built a whole career on a mix of positivity and negative attention, remaining firmly himself every step of the way. Warning: this episode contains severe 2004, from Angelfire fan sites to successful prime time TV to early-aughts xenophobia. Buc...
Of course the graverobbing episode couldn’t be one part! In part two of the Tmblr bone witch story, Jamie speaks with the leading voice in American human remains law, a New Orleans cemetery preservationist and of course, a real-life witch. Follow Tanya Marsh here: https://x.com/tmar22 Follow JV Hampton-Van Sant’s work and socials here: https://linktr.ee/RedBlaqueGolden Learn more about Save Our Cemeteries here: https://www.saveourcemeteries.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, MOTHERFUCKERS! This week, we’re diving deep into the Tumblr bone witch saga, the epic 2015 tale of internet-age graverobbing that all but exploded the internet. In late 2015, a witch named Ender Darling posted that they’d found some human bones in a New Orleans graveyard, and offered to mail them to other witches in a Facebook group called the Queer Witch Collective. What followed was bedlam – a debate on the ethics of private safe spaces, on bone thievery in New Orleans, and a ...
She's, with apologies to the Hawk Tuah lobby, the queen of the internet in 2024 -- baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng. Her fifteenth minute is far from over, but this week Jamie dives into the world of the viral zoo animal. She's far from the first, joining a legacy of viral animals whose life is flattened to a static image, without wondering why we're looking at them in the first place. We go into the ordeal that is becoming famous while captive, and Jamie speaks with zoologist Oliver, aka Dr. Wildlife,...
