Okay, so, the goofy thing I did about the 2020 Republican National Convention actually did capture that traffic I noticed on google console. Most of the people who clicked through got the joke, and laughed, a few people didn’t and that’s all good. But there were two VERY weird outcomes I had no idea were in the cards.
Part of the list I’d made showed up as memes on reddit and facebook. Like, screenshot/image type memes, not text memes – only the screenshots and images weren’t of my article. It looked like someone else just copied it and shared it. THOSE were going crazy viral. Whoever did that was smart; my list was a little long, although I was working to a point and a punchline in it; being a comedy writer has taught me that sometimes, you push a joke till it’s not funny and then the pattern settles in and you can come back with a good zinger at the end. That’s my theory at least. The point is, I think I made a mistake and that whomever did the memes had it right – shorter was better and punchier.
Do I care that I didn’t get credit? Absolutely not. Hey, if folks have fun and get a laugh after such an awful year, that’s GOOD. I should worry more about getting credit. I didn’t get credit at ViacomCBSInteractiveParamountPlusDoublePlusGood for the “Here’s how you use Zoom to livestream from home” google doc I wrote. I should care about that kind of thing from a career perspective. I absolutely don’t, though. The point of that was to help people keep my work friends in NYC working while, y’know, everyone in New York City was dying around us. I should care about the credit more. I don’t know if I ever will.
Anyway, so, somehow, an intern/reporter named Devon at USA Today stumbled on all of this, and decided to interview me about it. If it was anyone else I would’ve declined the interview, but, I figure if she’s a college intern, especially this year, maybe this is an early byline for her? I just wanted to help out. I should’ve asked her.
Devon’s questions were very earnest, and she took it seriously from a fact-checking perspective when she asked, “… was ‘The Bat Who Started the Pandemic’ an actual guest or did you intend that as a joke?”
I said, “No, the list is 100% factual and accurate,” until I finally said, “Sorry, I really am just joking, I didn’t think anyone would take this seriously the moment that ‘the my pillow guy’ showed up as the fourth entry.” We’ll see what and how I’ll get quoted, if the article gets published. I mean, I guess USA Today is hard-up for content? I’m not that important.
Still, it was interesting. She wondered if I’d coordinated with the people who’d done the memes I mentioned. I said I wish I knew who did it, but no, I have no idea. Whoever did it was a master of timing. I doubt the article will get published, seriously, with everything going on there’s no way me and that dumb list are important enough.
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edit 2020.08.24 – nope! I was wrong, it got published on USAToday.com today – Fact check: Meme is partly false about Republican National Convention speakers. What a way to get quoted in our nation’s actual paper of record.
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edit 2020.08.31 – I got a talking to from my manager at ViacomCBSInteractiveParamountPlusDoublePlusGood about all of this. Not a nasty one. Mostly exasperated. I felt bad that he got grief for it. Because of course he did. The jist of it was, “don’t talk to USA Today without talking to us first again.” I said, “the next time I find a viral keyword hole related to politics and fill it with a satirical lystical, I will absolutely bring it to management’s attention first.” He laughed. It’s nice to help people laugh during times like this, y’know?
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