Wow If True

This week, we talk about Joshfight, Jeopardy, finding internet community in weird places, Isabel’s recipe for intentionally bad bibimbap, and our scheduling update. Long story short, to prevent burnout, we are making the decision to take 2 weeks off and then start releasing bi-weekly episode. This will make the show better and more sustainable in the longterm! Thanks for y’alls support thus far &l...

Today in the lives of your intrepid hosts: Isabel gets really good life advice from Wil Wheaton, Amanda investigates TikTok’s “industry plant punk band,” and also, what do you do with 2.5 pounds of rainbow sprinkles? We also talk about The Circle, the millennial vs. gen z debate (again), and rank people’s Dungeons and Dragons character names, like Kyle the Warlock.   Show Notes The Tramp Stamps dr...

When Steve Ibsen was in high school, he made the Kitty Cat Dance, which went viral – but, this was 2004, when YouTube didn’t even exist, and the internet was even wilder than it is now, so he lost control of the Kitty Cat Dance! His meme was used without his permission by Hot Topic and Roblox, and finally, 17 years later, Steve turned the video into an NFT to regain some control. What the #*$*(@ i...

It’s just us this week! We talk about Lil Nas X’s blood shoes, old tweets about Sandstorm by Darude, the legality of URL hoarding, Omegle adventures, Fuck Yeah blogs on Tumblr, Wizard SATs, Nyan Cat, and more.   Show Notes Montero (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swmTBVI83k Lil Nas X Apologizes for the Satan Shoe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESf8Un3g9zM Sha...

A dating app for people stuck in the Suez Canal, sweaters for your drone, venture capitalist trading cards, real life blue checks, a recruiting agency for quitting your job – Danielle Baskin makes a living off of internet jokes gone too far, and we’re so here for it. We talk about turning memes into businesses, karaoke on the Suez Canal, putting your drone on Tinder, and more.   Show Notes Forever...

Mike Schubert joins us to talk about reevaluating your “personal brand” after making it big on the internet, being in a parasocial relationship with thousands of people, and launching his new show Modern Muckraker! We ask Mike our burning questions: is it ethical to keep making fandom content when the creator of the source material turns out to be… uh… a TERF? What was it like when Vine collapsed?...

It’s just another episode of Wow If True in which Isabel finds a way to mention Supernatural, a television show which is extremely no longer on air. But it’s also not just another episode, because journalist John Loeppky joins us to talk about the relationship between disability and memes! Yes, memes intersect with all aspects of culture. Other conversation topics include Isabel’s sword collection...

The Garages write music about the Blaseball, a web-browser horror/comedy game taking the internet by reverb. It’s a fanband! Like fanfiction, but music, but also extremely punk rock. Today we’re here with Robin Yu, one of the Garages’ over 100 members, to talk about going collectively viral—but also to talk about the Bee Movie, Twilight, Supernatural, Pokemon Go, and a bunch of other similar malar...

Ten episodes in, and finally, Amanda went viral! Unfortunately, it was for a dick joke. Meanwhile, Isabel is getting paid on Tumblr to psychoanalyze people. We also discuss Amanda’s long lost Hollywood relative, why people are selling ocean galaxy lights on Twitter, cryptoart, and a life-changing truth about none pizza with left beef. As our lives slowly spin out of control, we also take time to r...

We can’t seem to stop talking about the value of workers unions on our meme podcast. This week, we dig into the role of Twitter in the Reply All/Gimlet/Bon Appetit drama that’s unfolding. Also, Amanda tells the story about how recently, she accidentally became a dog’s press secretary. She also shares how not-so-recently, she participated in a Lincoln-Douglass debate about the Cullen family at Bord...

If you think shitposting can’t get you anywhere, think again. Meet Organizer Memes, the Hannah Montana of progressive political Twitter: by day, they’re just another organizer, knocking door-to-door in the rain. By night, they’re an anonymous Internet personality rubbing virtual elbows with Senators like Jon Ossoff, who they got to tweet “Memes” once. But memes aren’t all fun and games – the accou...

Isabel invests. Amanda doesn’t. But, we both play Animal Crossing. Amanda McLoughlin (Spirits, Join the Party) stops by to teach us about the Gamestop + Wall Street Bets situation by comparing it to turnip sales in Animal Crossing! Other conversation topics include ghosting famous people, the Great Gatsby Undead, Amanda’s secret residence on 123 Reading Road, and the secret sci-fi writers forums....

In this very meta interview with Eric Silver, Head of Creative at Multitude Productions, we discover that all podcasts are actually just about podcasts. What’s fair use? No one knows! What are the four pillars of mediocre D&D content? You can probably guess. Why is being Jewish on the internet so fraught sometimes? You can probably guess that one too. How much can Join the Party fans pay Eric...

After the Inauguration, the internet has become even stranger. Why are Senators feuding on TikTok? Is it possible that Dean/Castiel canonization in the CW’s Supernatural is a predictor of major events in U.S. politics? Plus, we’re joined by special guest Tatiana Tenreyro, a pop culture journalist who went viral for her Bernie meme Instagram account @theberniealbums. The pure joy of seeing Bernie i...

Meet Emily Temple-Wood, winner of the Wikipedian of the Year Award and actual internet famous Wikipedia person! Since she was 12, Emily has been writing and editing articles on Wikipedia. After realizing the gender disparity in both the encyclopedia’s content and editors, she started the viral Project Women Scientists. In this episode, we talk about coming of age online, managing internet harassme...

It may be worth pointing out that we recorded this on New Year’s Eve, and… a lot of things have happened on the internet since then. This is a relic of a simpler time. Speaking of relics from simpler times, we have a lot of opinions about Midnight Sun, and we decided that now’s the time to share them. Amanda mourns her Teen Jeopardy career that ended before it began, and Isabel is watching Hanniba...

Chase Howell moderates hundreds of Facebook groups on Lemgthbook, a corner of the internet where over 150,000 people commit to never use the letter N. We have a lot of questions about this, and we get a lot of answers. In our first interview, Chase tells us the story of her rise to niche internet fame on Lemgthbook.   Show Notes Lemgthbook: http://lemgthbook.com/ Lemgthy Earth: https://www.faceboo...

Hey, it’s our first episode! We introduce you to your intrepid co-hosts Isabel and Amanda as they strive to become famous on the internet. We talk about Obama reading Marx to impress ethereal bisexuals, the end of Supernatural (it was still running!?), the secret underground world of fanfic publishing, and so much more. Thoughts on the show? Tweet us at @wowiftruepod!   Show Notes That time when A...