By Jayleen Rolon
Staff Writer
Cumulative laughter of 500 people makes a distanced world much closer.
On Wednesday Feb. 24, the College Union Board (CUB) held a virtual Q&A style comedy event with internet comedy duo Tiny Meat Gang, which is made up of Cody Ko and Noel Miller.
Cody Kolodziejzyk, known as Cody Ko, is a Canadian influencer who originated on the now-defunct social media platform Vine. Ever since, Ko transitioned to YouTube where he creates humor-based commentary videos on other social media content and creators, with over six million cumulative subscribers between his two channels.
Noel Miller, fellow former successful Viner and close friend and ex-coworker of Ko’s, also transitioned to YouTube in 2015. His separate channel has acquired over two million subscribers, a popular series being “Reading Steamy Tweets,” which Ko is featured on.
As a duo, the two rose to fame through their hit reaction series “That’s Cringe” on Ko’s YouTube channel. The pair started co-hosting the Tiny Meat Gang podcast in 2017, releasing nearly 200 episodes since then and winning a Shorty Award for Best Podcast in 2019.
They also have produced music that has also been well received by fans, including a collaboration with popular musician Blackbear.
“We can’t just keep doing the same old thing,” Ko teased about the future plans of Tiny Meat Gang, or TMG, to improve their podcast and advance their careers. “We wanna turn it up.”
The audience flooded the chatroom with references to past YouTube videos and jokes that prompted hilarious responses from Miller in particular, including a comment that he resembled Connie Springer from “Attack on Titans” that caused him to jokingly reference the audience as “weebs.”
“I thought it was gonna be like PG and stuff because we’re at school and everything,” said Gracie Cipparulo, a freshman psychology major, following the event. “They were actually themselves and not a watered down, school friendly version so that just made it so much better.”
This playful interaction between the audience and the comedians continued throughout the event as Ko and Miller made use of the online medium of the event by making fun of anything from unfunny virtual backgrounds to audio quality. This created an atmosphere of connection in the event, despite the virtual confinement that is unusual for comedy events including their pre-pandemic tours.
Despite the heavy presence of humor throughout the event that rang true to Ko and Miller’s dynamic, there were several serious moments throughout the discussion. One of these was the conversation revolving around Ko and Miller’s former jobs in computer science and that transition into their many facets of entertainment.
“Whatever you’re passionate about, you don’t have to make money right away,” Ko said when asked to give advice to graduating students who want to go into careers outside of their field of study. “Take the first steps and doors will open.”
When the Signal reached out for audience reactions to the event as the show was closing, Miller jokingly commented on not wanting “free clout,” or publicity given to The Signal through association, providing a perfect representation of the lovingly mocking interactions at the core of the event.
