Episode 334 – Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse with Brittlestar

Mark interviews social media funny man Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds) about his creative work and his new book Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, welcomes a new patron, and offers a word from this episode’s sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Mark’s movie trivia guides to Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Die Hard.

In their conversation, Mark and Stewart talk about:

Where the name “Brittlestar” came fromStewart’s background as a musician and how he incorporates that into the parody music his does as part of his video skitsHow the music he now does for social media posts has broadly opened up the various styles and genres he can play and play withStewart always writing stuff since he was a kidThe way the book came from a series of topics that he wanted to riff on but which might not work as well for a videoBeing a fan of music and television and videos and trying to produce content from the perspective of the audience and of things he would like to seeBeginning to do social media content back in 2013Some of the early viral videos including the “Put Your Finger on the Screen” series and “Summer is Not Over”How Stewart, his wife Shannon, and their two sons were all involved in the creation of their social media content, and how Disney and that social media business came along in the nick of time to save themThe KFC-branded “Explaining Canada Day to Americans” video that rec’d more than 10 million views than that year’s most popular Nike videoThe process of how they create these videos, often based on a concept and a punch-line with a bit of winging itGetting into writing specific scripts for these skits about five years ago, which led into the monologue-style videosWhy their living room is often dubbed the place where ideas go to dieThe “The Morning Show Thing” show that Stewart and Shannon started in 2015 – which is returning again in a slightly differen formatHaving to convince Shannon to come out in front of the cameraStewart’s new book WELCOME TO THE STUPIDPOCALYPSE: Survival Tips for the DumbageddonSome of the differences between writing essays that were 1000 words verses a one and a half minute videoThe irreverence that Stewart was able to inject into the text of the bookBeing contacted by a literary agency that asked if Stewart was interested in writing a bookThe constant mistake humans make in compartmentalizing themselves into boxes such as “left wing” or “right wing” and how we get hung up on those thingsThe foreword (written by Ryan Reynolds), the middleword (written by Mary Trump) and the afterword (written by Colin Mochrie) which was partially inspired by something Eric Idle put on the cover of one of his booksStewart’s thoughts on the digital umbilical chordA strategy for dealing with trolls onlineThe two times in the past ten years of being on social media where responding to negative comments actually worked out okayStewart’s theory that Canadian cuisine is a defianceAdvice that Stewart would offer to other creatives: “Don’t make art for artists.”And more…Full video interview

After the interview Mark reflects on the unique opportunity to chat with someone who has inspired you and Stewart’s advice about not making art for other artists, but rather for the specific consumers of your product.

Links of Interest:

Brittlestar’s WebsiteYouTube TwitterInstagramTikTokWelcome to the StupidpocalypseEP 333 – 10 Things You Likely Didn’t Know About Draft2DigitalMark’s YouTube ChannelBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsBest Book Ever PodcastLovers Moon PodcastThe Relaxed AuthorBuy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook DirectPublishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark’s Canadian Werewolf BooksThis Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover’s MoonHex and the CityThe Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Brittlestar, a.k.a. Stewart Reynolds, is a bespectacled every-dad who has become a popular online media personality over the past decade. Every week, hundreds of thousands of people watch his videos on various social media channels. Some of Brittlestar’s followers include Henry Winkler, Ryan Reynolds, Ken Jeong, Rex Chapman, Yvette Nicole Brown, and many other politicians and journalists. Brittlestar videos have been viewed more than a combined 600 million times, allowing him to gain a global fanbase, attend speaking engagements all over North America, receive an invitation to the White House, and engage in collaborations with celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay, Alan Thicke, and the Property Brothers.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0