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Step into an infinite world of stories

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Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

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.

Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)

Before we go on (brief! I promise!) hiatus and move to a seasonal format, Jamie takes a look at your submitted stories about being the main character -- from viral pets to grieving online to reckoning with your relationship to a changing internet, we explore the spectrum of what it means to be too online. Bonus: one of Jamie's favorite memes of all time calls in!
 

Thank you for making the first year of Sixteenth Minute so special, see you soon <3
 
Buy Raw Dog here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250847751/rawdog/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

mailbag: your 'i was the main character' stories

In my day, there were but three things middle schoolers cared about -- BADGERS, MUSHROOMS, AND SNAKES. This week, we look at the peak of Flash animation -- Jonti Picking, aka Mr. Weebl's masterpiece "Badger Badger Mushroom," and the obsessive subculture that was Newgrounds flash animation of the 2000s. How do you become an iconic animator online? Here's a tip: be an incredible musician already. Jamie talks to the multi-talented Jonti about how he makes art born from problem-solving.
 
Follow Jonti: https://www.youtube.com/@weebl
 
See Jamie on book tour for Raw Dog!: https://us.macmillan.com/author/jamieloftus
 
Watch Boston PD Zamboni Crimes Division: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRTunzDofwY&list=PLTHWo4zMtfja4vxOAxnyDK0VXGpRhvRW5

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

badger badger mushroom (with jonti picking)

We all know that Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch was the face of a memecoin crypto scandal, and most know that the SEC excused it wholesale. What we don't fully know is why it was so easy to get away with it -- in our grand Hawk Tuah finale, Jamie speaks with former SEC enforcement attorney John Reed Stark about how the state of cryptocurrency can do more than sink a fledgling influencer's career, it can tank a whole economy. 
 
Follow John Reed Stark's work here: https://www.johnreedstark.com/
 
Come see Jamie on tour for Raw Dog starting next week! https://us.macmillan.com/tours/jamie-loftus-raw-dog/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaf-I3pdBDpG51TvRPCIfkS08847rolEcVNOqDZCUX8Hq9t9sZlX9idj_DI9NQ_aem_niy1HGU3U4vldbC-KP7JsA
 

BEFORE MAY 9TH, send a voice memo of your experience being the main character to: smalliceresurfacer@gmail.com for your chance to be on an upcoming episode of SIxteenth Minute!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

why the SEC ignored the hawk tuah scam feat. john reed stark

We're switching to a seasonal format on Sixteenth Minute in a few weeks, and to close the chapter on week-to-week main characters, we want to know -- have you ever been the main character? And if not, how has your relationship to the internet changed? For our May 20th episode, we'll be airing your stories!
 
Send your voicemail to: smalliceresurfacer@gmail.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

have you ever been the main character?

Let’s catch up with Haliey ‘Hawk Tuah’ Welch since the fallout of the crypto scam that undercut her sixteenth minute. While most didn’t stick around to see what happened, a lot about the crypto world has empowered Team Tuah to keep going — getting one over on the government, a second botched pump and dump scheme, and a suspiciously timed podcast relaunch. To what end? We’ve got some ideas.
 
See Jamie on tour for RAW DOG! https://us.macmillan.com/tours/jamie-loftus-raw-dog/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaf-I3pdBDpG51TvRPCIfkS08847rolEcVNOqDZCUX8Hq9t9sZlX9idj_DI9NQ_aem_niy1HGU3U4vldbC-KP7JsA
 
Watch Coffeezilla’s breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZVDY5jNYM&t=696s

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

the hawk tuah flop comeback

In our final installment of our Tay Zonday series, Jamie speaks with the one and only Adam "Tay" Bahner about how he navigated his viral fame, and how the internet has changed beyond recognition from the days of "Chocolate Rain."
 
Follow Tay here: https://www.instagram.com/tayzonday/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

how tay zonday reunited with adam bahner

In part two of our Tay Zonday series, Adam Bahner gets into his political awakening, and how it affected his relationship to his family, his creative work, and himself. Wanna get radicalized? Wanna get radicalized AGAIN? This is the episode for you.
 
Follow Tay Zonday here: https://www.instagram.com/tayzonday/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

chocolate rain: a political awakening

There are few internet videos more iconic than Tay Zonday’s ‘Chocolate Rain,’ but it took over a decade for the song to be recognized for the politically charged ballad it is. How did we miss it? In part one of our Tay Zonday series, Jamie gets into the history of political music, the naïveté of the early Internet and the ‘post racial Internet,’ and Tay shares more about how he grew up and into one of the most misunderstood cultural figures of his generation.
 
VOTE FOR WE THE UNHOUSED IN THE WEBBYS BEFORE 4/17!
 
Webby Awards People’s Voice
 
Follow Tay Zonday: https://www.instagram.com/tayzonday

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

the world according to tay zonday

After eight long years of research, Dr. Ally Louks posted to Twitter about completing her Ph. D : "Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose." The Elon-fueled right-wing internet freaked out. In an exclusive interview, Jamie speaks with Dr. Louks about the experience of reclaiming the narrative around a nasty online backlash to better educate anti-intellectuals on the sense we ignore the most.
 
 Follow Dr. Ally here: https://x.com/DrAllyLouks
 
Read Dr. Ally's original thread here: https://x.com/DrAllyLouks/status/1861872149373297078?lang=en
 
vote for "we the unhoused" for a webby before april 17th!: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/shows/public-service-activism

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

the smell doctor who was 'too woke': dr. ally louks

Where do you go from pivoting your brand to nihilism? Horny, my friends. WILDLY horny. In our final installment of the Sentient Horny Brand series, Jamie speaks to the mind behind Duolingo’s chaotic, wildly horny social media presence Zaria Parvez. Remember when you couldn’t get the owl giving birth to sponges off your feed? Remember when you didn’t even WANT to? That was her, and getting there was a wild ride.
We talk about her journey from nearly taking down a Christian school to changing the way that Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumes advertising, one shitpost at a time. 
 
Follow Zaria here: 
https://www.instagram.com/zariaparvez
 
Join us on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/SixteenthMinute/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

the horny duolingo bird lives: zaria parvez

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.

the age of algospeak feat. the etymology nerd

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