Cory Snearowski is from New Jersey and has been told he is a pleasure to have in the classroom. He is a contributor for ClickHole and performs around New York City. This week I spoke with Snearowski about three of his favorite tweets, plus silverware, crowdfunding, and making tweets out of childhood memories.
Snearowski: I’m not sure what to say about this one. My friends and I were arguing what is an appropriate amount of burgers to give someone to show your love for them. I argued hard for five burgers. Apparently that’s way off. The answer is one. Always one.
Do you have strong feelings at all about talking about tweets in person and/or turning real life conversations into tweets?
I don’t really. I just find my voice is better when I’m around my friends, so I tend to be more successful writing during or after being with them.
Can you remember people you followed on Twitter early on that you’ve noticed influence your style?
When I started I didn’t really know how to use Twitter, as most people don’t. My friend, who is much more savvy on Twitter turned me to Rob Delaney, Shelby Fero, Megan Amram, and Dril. I went through phases trying to be like each one, which in the beginning is okay because they’re wonderful people to emulate, but eventually you’ll find what works for you. I’ve tried playing around with several voices, both good and bad. I remember @Leemanish was definitely a major influence, each of his jokes is so absurd and perfect.
Half of my childhood memories are of me being either uncomfortable or flat out terrified. Much of that fear was trying to be a good kid and becoming overwhelmed that I wouldn’t be seen as one. I always thought post-dinner formalities were those moments when the parents determined if you, the visitor, was a “good kid” or not. I couldn’t get a read on what the procedure was supposed to be after this dinner, so I panicked. In retrospect, I think we left the dishes on the table for the parents to take care of them, so they almost certainly noticed I stole their silverware.
Are there other feelings that you’ve noticed, like discomfort and fear, are conducive to jokes/tweets?
I’m not sure, because when it comes to tweets like those I’m not really inventing much, I’m just tweeting what I remember. I think it’s any emotion, really. There’s no set way. I just work with discomfort and fear more because I remember fearful events. I think emotion is only part of the equation. It’s typically the event or reason it’s stringed with that’s the catch. Emotion supports it, but it’s usually the reason or the response that’s most conducive to the joke.
How is writing tweets similar and different to other kinds of writing you do?
I think it depends what voice I’m trying to serve. I definitely am less caring with Twitter, though. I don’t sit down and write them anymore. I think it all depends on what your aim is, what voice you want to experiment with. But there is overlap. They all come from the same place, it’s how you wish to structure them.
I made $5 from this and miraculously have not gone to jail for it.
Was the inspiration for this more about the crowdfunding platform or that character?
I think the crowdfunding platform. This was made during a time when some people were using crowdfunding platforms for some disagreeable gains, like pretty well-off people using it for reasons more for sustaining comfort than out of necessity or charity. I think this was more of a silly response to that. But I do love using characters from the early 20th century when I can, so much.
You’ve done other GoFundMe tweets like this. Was this the first one you did? Do you have any other favorite tweet series you like to revisit?
I have. My first one was trying to buy the second royal baby, because I got pretty good grades that semester and thought I proved I was responsible enough. I like tweet series, as long as they’re each different and don’t fall into a template, per se. I think a series I enjoy doing, if we can call it that, might be just childhood memories. You never know when something will remind you of a strange event you initially took at face value, or tried to brush off.
Jenny Nelson lives and writes in Brooklyn and works at Funny Or Die.
