Lane Moore is an award-winning standup comedian, writer (The Onion, The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs, McSweeney’s), actor on HBO’s Girls, and host of Tinder Live! With Lane Moore, a popular monthly comedy show in Brooklyn that’s now on a world tour of colleges and rock venues. She’s also the frontman and songwriter for Brooklyn synth pop/rock band It Was Romance and is currently writing a book for Simon & Schuster. This week she and I spoke about three of her favorite tweets she’s made, plus ponytails, House Hunters, and the immediacy of Twitter.
yeah well i hope you go to put your hair in a ponytail but the hair tie is too loose to hold it & not big enough to tie it another time
— Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) January 14, 2016
I’d just come out of this insane gym class straight out of Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, where they tried to make it like you were “in the club,” which is just combining two places I don’t want to be: the gym, or the club, but anyway. I remember thinking just before I tweeted this, “Is anyone gonna get this? I don’t know, whatever, I think it’s funny.” And it took off like wildfire and I got so many @ replies from people being like, “OMG this is so perfect.” That’s one of the things I love about Twitter, when you think your very specific ideas for jokes are too weird and no one else will understand them, and then Twitter is like, “You don’t know me and we’ve never met, but we’re on the same page and I understand you in this specific way.”
What are your favorite subcultures or specific communities you’ve found on Twitter?
Um, weirdos and sad people who are awesome? Is that a community? If so, that’s my favorite. I’ve honestly met almost all my friends on Twitter, and some of them I’ve never met IRL and it doesn’t make any difference to me. They’re still friends. Twitter is about as social as I get, outside of doing comedy shows and touring, so I’m constantly grateful that I’ve found the people I’ve found and that so many incredibly awesome people keep finding me.
my favorite part of House Hunters is guessing how far off the divorce is — Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) June 27, 2017
My friend got me into House Hunters and she watches it just because she loves houses, which, so do I, but immediately I was OBSESSED with it, because like yeah yeah yeah, houses or whatever, but the interplay with the couples and how none of them want the same thing and so many of them seem like they’re def gonna break up the second they yell “cut” is like catnip to me. I love it so much. I find it weirdly inspiring and so fucking funny.
What are other examples of stuff that you find weirdly inspiring?
I’m obviously inspired by Tinder and modern dating in general. I have a Tumblr called Male Feminists of Tinder and an Instagram called Hotties of MTV’s Next. I loved dating shows growing up, I thought those shows were some of the funniest things ever. So in some ways I guess it’s not surprising that I do a comedy show called Tinder Live! now because I’ve always been inspired by the ways we try to connect with each other. It’s been awesome to take the show to colleges and venues around the country because I get to talk to people about their dating lives, or lack thereof, and it’s fascinating to me because we all think we’re the only one who has ever felt whatever we’re feeling, and sometimes that’s true, but so many of us have similar experiences and it makes me feel a little better about the world to know that. I also love true crime and serial killers and I watch the Investigation Discovery channel like 50 times a day and it’s pretty much all I talk about. I’ve always loved horror movies so so much, more for the psychological aspects than just like “omg blood!” If there’s a new horror movie out and the plotline is mind-blowingly twisted, I am so freaking happy.
nerd boys: i hate that there’s a female Doctor Who!!! if a woman is in it i’m OUT! also nerd boys: women won’t date me because i’m too nice
— Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) July 16, 2017
I think this one speaks for itself.
Do you prefer writing evergreen tweets or topical ones? Which do you prefer reading?
I don’t write a ton of topical tweets because the news lately can depress me so much, and I already struggle with depression anyway, so any lower and some days it’s like death. But I really do love when I actually hear about something current that inspires me to write a great joke, instead of making me feel like I need an 8 year nap.
What are your favorite and least favorite things about Twitter?
I love writing jokes so so much. Since I was little I’ve always been writing jokes pretty much every second I’m awake, so I love the immediacy of Twitter. I love being able to write something I think is great and immediately seeing that other people immediately understood it and laughed. It makes me feel connected to people around the world, and I almost never feel connected to anyone unless it’s through my comedy or my music. My least favorite thing is how much I overthink a joke sometimes in terms of the exact wording and punctuation. And sometimes I overanalyze it so much that I don’t even tweet it, which is maddening to me because so many jokes I initially thought were “too weird” ended up being my most popular tweets, so I’m just like, “COME ON BRAIN! JUST TWEET IT! IT’S GOOD ENOUGH!” Perfectionism is dumb.
Photo by Amy Lombard.
Jenny Nelson lives, writes, and performs in Brooklyn.
