Interview With The First Guy To Tweet “Congratulations To Your Wife” About An Unflattering Headline
In light of the recent developments around Twitter, Katelyn Magazine reached out to a pioneer of the joke format, @BlessingsCounter, for his take on the platform’s demise.
KM: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us.
BC: The pleasure is all mine! I’m just sorry it’s under these circumstances.
KM: For the uninitiated, what is the joke format you’re renowned for?
BC: Absolutely. So when someone sees a headline like, Pigs Employed To Help Maintain Orchard Floor, they might say “Congratulations to your wife” or “So excited for you and your wife.” And I was the first guy to do that.
KM: I would imagine there are so many places you can go with that.
BC: Totally. I’ve seen it used for bears getting ready for winter, rats in clinical trials, unidentifiable, horrifying species caught on Nest camera. There are definitely some people doing awesome things with the medium, really blowing the walls off what I ever envisioned for it. That’s where you sort of have to have that humility.
KM: Say more about that.
BC: I think it’s just that old thing of “There’s nothing new under the sun.” You can slave over a creative work, really bleed over it and have all this agita about if it’s unimportant or conversely, like, too important to post. And then you pick up a book because Twitter’s down and you’re like, well shit. Someone was already gnawing on this problem a hundred years ago when no one took showers.
An example of where congratulations may be in order.
KM: Your life has changed a lot since your joke went viral. Tell us about what it’s been like becoming part of the Weird Twitter scene.
BC: Man, before I went viral I was just a kid trying to keep above water. I was sleeping on a full bed instead of a queen. And then I do that tweet and I start doing numbers, and I’m getting offers to promote rose toys and the lamps that project stars on the ceiling. I knew I had to seize the moment, though, ’cause success can be so fickle. I’d seen it happen to so many guys: they go viral once and they just...
KM: They get comfortable.
BC: Exactly. To really survive I knew I had to get in a group chat. One with all the Weird Twitter guys, or like, eight max. Beyond that it gets kind of unsustainable. So I did something I’m not too proud of. (laughs) I at one of my idols, Michael Amusement, and I’m like “Hey, I’m gonna be in your city for work.” And would you believe the guy replied? He fuckin’ replies to me, this twenty-something asshole from Carroll County who thought I knew shit about the world! I hop a flight to Pittsburgh and get a picture of some local coffee, and he starts following me back, and the rest is history. We laugh about it now. It was just one of those things you do when you’re trying to break in: lie, then make it true. So I made it true.
KM: I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re so glad you did.
BC: Oh, you’re very kind. ✒︎
