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{1.2a2e1} kayfabe content
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Ryan Broderick brings up a trend I’ve noticed peripherally: there is an increasing amount of “podcast clips” that are going viral, especially on TikTok. I thought it was kind of interesting, in general, that podcasts still seem so popular in the age of video-first content.
Turns out, they might not be: a bunch of these videos are just people with a microphone filming short-form content.
Broderick positions this as a type of kayfabe content.
Kayfabe typically refers to wrestling, where the audience and performers essentially agree to treat scripted performances as genuine. Similarly, these podcast clips (and other “interviews”) are entirely staged, but presented as real.
I like this positioning as a short-hand way to describe what’s happening, but I think a key difference is that there is no “agreement” or understanding with the audience. These creators are intentionally misleading the audience to bolster their credibility.
Kayfabe typically relies on suspension of disbelief. This other stuff is just fake content; there’s nothing to suspend when the audience doesn’t have any reason not to take you at face value. Annoying and I hate it!
And I realized that we’ve already reached that point with staged content.
People are suspending their disbelief and enjoying this fake content… I think… I hope.
This was top of mind b/c I saw a TikTok earlier that was a staged roadside sobriety test. The guy is told to recite the alphabet backwards, he says, “I can’t do that sober,” and then he fumbles to fold his lightsaber up. It’s transparently staged.
But people were commenting in earnest! How patient the cop was, talking about how dangerous drunk driving is.
So is it that people aren’t picking up on this being fake, or is it that they’re playing their part in the kayfabe content?