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The city that parodies itself
news.unculture.ca

The city that parodies itself

Toronto has a secret hidden satirical website and angry people are laughing.

Ariel
May 14, 2021
10
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The city that parodies itself
news.unculture.ca

Welcome to Uncultured, bringing one more email and a lot more culture to your inbox. Subscribe for free and you won’t miss an issue.

Does every city have these? Local news websites obsessed with uncovering the latest “secret” craft cocktail/smash burger/glamping destination.

Twitter avatar for @NarcityCanada
Narcity Canada @NarcityCanada
Bookings are already available!
go.narcity.comYou Can Sleep In ‘Invisible’ Cabins Hidden In A Secret Forest Near Toronto This SummerBookings are already available!
3:00 PM ∙ May 13, 2021
Twitter avatar for @DailyHiveTO
Daily Hive Toronto @DailyHiveTO
This Mexican pop-up restaurant has a secret menu every weekend ow.ly/PUZs50EJkss
Image
8:40 PM ∙ May 10, 2021
Twitter avatar for @blogTO
blogTO @blogTO
Toronto's newest sandwich joint is hidden in someone's parents' backyard bit.ly/3f3TLIb #Toronto #Sandwich
bit.lyToronto’s newest sandwich joint is hidden in someone’s parents’ backyardThere’s a new spot in town for steak sandwiches, and it’s running out of someone’s mom’s backyard. Bear Steak Sandwiches only has one thing on the...
3:20 PM ∙ May 9, 2021
34Likes5Retweets

Toronto has numerous of them, all clamouring to outrank the others on Google searches and social media with their non-critical coverage of, say, a strip club that’s reopened as a raw bar, or Drake’s latest publicity stunt.

The sites can almost seem like parodies of themselves…

Twitter avatar for @blogTO
blogTO @blogTO
Amazon cancels Prime Day in Canada due to COVID and people have thoughts bit.ly/3vTAWxQ #Canada #Amazon #PrimeDay #Coronavirus #COVID19 #COVID
bit.lyAmazon cancels Prime Day in Canada due to COVID and people have thoughtsAmazon has announced the indefinite postponement of its popular “Prime Day” sale event, but only in India and Canada, where the COVID-19 ...
2:07 AM ∙ May 8, 2021
27Likes10Retweets

…so it can be hard to tell when an actual parody surfaces.

blah_to_official
A post shared by @blah_to_official

BlahTO appeared out of nowhere on Facebook about three weeks ago with some spot-on mockery.

Source.

The page takes particular aim at its namesake BlogTO, Toronto’s reigning king of clickbait. Each post hilariously proclaims something to be “secret” or “hidden,” and/or making people “angry,” “mad” or “furious.”

Source.

In short order, BlahTO has amassed thousands of followers and lots of gleeful engagement, so it soon launched a fast-growing Instagram account. Related merch is apparently coming soon. Not bad for a brand without any actual content, as you’d learn if you clicked through to the BlahTO homepage.

Daily posts take the piss out of clickbait content. But the best ones simultaneously poke fun at the absurdity of the city itself.

Source.

Amid a seemingly endless, confusing and arbitrary lockdown, Torontonians apparently crave an outlet to let out some steam and laugh at themselves.

Source.

So who’s the satirical mastermind behind it all? Is BlahTO a Beaverton spinoff? Is it the work of an underemployed comic waiting for comedy clubs to reopen?

“I work in robotics, and before that banking,” says the voice at the other end of the phone call. “I’m a vice president in robotics.”

Not what I was expecting.

The mystery man behind the mirth is choosing to keep his identity — like Toronto’s best hidden barbershop inside a vegan cupcakery — a secret.

“I think people would be grossly disappointed” if they found out, he self-deprecates.

“This is the first foray into anything comedic I’ve done in my entire life,” he continues, sounding surprised but genuinely pleased by the reception. In the last few weeks, he’s had “daily requests for writing assistance from people in the comedy field” plus “a couple of offers for writing gigs.”

Source.

I ask whether his intention is to skewer Toronto in general or BlogTO in particular. His answer? Both.

“Art imitating life, I guess, right? I think that there’s enough satirical situations in Toronto that present themselves,” he says. But “BlogTO has definitely set a voice and a tone. And it brings a familiarity to that absurdity, when the stories are done in their voice and tone.”

He was inspired to launch the Facebook page, he says, by witnessing an increased propensity for BlogTO to prioritize clickability over useful information.

Just as important, he says, “I think everybody needed a laugh.

blah_to_official
A post shared by @blah_to_official

“I didn’t think we needed to have too much of an agenda. I don’t think it has to be all that serious. People have just been very receptive to it and it’s strange to me that we have never had a white space like this, where we’re just completely mocking our own existence in Toronto and just how absurd things are.”

He says he has no intention to make money from his side hustle. When he starts selling t-shirts and other “stupid, very Toronto-centric” merch, “it would be entirely for charity. I would not take a cent off of it.”

Instead, he’s energized by his newfound ability to make people mad — with laughter for a change. Including himself.

“I’ve laughed more over the past week than I have in a long time.”

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The city that parodies itself
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6 Comments
Lex
May 29, 2021Liked by Ariel

Love your hidden gem of a blog!

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1 reply by Ariel
Tina RT
May 16, 2021Liked by Ariel

Photos of the limited edition burnt charcoal and purple yam flavoured vegan cold-pressed condo angry bike lane smoothies are blowing up all over insta.

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