TikTok’r Turned Political
Editor’s note –Normally, the career stories within this collection include background information regarding family, childhood interests, education and what led to a career path, including any changes. When those details are available in the future, this story will be updated.
DAY JOB
The main occupation of Alex Pearlman (AP), from which he earns enough to pay all his living expenses, is ‘Comedian,’ a role he has been performing for over 20 years, primarily in small to medium sized clubs in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, including The Helium Comedy Club.
Editor’s note – For purposes of this collection of career stories, an activity or hobby is not a ‘career’ unless a person can earn enough income from that activity, to fully support himself / herself financially. For AP, his TikTok posts were not a sufficient source of income but others posting their TikToks for a growing group of followers and sponsors might be able to figure out how to get paid from their TikTok activities – thus creating a career!
TikTok CREATOR
A typical comedian presents his or her comedy routine to live audiences in the evenings, not on the same work schedule as a 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. office or factory worker. Of course, planning the comedy routine takes more time than presenting it but there is still time available during each 24 hour period for sleeping, eating, food shopping, doing laundry and……….. creating TikToks!
AP, best known online as @Pearlmania500, has a TikTok account with (as of early June, 2023) 1.7 million followers, where he rants from his suburban Philadelphia home about everything from national trends to only local affairs.
AP’s digital profile has emerged for his ability to easily explain and summarize major events for a general audience. As a stand-up comedian, AP is used to explaining big topics in a short amount of time. “When TikTok expanded to three-minute videos, that’s when the platform opened up for me,” said AP. “In those three minutes, I can sit and talk to you. Just saying the I-95 bridge collapsed isn’t enough. This is a very important (city) area – I know because I’ve taken this exit many times. It’s where my in-laws live, where the business that catered my wedding is located. Four Seasons Landscaping (Editor’s note – infamous site of a press conference about the 2020 election, in which former NYC Mayor Giuliani was televised speaking while apparently unaware that his hair dye was streaking down his face.) is across the street.”
(Editor’s note – In early June, 2023, a tanker truck crashed while proceeding down a curved exit ramp from I-95, a major highway on the East Coast, used by many thousands of private and commercial vehicles daily. The crash caused a fire, which caused part of the highway to collapse. The state Governor, Josh Shapiro and local officials jumped into action to coordinate repairs with local union workers, resulting in an extraordinarily short time – 12 days! – to complete temporary highway repairs enabling commuters to get to their jobs and trucks to their commercial destinations. Because the national economy might have been negatively impacted by prolonged delays in completing the repairs, U.S. President Biden was scheduled to visit the worksite with Governor Shapiro, to demonstrate the offer of Federal emergency funding to assist the state and local highway emergency repair efforts.)
AP didn’t expect that his brief video explanation of the collapse of part of a highway would capture the attention of the Pennsylvania Governor’s staff. When he received an email from that government staff, asking for him to meet the Governor at the site of important highway repairs and prepare a related TikTok, AP thought it was a prank so he and his wife investigated to try to verify if the Governor’s staff were indeed real people.
Eventually, AP and his wife were able to assure themselves that the interest in his I-95 highway TikTok by the Governor’s staff was real.
At the Governor’s request, AP visited the worksite during the press conference. AP was apparently the only nontraditional media member in attendance. As he walked around the area, filming the site and the busy workers, his TikTok shows the gaggle of reporters and videographers in a semicircle and then pans to the job site where construction workers were working on the rebuild.
AP posted some of that footage within two TikToks about the construction work, earning hundreds of thousands of views. He says he thinks the high interest in his videos is because of the authenticity that comes with his content. “I posted the first video while the press conference was still going on,” he said. “Reporters all had the same camera angle (opportunity). But meanwhile, I’m walking around in the background. They’re not filming it in the same way to show people.
Within the next day, AP received another call from the Governor’s team, this time asking if he wanted to attend President Biden’s media event the next day. “I was at my day job (when I received the request to attend the press conference and prepare TikToks to help spread the news of the around-the-clock repair efforts),” said AP. “When I said ‘Sure, I would love to meet the president,’ you could hear a pin drop,” AP recalled. “People were like ‘The president of what?” I said, “of America.”
That is how AP found himself standing about 20 feet from President Joe Biden inside an airport hangar at a joint press conference hosted by the Governor and the President.
As for getting AP involved, Shapiro’s press secretary said the governor’s digital team saw his initial TikTok the day of the I-95 crash. “Alex is someone with a following and a really important voice on this,” said press secretary Manuel Bonder. “Working with him was born out of a continuation of the desire to reach people where they’re at. This is someone with a following in the Philly community.”
AP said he could see in real-time as members of Shapiro’s staff began to buy into his legitimacy. “I think half of them expected me to do a dance in front of the collapsed bridge,” said AP. “People still don’t fully understand what TikTok is.” Still, AP believes his invitations from politicians are a sort-of case study for how political teams can disseminate information about major news. Bonder agrees. “This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time, this Governor’s administration takes this approach,” he said.
AP arrived early for the press conference – saying “I didn’t want to be late for the President.” He posted a TikTok about his experience. He later turned the camera to Shapiro, asking him to tell viewers how it’ll take only two weeks to reopen the damaged roadway portion.
“All I thought that day was, ‘Don’t make a yell-y TikTok while near the Secret Service,” said AP. “No one knew who I was or why I was there, and I loved that. I told the Secret Service guys I was with TikTok and they were like, ‘That’s banned on our phones,’ and I said, ‘I know. I made a TikTok about that.”
POLITICIANS USING NEW MEDIA TO COMMUNICATE
It has long been customary for politicians to spread news of their work to citizens – all being prospective voters – through press conferences attended by newspaper writers and tv crews. This isn’t the first time politicians’ teams have worked with nontraditional media and content creators.
When President Biden celebrated the passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act” of 2022, he (his staff) invited more than 20 TikTok, Instagram and YouTube influencers to attend the South Lawn event at the Washington, D.C. White House. He also hosted a call with about 30 TikTok creators for a briefing on the Ukrainian war.
“Every 10 to 20 years, there’s a change in communications,” AP has said. “News outlets aren’t as important (now) to how people get their news anymore… So how do you get your message out? Sure, the governor has platforms, but someone must know the name of the governor to access them. That’s part of where TikTok comes in.”
In state and local municipal elections, young political campaign organizers – and the candidates they’re backing – are also working to integrate new media into their communications strategies. When Shapiro was campaigning toward the PA. Governor’s election, groups like ‘Students for Shapiro’ – founded by his college daughter Sophia – mobilized on Instagram and TikTok to connect with their political base. Shapiro could even be found on ‘BeReal’, the social media app that has users post a photo taken simultaneously from their front and back facing cameras once a day.
Shapiro’s team hosted background calls with local influencers and experts to help combat misinformation when a train derailed near the Pennsylvania – Ohio border and when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on access to an important drug.
Politicians reaching out to social media users is not always tied to crisis. Shapiro has hosted a TikTok Live session with a public school teacher. On Earth Day, his office invited TikTok creators to the Governor’s mansion to talk about agriculture, clean air, and clean water.
CAREER SATISFACTION
“I got that gig (with a Governor, leading to a press conference with the President) because of my TikTok comedy,” said AP. “I’m not the news guy. I’m just some guy. Some days, I’m going to yell about Target not having plastic bags anymore because of a local ordinance.”
AP says he will continue to do news – and life – updates on TikTok. His time investment into the app has led to a headlining act at Helium Comedy Club in late 2023.
It’s likely that ‘staying real’ with his observations on life while mixing in a touch of humor will continue to expand income and professional enjoyment opportunities for this TikTok posting, emerging celebrity, comedian.
This career story is based on a news article about Alex Pearlman, written by Emily Bloch, published by The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on June 20, 2023.
