Whether you’re the type of person who gets a laugh from something amusing and moves on, or if you’re more like me and you analyze funny things six ways from Sunday, you probably know brilliance when you see it.
On Saturday afternoon the reigning King of Twitter Rob Delaney blessed us with this tweet:
.@Twitter how do I engage with more #teens on here? Should I twet more about mp3’s or booger #pranks ?
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) March 23, 2013
At first glance, you might be mildly amused, and you might even say you’ve seen funnier. Stick with me- I’ll tell you why this might be the best tweet you’ve ever read.
If you’ve ever heard our podcast, you’re familiar with our Tweet of the Week segment, of which Delaney is a frequent recipient. This particular tweet is a funny read, just like all of his tweets, but something about this one hit me.
First off, it’s multi-layered.
Most of Delaney’s tweet are layered, which is what makes them great. One thing I noticed after Delaney had been the author of a few Tweets of the Week on the podcast, is that reading them over the air didn’t do them justice. Each tweet really is a sight gag, as Delaney uses errant grammar, perfectly placed misspellings and random hashtags to perfection.
Take a look again before the breakdown begins:
.@Twitter how do I engage with more #teens on here? Should I twet more about mp3’s or booger #pranks ?
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) March 23, 2013
Here is a breakdown of all of the layers happening in this tweet:
1. He’s going out of his way to publicly ask Twitter (by placing the . before @Twitter) for help with what should be an embarrassing request.
2. He hashtags #teens, presumably thinking that will attract him some new followers (hopefully teens) with similar interests.
3. He hashtags #pranks, because A.) the same reason as above, and B.) so many people go on Twitter to talk about pranks.
4. The obligatory misspelling: “twet” – the genius of the Delaney Misspell is that every one of them looks like it was more likely a missed keystroke than a lack of knowledge of how to spell the word. That invokes a mental image of Delaney feverishly typing the message and hitting send, because nothing is more important in his world right now than connecting with more teens on Twitter.
5. He asks Twitter for help, but then proceeds to offer his best suggestion to himself were he in Twitter’s shoes.
6. He thinks the two subjects that are most likely to endear him to today’s teens are MP3s and booger pranks.
7. He asks if he should tweet MORE about MP3s and booger pranks, not START tweeting about MP3s and booger pranks.
8. Ask yourself: What’s a “booger prank”?
9. Inappropriate apostrophe.
10. He’s asking Twitter how to engage with more teens, because obviously Twitter as a company would have that answer. This is a hilarious inquiry, with or without all of the bells and whistles of misspellings and out of touch references.
The idea behind this tweet is brilliant and the execution is remarkable. Even if you’re not a Twitter user, go here and read a chunk of his feed. You can also download his Live at the Bowery Ballroom special here and check out his upcoming tour dates as well.
F’in hilarious.
100% dead on. My favorite tweeter hands down.
Whenever I try to use misspellings or intentionally bad grammar for humorous effect, people think I’m being serious and either try to correct me or think I’m retarded.
Same here. That’s what’s so great about Delaney is despite the inevitable flood of replies from people who don’t get it, he still tweets it for the benefit of those who do