Andy Milonakis Discusses His Ascension Into Twitter Legend, The Origins Of His Career And Why He Wants SpongeBob Memes To Die Already

hen most people hear the name Andy Milonakis, memories of his show’s theme song begin swirling around your head almost automatically, but the comedian, actor and musician has had a lot more on his mind since 2005 other than peas. After growing up in NYC’s outskirts and being discovered by Jimmy Kimmel, his career in comedy would ultimately expand into several different branches of the performing arts. Lately, Milonakis has been working on music, acting and even getting into the world of Twitch streaming. We caught up with him to learn more about his backstory, what he’s been up to lately, how it feels to be eclipsed by former President Barack Obama for the most-liked tweet of all time and why he hates SpongeBob memes.

Q: Hey, Andy. Thanks for joining us. So what have you been up to lately, aside from becoming a legend in the Twitterverse?

A: I’m lucky that I’ve put a few years into live streaming because while quarantined, I’m still able to keep busy every day and make some money while goofing off. I’m developing my first show for Twitch, it’s going to be a cross between a game show and a podcast where we help smaller streamers get an audience.

Q: Regarding your recent tweet, which has since become the third most-liked tweet of all time, can you elaborate on that a bit more? What was on your mind when you posted that, and what was your reaction afterward?

A: I woke up, and I watched the launch right after I got out of bed. As soon as I saw the astronauts, I immediately thought of the chaos and craziness that’s going on in our world and how they’re getting far the fuck away from it. I almost ruined the tweet by making it too long, but short and sweet always works better on Twitter, so luckily I deleted the other two rambling lines after. I’ve been a big Twitter fan for over a decade. It’s always been my favorite social media platform … I was monitoring it live on Twitch until we hit a million. It was pretty cool, but when I went to bed the first night that it hit, the next day I woke up to texts saying it was at 2.8 million and on the top 20 list. Crazy.

Q: Are you upset that Obama still holds the top two spots for most-liked tweets of all time, or are you comfortable with your position as VP of Twitter?

A: Well if I have to be second fiddle to a former president, I’d be stupid to complain … but it is a little bittersweet when you think of possibly a trillion tweets made in the last decade and beating all odds to land at number 3, [laughs] so close.

Q: Alright, before we get much further here, would you mind telling us more about your background? Where’d you grow up, and what was your childhood like?

A: I grew up in the suburbs of New York, about 40 minutes north of NYC. When I was in third grade, I moved to a low-income housing apartment complex that was kinda shady, but in retrospect, it taught me a lot. There weren’t too many white people that lived there, mostly black or Hispanic, and it was a huge community of people that hung out every waking moment. In elementary school, I became big into rap music. I used to bring a boombox to school, and somehow the teachers didn’t complain as long as I played it at recess. My experience was a bit purer in elementary school, just hung out with everyone, played Nintendo, went sledding in the winter, but then in high school, I started drinking 40s, hanging out with crack dealers that took me and my friend to Brooklyn to buy weed. He would buy us lunch, Nintendo games and sneakers in return for using my best friend’s house to cook crack. Eventually, the feds ransacked the apartment about 10 minutes after I left due to the power going out. I went home to see if I had electricity … I did … went to bed. The next day I went to hang with my boy, and he had no front door. The place was destroyed. Not everything was wholesome there, but I found a love for music, different cultures, etc. I just remember being a fat 12-year-old white boy eating Jamaican beef patties and listening to reggae. I haven’t changed much.

Q: Building off that, when did you become interested in comedy, and what were some of your first forays into that world? Were you inspired by anyone in particular?

A: I was into super old school SNL, Get A Life, Billy Madison, Andy Kaufman and absurdist humor. Tom Green a bit later, and while I was flunking out of high school, I also started learning a lot about computers, building them, some mild hacking, website building. Since I loved comedy so much, I figured I’d start putting random funny stuff on the web. Doing that at an early time gave me the edge on a lot of people in terms of getting discovered. There’s much more competition nowadays. When I got my MTV show, it was unheard of to get discovered on the internet.

Q: Aside from your work as a comedian, you’re also active as a musician/rapper, so how’d you get started in that initially? What were some influential artists early on?

A: This goes back to the story of my childhood, getting into Beastie Boys, Run DMC, etc., at a super early age. For such a long time, I never even thought of making my own rap, I would just learn the rap songs that I would listen to and repeat them. When I started making comedy videos, I figured since I was so into rap music, I would try to freestyle, even though I knew it would be horrible. My main goal was to get a laugh. Eventually, I started to write stuff to try to make it good, but funny was my goal, and I started taking it more seriously when I moved to LA and now all of a sudden had an audience.

Q: Back in 2003, you posted a video titled “The Super Bowl Is Gay” to AngryNakedPat.com that eventually went viral, even netting you an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, while working at an accounting firm in Manhattan. Could you give us a little insight into that video and how it impacted the trajectory of your career?

A: I was working at an accounting firm in Manhattan, and at the same time, I was very active at Upright Citizens Brigade taking improv classes. I honestly didn’t see the improv classes as something that would help me turn comedy into a career, that never seemed realistic to me. I just liked dividing up the work week with something fun so I didn’t feel like a braindead hamster on a wheel every day. It went viral for a couple of weeks before Jimmy found it and a few people started to recognize me on the streets. It was pretty trippy. When Kimmel’s people emailed me, I got super excited, but I thought it might just be a quick one-off thing that would get attention. He had different plans, he believed that I had something to offer and helped me make a real name for myself. I def owe him a few blowjobs.

Q: So Kimmel was instrumental in launching your career and is coined with discovering you. How did you guys become friends initially and could you elaborate on how he helped kickstart your life as an actor/writer?

A: When my video went viral, he played it on his show, then he dug into the crates, so to speak, and started playing more of my videos. Eventually, he had me make a tape for him of some “man on the street” stuff. I sent that in, and they liked it enough to hire me to start doing traveling correspondent bits for Jimmy Kimmel Live. During that time, he told me he eventually wanted to develop some of my own humor into a show when the time was right, but he was too busy at the time. About a year later when Daniel Kellison stopped working at ABC, it was the perfect time for one of his partners to produce and showrun if we got a show picked up. Tony Disanto at MTV was friends with Kimmel and always wanted to do a show with him, and my idea was the first thing Jimmy brought him. We did a pilot, they liked it and picked it up.

Q: The Andy Milonakis Show was your first big hit early on in your career back in 2005. How’d the show come to be, what was it like to work with MTV, and how did you come up with the overall concept behind it?

A: It was basically like my old weird webcam sketches with more of a skeleton, a cast of non-actors acting, real people on the street, and delivery guys. It was a mix of fantastically odd sketches that were loosely scripted mixed with reality (delivery pranks, man on the street).

Q: What do you think was the secret behind the show’s success? What made it work?

A: I think it was different enough to be exciting to people, and there is so much topical humor everywhere -- about popular culture, politics, etc. I think it’s nice to hit people with some real oddball shit because you have the chance of making it more original when it isn’t based on something that exists and is already in everybody’s heads.

Q: What about your other work in movies and TV shows, what’s it like to be an actor and achieve a level of fame some people chase so fervently? Is it all it’s cracked up to be, or does it have a lot of drawbacks people don’t realize until they’re immersed in it?

A: Well, after my TV show launched, I went to a Hollywood club and got bombarded and had my first ever panic attack. That lead to new anxiety that lasted for a few years on and off. Dealing with hardcore panic attacks is insane. It’s a good way to ruin your day. Thank god I got over it, but other than that, it was pretty cool. It felt like I was living in the Twilight Zone. It was hard to believe that it was my life. Working on movies is pretty cool, I was super stoked when I got my first movie, Waiting. We shot it in New Orleans, and I got to write and record a rap video for the end credits. Just last year, I got to do some serious acting in a dark comedy indie film called King Knight. It’s not out yet, but I can’t wait to see it.

Q: Over the years, can you tell us a few of your favorite projects you’ve worked on and which you were most passionate about? Any you regret or hated?

A: I’ve done a lot of bad movies that I took just because “Hey there’s a movie someone wants me to be in.” I don’t really regret it. If it’s something really bad, most people just forget about it. My favorite projects I’ve worked on are Kroll Show, Adventure Time, Waiting, my show, King Knight, and Who’s Your Caddy -- mostly fun because I got to freestyle and smoke with Big Boi from Outkast, and me and Faizon Love became roommates during the filming. Good times.

Q: We’ve also read in the past that you prefer working on music over other endeavors in your career, what’s different about that side of your creative work that you enjoy more?

A: There’s just something really cool about making a song in a few hours, and the staying power some songs can have. To think that some songs you put only two or three hours into, and over a decade later, people could listen to it and reference it. I don’t know, music is super powerful.

Q: You’ve worked with people like Riff Raff, Chief Keef and Snoop Dogg in the past, who were some of your favorite artists to collaborate with over the years, and why?

A: Riff Raff and Dirt Nasty are def some of the funniest people I know. We always have a good time together. Snoop is silly as fuck too. I went to his house once to drop off some “designer luggage” smoked a little and told him I had to go out to dinner with a friend to get sushi, and he said, “What’s in sushi, dead fish?” Funny dude.

Q: What have been some of your best moments or experiences while working alongside musicians? Got any great stories to tell from the Three Loco days? What was it like being a part of that group?

A: I just remember Riff and Dirt partying in the green room while I would hide in a corner somewhere on the verge of having an anxiety attack. Performing music live always made me nervous. When I was a guest on Kimmel and millions were watching at home, I was fine. Performing a show in front of 150 people -- I would lose it.

Q: A lot of people in the rap and hip-hop world are known for their confidence, how does your history with that world and your friendship with some of them translate to your own self-confidence? Or does your demeanor stem from other experiences in your life?

A: I’m not sure exactly, but I think my confidence mostly comes from my philosophy on life. Not just saying we’re all the same, but truly feeling that no one is better or worse than me. I don’t care if they’re homeless or have a billion dollars, I will never hold my head down to anyone and feel like a lesser person because of my situation in life. Truly coming to grips with that makes me confident. None of us have flawless minds, and I’m not the most confident person on earth. I definitely still have some insecurities, but I think I have enough confidence for my overall character to shine through that I truly don’t give a fuck how rich, successful or good looking someone else is. We all breathe, and if they want to roll their eyes or look down on me for any reason, they can eat a billion dicks. Fuck ‘em.

Q: In recent years, you also became a Twitch streamer and your channel was one of the fastest-growing in the IRL category. How’d you get started streaming, and can you tell us a bit of your history with gaming?

A: I was going to give YouTube a second try, but as soon as I saw Twitch poppin’ and creating an IRL section for full camera streams and not just limiting it to games anymore, it was a no-brainer. I love to travel, Anthony Bourdain is my hero, and getting to see the world and sharing it with viewers is so awesome to me. I’m not a hardcore gamer, but I did live for video games back in the day with all the Nintendos, Segas, TurboGrafx, etc. Now I just dabble in video games. I oddly found myself into the new COD Warzone. I still suck though.

Q: Given that you previously worked with Keemstar as a cohost on the Baited podcast, what are your thoughts on his current feud with Ethan Klein from h3h3productions?

A: It’s so stupid, I would elaborate if it was less stupid.

Q: Have you been working on anything in music, comedy or acting that we should keep on our radar in the near future?

A: King Knight. I bought some new recording equipment and am moving in with some friends in Texas (still not sure if I’m getting rid of my LA spot so I have to pay double rent for a few months), and I really wanna make some new music soon, but nothing I can announce on that front yet.

Q: So you’re pretty active on social media and the internet these days, what places do you typically frequent, and where do you spend most of your time online?

A: I watch livestream fail clips on Reddit. Mostly a Twitter junkie. I unfollowed everyone on Instagram because I started hating people for making the same serious, sexy face into the camera 20 posts in a row. My main things are watching Twitch, streaming on Twitch, Twitter, and when the pandemic finally clears up, I can’t wait to travel again.

Q: How well do you keep up with meme and internet culture? Would you say you’re particularly keen on that kind of thing, or only casually interested?

A: Original memes can be really genius, but the repetitive shit that gets posted on Twitter, the same 20 images over and over again as replies to tweets instead of typing an original response, gets kinda boring.

Q: You’ve stated in the past that “memes are training wheels for the unfunny” but also that you were a pioneer in early meme culture. Could you elaborate on that more?

A: I should restate that. The creation of memes can take a lot of originality and creativity. The “rehasher” of memes is way different. You see a lot of young people just posting the same animated GIF or image over and over again in replies to something online. If they took the time to write something original as a response instead of choosing an image to post, I think overall they would be better off. At the end of the day, it’s usually just harmless stuff, sometimes it hits with you, sometimes it doesn’t.

Q: Do you have any recent favorites currently making the rounds?

A: SpongeBob memes are so fucking played out and annoying. Nothing sticks out as something I like right now, but I’m sure there are a few. When they are fresh and you see them for the first or second time, they can be really good … then on the 4,000th time you wish people didn’t exist.

Q: You yourself have been featured in some memes over the years. What’s it like stumbling across your image being used in such a format?

A: I remember seein’ the one of my carving on a tree (in reference to old school people carving out a heart with the person they love in it), and it just says “Andy loves hurting trees.” That one I think is pretty decent … not sure if it counts as a meme but my theme song has somehow now fully died after almost 20 years. It’s kinda cool, but also haunts me and I hate it.

Q: So to wrap things up here, what’s your one biggest regret -- aside from getting your tongue pierced back in the ‘90s?

A: My one regret is being too much of a slacker and not working harder. I love that I’ve had time to goof off and enjoy life, but I could have worked twice as hard and still had free time. I kinda regret it a bit, but at the same time, I’m kinda like “ahh fuck it.”

Andy Milonakis is an American comedian, actor, musician and streamer. You can check out his livestreams by visiting his Twitch channel, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram for more.