Shirtless Eddie / Eddie Lovese

About

Shirtless Eddie, also known as Eddie Lovese, is a TikToker (@eddielovese) and actor known best for his comedy skits in which he stands in a store like Walmart without a shirt on as another customer tells him "put your shirt back on, Ed" (or a similar variation). Eddie gained notable virality on TikTok in early 2023 as his content began appearing more frequently on TikTok's For You Page. In February 2023, he appeared on the H3 Podcast for an interview where he talked about his acting work as an extra on productions including Fight Club and on Star Trek, as well as the origins of his shirtless videos.

History

Eddie Lovese began going viral on TikTok for his shirtless comedy skits in January 2023. One of the earliest high-engagement examples of these videos was posted to TikTok^[1] on January 14th, 2023, and garnered over 227,000 views in a month (shown below, left). On January 26th, he posted a video to TikTok^[2] that gained over 2.3 million views in a month (shown below, right).

On February 17th, he posted a video to TikTok^[6] that garnered over 650,000 views in six days (shown below).

Online Presence

On January 23rd, 2023, eBaum's World^[3] published an article on Eddie. On January 26th, YouTuber^[4] Papa Gut posted a clip from his stream reacting to Eddie (shown below).

Lovese is a prolific extra on film and television and sometimes his fans will post videos to TikTok when they see him in a role. For example, on January 24th, 2023, TikToker @_bananalise_ posted a video of Levese appearing in Parks and Recreation (shown below).

H3 Podcast Appearances

On February 22nd, 2023, Eddie appeared on YouTube's^[5] H3 Podcast for an interview. Throughout the interview, Eddie briefly describes his acting career and goes into detail about how he got started doing the shirtless skits, sharing that he simply thinks they're positive and funny and that he wanted to show off his recent weight loss. He also reveals that he gets random people in the store to participate in the skits. Later in the interview, he claims that he's been vaccinated against COVID-19 about "20 times in the last year" (shown below).

On February 27th, Lovese appeared for a second time on the H3 Podcast, this time co-hosting with the host, Ethan Klein. Early in the podcast, Klein steps out to use the washroom and Lovese starts monologuing about his acting career. Klein let Lovese rant for around an hour and a half without returning, adding his mother Donna Klein to the call as well as White Claw Gabe to listen. Klein then called in from his car while picking up McDonald's, while Lovese continued to rant, returning later to continue the show (shown below). Klein later described the bit as "avant grade."

Search Interest

External References