{"id":102566,"date":"2023-03-31T13:15:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T18:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=102566"},"modified":"2023-03-31T13:15:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T18:15:33","slug":"qa-josh-zagoren-the-puppeteer-whose-alter-ego-is-chad-the-bird-talks-about-tiktok-success-and-how-the-pandemic-changed-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/qa-josh-zagoren-the-puppeteer-whose-alter-ego-is-chad-the-bird-talks-about-tiktok-success-and-how-the-pandemic-changed-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Josh Zagoren, the puppeteer whose alter ego is Chad the Bird, talks about TikTok success and how the pandemic changed him"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Koster Kennard
\n<\/strong>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

When actor-turned-comedian-turned-puppeteer Josh Zagoren, 41, heard the Green Mill was shutting down indefinitely because of COVID-19, taking away one of his primary sources of income, he crumpled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the puppeteer whose alter ego is live op-ed columnist Chad the Bird, Zagoren has entertained audiences at the Green Mill\u2019s variety show \u201cThe Paper Machete\u201d for over a decade. In 2005, Zagoren built Chad out of some felt he found in the basement of the Cornservatory, a theater in North Center and some googly eyes he picked up at Michaels. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Now the bird puppet is a <\/span>TikTok<\/span><\/a> star \u2014 with 283,600\u00a0 followers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The TikToks range from Chad <\/span>singing with<\/span><\/a> actor\/comedian\/pianist <\/span>Bill Larkin<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>Chad struggling with a locked door knob<\/span><\/a> as a viral TikTokker, who might lack self-awareness, dances on the other side of the door. Zagoren posts about three videos a week plus promos, which get an average of 20,000 views apiece.<\/span><\/p>\n

When \u201cThe Paper Machete\u201d resumed performances in September, Zagoren pivoted again to meld the live show with his now exploding online presence.<\/span><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

What made you decide to start a TikTok?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The pandemic forced me to join the internet and do Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all that stuff. Like, I (was) on the internet. I (had) used it. I know how it works. I just never did (anything). I would scroll around on TikTok because I thought it was fun, but I never used it. I never thought about getting any of this. I started on YouTube. I did a bunch of videos called \u201cFireside Chads,\u201d where it was just Chad breaking down a topic for five minutes. And then through that I started a PayPal. PayPal started paying some of my bills because some people were like, \u201cYeah man, we\u2019ll miss you and here\u2019s some money,\u201d and it was super awesome \u2014 people are great. (There) I (was) waiting for someone to tell me, \u201cHey, you should do TV shows,\u201d like Comedy Central. I never thought, \u201cI have a portable production studio in my pocket\u201d \u2014 I could just do that myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did the pandemic change how you performed with Chad?<\/b><\/p>\n

I have imposter syndrome all the time. Like, who\u2019s going to want to watch this dumb s—. It just was like, \u201cWell, you don\u2019t have a choice.\u201d I was like, \u201cNow I have to use the internet more as this puppet.\u201d That set everything off overnight, which was bonkers. The TikTok thing was a year into the pandemic. I remember posting some standup that I did from wayback when and I was in another show, because we were starting to come back now. And I had to turn my notifications off because I kept getting stuff. I woke up and I was like, \u201cOh s—, I have like a thousand people following me now. That doesn\u2019t make sense. Why? I didn\u2019t do anything.\u201d So the pandemic gave me the boost to put myself out there that way. And I\u2019ve been f—— dealing with it ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n

How has it been balancing your performances at the Green Mill with producing TikTok content?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s great. (The performances are) the No. 1 content generator. I will go to great lengths to put a sketch together, film it, edit it, do the captions, get some famous friend of mine to be in it just to boost the views \u2014 maybe a couple thousand (views). I post one live \u2014 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 (views). So I\u2019m just like, \u201cPeople really like the live video.\u201d I think it\u2019s only helped. I was assuming I wasn\u2019t going to be doing that anymore. And it wasn\u2019t hitting, but as soon as I showed the crowd and the reaction \u2014 that\u2019s what gets the views every time. I would love to sit down with a sociologist and map out why that is. I don\u2019t know the psychology behind it either, but I\u2019ve been told that there is a social science about people witnessing live on the internet is a big draw instead of actually going there to see it. I don\u2019t know what that is, but it just is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it easier to get people to watch live events on social media than in person because they want to be part of it, but they don\u2019t want the social anxiety?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I have a good friend who\u2019s a social psychologist and has more than one Ph.D. They would never consider themselves an expert in their field. But, they\u2019re the closest thing to an expert that I know. We were talking over the summer about the differences between what we used to do on the weekends and what we do now. It used to be that I would go to the Green Mill and I\u2019d get obliterated, I would do this puppet show thing for people, and then I would get tacos and the party would move to my place or I would just end up passed out \u2014 the amount of drinking I would do while doing these shows. And they were like, \u201cDid you ever think that the reason you were doing that is that you have crowd anxiety?\u201d I never even thought about that, and I was like, \u201cOh, a hundred-percent; I don\u2019t like being around people.\u201d And it\u2019s weird because people were like, \u201cBut you\u2019re an actor.\u201d And I was like, \u201cBut there\u2019s a control there. My interaction is controlled. There\u2019s a fourth wall. What I\u2019m doing is rehearsed. Or is at least skilled and is not freewheeling conversation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Koster Kennard is a graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on Twitter at @kosterb<\/a>. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Koster Kennard Medill Reports When actor-turned-comedian-turned-puppeteer Josh Zagoren, 41, heard the Green Mill was shutting down indefinitely because of COVID-19, taking away one of his primary sources of income, he crumpled.\u00a0 As the puppeteer whose alter ego is live op-ed columnist Chad the Bird, Zagoren has entertained audiences at the Green Mill\u2019s variety show […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":916,"featured_media":102567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,5251,5377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-chicago","category-spring-2023"],"yoast_head":"\nQ&A: Josh Zagoren, the puppeteer whose alter ego is Chad the Bird, talks about TikTok success and how the pandemic changed him - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/qa-josh-zagoren-the-puppeteer-whose-alter-ego-is-chad-the-bird-talks-about-tiktok-success-and-how-the-pandemic-changed-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&A: Josh Zagoren, the puppeteer whose alter ego is Chad the Bird, talks about TikTok success and how the pandemic changed him - 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