What It Feels Like to Go Viral episode artwork

EPISODE · May 24, 2026 · 25 MIN

What It Feels Like to Go Viral

from The Nightly

Wils Pelton and Josh Gondelman trace the strange path from birthday party hopping to the tweets and internet posts that permanently rewired their brains.What You’ll Hear:A Very Social Evening: Wils and Josh compare notes on the oddly satisfying art of bouncing between parties, catching trains, grabbing bodega snacks, and somehow ending the night feeling more alive than exhausted.Posts That Became Philosophy: From the Babadook party tweet to “milkshake duck” and “girl dinner,” they unpack the internet jokes that quietly became shared cultural language.Top Three Lately: Fresh flowers, city biking, basketball playoffs, literary re-reads, long dog walks — a cozy inventory of the small things currently making life feel good.CHAPTERS00:00 Ophelia audio drama intro01:05 The night of endless birthdays04:20 Multi-stop socializing strategy11:08 What’s your top three lately13:00 NBA playoffs and Widow’s Bay15:05 The Babadook party tweet17:35 Favorite internet posts of all time22:10 Bean soup theory explained25:05 Three drinks at once goes viral31:40 Josh’s current top three35:12 Goodnights to the BabadookFor the fully immersive, phone free light + sound experience, learn more at hatch.co. Follow us on TikTok @hatchpodcasts and YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wils Pelton and Josh Gondelman trace the strange path from birthday party hopping to the tweets and internet posts that permanently rewired their brains.What You’ll Hear:A Very Social Evening: Wils and Josh compare notes on the oddly satisfying art of bouncing between parties, catching trains, grabbing bodega snacks, and somehow ending the night feeling more alive than exhausted.Posts That Became Philosophy: From the Babadook party tweet to “milkshake duck” and “girl dinner,” they unpack the internet jokes that quietly became shared cultural language.Top Three Lately: Fresh flowers, city biking, basketball playoffs, literary re-reads, long dog walks — a cozy inventory of the small things currently making life feel good.CHAPTERS00:00 Ophelia audio drama intro01:05 The night of endless birthdays04:20 Multi-stop socializing strategy11:08 What’s your top three lately13:00 NBA playoffs and Widow’s Bay15:05 The Babadook party tweet17:35 Favorite internet posts of all time22:10 Bean soup theory explained25:05 Three drinks at once goes viral31:40 Josh’s current top three35:12 Goodnights to the BabadookFor the fully immersive, phone free light + sound experience, learn more at hatch.co. Follow us on TikTok @hatchpodcasts and YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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What It Feels Like to Go Viral

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This episode is 25 minutes long.

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This episode was published on May 24, 2026.

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Wils Pelton and Josh Gondelman trace the strange path from birthday party hopping to the tweets and internet posts that permanently rewired their brains.What You’ll Hear:A Very Social Evening: Wils and Josh compare notes on the oddly satisfying art...

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