Why TikTok Star Bomanizer Wants You To Laugh Your Way Through The Coronavirus Pandemic

Just like a suspicious friend in one of his recent viral TikTok videos , Boman Martinez-Reid has a cough. Almost immediately, he assures me that its not the coronavirus , but a mild bronchial infection hes been nursing over the last couple of weeks. Its OK, he insists over a socially distanced phone interview, my mother is an herbalist. She knows how to make medicine.

Martinez-Reid, who is 22 and lives in Toronto, has his own way of healing others, though his methods have more in common with reality television than with botany. For the last month or so, his videos on TikTok , which live under the moniker @Bomanizer and have been viewed more than 11 million times, have helped his almost 900,000 followers find the humour in one of the darkest times we might ever live through.

One clip, for example, simulates a cable news segment, in which talking heads debate the radical socialist politics of Martinez-Reid staying in bed during a pandemic. In another, a friends innocent cough is enough to send Bomanizer into a hysterical tailspin.

In these videos, everyone is always overreacting. Theyre paranoid and anxious, suspicious and on edge. Getting dressed is a radical act of protest, as is not getting dressed. Cooking, rather than ordering in , is also political. Its all drama, because were living through a dramatic moment and because, in a global pandemic that forces you to stay home, your world becomes small enough that every minor inconvenience seems like some cosmic test of endurance.

What else is there to do in your bedroom, for weeks on end, except cry over spilled milk?

Martinez-Reid thinks its better just to laugh it off. Read more from our interview below.

When one of your friends coughs except its reality tv (w @whatchaeden) pic.twitter.com/EskAN52Ybi

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When one of your friends coughs except its reality tv (w @whatchaeden ) pic.twitter.com/EskAN52Ybi
Bojito (@Bomanizer) March 28, 2020

Reality TV idea a long time coming

In the first semester of grade 12, I became obsessed with Dance Moms. I dont know why. I just loved it. I loved how ridiculous the show was. And when it got boring, I moved on to The Real Housewives, and became obsessed with that. Its beautiful television. I remember one day I was with my family, and we were talking about dreams. Mine was to have my own show one day. My brother was like, Well, why dont you just do it?

So me being a stupid little theatre major with all my friends I decided to make a reality show. I called it Reid It And Weep . Each episode was ten minutes long. Wed write storylines. We had a cast. Everyone at my high school would watch. It was fun. No one watched it outside of my school, but it didnt really matter.

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