rant · moment 21 of 25
Homecoming King and the Importance of Not Being a Dick
from 160 - The Ballad of The Fat Girl With The Clean Car · #160
5 min
Tim recounts his own high school popularity arc and argues popularity matters more than honor, while explaining why he tells people uncomfortable truths about their careers instead of coddling them.
- Tim was nominated for homecoming king at Holy Trinity in Hicksville, Long Island, and learned popularity is the most important thing on earth.
- Having people like you matters more than honor or character; if everyone hates you, history will just call you a pedophile regardless of your actual virtue.
- Don't be a dick when things are going badly after being decent when they were going well—people see through the sudden gratitude and humility.
- Tim respects people who are consistent pieces of shit all the time rather than nice only when they're drowning.
- He's nice to people, but people think he isn't because he won't tolerate their mental illness or coddle them with false encouragement.
- When someone asked if he thought they were on the right track in comedy, Tim said no—they had no social media presence, no podcast, nothing going.
- The person's face showed they expected him to lie like everyone else does, but Tim views honesty about their lack of progress as actually being nice.
- Being honest is saving someone time; Tim wouldn't volunteer criticism unprompted, but when asked directly, he tells people the reality.
- People's inability to take hard criticism is why they don't progress; you have to be able to swallow feedback and move to the next level.
- A lot of criticism won't be valid, but if you're trying to get somewhere, you take it anyway and that's okay.
Billy JoelHicksvilleHoly TrinityLong IslandVillage Green