Internet comedy sensations Brittany Broski and Sarah Schauer released the debut episode of their shared podcast entitled “Violating Community Guidelines,” where they discuss and analyze fascinating phenomena on the web, in January 2022.
Brittany Tomlinson, known on social media as Brittany Broski or “Kombucha Girl,” got her big break on TikTok where she tried kombucha for the first time on camera in August of 2019. Her facial expressions in the video, which range from disgust to tolerance, inspired a wave of memes and reaction photos on Twitter and other social media platforms. Tomlinson graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in communications in 2018. She previously worked at a bank in trust and investment services but was fired after her boss saw her viral video.
Sarah Schauer, who uses she/they pronouns, posted their first vine in November of 2015 and gained almost a million followers on Vine before the app shut down. Currently, Schauer is a copywriter and YouTuber, describing themself as someone who is “extremely online.” They attended Old Dominion University in Virginia and graduated in 2016 with a degree in marketing and business analytics. Schauer worked for Denny’s, The UPS Store, Tempur-Pedic and EP+Co — writing tweets for their Twitter pages.
Both Schauer and Tomlinson lost their jobs within the same week. When Schauer tweeted the announcement of their move from South Carolina to Los Angeles, Tomlinson asked if they needed a roommate, and the rest is history.
Schauer and Tomlinson’s comedic styles mesh extremely well together, and their decision to launch a podcast has proven to be a smart one. Tomlinson’s jokes are more improvised, and her delivery lands the joke. Her loud, infectious laugh adds to her comedy as well. Schauer’s jokes are more thought out, and they bounce off of Tomlinson’s impulsive thoughts with humorous interjections. With just four episodes released so far, each one discusses a different ridiculous facet of the internet.
The first episode of “Violating Community Guidelines” is entitled “Facebook Marketplace,” which highlighted the disgusting, sketchy and often useless listings on Facebook Marketplace. From empty rolls of toilet paper to soiled jeans, Schauer and Tomlinson tore apart this shopping experience with spot-on jokes and commentary. Delving deep into the dangerous elements of Facebook Marketplace, where people buy and sell guns with almost no precautions taken, and the unfathomably absurd, where sellers sell actual dirt, the co-hosts just barely scratched the surface of the site’s ridiculousness.
Episode 2, “AI Influencers,” discussed computer-generated social media influencers, such as Lil Miquela and Shudu, that have massive followings and problematic tendencies. Dissecting the controversy of these internet characters, Tomlinson and Schauer pointed out that these influencers perpetuate unrealistic body standards for their mostly young audience who do not realize their bodies are computer generated.
In the third episode titled “Furries,” the two spoke about, you guessed it, furries and their sense of community. While the episode explored the unfamiliar, often-judged side of the furries, they also discussed the history, terminology and reason behind the pseudo-identity’s popularity. This made for a hysterical episode with educational elements that poked fun at the community while simultaneously humanizing them.
“Conspiracy Theories,” focused on many popular theories and how these conspiracies are based on paranoia and not fact. Careful not to delve into anything too serious or harmful, Tomlinson and Schauer talked about the more ludicrous side of the theories, like money-laundering mattress firms and the Denver International Airport’s suspicious ambiance potentially meaning something more menacing.
The fifth and final episode was about “Creepypasta,” a horror fiction site that features stories about homicide, suicide, paranormal occurrences and gruesome experiments. A portmanteau of the “creepy” and “copypasta,” this website is where the Slender Man story originates. Slender Man’s legacy has spread into real life crimes in his name, most often perpetrated by young teens. Schauer and Tomlinson discussed the moral implications of children having read these at young and impressionable ages, leading themselves to believe these stories are real.
The success and hilarity of the podcast is arguably unmatched. Tomlinson mentioned the “Tiny Meat Gang” podcast with comedians Cody Ko and Noel Miller as one of her inspirations for her comedy, which made a lot of sense. “Violating Community Guidelines” is similar in tone to “Tiny Meat Gang,” although slightly more structured, sharing similar comedic styles and topics of discussion.
Tomlinson and Schauer make an incredible team; in just a few short episodes, they have amassed a significant audience across all of the streaming platforms, with each of their YouTube episodes alone having 200,000 to almost half a million views. This pair is a match made in heaven, and it is likely they are just getting started with a very successful creative partnership.
“Violating Community Guidelines” is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well as YouTube, where the podcast conversation is accompanied by video.
Lillian Dunn is an Entertainment Intern for the winter 2022 quarter. She can be reached at lbdunn@uci.edu.
