This is Going Viral: A space where the internet’s biggest stars share what it’s like to find fame online.
The phrase “It’s the way you act” has been circling in my brain for months.
I didn’t quite understand it until I learned about the source—Prayag Mishra.
The Toronto-based 25-year-old catapulted into viral fame in mid-2023 and now boasts a total of 5.1 million followers on the app (and 1.3 million on Instagram). He has been making videos for years, but that exponential growth all happened in a matter of months, and his rise was incredible to witness.
Some people discovered him early on when he was at just 29,000 followers. He then began making videos in his car that felt like intimate FaceTime calls with a close friend, or a crush, and it took off from there. He shared a snack with his viewers, cracked jokes, made fun of himself, while allowing his relationship with the viewers to blossom. He pretends he is talking to a significant other, whom he calls Pookie, and the viewers deliver thousands of hilarious reactions in the comments. But the motivation behind the videos wasn’t to gain a following—it was to find connection.
“I was in a healing arc, and I realized that I don't necessarily need to be alone,” Mishra tells Complex. “I can create someone to talk to me. Even though I was in the car alone. So the concept was essentially me building another person that I could communicate to daily.”
Since then, Prayag and his fans (who he calls Pookie Nation) have built a rapport between them that’s like a secret language, making it challenging to understand if you’re not part of their inner circle. "I have never explained myself. I don't explain my humor and the people in the comments just get it," he said. "The day that I have to explain a joke is the day that I will stop making jokes."
That kind of intimacy is difficult to build with a few people, but imagine accomplishing that with 5 million. The magic behind it all is Prayag’s charisma. He is funny, hyper-expressive, and unafraid to be himself—no matter the criticism or the response his videos receive. He has been deemed as the leader of the Sassy Men movement and he’s proud of it, and with that power, he wants to redefine what people believe masculinity is.
“My idea of masculinity isn't about deepening your voice and speaking in a baritone and making sure you sound mature,” he says. “I couldn’t care less about looking like a man…bills are paid. At the end of the day, I'm doing what needs to be done.”
As he continues to climb the ladder of social media fame, his loyal fans also hold him accountable, not letting his success take him away from who they have known him to be. That kind of trust and that kind of devotion from them keep his content repeatedly going viral and getting millions of likes and views.
Complex caught up with Prayag over Zoom and we discussed his journey, from applying to work at Complex, working in sales and sleeping on couches to his viral success.
Nice to meet you, Prayag.
I applied to work at Complex like seven years ago when I was in college, and I was just wondering where my application is. [Laughs.]
Well, full circle, now you're going to be featured on Complex.
I know this is surreal. So I'm super excited. Thank you so much for reaching out. I'm super pumped.
It's our loss. So what did you go to college for if you applied at Complex?
I studied the most interesting thing you can study in college, which is, I don't know if you've heard of business management. [Laughs.] No, I went to school for business management. Me and my homies used to always watch Complex, like Sneaker Shopping and Speedy all the time. So we were huge fans. I applied because I used to be on the journalist team in college and I wanted to be a journalist. I studied business, but I wanted to always do journalism type of stuff and work with cool publications.
You've talked about how you also have been making TikTok videos for a while. Can you talk about what you used to do when you first started making them and what you were doing in terms of work prior to going viral?
So I've done all sorts of jobs. Actually, I started door-knocking very early on in my career. I started with sales. So I would knock on doors, and we would sell fiber optics, which is like telecommunication software.
And then I got into corporate sales. I felt so amazing. I had a big boy job. I was calling people all day, and it just took me a really long time to realize that I wasn't good at it. I did it for two years, and during that space, I would come home and I would record videos and post them on social media and realized that I'm a whole different person online versus the person I am in the office. So one day I just decided to let go of that life entirely and just take the leap.
What was the first video where you were like, “OK, this has exploded, and I might be onto something?”
I used to talk a lot about romantic topics in my early 20s. I had just been laid off. Two weeks later, I was sleeping on my friend's couch in New York City. I talked about the fact that everyone should go through heartbreak at least once in their life, and how humbling of an experience it is—how music sounds so different when you're just going through it. Meals just don't taste the same and how it can really change the trajectory of your life. And we don't talk about it enough.
That resonated with people so much that when I came back to Toronto and I went to go watch a ball game, I was getting recognized, and I was like, “Wait, this is real—like, people are recognizing the things I'm saying.” So that's when I really felt the impact of the online work that I was doing.
And then from there, you started the car videos. It feels like you're connecting directly with someone. Can you tell me why you think the car videos and that dynamic have connected you so much with your followers?
Yeah, I think that I was at a point in my life where I had dated quite a bit for two years and I had decided to take the year off and just spend so much time alone. I had gotten laid off from work. I was self-reflecting. I was in a healing arc, and I just realized that I don't necessarily need to be alone.
I can create someone to talk to me, even though I was in the car alone, So the concept was essentially me building another person that I could communicate to daily. And it's just so surreal that, once I took that leap, 5 million other people joined and started responding to me, which was so nice. And a lot of the times people think that, you know, they're getting a lot from the videos, as you said. But the truth is it was therapeutic for me. I needed that specifically at that time. I needed that type of connection. So Pookie Nation, as I like to call it, they really came through for me and helped me with that loneliness that I was going through for sure.
What I love is that your videos are great, and then you go into the comments, and that makes the videos even better. How does it feel to get such strong, hilarious, and also heartfelt responses from people?
We talk about social media communities, and there's always comparisons. Obviously, I think Pookie Nation is the greatest community on social media. But I also think that we're the funniest community on social media.
I have never explained myself. I don't explain my humor and the people in the comments just get it. The day that I have to explain a joke is the day that I will stop making jokes and it's just so surreal because people will come in the comments and be like, “Why is everyone going along with this?” And I'm like, "You tell me. They're just chill like that." So it’s really wild that when you put [out] those chill vibes, they come right back to you for sure.
How has that been for you to experience and to sort of come to terms with this reality that 5 million people are constantly watching what you do?
I read this thing the other day that said you do everything for so long and nothing happens and then suddenly everything happens. So for the first three years, I went from 0 to 29,000, and those were the most surreal days of my life. I still look at that as some of the most special memories, and the best videos I have ever made came in that time, and then from 29,000 to 5.1 million, it felt so sudden, so overnight almost.
But I had a catalog of videos prior to [that]. So I felt so comfortable. It didn't feel like it was new or anything. It just felt like I was finally getting the attention of this partner that I had been talking to for so long that just wasn't responding to me. So it was really nice to get a text back, a call back—it was really nice to get a response from Pookie. That's really what it felt like, but I was ready to talk. I still have a catalog of videos to go. I'll never stop yapping.
Now you’re in a mutual relationship.
I was a hopeless romantic, and now I'm just a romantic, which is way, way better, for sure.
What's beautiful about the community that you've built is that there's a lot of responsibility there. You are quick to say, “I'm going to do the right thing, or what I feel is the right thing.” Why is that important for you?
I think that it's incredibly important for modern-day content creators and influencers to realize that the people have given you a platform. It is not the other way around. I do not think that I have followers. I have people who believe in me and who support me, and they could wake up one day and choose not to support me.
And truly, all of this is because of the love of the people. I couldn’t care less about what opportunities come my way. At the end of the day, I make videos for people that support me. I make videos for Pookie Nation, so certain things that don't align with my values, I make it a point to say that I'm not going to go because I do not care about the glitz and the glamor of social media fame or real-life celebrity status.
It truthfully means nothing to me. All that means to me is just advancing yourself and losing your community, and that's not what I want to do here. I'm simply here to stand on my values. So God has truly been kind. You really can't stop what God has intended, and Pookie Nation is still in full effect for sure. Pookie Nation can't lose anything. It's a privilege to work with the best community on social media.
You talk about values, and I'm sure that comes from your family and how you were raised. You talk about your big sister and what you learned from her. What has been their reaction to your sudden fame and all this reaction that you're getting from people?
My sister is really my North Star, and this is kind of what she expects of me. She expects nothing less than the best, especially when it comes to speaking up and standing on what I believe in. And she is super proud. So when you make someone that you look up to really, really proud, that's the most surreal feeling.
My family does the dances. My family watches every single video; my extended family watches every single video. The reaction has been truly, truly incredible, especially the journey that we've been on. You know, we're immigrants at the end of the day. And we've fought for a better life. We know what it feels like to have family income come from fast food, retail, factory work, and security work. And now to actually be able to do things and express ourselves and finally have some sort of relaxed work environment, it truly is a blessing. But I really think that that journey that me and my family have been on is truly the reason why we're able to stand so firmly in what we believe in.
They say that the trees that have the deepest roots are, you know, the least likely to fall. And it's just really, really nice to see that we had that journey.
Where does their inspiration come from for your videos? How do you think of what to say and what to do? Is it on the spot?
I've always been a professional yapper. I'm always gonna talk. I love attention. I think it's beautiful. But I really think that it's also important to say what needs to be said once you have that attention. So a lot of my inspiration right now is being sourced from what needs to be said. What would a kid growing up just like me want to hear from someone that they look up to? Sometimes that is humor; sometimes that isn't humor.
A lot of times people don't really realize that my content is actually very 360. I've made videos on self-love, dating. I've made videos about financial insecurity, sleeping on couches, not making any money, making money. I really make content that is all about the embodiment of trying to do something in life.
So for me, it's just about sourcing exactly how I feel that day and making sure that that comes out in a way that's understandable for everyone. But that's where the inspiration comes from, making sure I'm still saying real things and doing real things instead of just getting lost in the mix of whatever is going on right now in the world with regards to social media and content creation for sure.
The sassy man movement that everybody has made you the leader of somehow on TikTok, where does that come from?
It wasn't something that I actually intended. It was mostly the response from people, I guess trying to take digs at me, which I found absolutely hilarious. I live in an echo chamber of sass, all the guys around me. They're hyper-expressive; they make money; they provide; they do things. So my idea of masculinity was never rooted in what these podcasters talk about. My idea of masculinity isn't about deepening your voice and speaking in a baritone and making sure you sound mature. I couldn’t care less about looking like a man at the end of the day. Bills are paid at the end of the day—I'm doing what needs to be done.
Your gender expression has nothing to do with masculinity and manhood. So it's just hilarious seeing how that all played out, and I'm so happy that there's an actual message behind it. And young men now come up to me and say that they're inspired, which is so, so surreal to me. It really has been a blessing to have that kind of impact for sure.
The misconception when people say, “Oh this is the sassy man era,” or whatever, is because they think it’s men expecting to have their dinners be paid for, and to be given gifts, but that's not really what you're trying to communicate.
You know, I never saw my father split bills with my mother. So that's something that was never in the picture for me. This idea of 50/50, this idea of having access to podcast equipment and saying things about a world that you know nothing about. Somehow we got lost in the shuffle of masculinity being about lifting dumbbells and saying declarative statements online, and the actual reality of the matter is look at the men actually putting in the work, like immigrant fathers.
Look at so many people that don't necessarily fit into the exact lines of what these podcasters talk about, but they're making more money, they're more known, they're more popping, and girls like them more. It's just so surreal to me that a lot of people didn't really—men specifically who disagreed with me didn't speak on it because they saw that the women in the comments and all the lit dudes in the comments were supporting. So for me, it's really about redefining what manhood is, especially in the last 10 to 15 years of Alpha online. I think it's important to acknowledge that the sass is here.
And it will not be slowed down at all.
Absolutely not, we’re only speeding up.
Young men also need to see that there are alternatives.
We're seeing a lot of terrible things on YouTube that people are being misguided, especially young men, of course. I think that somehow, you know, young men are owed an apology by these podcasting dudes, these guys that go on YouTube and make content about how to pick up women. And they read women like it's some sort of biology experiment, and one of the wildest things that they refuse to acknowledge is that women are human just like them.
If you study and analyze someone like an animal, of course you're going to have the type of results where that specific type of person doesn't like you. It's just the same miserable cycle of them knowing what they think they know and them getting hurt because they realize they don't know anything, and then progressing on and continuing on with whatever story they have at that time. So it's just really hilarious because in real life, really mature, educated women are hanging out with mature, educated men.
But online, you're not seeing any of that at all. And I tell these people, I'm a 25-year-old man. I've worked in corporate America. I've worked with very educated, successful women that make triple of what I'm making. And they've taught me how to do sales and how to do business. So when you talk about women not being intelligent or smart, I'm like, maybe intelligent and educated women don't hang around you. Maybe that's the problem, right? Because they hang around me all the time. They're always around. I just really wanna tell these younger guys that it's really not like what you see online. It really is not like that. Go out in public, get a job, do something, realize that it is far more important to build healthy relationships with women. My entire content is around sharing a snack and having a conversation, looking for the human in one another. It’s important and really special that people are finally waking up to that.
Speedy made a TikTok saying he's going to start a buy-back program for podcast mics and tripods.
I love Speedy because you can see the women in the comments love the content he makes. He's just one of those guys that's super chill. I actually had an interview with Speedy, and he's just one of those guys that even growing up, I was like, man, this is the type of dude I really rock with—this is the type of person I'd want to be friends with. But these other podcaster dudes, they could pack it up, for sure.
Did you ever see yourself doing social media for a living?
I told myself once I left sales the last time that I truly would not come back unless I had really experienced failure, unless I had really given it my full shot with content creation and saying what I feel. I really felt like I had so much to say that needed to be said, and I'm so thankful that it worked out. I actually have not had a sales job again after my last one.
I always told myself that I wanted to earn a living off of speaking, speaking my mind. I didn't know that it was going to be social media. I truly didn't, but I always knew that I wanted to be in front of a camera from a very young age. I would do journalistic reports for the college that I worked at; I would make content outside, sometimes make YouTube videos.
But for me, I was like, if I can earn any sort of living off of being in front of a camera, I would be happy so that I could justify myself and say that I'm actually successful. Even if I was making less money, I was much, much happier doing that.
Outside of the content creation that you're currently doing, what else do you see yourself working on? Acting? What is in your five-year plan?
So I do have a bit of an acting background as well. I've done short films, commercials, and that's always been on the back burner, something I'm super, super interested [in], and I think that it's high art. It's one thing to record videos for social media, but it's a whole other thing to have a scripted show to actually tell a story through a message that's maybe a bit more indirect.
I think public engagements are also something I really want to do, and business. I really like business these days, getting into investing, learning in the art of finance merchandise, building a personal brand—a lot of these things are very, very important for me to step into. I really want to do that in the next five years outside of just social media. But acting, as you said, is definitely one of them.
When you're walking down the street, how do people usually get your attention?
They say Pookie, and I find that so hilarious because I do have a government name. I am Prayag at the end of the day. But it's surreal. It'll happen when I'm driving, at the movie theater, at the mall, at the gas station, or at the dollar store. It's such a privilege that people are actually receiving that, because sometimes when you're sitting in that car alone, you don't really know if anybody is watching.
People always say this to me: “I didn't know you were real.” And I'm like, “I didn't know you were real!” Like, I didn't know people were actually responding and watching the videos in real life. Like, it hasn't really clicked in my mind yet, and I don't think it ever will.
