Natiiv

Scotty Iseri aka 98 Pounds of Half-Jap Love

Tagged congratulations , meritocracy , scottyiseri , sgaoj , viral

It's a song by Scotty Iseri and my personal trump card in a game of "I knew him when."

When most people think of Scotty Iseri, they think of his online creation, "Scotty Got an Office Job."

[This is where I totally name drop about someone who is now totally internet famous.]

When I think of Scotty, I think of sitting in the upstairs theater of Frankie J's and him singing his romantic rock ballad "98 Pounds of Half-Jap Love" or Jerry Falwell.

In 2002-03, Scotty and I were on a similar circuit of Open Mics and comedy rooms around the city. He was singing his fabulous, cutting songs and I was telling jokes about going to the gym and dating.

The last time I saw Scotty in those days was New Year's Eve 02/03. We went to a big party of improvisors, danced our faces off and then got on the train going separate ways. Open mics ended, bars closed, I moved to London and we just didn't see each other around the scene anymore.

Last fall, at the Chicago New Media Summit, we ran into each other. We both found ourselves working in social media, but Scotty hadn't left comedy behind. He told me that he'd started a vlog called Scoty Got An Office Job to celebrate his move from freelance to office life.

We followed each other on Twitter, friended each other on Facebook and walked to the park to get a soda. Over the past year, we've made a point to try and hang out. After SGAOJ got posted on Laughing Squid, we had dinner and talked about the vlog.

No, I'm not claiming Scotty as a client (but oh, how I wish I could), but I know that I said to him what I say to everyone. "Viral is an outcome, not a strategy. All you can do is keep making great content that you're proud of, the rest will follow."

And follow it has.

Scotty and his wife told everyone they were moving home to Portland, but today it was announced that Scotty Got an Aussie Job and is moving to Sydney to do social media and community management at Klick PR. I couldn't be happier or more proud of him.

Here is a an example of someone that has consistently made funny content for years. Since before I met him in 2002 and in between meeting him again in 2008, Scotty was always making art and comedy. This is one time when the good guy wins, the meritocracy that we hope exists... it does.

Congratulations, Scotty!

P.S. If I were a company with a few dollars to spend, now would be the time to jump on the Scotty Iseri bandwagon. Klick is getting him to Australia, but maybe he could carry your backpack? where your hiking shoes? Use your video camera?