The attention eventually landed him on Reddit’s front page.įrom an outside perspective, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would ever serve themselves up for this intense experience. Once the roasters saw McElroy’s discount photos, they couldn’t get enough.Īt the time of writing, McElroy’s photos are the second most popular r/RoastMe post of all time, with 2,300 comments and 60,000 upvotes. Collin Williams, a standup comedian and one of the moderators of r/RoastMe, calls it “simply the largest online comedy roasting community in the world.” You supply a photo, a short bio, and hold up a sign to indicate your informed consent. Hours earlier that day, McElroy had served those photos up to a far larger audience: a subreddit called r/RoastMe, where people intentionally post photos of themselves and invite the criticism of some 1.7 million anonymous strangers. He got what he paid for - some cringeworthy headshots that he now pulls out for a laugh. In his twenties, he got a discount deal on some headshots through Groupon. “I think my wife went upstairs for a nap when it hit 2k or so, and by the time she woke up it was over 30k. “My phone just kept buzzing and buzzing with each comment,” McElroy tells me. “How’s life with one row of teeth?” asked another. But soon they picked up speed, arriving in their tens, twenties, and thirties. “You look like Jim fucked Dwight,” jabbed one commentator. In December, 2019, Michael McElroy was visiting his parents in Washington, D.C.
