My friend Chu made this video last weekend. I was blessed to be one of the jabronis excitedly celebrating in the background. You may have seen this video (over 200K views), but Besides the Weather went into Chu’s beautiful mind to learn some behind-the-scenes details on how this emotional moment came to be, and how he’s changed since it was picked up by Bros Being Basic and Bro Bible.
How did you come up with the idea?
So I guess “gender reveal parties” is something we should all get used to. Whether it’s a celebrity or one of my friends, I feel like I see one of these videos at least once a week. After realizing I just watched a 2-minute video of a couple (that I don’t even know that well) popping balloons to find out the sex of their kid, I knew I had to do something. I just witnessed a young couple experience one of life’s happiest moments and I’m sitting there thinking, what if it were pizza? Really, all my ideas revolve around pizza, it’s just a matter of how I’m going to incorporate it into the current brief.
How did you know the balloon pop would work?
Obviously, pepperoni (or any other pizza topping) is much denser than the typical confetti you’ll see at your standard gender reveal party. So, I needed to make sure we would get some sort of roni explosion upon impact. The night before the big shoot, I YouTubed a bunch of slow-motion videos of balloons being popped. My sauciest takeaway was that you get the most separation of rubber if you strike the opposite end of the knot. With that knowledge, what got what we needed on the first take. Safe to say, those tears were real.
What did you learn about pepperoni?
I first learned that Pepperoni slices are pretty damn cheap, I bought 6 packs (which was 5 too many) for under $8. I also learned to never go to the Jewel on Milwaukee and Ashland on a Saturday morning. However, the biggest lesson learned was that turkey pepperoni is the go-to protein for any successful topping reveal party. It has far less grease which keeps the slices separated resulting in a glorious blast of meat. Note: don’t ever ask for turkey pepperoni while ordering pizza, the turkey is merely for preview purposes only, go with the vendor’s preferred pepperoni.
What was the most fun part about the video being picked up by Bros Being Basic and Bro Bible?
Aside from providing some laughs, the best part of being picked up by Bro accounts was finding out which of my friends also follow said Bro accounts.
Anything else fun the people should know about this video/process/how to go viral?
I don’t know if I would consider this “viral” but people should know this business will chew you up and spit you out like last night’s takeout (no pun intended). So keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Never forget where you came from. #BlessUp
What’s your favorite Chicago pizza?
Home Run Inn frozen pizza.