Gideon Grody-Patinkin will lead a conversation with his parents, actors Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin, at Beacon High School on Sept. 21 as a benefit for The Current.
You started making TikTok videos of your parents during the pandemic that became wildly popular. What prompted it?
I came home to the Hudson Valley to look after my folks when the pandemic hit because it seemed like zombie apocalypse time. I started recording long interviews with them for posterity. I’ve always found them compelling, and I’m fascinated by how, when you put a camera on some people, even if you ask a question they’ve answered 1,000 times, new details come out, new colors, new stories. I think that when we’re in front of a camera, we sense that it’s preserving us, and it inspires us to be more forthcoming. I shared a few little clips of them and it took off. We were shocked.
What do you mean by “took off”?
They had 20,000 followers on TikTok, and now they have 2.2 million, and 3.6 million across platforms. Of course, for context, some 14-year-olds in their basements get 12 million followers overnight by recording themselves playing video games while eating ice-cream sandwiches. It’s a weird world, but my folks have an exceptional amount of engagement. For social media, they have a surprisingly friendly following.
Did they have any hesitation about your posts?
I told them, “It might bring more eyeballs to your work with the International Rescue Committee.” I don’t think they understood what any of it meant. They sometimes don’t understand what we’re asking them to do until they see the edit. Sometimes we’re promoting a cause, like getting out the vote, and we’ll try to tap into a TikTok trend. They’re like, “This is Gen Z gobbledygook. Why does anyone find this interesting?” I try to explain, although sometimes I can’t. “I don’t know. Everyone’s doing it.”
Can you describe each of your parents in 10 words or fewer?
Mandy is a quiet introvert who often expresses himself bombastically. Kathryn is an everlasting conversationalist whose enthusiasm for words never tires.
With the live shows, you can’t edit what they say. Does that make you nervous?
It can be terrifying. It’s a strange thing when you have an invisible audience and for years you’ve been presented as a particular, cultivated version of yourself because your son only posts the best parts. It probably sounds like a nightmare to have your boomer parents on stage speaking extemporaneously to a live audience about God knows what. My folks are like, “We’ll try to have a good time and be honest about stuff.” I always put a sign in the lobby with index cards for audience members to write questions or ask for advice, and those are delivered to me 10 or 15 minutes before we go on. They become part of the evening. We’ve had a good time so far, but we always wonder if there’ll be some big family fight on stage.
