Comedian and sales manager Graham Rabe has built a growing online audience by using absurd conversations with AI interviewers to satirize workplace culture and the technology’s tendency to respond confidently to nonsense. In one exchange, an AI avatar named Clark interviews the fictional candidate Chick Bongo, accepting invented achievements such as “managing badger margins” and experience with “goosebuckles” as if they were credible qualifications.
Turning AI interviews into comedy
The exchange begins with an AI avatar of a casually dressed man named Clark from Marlowe & Finch. “Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself to get us started?” the avatar asks.
Rabe, wearing glasses and a baseball cap, responds as Chick Bongo. “I’m happy to be here, and I’m happy to be here,” he says before claiming, “I’m Chick Bongo and I’ve been in sales for about 10 years. I’m very good at managing badger margins and I’ve spent a fair amount of time on Sprocket Moss. I’m especially proud of my goosebuckles.”
Clark responds without hesitation. “Managing Badger’s margins seems like quite a skill,” the bot says. “And that goosebuckle experience is impressive.” Rabe continues answering the routine interview questions with deliberately meaningless statements, while the fake interviewer repeats them in a mechanical tone of approval and surprise.
When Clark asks what salary range Chick Bongo wants, Rabe answers, “$600.” The avatar interprets the figure as $600,000, calls it a “bold number,” and says it is impressed by the candidate’s “confidence.”
From workplace humor to AI satire
Rabe is not seeking new live shows. Alongside his work as a sales team manager in the fintech industry, he is part of a group of comedians who have recently attracted attention and secured talent representation online by finding creative ways to troll and satirize AI. His rapid-fire, absurd interactions with agents such as Clark have become a signature routine, helping his Instagram following grow from about 50,000 to more than 100,000 over the past two months.
Rabe told WIRED that he has performed stand-up comedy and written as a hobby for most of the past decade. He also trained in improvisation and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. However, he says he did not begin experimenting with office-humor videos on Instagram and TikTok until May of this year.
“I actually didn’t start with AI-related content,” Rabe says. “It was primarily a mid-level workplace comedy play. We were encouraged by the results and the feedback we got.”
Replacing business clichés with absurdity
Rabe’s early videos focused on clever verbal twists and the familiar language of meetings. One clip plays with the phrase “The ball is in your court,” alongside alternatives including “There’s a hawk on my glove,” “The microwave is making noise,” and “Decision that a goblin lives at your address.”
Source: www.wired.com