Ayo Edebiri & Rachel Sennott’s TikTok Antics Make the Wait for ‘Bottoms’ That Much More Unbearable

Of all the narrative media I’ve watched over the last year, I’d categorize 2022’s The Bear and 2020’s Shiva Baby up on a pedestal of peak entertainment. While very different stories, both center on family and extremely stressful situations around food. They also introduced me to some of my favorite up-and-coming actresses of the moment, Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott. Weeks after learning the pair would star in a new teen comedy, Bottoms, TikTok showed me what I need to see. That is, the two crossing over with chaotic, very online energy. (The positive kind.)

Directed/co-written by Shiva Baby writer/director, Emma Seligman, the rated-R film follows two queer high school seniors starting a fight club as a guise to hook up with cheerleaders before graduation. On March 11, Bottoms premiered at SXSW with near-universal praise and promises of lots of blood. While some of the TikToks I’ve seen are straight-up promotions of Bottoms, lots are just ‘regular’ TikToks. There are silly videos dubbing over viral clips and songs. And, of course, a fit check.

This all forced me to check myself so as to not solidify more of a parasocial relationship with these talented thespians … and whoops. It’s too late.

Bottoms and these TikToks aren’t the first Sennott and Edebiri collabs. They developed two Comedy Central series together, Ayo and Rachel Are Single and Taking the Stage. Additionally, the actresses appeared in the documentary Speak Up about women in stand-up comedy. While the most well-paid comedians are milking the decades-old 4chan joke about pronouns and “old man shouts at cloud” humor, they aren’t tempted by recycled material. Instead, they counteract it and sometimes “TickTack.” So, of course, the duo couldn’t resist joining the trend of clapping back at the new supposed “King of Late Night.” Well, if you buy Fox New’s 19-second Gutfeld! Superbowl LVII Ad.

Anyways I can’t wait for this film! The cultural criticism of the sacrificial film will definitely bleed into the app in unique ways—either by the viewers or Sennott and Edebiri themselves.

(featured image: Paramount Pictures and eOne)

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Alyssa Shotwell

(she/her) Award-winning artist and writer with professional experience and education in graphic design, art history, and museum studies. She began her career in journalism in October 2017 when she joined her student newspaper as the Online Editor. This resident of the yeeHaw land spends most of her time drawing, reading and playing the same handful of video games—even as the playtime on Steam reaches the quadruple digits. Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 & Oxygen Not Included.

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