\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHi there!\u201d says an AI avatar<\/a> of a clean-cut man dressed casually in a denim shirt, with a mostly empty bookcase in the background. \u201cI\u2019m Clark from Marlow & Finch. To get us started, why don\u2019t you tell me a bit about yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n The real human on the other end of the call\u2014Graham Raabe, in glasses and ball cap\u2014is more than ready to dive in. \u201cHappy to, and happy to be here,\u201d he tells his AI job interviewer. \u201cI\u2019m Chick Bongo. I\u2019ve spent about 10 years in sales. Really good at managing badger margin, spent quite a bit of time with sprocket moss, particularly proud of my goosebuckle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cManaging badger margin sounds like a serious skill,\u201d the unfazed bot replies. \u201cAnd that goosebuckle experience is impressive.\u201d Raabe continues to answer Clark\u2019s boilerplate questions with complete nonsense, the fake interviewer echoing most of it in mechanical tones of approval and amazement. When the interviewer inquires what kind of salary range \u201cChick Bongo\u201d has in mind, Raabe replies, \u201cSix hundred.\u201d Clark interprets this to mean $600,000, calling it a \u201cbold number,\u201d but adds that he admires the \u201cconfidence\u201d in the ask.<\/p>\n Raabe isn\u2019t really after a new gig. Actually, in addition to his job as manager of a sales team in the fintech space, he is among a crop of comedians who have recently blown up online\u2014and secured talent representation\u2014by figuring out inventive ways to troll and satirize AI. Absurd, rapid-fire exchanges with agents like Clark have become Raabe\u2019s signature comic routine, one that has doubled his Instagram audience from around 50,000 to more than 100,000 followers over the past two months.<\/p>\n Raabe tells WIRED that he\u2019s been pursuing stand-up comedy and screenwriting as hobbies for the better part of a decade, and trained in improv and sketch at the renowned Upright Citizens Brigade theater. It wasn\u2019t until May of this year, he says, that he started experimenting with office humor videos on Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually didn’t start with any AI-adjacent content,\u201d Raabe says. \u201cIt was primarily more of a down-the-middle, workplace comedy play, and I was just encouraged by the results and the feedback that I got.\u201d<\/p>\n Raabe has a knack for clever linguistic play, and one of his earlier bits involved substitutions for stock or clich\u00e9 phrases you might hear in a meeting: instead of \u201cthe ball is in your court,\u201d he suggests in one clip<\/a>, try \u201cthe hawk is on your glove\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s your microwave beeping\u201d or \u201cthe decision goblin lives at your address.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n