@brandeis.chungles has been the go-to meme account for hundreds of Brandesians. As an anonymous meme account that posts Brandeis-specific jokes, it has gained 553 followers with 70 posts at the time of publication. To reveal the secrets behind the daily memes, The Brandeis Hoot spoke with Brandeis Chungles in an exclusive interview.

Why did you start @brandeis.chungles?

We started this account during the second semester last year for the purpose of spreading happiness and joy throughout Brandeis. We saw a problem with the amount of negativity at Brandeis and wanted to do something about it, for in the words of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov “Always wear a smile. Then the gift of life will then be yours to give.”

How do you come up with your memes?

The Chungles team is very small but mighty; we develop the ideas together [by] just joking around. They are usually very stupid and we just decide to post it and see how it does. They are all our original ideas, [so] we usually do not take people’s submissions.

What’s the best part of running the account? What’s the worst part?

The best part is when people enjoy the memes and seeing when some people share them on their stories. The idea that our jokes can positively affect a person we don’t know, even a little bit, is really cool. Also, it gives us that sweet nectar of validation that we crave so desperately. There are no bad [parts of running the account, so if we had to choose,] maybe the pressure of posting every day.

What’s been the most memorable part of running @brandeis.chungles?

It’s always funny to see who does and who doesn’t know that we are brandeis.chungles. There have been many a meal with our friends where they talk about the new post, but don’t know our dirty little secret. What a rush.

How does it feel to be “Brandeis famous?”

Imagine that you are a slightly successful meme page at a small liberal arts school, living in forever secrecy and never receiving the praise that we work for in person. As Barack Hussein Obama once said, “to become God is the loneliest achievement of them all.”