Courtney O’Donnell Wishes Chanty Beluga Was An Industry Plant

“Hi!” says the cheery blond woman on your TikTok FYP. “I’m Chanty Beluga!”

If you haven’t come across Chanty herself, you might’ve scrolled upon another creator invoking her sing-songy name in a skit. Ever since 31-year-old comedian Courtney O’Donnell first shared the aforementioned Chanty on Aug. 9, the character has become practically unavoidable across social media feeds.

The premise of every Chanty Beluga video is simple: that’s her name, and she’s doing something. The “something” ranges from fairly typical (introducing herself at a pool party) to slightly bizarre (picking up a cryochamber from Facebook Marketplace).

Based in Los Angeles, O’Donnell has been pursuing comedy for eight years while maintaining day jobs in copywriting and social media marketing. Her personal TikTok account features a slew of characters that preceded Chanty Beluga, including a mother absolutely pumped to attend a local sales conference and a recently divorced woman healing herself through the power of song. She’s in the midst of planning a fall and winter tour of her live show, Planet Courtney, while preparing to bring another, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Cute, to the New York Comedy Festival in November.

“It was sort of this critique of the influencers we see, where they have to create this incredibly relatable content and it's all always in the same formula so that it can hit the algorithms,” O’Donnell explains. “I thought it was so funny to pair that with someone with a very specific, unrelatable name like Chanty Beluga.”

The character was born on set. While shooting the upcoming comedy, Stephanie, Bride to Be, helmed by Saturday Night Live’s Veronika Slowikowska, O’Donnell was joking around with the cast when she improvised the name Chanty Beluga. The next day, she created the first official Chanty video, and posted it to TikTok — creating an account for the character as an acting exercise, she says — where it quickly took off.

In the month since, Chanty’s wacky charm has earned her nearly 125,000 followers on TikTok, with her most-watched video racking up over 7 million views. The Jonas Brothers posted a video running with her bit, fan accounts have been established, and she’s been floated as a potential Halloween costume for the chronically online (the highest honor one could bestow upon a viral meme). The full extent of Chanty’s virality is still shocking to O’Donnell.

TikTok users were quick to point to Chanty’s rapid rise, and a paid partnership between O’Donnell and Verizon, as alleged evidence that the comedian was an industry plant. Some commenters have even pointed to her social media marketing career, including stints managing the Twitter accounts for major brands like McDonald’s and Panera, as proof that her success was somehow manufactured.

O’Donnell says there’s no grand conspiracy of social media managers keeping the bit alive, joking, “I just don't understand how you can be an industry plant comedian. If I could, I would've done it by now.”

Though she was caught off guard by how intensely fans have embraced the character, she isn’t surprised by the influx of interest from brands. “Working in social media, there are people that are just sitting on the internet all day long waiting to figure out the next person to partner with, something to tap into in culture,” she says.

Another way viewers have taken to dissecting Chanty is debating whether she falls under the category of millennial or Gen Z humor. While O’Donnell, a millennial, feels that Gen Z is connecting with her brand of “anti-comedy” — “There’s not really jokes in the videos,” she explains — the behavior she’s satirizing, and Chanty herself, are decisively millennial-coded.

“She's cheugy and she's posting posts on Instagram like, ‘Stay strong,’ ‘Believe in yourself,’ ‘I just need a coffee to get sh*t done,’” O’Donnell says.

While the constant internet debate might be tiring for some, for O’Donnell, it only seems to be adding fuel to her creative fire.

“I am really interested, now that there's been this sort of the rise and fall, in how a character like Chanty would deal with that, and what would her response to all that would be,” she says. “So we'll see what journey she goes on, whether or not she continues making this content, or goes missing. Who knows!”

Ahead, O’Donnell dives into her short-lived crochet phase, her strangest niche obsession, and her favorite whale species (hint: it’s not the one you’d expect).

The Fast Follow With Courtney O’Donnell

I’m curious, does Chanty know her fellow meme Tanka Jahari?

It's Tanka Jahari son or Chanty Beluga daughter. They certainly exist on the same plane.

What’s the weirdest internet rabbit hole you’ve gone down?

Recently, I went down this rabbit hole of necklaces from Victorian times that people would put perfumes in, or a lock of animal hair or something. I just found it so interesting, functional jewelry.

Most quoted scene from a movie?

In Cheaper by the Dozen, there's this part where they're in a fight at school and someone hits his coffee out of his hand, and the kid goes, "My latte!" I think about that every time I get a coffee.

The last song you’ve let replay more than twice?

My friend Veronika Slowikowska, she just came out with a song under the project Me As a Girl called “I Don't Know Why I Said That,” and it is so good. I cannot stop listening to it. She sent me the file before it was released, and I was going into our messages to play it.

A topic you could give a PowerPoint presentation on with a moment’s notice?

Orca whales. I'm obsessed with orcas.

That feels related to Chanty Beluga in a sense.

Right, the whales. Well, beluga whales are also really interesting. I don't know enough about them, but orcas, there was an exhibit at the LA Natural History Museum, and if you're ever there, you should go. It was incredible.

Weirdest/most surprising hobby you’ve ever picked up?

Two Christmases ago, I was like, "I'm going to crochet my mom a vegetable garden." It took over my life because it was so hard, and I just couldn't stop because I only had a couple pieces done. So that was weird, because I never did it again.

Did you ever finish the vegetable garden?

I did, she liked it. I haven't seen them around though, so I'm like, did they make it to the trash? Who knows?

Somewhat related, what's the most specific gift that you've ever received?

My mom likes really silly gifts, and she got me these little guys that hang off of your drink. They're plastic naked men. They hang off your drink so, if you're at a party you can know whose drink is whose. I don't even drink, so now they're just sitting in my living room in this little dish.

And what’s something you’re always defending?

I really f*ck with Chipotle. There's a lot of divisive beliefs about Chipotle, and I'm like, I have that once or twice a week. I need people to get on that train, so if you're not, get on it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.