What's on TikTok news whiz V Spehar's For You Page?

V Spehar started from the bottom. No, really. On their TikTok account "Under the Desk News," Spehar delivers daily, bite-sized news bits to more than 2.7 million followers from the floor. Their journey to that carpeted plane is unlikely: After 10 years in Washington, D.C.'s catering industry, Spehar worked to increase food security in Baltimore before stepping up to Director of Impact for Womxn and LGBTQIA+ Programs at the James Beard Foundation. 

When Spehar was furloughed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic they “started making little TikToks about how to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and what was coming out of the Small Business Association," Spehar tells Mashable, "stuff that we were teaching in our webinars for chefs." It turned out that they were really, really good at explaining current events and breaking down information. Now, millions tune in to Spehar's incisive, snappy clips, which they film from under their desk. 

Spehar recently began hosting a podcast called "V Interesting" (recorded sitting at a desk) with Lemonada Media to explain news and current events in a longer format. But TikTok will always be their no. 1. "I'm diehard," they say, "Like the folks who got on YouTube in 2009. If you ask Hank Green, 'What's the best platform?' he'd say, 'It's YouTube.'"

Spehar spoke to Mashable about the best videos on their For You Page (in no particular order), their favorite creators to watch every day, and why being on TikTok is like watching your mayor perform in a local community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

1. @NotYourMommasHistory

Mashable: I love the idea of someone walking out of a Goodwill with like, basically, a chamber pot.

This channel just cracks me up; it gives you a chance to laugh at your ignorance. And also the fact that you've probably been eating gravy out of a female urinal. I love hidden history. I think what's so funny about it is that we ascribe meaning to history based on how we experience them now. To joke about the women's urinal gravy boat reminds us that the characters we recreate from history — politicians and policies, etc. — are based on what we think they are, and not in what they actually were then.

V Spehar: Right, like the current interpretation of the Constitution is wonky because it did not mean the same thing. We're not talking about guns in the same way.

We think about these historic figures in the Victorian era, in the Colonial era — I would say from 1776 through the early 1900s — as so put together. So smart, so coolly dressed, so successful, so educated, and their homes so ornate. And it's like no, they weren't! 

Their teeth were falling out!

Their children were working in mines, they were pissing in gravy boats, they were living too close to animals and spreading disease! The Indigenous people had to teach them how to bathe! You can laugh with NotYourMommasHistory because you're like, "Oh my God, who even knew that a women's urinal existed?"

2. Kelly Krout (@KellyforArkansas)

Kelly was new to me! The only other political candidate I've seen use TikTok well was that video where a girl was thirst trapping and then it cut to a politician who was on the floor and was like "hey, vote!"

Ken Russell from Florida! He and Kelly are the two best. They truly are here for the community, and they are authentic TikTokkers. I pride myself on knowing a lot about politics, and I didn't know what the lieutenant governor did or that they were elected separately, as dumb as that sounds. I just thought, you know, the governor probably picks his best friend, and that's who it is. But it's a whole separate race. And sometimes you do have a Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor.

Kelly has done so well with using songs, TikTok, and merch to get her message out, and not just to the people voting for her in Arkansas, to inspire people to run. She's the mother of eight [and] makes jokes about how she can handle a rowdy Congress. She's so relatable that there are women sitting at home who are like, "I'm a mother of eight! Maybe I'd run for Congress." She and Ken are not on TikTok to get somewhere else; they're here because this is where their community is, and they like it and it's fun. I watched Ken in the primary debate against another Democrat because he live streamed it on TikTok. Every time I watch them, I feel like they are talking directly to me, a non-binary person who lives in Rochester, New York, who cannot vote for either of them. But I'm a part of their community.

What's a poor use of TikTok by a politician?

There are politicians who joke that their account is run by their Gen Z intern. That's cringey because I don't want to watch it then. I would rather the intern do her own account, I would love to see what she's doing. I don't need somebody to speak for you. I've called TikTok the community theater of social media platforms; we want to see you be the star. I want to see the little mayor of my town play disciple number five in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar that's put on in the high school gym-slash-cafeteria. That is what I want. And I'll show up for you and I'll clap for you. Give me the show. I think that's why celebrities don't do well [on TikTok]. Similar to me wanting to see my friends and family and their little show do well — have their moment to be a star, get their applause, and entertain us — I don't want to see Justin Timberlake come play Jesus in my hometown.

That's not where he should be.

Right. I love TikTok for the fact that everybody has a turn to be the star. It's very show-and-tell, it's very community theater. It's super accessible. Anybody can make a TikTok right now, you don't need a ton of talent in video production the way you do with YouTube. And you don't have to be hot like on Instagram. You could be anybody in the whole world. And in fact, the more yourself you are, the more people love you. 

3. Jonathan Kung (@ChefJonKung)

I've seen Jon's videos on my feed, they're beautiful. Tell me a little more about why he's one of your favorite creators.

I've known Jon Kung's cooking for years because I worked with independent chefs at the James Beard Foundation. He was popular on Instagram before he was popular on TikTok. As a young chef, he understood that having an Instagram and a social media presence is the new James Beard Award in some ways. Your following gets you jobs, opportunities, and paid work in an industry that, even to this day, underpays their talent. So he learned how to use a camera. I think it's such a great lesson to say, "I'm very good at being a chef, but I need to learn something that has nothing to do with cooking because now it has everything to do with being a successful cook."

Jon is a Detroit chef. He identifies as queer. He's Chinese-American and talks a lot about third-culture cuisine. He takes people through Detroit in a way that I think the average American public probably thinks of Detroit, and they think of maybe a rundown, abandoned place. 

Or Eminem. 

Right! But Jon Kung's Detroit is a place that I want to visit. When you go to Jon Kung's Detroit, you are running past some of the most incredible artistic graffiti that has meaning and history and soul to it. He's showing you his world that happens to be this place that you might not have known anything about.

What I love about Jon's cooking is that it is a place where your mind can rest. He has created a little universe where he films that is very beautiful, and you get the idea you're in that universe with him. You see all the spices, he's moving slowly and gracefully. It's like choreography. And then he's telling you a story about the food, and how to prepare it, and he's also giving you permission to eat it. It's just one minute, as you're scrolling through your phone, to stop and say, "I'm gonna let John come keep me company, entertain me, educate me, and feed me."

4. Imani Barbarin (@Crutches&Spice)

I follow this creator on Twitter for their insight, I didn't know they had a TikTok!

She is the go-to when things come up for the disability community on TikTok, that everybody is tagging for their opinion, the history, what we do next. She carries a lot of water for the disability community and for educating the non-disabled community on why an issue is important and what's going on.

I learned even the most simple facts from her. I had no idea how many canes, wheelchairs, and mobility aides were broken going through TSA — it's thousands a year! She has a way of being like, "Yes, it's true." She says it with authority and catches you up right away. 

I appreciate her skill and talent for sifting through a lot of the emotions, pain, and frustrations that she as a disabled person experiences herself, and then still being able to put it out in a way that can get folks to take up action to improve. That's such a special skill. I watch her every time she comes up on my FYP. And it's groovy stuff, too. She talks about smoking weed, she's a regular person. I feel so grateful to have the information from her, and I respect her so much, but I do worry for her. I see her get tagged in every video, and I'm like, man, that's gotta be a lot to carry.

5. Kendhal Landreth

I also love Kendahl. Anytime she imitates her mother, I want to die.

Kendall Landreth is the funniest person you could ever be blessed to be friends with. Everything about her is funny to me — the way she impersonates her mom, her grandma with the dog. She impersonates characters on TLC shows, making fun of being a dance mom or Say Yes to the Dress. She creates a character that would exist in that universe so authentically that we can laugh at it without making fun of people. And that is a skill. Her compassionate comedy is next level. I freaking love her. 

And I love her mom and that her mom comments on her videos. And that her mom follows “Under the Desk”! I felt very honored when Darla started following me.

Are you friends with Kendall?

Not in real life, just in TikTok life. 

What does that mean? 

I've never met Kendall in real life, I don't have her phone number, and we've never had dinner or anything. But I feel like I know her. It's what the kids will call a "parasocial relationship." And she also feels like she knows me! We've had DM conversations. I would say to somebody with a straight face, "I'm friends with Kendall Landreth," but I'm not!