.JPG)
Jack Corbett has been a producer on NPR’s Planet Money TikTok account for a few years now, but he’s still surprised by the response to his videos. To hear Corbett tell it, he’s just a 25-year-old “guy from Ohio” obsessed with all the bizarre ways the American economy works. But to the hundreds of thousands of fans who follow the Planet Money TikTok account, Corbett is a wacky- professor figure, a talented TikTok comedian, and most importantly, a guide through the largely inaccessible world of economics.
At first glance, it might not make sense that the Planet Money TikToks would resonate the way they have. Since when have people been stans of economics-explainer videos? But the account has over half a million followers, and Corbett’s goofy, religiously unpolished videos have been a core part of that success. The videos, which break down topics like time theft and unionizing, are shareable, rewatchable, and entertaining in a way that just, well, makes people listen.
Corbett often expresses gratitude and even confusion that NPR lets him make his oddball videos in the first place. But, in all likelihood, it is exactly that affable, down-to-earth nature that makes Corbett such a good front man. When Corbett breaks down dense economic theories in front of his silly green screen-generated backgrounds, you can tell he's deeply invested in making sure the viewer comprehends what’s happening.
“The best comments to receive on a video are when someone says, ‘Wow, I’ve seen 10 TikToks about this topic but I still didn’t understand until I saw this one,’” Corbett tells Teen Vogue.
Fans are calling Corbett the next Bill Nye, and who knows? There might be a case for it. Below, Teen Vogue chats with Corbett about making his TikToks, potential future plans, and his tips for young people who are trying to decipher economics for themselves.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Teen Vogue: What’s your title at NPR? What do you do?
Jack Corbett: I’m a producer. I’m the TikTok guy. [Laughs] I make TikToks for Planet Money.
TV: What’s your favorite memory from your job so far?
JC: It’s from really early on, when I realized it wasn’t just me who thought my videos were funny and stupid and silly. Taylor Lorenz retweeted the first one. I don’t know the bar for virality, but to me, it was, like, Ohio viral. People were excited about it. I was just like, “Wow, this is the first time anyone has interacted with my work in this way.” I think it was probably that because that was the start of it all, the mayhem that would ensue.
TV: You cover a wide range of topics with your TikToks. Are there any videos that you were particularly passionate about?
JC: The one about unionizing. I was happy with the way that one turned out. Every now and then you’ll find a topic that is less complicated than you would expect. It’s only four steps, and I had just assumed it’d be [more complex]. Not that [unionizing] is not hard to do. Just, like, on paper, the process is not so complicated.
Also, whenever there’s a moment in economics — like a Robinhood or a Gamestop or NFTs — it’s always fun to respond to those quickly, because for a lot of people it will be their introduction to the topic, or the first time they actually understand it. So that’s fun, to be able to illuminate something.
TV: How do you tackle understanding the concepts that are especially dense or complicated? What advice would you give to someone trying to do that?
JC: It takes a while. Part of learning is just reading a ton about economics. It’s not going to immediately come to you, but if you just have it in your brain, eventually it’ll [crystallize].
It usually doesn’t come to me naturally. I’ll just put things in my head and then walk through life. I’ll be on the subway or on a walk or I’ll wake up in the middle of the night — which has happened several times — and be like, “Okay, that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to describe this as like, ‘There’s a town that’s flooding, and there’s a guy on a pedestal looking down.’”
TV: That’s helpful, because many people feel like complex topics come naturally to others and feel bad if they don’t get it immediately. But I think a lot of understanding is just letting things stew, and it becomes more and more digestible over time.
JC: Yeah, and I think a lot of these topics, they’re not wildly accessible. Hopefully, I can do some of the legwork and use definitions for words that don’t, like... Sometimes I think, We didn’t need a word that big! We don’t need that many syllables to describe this! It’s like, chill out. What if you were just explaining this to a guy from Ohio, like me? I need shorter words. Shorter words — and pictures.
TV: I agree. The less words, the better. What is one topic in economics that you think more people should know about?
JC: I can think of about 100 things they should know, and there is a 60-second long TikTok for each of them. [Laughs]
No, I’ve got one: The stock market is not the economy. Two different things. So if the stock market is doing well, it doesn’t mean the economy is doing well. That’s not indicative of the entire economy. It’s representative of a bunch of big companies and how well they’re doing, which is not necessarily the same.
TV: Initially, people thought of TikTok as just an app for kids dancing and lip-syncing. But you make educational videos. What would you say to those people to get them to try TikTok and to appreciate it as an informational tool?
JC: It’s funny to think that, even in 2022, people are still thinking [of it that way]. I feel like we jumped that hurdle a long time ago. Basically, when TikTok first started, it was a lot of kids dancing, [back] in 2020 or even 2019. But it hasn’t been that for, like, three years.
It’s hard not to like TikTok, because it’ll find out what you like. It’ll find out what you want to know. That might be scary, that the algorithm knows that, but you can learn a lot about topics you like.
Like, I got a two-minute collage-y, stop motion animation talking about the new Black Midi album the other day. That is perfect for me. TikTok will find out what you want. You’ll get kids dancing if that’s what you want to see, but if you don’t, you won’t get that.
TV: Your background isn’t in economics, it’s in film. What would you say to a young person who is reluctant to learn about economics because they don’t see yet how it affects them?
JC: Oh, but they should. They should care, because it’s so crazy. Everything is so weird, it’s so weird. Like the stock market circuit breaker video that started the whole thing. The whole premise was “I’m going to make a video that looks as absurd as the concept.” It is absurd. Like, what? If the stock market is going down really fast they just tell everyone to chill out for 15 minutes? It’s all dressed up as being very serious, but there’s a lot of stuff that’s just very weird going on.
TV: That makes sense. It teaches you a lot about human behavior.
JC: Oh, yeah. It’s all about human behavior. It’s about moral codes as well. But it’s also just about humans being irrational, which is, like, funny.
TV: Everyone wants to know what your future plans are. I know you’ve mentioned documentary, maybe. Why?
JC: Why documentary? Well, that’s what I was doing before this. The real question is, “Why TikTok?” I certainly did not imagine that I’d be doing TikTok or anything like it. They even asked me, when I was an intern in 2019, if NPR should have a TikTok. All the other interns were like, “Yes! Absolutely!” And then there was me, and I was like, “No! You should not. It’s just going to die like Vine did.” It’s so ironic.
Yeah, I’m interested in documentary. Also, I’m here in Hollywood, so I’m going to try to do some Hollywood things. Documentary is very fun. There are some very weird ones, like Grizzly Man. They’re really funky, not at all boring.
TV: There’s obviously a lot of work that goes into making the TikTok videos. Is there anything about the process you think people would be surprised to know?
JC: For the first year, I didn’t have a green screen; I had a green bedsheet. For some reason, I thought it would be funnier if I taped it to the wall instead of having a stand. It was a nightmare. I don’t know why I did it. I think I thought if it was harder to set up I would make a better video or something. [Laughs]
A lot of times people ask me if I’m given topics to do. But I just sort of see what people are talking about. If it’s a topic or term that I’ve heard about since, like, the 2008 financial crisis — like “middleman” or “dividend” — I’m like, “If I’ve heard of it and don’t really know what it is, then chances are other people don’t also.”
Also, I only have, like, four T-shirts, so it’s hard to differentiate characters. It’s a matter of wearing different jackets on top, and it’s very hot here. Often at the start of a TikTok I’ll be doing fine, but by the end of it my brain is overheating — I can feel it sweating. Toward the end of each TikTok, if you look, you can tell. I am glistening, but, like, more than glistening. I am sweating.
TV: Slightly unrelated, but you are also known for making several loaves of bread a week. Are you ever going to release the bread vlog? Will we ever get the Sourdough Diaries?
JC: No, I’m not going to release the bread vlog. It’s a secret recipe. I wrote it in 2018, when I was in college. I started making bread as a way to save money, because each loaf of bread [I made] cost something like 40 cents. I was really trying to save up for some music gig or rent or something, and I just got into bread baking.
For the longest time, all the loaves sucked. It was horrible. I would give it to my roommates and they’d lie and be like, “Great work! That was so good!” Thankfully, I’ve slowly fine-tuned it. Now one of the perks of being my friend in real life is that you’ll have so many carbohydrates around you all the time, because I just bake so much.
TV: Anything else you want to say to the Planet Money stans?
JC: I’m just very grateful that they watch the videos and hit the like button. It’s very kind.
Watch Corbett’s videos on NPR’s Planet Money TikTok.
