\u201cI took a gummy, and I watched it and I was very confused,\u201d comedian Rob Anderson excitedly recounted in a video about the \u201880s Canadian kids\u2019 movie \u201cThe Peanut Butter Solution,\u201d<\/u><\/a> in which a boy puts a spreadable solution on his bald head, grows luscious locks, is kidnapped, then forced to grow his hair for paintbrushes. \u201cSo I watched it again without a gummy and it made even less<\/i> sense. I was more baffled.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a weird premise to be sure, but that Anderson is baffled by any millennial media is both charming and part of the fun.<\/p>\n The New York-based comedian has been posting recaps and take-downs of television shows and films from the \u201980s, \u201990s and early 2000s \u2014 with a few Hallmark and Netflix Christmas movies thrown in for good measure, along with the occasional bizarre design show \u2014 since 2023, and has developed a significant following on social media. Nothing is sacred: \u201cThe Princess Diaries\u201d<\/u><\/a> and \u201cCoyote Ugly\u201d<\/u><\/a> are dissected for verisimilitude; \u201cBig\u201d<\/u><\/a> and \u201cNever Been Kissed\u201d<\/u><\/a> checked for their statutory-adjacent plotlines; \u201cSaved by the Bell\u201d<\/u><\/a> is posited as classist; \u201cAnnie\u201d<\/u><\/a> is reconsidered as anything but<\/i> a kid\u2019s musical.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re all movies that I have watched before,\u201d Anderson, 38, says of his dozens of comedic recaps. \u201cThat\u2019s the real enjoyment: You\u2019re watching it simultaneously from what you remember as a kid, and then also as a grown adult going, Oh my God, this makes no sense<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson is here for the melodrama, the special lessons and the climaxes that fall flat. \u201cThere\u2019s something so great about a big moment that is supposed to be enormous for this person who is so successful at singing or dancing or whatever they\u2019re doing. At the time [of release], we\u2019re like, This is great<\/i>. And then watching it back, you\u2019re like, Wait, what?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Anderson has been posting recaps and take-downs of television shows and films from the \u201980s, \u201990s and early 2000s since 2023.<\/p>\n (Max Bronner)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n And while this dressing-down of beloved works might seem like another bummer in a world of doomscrolling, @heartthrobanderson is anything but. \u201cIt\u2019s not acidic or negative. I genuinely love doing this,\u201d he says. \u201cThat comes through in the videos.\u201d<\/p>\n The proof may be in Anderson\u2019s millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram, which include \u201990s queens such as Rose McGowan, Busy Philipps and members of the cast of \u201c7th Heaven,\u201d as well as Rihanna. He\u2019s bringing his social platform to the stage with \u201cAre You Afraid of the <\/u><\/a>\u201990s?\u201d<\/u><\/a> \u2014 a 90-minute, one-man musical\/stand-up that melds his recaps with original songs and theatrics. The tour arrives at the Belasco on March 7.<\/p>\n Marketing, social and \u2018Gay Science\u2019 <\/b><\/p>\n Although he\u2019s made his mark online, Anderson studied theater in college and did sketch improv in Chicago before moving to New York. Anderson\u2019s TikToks for restaurant reviewer <\/u>t<\/u>he Infatuation<\/u><\/a> (where he was head of marketing) went viral \u2014 \u201cIt was basically just my personality and my humor, and then attaching food\u201d \u2014 and he soon began making his own comedy videos. He was signed to an agency just before the pandemic.<\/p>\n Anderson went viral again for his \u201cGay Science\u201d<\/u><\/a> series, which took a satirical and graph-heavy approach to queer stereotypes and behavior. Across 50 episodes, Anderson unpacked everything from why gay men prefer iced coffee to whether bottoms would survive the apocalypse (the answer is yes).<\/p>\n The series became a bestselling book, increasing Anderson\u2019s profile as an incisive commentator with biting wit but very little malice. <\/p>\n Breaking through with \u20187th Heaven\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Anderson grew up watching and rewatching movies \u2014 sometimes multiple times in a row \u2014 but today is the \u201ctype of person that can\u2019t do the same thing for too long.\u201d After exploring all of the gay science he could imagine, Anderson found a new calling in revisiting television from his youth. Enter the moralizing family drama<\/u><\/a> \u201c7th Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Recapping] \u20187th Heaven\u2019 really was my stepping stone into finding this voice. I can take nostalgic things that people love, or don\u2019t love, and bring them back up in a way that roasts them lightly,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s my hyper-critical Virgo mind: Instead of being the downer at a party that points out all the things that suck and why we should leave, I\u2019m still pointing them out, but in a way that makes us want to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of whether you grew up with the show, many episodes of \u201c7th Heaven\u201d have plotlines worth revisiting, if only for their insanity and cultural obsolescence. Just see Anderson\u2019s thoughts on plotlines about Black allyship<\/u><\/a>, the time the youngest Camden child became xenophobic<\/u><\/a>, the dangers of hickeys<\/u><\/a>, and a very special MLK Day episode where a white guy becomes a victim of racism<\/u><\/a>. Members of the cast have seen Anderson\u2019s reels<\/u><\/a>, and Beverley Mitchell (Lucy) even collaborated with Anderson on a video where her character goes to therapy<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n As he\u2019s expanded his recaps into other television and film series, Anderson has found fans in the actors themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s roasting something they did, and they still appreciate the perspective of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Anderson on stage for his one-man show \u201cAre You Afraid of the \u201890s?\u201d<\/p>\n (Varun Mummadi)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n The nostalgia king<\/b><\/p>\n Anderson\u2019s niche of nostalgiacore is uniquely millennial: His generation can look in the rearview<\/u><\/a> sooner than ever before and grew up with an incredible amount of targeted media that\u2019s ripe for dissection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why I started revisiting these things is the same reason why people enjoy what I\u2019m saying about them. It\u2019s a walk backward into a time that was pleasant. \u2026 Nostalgia is a real powerful drug,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n![\"Rob](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/511423f\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6000x4000+0+0\/resize\/320x213!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fec%2F80%2F5eb12248427a9efbda9d5a5c34c1%2Fvarunmummadi-01.png)
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