TORONTO -- Less than a month into the COVID-19 pandemic, Toronto actress Julie Nolke wondered: how would I explain this to my past self?
How would January Julie react if April Julie told her that the Australian wildfires that had dominated the news for months wouldn’t be the biggest story of the year? Or that she should do a Costco run and invest some money into Zoom, the video conferencing app?
“That was a running joke we had in my household,” she told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday.
“I just kept thinking about how every day something unprecedented was happening. It felt like out of a movie and that there was no way that I could possibly explain this to Julie from three months ago.”
With that thought, the first of what has become a three-part video series was born: “Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self.” Filmed more than six months ago, the first video has amassed more than 16 million views since it was posted just four weeks after the World Health Organization deemed COVID-19 a global pandemic.
In “Part 2,” which has been viewed close to seven million times since June, the first video itself became part of the joke. Last week, Nolke posted “Part 3,” in which October Julie warns June Julie of gender reveal parties, orange skies and alludes to U.S. President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.
The videos have clearly struck a chord with people all around the world, which Nolke credits to the unifying quality of a global pandemic.
“People are all on the same page globally. We’re all trying to digest this together and work through it together. When people see my videos, it gives them permission to laugh and take a little respite from what it somewhat unfortunate,” she said.
Though the videos have been viewed more than 25 million times collectively, Nolke hopes there’s no “Part 4.”
“But the way this year’s going -- who knows?” she said.
“My dream is that I'll come back in December and it will be all good news.”
