Almost overnight, out of nowhere, an Instagram page popped up. As they often do. But this one, for some reason, went viral. Almost immediately. And it’s dedicated to one thing: the toilets of Toronto. Seriously.
The page, dubbed @thetoiletguyy on Instagram (and @findmytoilet on TikTok), is run by a college student who prefers to remain anonymous. He started posting videos in between exams, and says the whole thing started as a sort of joke.
“To be honest, my friend called me while I was taking a dump and asked me what I was doing and how the toilet was,” the student says. “He proceeded to ask me how the bathroom was. I found the premise of the question hilarious, so I decided to create a video about it. And it went crazy.”
At the time of writing, the Instagram account has just eight videos but over 4,500 followers. Some videos have over 300,000 views, and the account has accumulated thousands of likes and hundreds of comments across TikTok and Instagram. If it feels ridiculous, that’s because it is. And that’s exactly what the Toilet Guy thinks makes it so popular.
“I think it’s just different and interesting, also the comedy within my videos makes people enjoy seeing the city through a different lens,” he says, adding that he gets flooded with direct messages regularly.
As for the future, the Toilet Guy may take his show on the road, but he doesn’t have his proverbial butt firmly planted on that plan yet. “I might visit some cities but, to be honest, I’m not too sure what to do. I’m just doing this for fun and to make people smile.”
And make people smile he has: the Toilet Guy regularly interacts with commenters on the page, asking for suggestions and input into where he’ll film next. And he loves the praise he’s getting. His favourite comment so far, he says, came from user @SammyG, who wrote: “As a gastroenterologist this is officially my favourite channel.”
And now that exams are done, we’ll see what (wash)rooms he gets into next.
