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Josiah Johnson Used Twitter as Springboard for Creative Dreams

The former UCLA hooper took his locker room talk to Twitter.

Pat Benson

Josiah Johnson Interview
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Nobody uses Twitter better than Josiah Johnson. When Johnson put his finger to the keyboard, it was like Magic Johnson being drafted by the Lakers, LeBron James getting 'Chosen 1' tattooed on his back, or John Stockton finding Fox News. It was a natural fit.

Unlike most users on the app that Johnson dominates, he didn't grow up with social media. Instead, Johnson came of age absorbing 80s and 90s politics, sports, and pop culture. He honed his ability to take and dish jokes with the best of them during the Steve Lavin era at UCLA over a decade before blowing up on Twitter for his pinpoint-accurate references and memes.

After years of grinding, Johnson's genius has finally been recognized. He's getting tapped for major creative roles in the sports media world. Yesterday, I snuck away from my day job and sat in a stairwell to Zoom with the face of #NBATwitter. Johnson sat back, relaxed in his television-ready office. Over one shoulder was a framed LeBron James tweet praising Johnson's work. Over the other was a painting of Kobe Bryant locked in battle. 

Even a brief chat with Johnson is dope because he is like the big bro who hands down careful advice and your funniest friend who quotes Friday at the most opportune moment. For someone who dreams of following Johnson's career path, the talk was nothing short of inspiring. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Projects

Detailed view of the the UCLA Bruins logo at center court at Pauley Pavilion.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Let's plug everything you're working on. Tell fans of your Twitter account where they can find your other projects.

"I'm doing a show on Fubo with Gilbert Arenas called No Chill with Gilbert Arenas, doing a show with Wave called Outta Pocket, doing some stuff with SHOWTIME Basketball, doing some work here and there with NBA Twitter, and TNT and that crew. But just trying to stay as busy as possible, and always on the right side developing projects and ideas."

How can fans step up their meme game? I see a lot of people try and fail.

"The main thing is just put yourself out there. Just try to be as plugged in as possible with everything going on in the world, the NBA, Twitter, and pop culture. Really, you got to be a volume shooter - like Kobe. Keep shooting, keep shooting, and eventually, they will start to go in. Learn from the mistakes. For me personally, it was a lot of trial and error. People look at where I'm at now, but they don't go back and look at the stuff I was doing a few years ago that maybe people weren't as big of fans of.

There's no easier way to do it than just do it. Sometimes you're going to get packed up, clowned, ratio, all that good stuff. But ultimately, if you keep your eyes on the prize, keep grinding, keep building, and hopefully learn from those mistakes. And if not, maybe just shut it down and move to another platform. TikTok or something like that."

Twitter

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) poses for a Twitter post during media day at the Warriors Practice Facility.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

You mention taking Ls. If we brick a tweet, do we delete it or hold onto it?

"Unless it's something that's a little too spicy, a little too controversial, I always keep those tweets up. It's good for me to leave those tweets up. It's funny; I was actually going through some old tweets and saw some stuff from several years ago - a tweet that, let's just say, wasn't my best work. And a lot of the people that were packing me up in the comments and saying a lot of mean stuff are now the same people asking me for jobs and to come on their pods. I'm sure they don't even remember it.

So I'd say don't delete that, really eat that. You're not going to learn from that stuff if you keep deleting and hiding it. So leave that stuff up there and let people do what they want with it. But now also improve, build, and get better. It's like if you're playing a basketball game and take an L, you can't delete that L from the record books, right? You got to eat all those L's, so eventually, those W's are worth it and rewarding."

I've always thought basketball players have the best sense of humor out of any athletes. Do you agree?

'Yeah, I agree. Generally, basketball players are the best-looking, most talented, most athletic, have the best hand-eye coordination, and spend a lot of time in the locker room together. A lot of people don't realize the amount of time they spend together, so humor is a great mechanism just to keep moving ahead and chugging along. 

I remember when I was playing at UCLA, being in the locker room with those guys, you had to hold your own and make sure that your jokes were always on point because people are going to come for you. They're going to clown you. It could be an outfit, a haircut, or a certain scent you might have that people may not be agreeable with. You just never know. 

With all that stuff, basketball players do a better job of it. Football players kind of is funny, but you got like 100 guys in the locker room, wearing helmets, not showering as often as we do, they have a lot of other stuff to worry about other than being funny."

Has an athlete ever DM'd you and said they were offended by one of your jokes?

"No, generally, they will just block you. I've had some athletes block me and then unblock me once because they realize I wasn't trying to take shots at them. I was trying to make sure they were in on the joke. But with things like mental health and athletes that have been super outspoken about that, I try to layer my humor in that comedy so it's stuff they can share with each other in the locker room. Never really try to pinpoint individual players. I'll keep stuff team-related. If a player is playing bad, I try not to attack them because I know I'm trash at basketball, so that's not really my position. That's a lot of people in this space. If you've never played in the NBA, you really can't come at them like that.

Obviously, the jokes are one thing, but when it starts to get mean-spirited - I try to avoid that at all costs. I'm not going to say I always did that. I was definitely pettier in my younger days. But now that I've gotten older, more mature, and just gotten to know a lot of these guys. It's a lot harder to get those jokes off when guys like LeBron, KD, and Steph follow you. Definitely try to keep it to stuff that if they see it, they can show their friends and family. Or if someone shows them in the locker room, they can laugh about it."

Networking

Josiah Johnson Instagram

Do you think humor is a better way of making a point instead of rants or hot takes?

"If you get on that soapbox and start preaching, generally, a lot of people aren't going to listen. People don't want to be preached at. But if you can do it in a way that's satirical, as parody, that infuses comedy into it - especially the way the NBA Twitter community is slanting nowadays.

I see a lot of friends of different players or teams, and I'll see them going at each other. I have to pull them aside and say, 'Look, this person that you think you have this beef with because you have varying basketball opinions, you guys would really like each other if you got to know each other.'

It's crazy because I see people going at each other and making it personal. I'm never going to fight somebody over a basketball take. If we start having a healthy discussion and it turns mean-spirited, I'll generally just pull myself out of those things. Because I think a lot of times, people want to feel validated by Twitter. And ultimately, how are you going to be validated by a bunch of people that you don't know and you'll never see them in life? 

That's just how I move. Everyone has their own flow and rhythm. For me, it's just about being respectful in the NBA Twitter community, especially as I've become an elder statesman within the community and really try to keep things as classy as possible. Will we get jokes off? Of course. Will people be offended by those jokes? Yes. But ultimately, I'm not trying to fight somebody over a basketball take." 

Alright, so aliens challenge humans to a basketball game and the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Who do you want calling the game? Who is your dream broadcast booth?

"Me because I love checks. My dad, who works with the Bucks and has won 4 or 5 Emmys at this point. My brother, Chris. Keep a Johnson family situation. Make sure we're all getting bags, all getting checks, and I know we're going to have a good time and know each other, love each other, and be able to flow off each other. Throw in a Mike Breen in too there for the occasional 'Bang' after a big shot."

The influence Johnson has on the basketball community isn't lost on him. For a sport and platform that lends itself to GOAT debates and zero-sum battles, it's vital that a leading voice is peaceful and light-hearted. Looking around the country and the world, we could all benefit from taking ourselves less seriously in the spirit of capitulation. 

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Published
Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers the Atlanta Hawks for Sports Illustrated's All Hawks. He has covered the NBA for several years and is the author of "Kobe Bryant's Sneaker History (1996-2020)".

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