Imagine: a red-headed woman with a ‘70s-inspired haircut barges into your room as you're getting ready for school. She's got a cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth, and she's yelling your name and that you're going to be late for school.
She then starts ranting about your gutchies (aka underwear for all you younger yinzers out there), and why do they say PINK on them? She certainly didn't take you to "Victorian Secret" (ah, the Gen X and Boomer Pittsburgher mispronunciation of everything!). A gigantic Subway soft drink jingle-jangles in her hand. She continues to rant about how you're just "in middle skewl" and shouldn't be wearing that stuff.
This is the most popular character, Cig Mom, that Murrysville native Kim Rhoades plays on TikTok. Cig Mom is a brash, chain-smoking, Steelers-loving, Stevie Nicks-listening mom based on Kim’s own mother.
Rhoades started making TikToks in 2018 for fun, but soon after, she started taking her sketches on the app more seriously, and just five years later, the 25-year-old has 2.6 million followers and 44.1 million likes and counting.
Cig Mom is meant to be funny, but for Rhoades, the humor is also a way to deal with trauma from her childhood. Her parents (who are both deceased) abused her, and each other, growing up. Rhoades has filmed herself responding to comments that say things like: “How does it feel to mock your mother after her death?”
“I wasn’t going to reply,” Rhoades says in a video, “but I’m going to reply, because who are you to tell me how I can talk about my mother? Who cares if she died? She abused me. So did my father; he’s also dead, but I talk about him … You don’t get to tell me how I talk about my parents … This is how I deal with my trauma, and it brings joy to other people. It’s comedy, it’s dark comedy, but it’s comedy…”
Rhoades was 19 years old when her dad passed away, and 23 when her mother died.
“I’ve been watching comedians since I was young, my father would put in old VHS tapes of SNL,” Rhoades tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I have to thank my father for my comedic timing — my father was a really funny person.”
“Carol Burnett is a huge inspiration for me,” Rhoades adds, citing the sketch in which Burnett makes fun of Gone with the Wind with a gigantic dress made of curtains. Rhoades also loves Vicki Lawrence from Mama’s Family.
Rhoades’ most popular characters, Cig Mom and Beer Dad (based on her father), often touch on dark comedy, with one of her highest performing sketches being “POV: Back to School Shopping with Your Cig Mom,” earning 2.9 million likes.
Rhoades does not want to focus solely on dark comedy though. She wants to eventually release music, as she’s been singing for years.
Rhoades went to school with Brooke Hyland (of Dance Moms fame). Long ago, the two talked about releasing songs someday. “We both did choir together and were talking, saying we should release covers and [original] songs,” Rhoades says.
Rhoades also is an advocate for POTS syndrome, which she suffers from. The condition causes symptoms like a fast heart rate, dizziness, fainting and fatigue when moving from lying down to standing up. There is no cure, but treatments and lifestyle changes can help manage POTS.
“When I was bedridden for a short time, TikTok allowed me to still work on comedy and make people happy,” Rhoades says. “I could still make myself happy, too.”
Rhoades says she needs to be creative to stay happy, whether that’s comedy, music, or even poetry.
She was an English major and hopes to write a book of poetry one day. She has a year of school left, but because of her newfound TikTok fame, and for her own mental health, she is taking a step back for the moment.
Rhoades also recently got married. “The sun came out right before [my wife and I] were supposed to get married,” she says. “My cousin looks at me and goes, ‘Your dad opened the clouds up for you.’ It was really sweet, and everything was just amazing.”
When filming in public, Rhoades gets her wife to help with filming sometimes. “She does a phenomenal job, she’s very patient, knows the angles and what to do,” she says. At home, Rhoades usually uses a ring light.
To film and edit a video to its completion, it typically takes about three to four hours. Rhoades usually aims to release an average of five new videos each week.
“The world can be a nasty place, and we must fight evil with good,” Rhoades says. “I’m reclaiming the evil that was done to me in my life and making good out of it, and I encourage others to do the same.”
“If my videos help them do that, that is wonderful. We need to have more laughter in this world,” she adds.
You’ll be catching more of Rhoades soon, as the Hard Rock Café in Pittsburgh recently asked her to do stand-up there. She hopes to go on tour soon, and her ultimate dream would be to become a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
“SNL would be the dream,” she says. “Like I said, I’ve been watching since I was very young.”
