"Should I be joking at a time like this?"
That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who were rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it got weird.
Brooke died due to complications with ALS earlier this month. She was 37.
In 2025, she talked to Endless Thread hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community.
Show notes:
- Brooke Eby's TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube
- ALSTogether
- When Your Terminal Illness Makes You a TikTok Star (The New York Times)
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