How Como Zoo's 'Tiger Van' became a viral star on TikTok

St. Paul's Como Park Zoo & Conservatory started posting videos on TikTok about a year and a half ago. It's gotten some good social media traction showing what the inside of a penguin's mouth looks like or what happens when you let monkeys play with soap bubbles.

But the zoo struck internet gold when it did a spoof of a Russian TikTok channel called Jet Car that features scantily clad models showing off luxury cars in ASMR-style videos.

Instead of a woman in a tight miniskirt tapping her manicured fingernails on the bodywork of a hulking pink SUV and whispering, "Mercedes," the zoo's video features a zoo employee in a sweatshirt, sneakers and a plaid, ear-flapped hat, kicking the tires of a Ford and declaring in a broad Minnesota accent: "Tiger Van."

The zoo's video showing off its outreach vehicle has gotten close to half a million views on its TikTok channel since it was posted Nov. 29, and another quarter-million on its X (formerly Twitter) channel. It also got another 1.4 million views via an X tweet and about 100,000 views on Instagram Reels.

Comments on X about the Como Zoo parody included: "This is an actual work of art from Como Zoo," and "I've never been more proud to be a Minnesotan."

A commenter on Facebook suggested, "Whoever runs Como Park Zoo and Conservatory's TikTok account should be knighted immediately."

Ashley Verdeck has yet to be knighted, but the education specialist at the zoo is seen in the video showing off the van's animal stripe paint job, accidentally beeping the horn and opening up the van door, letting a load of pumpkins fall out.

Verdeck, who started Como's TikTok channel in May 2022, said she was inspired by an earlier parody TikTok video done by the Milwaukee Public Library. The library got 1.5 million views demonstrating its frugal, well-aged outreach car featuring manual window cranks and a cassette deck.

Other parodies of the Jet Car videos have featured people showing off military vehicles, John Deere tractors and a Little Tikes kid's car.

In the zoo vehicle video, Verdeck wanted to create a vibe immediately identifiable as Midwestern.

"I thickened up my normal Minnesotan accent," she admitted.

The video also had another local reference, with Prince playing on the van's sound system.

"I just thought it was hilarious," said Lydia Kauppi, a Minneapolis real estate agent who racked up 1.4 million views when she shared the zoo video on her X account. "I would characterize Midwesterners and specifically Minnesotans as having a strong regional identity. We're just suckers for anything that leans into it. I knew people would get a kick out of it."

The zoo invited other organizations to make their own Jet Car-style videos. So far, they've inspired at least one response, a video by the Twin Cities Metro Meals on Wheels, which referenced the Como Zoo video and featured a Meals on Wheels Ford Transit van and the organization's mascot, Pad O'Butter.

"We thought [the Como Zoo video] was hilarious," said Grant Boelter, marketing and communications manager for Metro Meals on Wheels. "We thought it was an opportunity to have some fun with another nonprofit."

"It's been really good," Verdeck said of the response to the video. "People are having a lot of fun with it."