The insanely popular Pokémon Go app for smartphones has kids, millennials, and even adults walking into traffic, diving headfirst into shrubbery, and searching their neighborhoods for cute little virtual-reality characters that pop up on cell phone screens and spark crazy chases.
But Dena Blizzard, a mom in Burlington County, New Jersey, had an idea: Instead of chasing silly little characters with funny names around on a screen (and in the great outdoors), what if game players went after elusive glasses of chardonnay instead?
Voila — a new and totally fake app “Chardonnay Go” was born. In a three-minute video originally posted to Facebook Live, Blizzard is shown running around her neighborhood, crashing a woman’s private home, and fighting for a stranger under a tree — all for a taste of chardonnay. “Chardonnay, go!” screams Blizzard as she zooms around her neighborhood in search of a taste of the grape.
In the video, Blizzard excitedly describes how to use the app, saying breathlessly, “And there are no problems with security — Google wants you to drink!”
With over 18 million views of her video and a burgeoning new fan base, this comedian and mom, 43, is tickled by her viral status.
“Who knew so many women loved Chardonnay?” she told LifeZette.
How did the inspiration hit her to create an adults-only pretend game based on Pokemon?
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“My kids were talking about Pokémon Go, so I found out what it was. Then my daughter said, ‘Why don’t we download it and we can play?’ It’s the middle of summer — I’m pretty much done parenting, really, you know?” she said. “And I thought, ‘Mommy’s not playing any game unless there’s wine at the end of it.’ ‘Chardonnay Go’ was born.”
Her kids are used to her antics. Their mom is now starring in her one-woman Broadway show called “One Funny Mother,” and she’s made many videos celebrating the ordinary, frustrating, funny, and even mundane in family life.
“It’s funny — they’ll just kind of stare at me,” she said of her children, ages 16, 13, and 11. “They seem to be thinking, ‘Are all the other moms like this?’ But I have a fun neighborhood, so I tend to blend in around here.”
Her inspiration usually comes straight out of singular moments in daily life. “I have a video called ‘Cups,’ and the idea came from the fact that all summer long, my kids come in, get a cup, use it — and stick it in the sink.”
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The video shows Blizzard with a motley collection of cups on her counter, and she drinks out of each one of them so her kids can’t use them — as they watch her, bemused.
Blizzard is not sure why “Chardonnay Go” struck a chord with so many. But she feels great when a mom gets in touch to say she appreciated it.
“This video resonated, but there was no special process in making it,” she said. “I got an email from a woman in Nice, France, and she told me that it has, of course, been a horrible week, but said, ‘Your video made me laugh — thank you so much.’ That was really nice.”
The video has helped people find Blizzard, her show, and her website, DenaBlizzard.com. “I believe in what we do. It’s real.”
The New York Times dismissed her one-woman show in April, and Blizzard — never one to cower — fought back, creating a video take-down of the publication.
“Who knew so many women loved Chardonnay?” said Blizzard.
“It’s an evening of safe laughs for people, especially young mothers, who think that raising children is an impossibly demanding task,” the reviewer wrote dismissively about Blizzard’s show on parenting — and indirectly dismissed all parents working to raise kids.
“It was a really hard moment,” Blizzard said of the snooty review. “I’ve been working on who we are and what we do [a reference to herself and the other people involved in her projects] for 14 years, and to get that review was devastating. It didn’t talk about the play or my acting or the lighting. It was just this attack based on, ‘Why is this mom complaining?'”
“In my video response, I basically said, ‘You’re the reason my work resonates with people,'” Blizzard continued. “My mom was against my video to The Times. She said, ‘Just calm down,’ and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, Mom, but this has to happen.’ You can’t just do this to people and expect that I’m not going to respond. This play is like my fourth child.”
The response to her video aimed at The Times was heartening, said Blizzard. “People said to me, ‘You’re right. It’s the way women feel as moms — feeling like they’re attacked for how they parent, and then they see The New York Times do the same thing. With my comedy, moms can feel like, ‘I can be imperfect, and have wine with friends and laugh about my kids, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m OK.'”
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Blizzard may have had the last laugh. Thanks to her “Chardonnay Go” video, she is fielding new offers and opportunities. For now, she is focusing on her show, which is running through Sept. 3 at New World Stages in New York City.
“Life is good,” Blizzard said. “I’m surprised by all this attention, but we’ll just see where it leads.”
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