A New York City comedian witnessed a breakup Saturday night — and so did the Internet, when he opted to livetweet it.
Kyle Ayers was apparently hanging out on his roof Friday evening when a couple came out and started fighting.
The fight appeared to be prompted by the woman’s desire to move in together. The man did not share that desire.
“Yeah but what is, like, living together? Like what’s an apartment mean? You know what I’m saying?” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
As with any lovers’ quarrel, however, the spat grew to encompass many apparent issues in the relationship, from roommate tension…
“Your roommates are fucking assholes” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
“Don’t let me live with them then!” -girl #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
…to suspicious text messages.
“ITS A TEXT FROM MY COWORKER. A WORK TEXT” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
“Let me read it then, give me the phone” -girl #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
“You don’t need to see my phone to trust me” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
There was the rehashing of past disputes:
“Ok so those were the only times I lied to you. Right? We can agree on that?” -guy #roofbreak
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
And there were the run-of-the-mill snipes and character attacks, as well as defensive responses to criticism.
“You think I’m immature? Calling people immature is immature!” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
“Say something else about my f—ing wardrobe” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
Then there were the attempts to discuss grander issues: love being chief among them.
“I’m not talking about love on a roof in Brooklyn.” -guy #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
Head in hands. Awaits answer about love. -girl #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
And of course, emotions can be difficult to articulate.
“I can’t be with some who is so ugh what ugh stop” -girl #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 17, 2013
Some have accused Ayers of insensitivity. A BBC News article online suggested he had invaded their privacy simply to mock them.
But Ayers didn’t seem so detached or callous about what he witnessed. At one point during the livetweet, he ends a tweet with “#teamrachel.” And on Monday, he tweeted:
For everyone asking, Rachel was quite pretty. If I were guy, even after all of that, I would have chased after her. #roofbreakup
— Kyle Ayers (@kyleayers) November 18, 2013
And it appears the appeal of his livetweet — and perhaps the relatable nature of the public breakup — was universal. Ayers received tweets from delighted fans as far away as Malaysia.
@kyleayers Your tweets made my day, too darn funny, clearly a winner on the internet today. Love from Malaysia.
— rachel chong (@RacRaven) November 18, 2013
Ayers’ Twitter followers more than tripled over just a few hours on Monday.
Ayers said he didn’t expect the livetweet to be so popular.
“I just want to make people laugh,” he wrote in an email. “And an overwhelming majority of my feedback has been people laughing, happy or thanking me for making their day better. I do love that.”
For a full Storify of the livetweet, check out Ayers’ website. He also, in the interest of fairness, linked to some accounts of his own dating misadventures.
Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat