FAQ
What is your name? How old are you? Where do you live?
Benjamin, or Ben, depending on how much effort you want to put into it. I popped out of my mom in July of 1981. I was born and raised in St. Louis, where I still live today.
Why are you called “The Frogman?”
The short version is that when I was in junior high, I started a newsletter and wrote it under the pseudonym of “Bob the Frog.” It was my first step into the world of comedy, and I wanted to pay homage to that. To me, that was when I first became a comedian. I’ve used the nickname Frogman ever since.
Read the whole story here.
What’s the story behind the bear hat? Where can I get one?
I got it at a garage sale in high school for 50¢. When I started including pictures of myself on the blog, I had a terrible bedhead, so I thought I’d try wearing different hats to hide it. One day I wore the bear hat, and it got such a great response that I kept wearing it.
Then people were starting to recognize me and searching for my blog with “Bear Hat Guy,” so it became my own kind of watermark. Now it’s how a lot of people find my site.
You can read more here.
What illness do you have/why do you live with your parents?
I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), clinical depression, and narcolepsy. This means I have certain limitations that the average, healthy person doesn’t have: I really can’t leave the house, and I must spend a lot of time in bed—I even work from bed.
My parents are very supportive and like having me here. I live on the bottom floor, with my own kitchen and living room and everything. I pay rent. I pay all my own bills. They give me no financial assistance. I keep my mooch factor to a minimum. Living with them was the best decision I could make under the circumstances, and I’m immensely grateful to have such understanding and supporting parents.
Read more about CFS here.
A complete list of all my medical conditions.
What kind of dog is Otis? How old is he?
He’s a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and he was born on November 4, 2011. His official, registered name is Sir Otis Frogsworth. He even has his own blog, found here.
Why corgis?
They’re endlessly entertaining and make some of the best expressions. Other qualities of note: cute little stumpy legs, and they’ve always got a positive attitude. Corgis never fail to make me smile.
Do you have a personal blog?
YES I DO. Click here.
How do you make gifs?
Hoppip made an excellent gif tutorial that you can see here.
Also, here’s a post with some of my own tips.
How do I get more followers?
If you really want to know how to get more followers, I will tell you the secret.
Effort.
That’s it. The more effort you put in, the more followers you will receive. Cheap tactics may get you a couple of followers here and there. But effort is by far more potent.
Improve your editorial eye. Find fresh content to introduce into tumblr. Get an RSS reader and subscribe to a bunch of non-tumblr sites. When you post to tumblr, make sure YOU are the first to post it. Scoop everyone else. Properly source your posts. If you don’t know who made it, tell us where you found it. Keep your posts cleanly formatted. Do not post something with 400 blockquotes. Have a clean theme. No autoplay. Try making your own content. Learn how to make gifs. And don’t just pull 10 random frames from a movie. Good gifs are about finding special moments and trapping them in a creative time loop. If you do make things, submit your work to larger sites. And if they don’t post it, DO NOT COMPLAIN. Because then they won’t post anything of yours in the future.
Do you respond to all of the asks you get? Why do you only seem to answer negative messages?
I get hundreds and sometimes thousands of messages, comments, and emails every week. I do my best to answer as many as I can, but it’s impossible to answer them all. I only answer messages publicly if I have a compelling answer that would be interesting to most of my audience. A lot of times I’m just telling people ‘thank you’ for saying nice things about me. While it is always flattering to me and it gives me warm tinglies, I’m not sure everyone would want to see that on their dash all the time.
The negative responses tend to be the most compelling. I often use them to talk about issues that are important to me. I might use them to show people effective ways to handle trolls and bullies. And they tend to be the easiest messages to craft a creative or funny response to.
So those are the ones I publish, but I promise I read all my messages and I respond to as many as my energy allows.
I saw some of your original content on reddit/imgur/another website!
If you see my work on another site, feel free to leave a polite comment with a link to my website. Please don’t angrily message anybody on my behalf. They may not know it’s a stolen image in the first place.
Feel free to email me a link to where you saw the post: froggie@thefrogman.me.
How do you keep your beard so nice and fluffy?
I use pirate-approved beard products.
Has anyone ever mentioned that you look like Hagrid?
No. No one has ever mentioned that.
