There’s a new ‘It’ girl online, and she loves memes just as much as you.
Let us explain if you haven’t kept your nose to your phone following the Bridgerton Season 3 press tour. Nicola Coughlan of Derry Girls fame is finally getting her moment in the spotlight as her character Penelope Featherington is the focal point of the latest Bridgerton installment. The Irish actress is unsurprisingly delightful — and extremely online.
On the Bridgerton red carpet, Coughlan did a pitch-perfect imitation of the “Send it to Me Rachel” video. Then she said, “I keep saying it to my friends, but they are adults with lives.” Her comments provoked an army of similarly highly online people to declare their loyalty to her. One Twitter / X user wrote, “Not to be too parasocial, but I NEED to queen out with this diva.” Another said, “I love representation for employed (literally) yet jobless (spiritually) people.”
How many of us have taken delight in parroting a viral sound only to be met with blank looks from an offline friend? It’s comforting to know someone as successful and charismatic as Coughlan faces the same dead-eyed look and flush of embarrassment.
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Earlier, Coughlan played Betches’ “How Online Are You” and got almost every question. She knew J.Lo’s go-to bodega order — if you know, you know — the name of the Oompa Loompa at the Glasgow Willy Wonka experience, and the joke that Bottoms’ Ayo Edebiri played Jenny, the donkey, in Banshees of Inisherin. Coughlan punctuated the video with relatable remarks like, “This is what I do with my time, clearly,” “Why do I know this?” and “I have two degrees!” That’s someone who gets it!
In a time when many celebrities flout being offline and disconnected from the plebeian’s internet culture, a luxury people in most industries can’t afford, it’s refreshing to see someone in the public eye who takes pleasure in the silly aspects of being online. As one X user said, “She’s the representation for the girlies who are chronically online but still have lives. Thank you, princess.”
She differs from the rising class of comedic actresses who gained followings on Twitter pre-mainstream fame for their quippy remarks and contributions to meme culture, like Edebiri and Rachel Sennott, because, like so many of us, she’s a lurker. Like you, she isn’t shaping internet culture but consuming it. She doesn’t post on Instagram aside from the standard promo posts and uses her platform to advocate for a ceasefire in Palestine.
Not to mention, she’s breaking down barriers so that 37-year-old women can have fun online, too.
