Twenty years after he was accidentally interviewed live on the BBC instead of the technology expert the producers had invited, Guy Goma continues to be remembered as the patron saint of everyone who pretends to know what’s going on at work.
On the twentieth anniversary of that mythical May 8, 2006, the internet woke up sharing videos of Guy Gomacelebrated as a kind of folk hero for anyone who has ever found themselves ill-prepared for a challenge in the workplace.
Goma had gone to the BBC in London for a job interview — not to appear on television. I was applying for a role linked to data processing at computer science area.
What followed is a scene familiar to anyone who has ever been caught off guard at workremember .
It could have been , as ZAP called it a few months ago; Goma ended up not getting the job he had applied for. But it became one of the biggest bloopers ever from the BBC, and one of the first viral videos of the YouTube era.
Or iconic moment “captures a certain anxiety we all feel when we are placed in a role for which we are not prepared, but we try to perform it competently anyway”, says Rafal Zaborowskiprofessor of digital culture at King’s College London, told the New York newspaper.
Goma’s story began when he applied for a job at the BBC as a data processing technician and was called in for an interview. I was waiting in the lobby when Elliott Gotkineproducer of BBC News 24, the British broadcaster’s continuous information channel, approached him.
Gotkine, who this Friday with Goma the 20th anniversary of the episode, was looking for another Guy: the technology journalist Guy Kewneywho had been invited to comment on the decision in a lawsuit involving technology giant Apple and Apple Corps, the Beatles’ record label.
There is some controversy about what happened next. Gotkine claims to have Goma was asked if he was Guy Kewney. The Congolese says that Gotkine simply asked “if it was Guy”. Either way, it seems like there wasn’t exactly time to clear up the misunderstanding.
“We’re on the air in five minutes,” Gotkine remembers thinking at the time. “I don’t have time to sit here and talk. So I take it with me“.
Goma realized there was something strange: They took him to the studio, put makeup on him, put a microphone on him and sat him in front of the cameras. You may have thought that this could be part of the recruitment process.
The classic moment happens when the presenter, Karen Bowermanpresents him as an Internet expert. The Congolese’s face changes completely: realize, live, that there was a mistake.
The eternal magic of the video is that everyone who watches it immediately recognizes the feeling: I’m in the wrong meeting, no one has noticed yetand somehow I still have to look professional.
Who never…
