After the death of his mother, Gus Constantellis needed a way to cope with his grief. And he found that way through an unconventional means: TikTok. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gus began posting satire videos taking on the persona of a Greek mom, "an exaggerated version of my mom and other Greek women I knew," he shared. "My mom never learned English, so I always had to translate what she was saying to my friends. The character came easily to me — all I had to do was think of what she might say."
"My childhood wasn’t always easy, partly because my mom, Julia, wasn't the warmest person. She was strict. She was tough," he said. "She was aggressive about her nurturing. (Think: Chasing down a 4-year-old on a swing set trying to get them to eat meatballs and french fries.) But my mom’s personality, as tough as it was to deal with at times, was the reason my comedy career took off."
Gus says that his videos initially didn't gain much attention. That is until April 2020 when he posted a video titled "Greek moms on Easter." In the video, he mimicked things Greek moms would say like, "Your cousin Maria told my sister Maria that she doesn’t like my pastitsio, so she’s not invited to Easter.”
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The video ended up going viral on every platform it was posted to. "I feel like the video captured that familiar feeling of the holiday for people who weren't gathering for Easter in person," Gus said. "They were craving family time."
Though the video gained a lot of attention, Gus' mom wasn't a fan of it at first. She took offense to it and wanted him to remove it from social media. But after her friends spoke of how funny they found it, she realized that it was pure humor.
"For a year, impersonating my mom was my 'thing.' But soon, followers on my account started asking to see the real Greek mom behind the 'Greek mom' videos." So Gus began putting his mom in his videos. "She was brilliant. She was merciless. People were instantly obsessed," he said. "I think people loved her because she was devastatingly authentic, but underneath her hard exterior, there was a whole lot of love."
His mother ended up replacing him in his videos, and they spent a lot of quality time filming. "I was thrilled. Through filming these videos, I also got to spend more time with her and actually got to know her as a person, beyond who she was as a mom and grandma." The videos even gained her some fame in Greece when they'd visit. "She was greeted as a straight-up celebrity."
His mom unfortunately died from an aneurysm in 2023. "Before this last trip to Greece, I filmed a video of my mom talking about the vacation. She said she was terrified of going to the small islands," Gus said. "When I asked why, she responded, 'In case I die. I’m a grown [expletive] woman now. They don’t even have ambulances on small islands.'" Gus went on to explain what happened. "My mom collapsed waiting for the ferry from Zakynthos, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, while she was with my dad. They could see the boat coming when it happened."
Following her death, Gus was comforted by people from all over after sharing the news on his Instagram. "People stopped me everywhere I went," he said. "Online, I was inundated by comments, too, but those became a source of comfort. So many people loved her, too. I was also grateful to have a catalog of videos I could look back on. The only regret I have is that I didn’t start filming her sooner."
