Be yourself. Never change. When John Lennon controversially said in 1966 that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus now,” he was pushed into apologising. We will not be following in John’s steps.
Today, we have our own modern John Lennon/Jesus hybrid figure. And no, it isn’t Sean Lennon Ono who dresses exactly like his late father.
It’s 441MikeMan from Palmerston North who can sing for two and a half minutes about what the weather is doing with ease. His motto is “just be yourself, never change.”
Sometimes more relatably, “just be your fucking self, man.”
Posting probably 15 times a day, Mike Man has been able to amass 10,300 followers since he created his account in May 2025.
Mike Man is currently more popular than Jesus was at the height of his messiah career, and the Beatles at a similar time of their career. It is said that Jesus had just 72 followers at his peak while actually alive. The Beatles had next to no major following for the first year of their band according to Google.
Mike’s ability to, even amidst a violent rant prank at his best mate Dion, stay true to his message of ‘be yourself’ is something we should all strive for.
And this message has come through in all of his latest singles, with his latest expressing his gratitude for the weather in Palmerston North. It was raining, yet his message to followers remained the same: just be your fucking self.
This is satire. The Dunedin Herald publishes parody, commentary and invented stories. It is not affiliated with NZ Herald, NZME, or any government department that has stopped returning our calls.