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Wednesday, September 1, 2021 — 7

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Ross professor goes viral dancing 
as potato in Zoom review session

Student’s TikTok has 20 million views, 4.7 million likes

It’s not always business 

as usual when it comes to 
assistant professor Ryan 
Ball’s graduate accounting 
class.

In August, an anything-

but-conventional 
Zoom 

review session kicked off 
with a blaring rendition 
of Michael Buffer’s “Let’s 
Get Ready to Rumble!” 
and a stock image of the 
University of Michigan’s 
Ross School of Business on 
screen. Students, confused 
yet intrigued, danced along 
to the music not knowing 
what exactly was to come. 

Then, in an entrance 

nothing 
short 
of 
spud-

tacular, Ball, with the screen 
name Dr. Po Tato, suddenly 
emerged 
as 
a 
floating 

potato with sparklers and 
a birthday hat, dancing 
around the Zoom screen.

After 
watching 
the 

entire 
sequence 
unfold, 

Business graduate student 
Amelia Charamand-Quelas 
told The Michigan Daily 
she wanted to share the 
spectacle with her family in 
Argentina.

“The 
primary 
way 

(my 
family 
and 
I) 

communicate because of 
the 
time 
differences 
is 

we just send each other 
WhatsApps, 
YouTube 

videos and TikTok videos,” 
Charamand-Quelas 
said. 

“I just posted on (TikTok) 
for my four followers, who 
were all pretty much family 
members, to see.”

The 
next 
morning, 

Charamand-Quelas awoke 
to find that her video, 

originally 
intended 
for 

family and friends, became 
a viral hit on TikTok with 
hundreds of thousands of 
views. Not expecting the 
video to go viral overnight, 
Charamand-Quelas had not 
previously asked Ball for 
permission to post the clip, 
so she quickly deleted it.

“My initial thought was, 

‘Oh, I’m getting kicked 
out 
of 
the 
(Master 
of 

Management 
program),’” 

Charamand-Quelas said. “I 
knew I needed to contact 
the professor and let him 
know this happened.”

Despite fearing the worst, 

Charamand-Quelas 
said 

Ball asked her to repost 
the TikTok for his children 
to see. Soon after being 
re-uploaded, the TikTok 
went viral again, rapidly 
drawing in 20 million views 
and 4.7 million likes.

As the viral video found 

its way into nearly every 
U-M 
student’s 
direct 

messages, For You Page and 
Facebook group, the entire 
U-M community shared the 
joy of watching a professor 
dance around as a potato. 

For Ball, humor plays a 

key role in his instruction, 
and he said his potato 
prank was just another 
way of keeping his students 
engaged — especially over 
Zoom.

“I think with any class, 

particularly virtually, you 
reach a certain point where 
you can just tell people are 
fatigued,” Ball said. “And 
I think that that occurs in 
person as well, but I would 
do other stuff, tell stories, 
whatever, just to capture 
their attention … I don’t 
plan it. It just feels right.”

When 
Business 
junior 

Alysse 
Armstrong 
first 

saw the TikTok, she said 
her reaction was like most 
users’.

“Initially, I was surprised 

by 
the 
whole 
thing,” 

Armstrong said. “But I 
appreciate that professors 
are making an effort to 
make Zoom classes more 
enjoyable and fun even 
though we’ve all been doing 
them for so long.”

Brands 
across 
the 

globe even joined in on 
the fun, with the official 
Zoom 
TikTok 
account 

commenting, 
“They 
just 

won at Zoom.”

The video’s response was 

so overwhelmingly positive 
that 
Charamand-Quelas 

worked alongside Ball and 
posted a follow-up video, 
which, not to her surprise, 
outperformed the original 
with 26.1 million views and 
5.9 million likes.

“I had hoped that it 

would (perform better) just 
because I knew it was such 
a good video,” Charamand-
Quelas said. 

In part two of the spud 

saga, Dr. Po Tato checks in 
on his “family members” 
who, to his absolute horror, 
have 
all 
been 
baked. 

Afterward, 
Ball 
“gets 

serious” and moves into his 
exam review session, still as 
a floating potato.

Among the most-liked 

comments on this second 
video is one from the official 
account of “The Office” that 
says, “Truly such Michael 
Scott energy.”

EVAN DELORENZO

Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

M-36 Coffee Roasters opens at old 

South U. Espresso Royale location 

New cafe owned & operated by former ER employees

M-36 
Coffee 
Roasters 

opened a new cafe Aug. 
16, filling both the vacant 
storefront and coffee void 
on South University Avenue 
left after Espresso Royale 
closed in June 2020 due to 
pandemic hardships. 

M-36 
owners 
Ken 

Pargulski and Lisa Tuveson 
were both Espresso Royale 
employees. They started their 
business after purchasing 
Espresso 
Royale’s 
coffee 

roaster last June. 

“(After Espresso Royale 

closed), 
my 
immediate 

thought was that I wanted 
to keep doing what I do,” 
Pargulski said. “I really love 
coffee roasting, I really love 
coffee, and Lisa and I have 
had a long working history 
and a lot of experience. I just 
wanted to keep going.”

M-36 
Coffee 
Roasters 

can be found at 1101 South 

University Ave. Their hours 
Monday-Friday are 7 a.m.-6 
p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 
from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. 

After buying the roaster, 

Pargulski 
and 
Tuveson 

said their initial goal was 
to continue selling their 
coffee to grocery stores and 
other remaining Espresso 
Royale locations in Urbana-
Champaign, Ill. When the 
opportunity came to lease 
the old Espresso Royale 
location, Pargulski said they 
were excited to return to 
their roots. 

“We 
started 
really 

thinking about it … (and said) 
this is a good opportunity,” 
Pargulski said. “I mean 
we miss(ed) having that 
presence directly in Ann 
Arbor, and this was an 
opportunity to do it.”

Tuveson said the cafe’s 

atmosphere is diverse and 
inclusive, catering to both 
Ann Arbor residents and 
University 
of 
Michigan 

students. 

 “There has always been a 

mix of ages, types of people, 
demographic, 
anything 

at all of our cafes … we’re 
pretty laid back people and 
we 
welcome 
everybody,” 

Tuveson said. 

Tuveson said that many 

old Espresso Royale staples, 
such 
as 
the 
pumpkin 

chocolate chip bread, vegan 
zucchini bread and almond 
raspberry scones will be 
returning to the M-36 menu. 

For Ann Arbor resident 

Sofia Csazar, the return 
of a coffee shop to the old 
Espresso Royale location is 
a welcome surprise. Csaszar 
said she frequented Espresso 
Royale and is happy she 
can get her favorite coffee 
beverages from the new 
location. 

“I used to really miss the 

Espresso Royale that used to 
be here, but I’m really very 
happy with (M-36),” Csazar 
said. 

GEORGE WEYKAMP &
SCARLETT BICKERTON

Daily Staff Reporters

BECCA MAHON/Daily 

M-36 Coffee Roasters brings back many old Espresso royale staples.

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com