In the ever-expanding universe of food culture, there are few phenomena as strange, raw, and defiantly joyful as the rise of LOL Caesars—and the voice behind it, better known as TurksPizzaParty. What started as a meme-fueled Instagram page satirizing corporate pizza chains has turned into something closer to a movement: a hybrid of parody, pop-up activism, and, above all, community. In a city where hype drops and streetwear releases dictate a culture of scarcity, he’s turned pizza into the new sneaker. Only here, it’s accessible, edible, and—depending on the night—dipped in gravy.
The following is our unedited conversation, as singular as the man himself, spanning from pastrami-fueled festivals to banana-on-marinara chaos. The answers are sometimes sharp enough to slice, sometimes goofy enough to feel like stoner lore, but always landing back on the same truth: pizza is not just comfort food, it’s a way to test, bind, and reprogram how we gather.
1. You’ve built a cult following with LOL Caesars — when did you realize pizza could be as hype-driven as sneakers or streetwear?
I’m so thankful to the thousands of pizza shops, pizzaiolos, pop ups, and pizza-related brands and organizations that have welcomed me into the Pizza community with open arms. It all happened naturally (like leavened bread) so it’s tough to pinpoint it. A lot of the page’s success came during the pandemic at first so the idea of throwing events was so out of the question. That’s why I turned to a lot of Instagram and Facebook live sessions to connect with a mostly quarantined audience and actually get a chance to know my audience. Once the world started to open up again, I noticed the need for interpersonal connection, everyone’s social skills needed serious re-wiring after the pandemic and having a pizza party is the easiest way to ease the tension in social situations, especially as an alternative to alcohol.
2. “Hot & Ready” has become your brand’s mantra. In your mind, what makes a pizza truly “always hot & always ready”?
Pizza Pizza
3. What’s the wildest reaction you’ve ever gotten from someone experiencing one of your parody pizzas/events?
A couple spit ranch into each other’s mouths and apparently it repaired their whole marriage.
4. If you could roast one pizza chain in a single meme — who’s getting it first and why?
Papa Johns is the worst thing in the world and they should close all of their locations immediately. Serving their pizza to people should be considered a crime under Geneva Convention guidelines due to clear human rights violations. The remains of their shops should be bulldozed and transformed into affordable housing units for low-income families.
5. The LA Pizza Alliance is uniting local shops like a music festival lineup. Who was your dream collab so far, and who’s still on your list?
This entire journey has been the absolute wildest fever dream and every single experience has been even more wild than I could have imagined.
This week’s event with La Sorted’s and Tony Gemignani was so beautiful to watch, not only for the community here in Los Angeles but to also watch one of sports’ most intense rivalries bring a shared community together to make some of the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life. It was so cool to see all of the shops come out and support the community.
Back in January when the city’s top pizzerias got together to distribute over 100 thousand slices to people all across the city affected by the fires, it was beautiful to see so many of the most talented pizza makers serve people who truly needed a meal the most. A lot of restaurants were forced to close and we helped so many shops power through by connecting them to grants, reimbursements, and contributions from amazing organizations like Slice Out Hunger who helped fund so many of the participating shops and I am forever grateful to their team for their support.
I would love to head to Europe and see the amazing pizza scene out there. I’ve never traveled over there and it would be an honor to see Italian Pizza up close.
6. Pizza is usually comfort food. How do you take it from comfort — to culture?
Pizza is a great social litmus test for finding out if a person is worth your time or not. More often than not, if someone rejects pizza they kind of suck as a human. Obviously dietary restrictions must be accounted for here but if you simply don’t like pizza you probably aren’t an enjoyable person let’s be honest.
7. You’re mixing memes, pizza, and charity (like the wildfire relief). Do you think pizza is the ultimate tool for community action?
I would say the ultimate tools for community action are investing larger resources into state and federal disaster emergency response services, education, and social service programs but pizza is always a welcome treat, you can even add pesto!
8. Your IG feed mixes things like “These hands are always hot & ready.” Do you ever come up with lines first — then build pizzas around them?
The memes are simply social commentary based on snippets of the everyday world I see around me. It’s now also a response to some of the programming that these horrifying social media algorithms feed us as a response to mass consumerism.
9. Drop culture + pizza is genius. What’s the closest you’ve come to having a Supreme x Pizza-style sell-out drop panic at an event?
Dropped some Raiders Caesars parody hoodies in honor of pizza expo being in Vegas a couple of years back that sold out within the first 10 minutes. Hopefully it can return for next year’s expo.
10. If pizza memes disappeared forever, but you could keep ONE pizza joke alive for humanity, which one are you saving?
11. Behind the humor, your collabs are serious pizza-making. What do you think separates the good pizzerias from the legendary ones in LA right now?
There is a clear difference between the majority of great pizzerias in LA right now that care about the community around them and pizzerias that have zero connection to the outside world that are often global chains. In order to succeed in LA you have to support other independent pizzerias that value their customers and build relationships with their regulars. From every story shop owners have told me now, it seems like it has never been tougher to own and operate a business in LA right now due to so many factors including astronomical rent costs and price-gouging from greedy corporate distributors. So it’s vital to see pizza shops coming together to support each other.
Last week Truly Pizza (which is based in Dana Point but has been running popups in Santa Monica over the summer) and Pizzeria Sei were honored in the top 50 pizzerias in the world, and those are two of the most supportive shops in the community right now. You look at others like Justin DeLeon from Apollonia’s and Chris Wallace who have consistently put the community first and their shops have lines out the door as a result. There are shops that call other shops when they run out of cheese for a quick re-stock of mozzarella, where else does that happen? LA is the biggest small town in the world sometimes and the clear key to success is supporting those around you.
12. Do fans show up to your events more for the slice → or the vibe →?
Crazy Bois show up from all different walks of life. Some join us to get some excellent slices of pizza, others show up to meet their future situationships, sometimes people show up just to have a groovy night. I want everyone to feel comfortable with like-minded individuals from all facets of life and leave feeling energized instead of drained. At the same time, we usually have a fair amount of east coast expats show up to the West Coast parties, so we want to make sure we give them a little slice of home.
13. What’s been the most underrated LA pizza shop you’ve put people onto?
Steve Petramale runs a pizza shop in the Venice Church parking lot called Petramale’s Pizza and it’s an absolute slice of heaven. Once you order, he hand delivers you a meatball in red cause in a cup and he precedes to fire off a giant pizza on an oven off the back of an IZUZU truck, there is absolutely nothing I have ever seen like this in my life. Then a couple minutes later he brings out a perfect pizza that looks like it was made by the most authentic nonna from the deepest part of New York. Get the Uncle Meatball pizza, it’s perfect.
14. Meme pizza vs. true pizza craft: where do you personally draw that line — or is there no line?
The bar is in hell right now so there is absolutely no line. We’ve done thanksgiving pizzas dipped in gravy, we’ve collabed on a hot chicken pizza. At the end of the day – Pizza is Pizza and it will always evolve. Have fun with it, experiment with it, at the end of the day – it’s still probably going to be good.
15. Was there ever a “pizza idea” that your friends told you don’t do that… but you did anyway — and it blew up?
Pastrami on Pizza Fest was the most unhinged event we’ve pulled off. I was honestly shocked by its success and the lack of blowback from self described “authentic pizza connoisseurs”. Most importantly, it was absolutely delicious and RC Provisions really provided one of the best pizza toppings we have ever tried. Everyone had a real good time and some shops like Wallflour threw pineapple on the pies. Over 15 shops participated during a time where pizza shops are usually slow and we sold out a clear majority of the participating shops. It was just proof that anything can be done in a silly fun way and we should remember how simple pizza is, it’s not something to overcomplicate, just like life.
16. If LOL Caesars could take over a pizza chain for one week, what chain are you hijacking first? (And what’s the wildest pizza you’d serve?)
LITTLE FUCKING CAESARS probably one in Koreatown or Detroit for the most fun experience.
17. Which pizza topping sparks the most chaotic reactions from your fans? (Pineapple? Ranch drizzle? Mayo?)
Bananas. All kinds. Chaos. Not on a dessert style pizza too, banana with marinara, banana with pesto. It’s torture.
18. When you’re not slinging pizza or memes, what’s your go-to guilty pleasure fast food?
It’s always been tacos but I don’t feel guilty about tacos because they are God’s most beautiful creation. No offense to pizza, but tacos are perfect when you need a quick complete meal and they don’t slow you down. If you disagree then you have never eaten a serviceable taco in your life and I honestly feel bad for you.
19. What’s the one pizza collab you’re manifesting right now? (Could be a chef, a rapper, or even a cartoon character.)
Little Caesar’s – it’s what the people want, so let’s give them what they want.
20. What’s your ultimate mission: Make people laugh, feed them pizza, or start a pizza movement?
This is all the silliest bit of all time so why not just continue it and see where it goes at this point? There’s no mission or ulterior motive besides having a good time and showing the rest of the world that you can make great pizza anywhere.
Pizza, in the mind of TurksPizzaParty, is both gag and gospel: the punchline of a meme and the binding agent of communities fractured by fire, rent hikes, or just everyday loneliness. What makes his work less parody and more editorial is that it never wavers between the absurd and the serious—it insists they coexist. One night you might be handed a pastrami-topped monstrosity, the next you might watch a shop keep its lights on because of a meme drop.
At its core, this movement is not about taking pizza too seriously—it’s about remembering not to take anything too seriously. Except, maybe, the fact that pizza still brings people together in a way that algorithms, hype, or even tacos (sorry, tacos) cannot.
