This is the story of how Myrtle Beach inspired a viral dad rock anthem on TikTok

After dropping a summer anthem celebrating the beach town as a top destination for divorced dads, the comedians behind “Myrtle Beach” have nothing but love for the Grand Strand.

“I think one of the great things about Myrtle Beach is it’s not trying to be anything that it’s not. So everybody was pretty self aware, and people were willing to laugh at themselves, and I think that our adoration for the place comes through, and so people seem to really like it,” comedian Peter Pappalardo said.

Joined by Luke Pappalardo and Vinny LoCasto, the three make up comedy band On Company Time. The group teamed up with comedian Kyle Gordon for the viral dad rock parody.

“We came to realize that we all grew up going to Myrtle Beach, and so it was really, like the easiest song to write, because we all have an affinity for Myrtle Beach, and it gave us an excuse to take a trip there,” Luke Pappalardo said.

Labeled “Dirty Myrtle” by fans and haters alike, Myrtle Beach has a more modest reputation than some of its coastal contemporaries. That unassuming vibe made it perfect for the parody song.

“We kind of had this idea of doing a really fun, upbeat celebration song about, like, not the fanciest beach in the world,” Gordon said. “A beach where you go to have fun and be ridiculous, rather than a bougie, fancy Cape Cod-type beach.”

LoCasto came up with the yacht rock-inspired beat, and the angle of a man finalizing his divorce and joining divorced friends for a boys’ weekend was the perfect comedic angle for the dad rock track.

“Everything kind of came together naturally. I mean, with the divorced dad rock being a very popular thing that people are kind of listening to on social media, we just figured, ‘Hey, this could be a funny way to kind of pull that theme into a fun place for divorce dads to go,” LoCasto said.

Locals and visitors will recognize Myrtle Beach landmarks like Family Kingdom amusement park, the city’s welcome sign, the SkyWheel and Plyler Park, and Gordon was “especially adamant” about visiting Señor Frog’s. According to LoCasto, the footage of him passing out on the Slingshot, which he calls, “the best ride, probably, on the planet,” is real.

“Pretty much every spot that you see in the music video, we got there, we shot whatever you saw, and then we did the actual activity off camera. So, we spent a good amount of time in Margaritaville drinking margaritas, and we all rode the Slingshot and … we actually played 18 holes of mini golf,” Luke Pappalardo said. “It was basically just us having a great time and recording that in Myrtle Beach.”

The group traveled to the Grand Strand in mid-March to record the video, before crowds started ramping up for the tourist season. Even before the video went live, the guys say the local feedback was instantly positive.

“It felt like everyone who passed by was honking and cheering, and we had B-roll of people who jumped in the shots. We knew right away, like, ‘Oh, this is going to be amazing vibes all weekend,’” said Gordon. “People were so psyched.”

Since dropping on YouTube on May 9, the music video has amassed more than 265,000 views, and a clip of the video shared to TikTok has more than 860,000 views. With hundreds of comments from fans, the band says the biggest response has been from the Grand Strand.

“The most positive feedback we’ve gotten is from Myrtle Beach locals who are just hyped that we’re singing about their town, and they’ve had a really good sense of humor about it, because we love Myrtle Beach,” Peter Pappalardo said.

All four comedians expressed interest in working together again in the future, but in the meantime they’re ready to come back to Myrtle Beach.

“If there’s an open invitation, the summer has just begun, so if anyone in Myrtle Beach is reading this and wants to bring us down to perform the song, we will say yes immediately,” Gordon said.

And he isn’t alone. The other three co-signed Gordon’s enthusiasm to return.

“Yeah, no questions asked. We’re really just looking for any reason to get back to Myrtle Beach, so we are ready and available,” said Luke Pappalardo. “I’ll clear everything on my schedule to get back down and just do this again.”