Here’s A “Bones Day” Explainer In Case You Have No Idea Why People Keep Talking About “Bones” And “No Bones”

“Noodle supremacy is upon us.”

On today's episode of BuzzFeed Daily, we broke down the top pop culture headlines AND discussed Noodle the TikTok "Bones" dog. You can listen below or scroll down to read more about the interview!

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So let's dive right into it! Recently we talked to TikToker Jonathan Graziano about his dog Noodle and the viral sensation of "Bones Day." Here's some of what we learned:

BuzzFeed Daily: OK, we are genuinely so excited for you to be here. Our entire team here at BuzzFeed Daily takes Noodle's predictions very seriously, just so you know. But for any of our listeners who may not know about your TikTok account, can you explain what it is that you and Noodle do every morning?

@jongraz / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

Jonathan Graziano: OK, so there are many layers to this. So what we've done on TikTok recently is I've started to showcase this little ritual that Noodle and I have had for years and years and years since I adopted him. We figured out very early on in my time with him that if he doesn't want to wake up in the morning, for whatever reason that might be, he is not going to do it. He's just going to resist. He's going to let himself surrender to gravity. So I've just been filming this little thing that we do where he'll be sound asleep in his bed, and I'll kind of scoop him up from his bed and I'll sit him up in a normal pug sitting position. And then it's sort of up to him whether or not he chooses to stay seated or if he just kind of flops back down into his bed. And I've just called it No Bones for so long, because any time you watch him do it, you're just like, "Oh my gosh, this dog just simply doesn't have bones." The name came from my roommate and best friend in college, Nikki. She would do this thing when she got home from a long day of class where she just collapsed to the floor, and it was like, "Oh my God, her bones, poor honey. We can't go anywhere tonight, her poor bones."

So then this whole fortune-telling aspect thing of it, I had nothing to do with that. That was totally from the internet. So I'd post these videos and he'd had a few No Bones days in a row. And then all of a sudden it was a Bones Day. It was like, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was another No Bones Day. But he fully sat up and he was like, "OK, dude, let's do it." And so many people started commenting on it that they were, "Oh my gosh, it's the bones. I'm going to get out of bed, it's a Bones Day. I'm going to put the deposit down on my house." People started to run away with this and use this as a very, very, very serious litmus test for how they were going to spend their day. And it's just fully taken off from there.

BuzzFeed Daily: What about today? Is today a Bones Day or a No Bones Day?

Does Noodle Have Bones @NoodlesBonesDay

#NoBonesDay @jongraz

01:52 PM - 21 Oct 2021

Twitter: @NoodlesBonesDay

JG: Today is a No Bones Day.

BuzzFeed Daily: So what does that mean for us? What's the forecast for the day?

Instagram: @showmenoodz

JG: OK, so I contributed to the false narrative of this at the very beginning, but there are no bad days here. A No Bones Day is not a bad day. It's just a day where you should feel permission to stay in bed, to wear soft clothes, to use that bath bomb that you've got. It's a self-care day, you know? Or at least that's how Noodle handles that. Whenever I see Noodle collapse back down into his bed and just go back to sleep, I'm always like, "That's self-care. I should do that, too." It's just that thing where if it's a No Bones Day, you don't have bones, so you can't push yourself too hard and you've just got to take it easy and do right by yourself.

BuzzFeed Daily: OK, so you've been making Bones predictions with Noodle for a few months now, but your TikTok account really caught fire in the last couple of weeks. Can you point to a specific moment when everything blew up?

@jongraz / TikTok / Via tiktok.com

JG: So the first one that got a lot of traction was done in the middle of August. I wasn't thinking much about it. It was just the silly little thing I do with my dog in the morning and I posted it. And then it had been up for like 45 minutes and I saw that it had like 250K views and was like, "Oh, something's happening here." And then I realized that this was just sort of a thing that people could connect with. So I started posting a little bit more through September and things were doing fine. And then October 3 rolled around and I had 100K followers on TikTok and I was like, "Oh my God, that's so cool. Look at this — 100K people. That's amazing." The very next day, I posted another video that ended up being a Bones Day video, and everything absolutely took off. And from there it's only grown from there. So the beginning of October is when it started to get a massive amount of traction and it's ballooned into a place that I have no way to measure. I have no idea what's happening.

BuzzFeed Daily: Because Noodle is a dog, I have to assume you're taking him out for a walk every now and then. Has anyone recognized you or Noodle on the street?

Instagram: @showmenoodz

JG: Yes. Yes, they have. I was at my coffee shop the other day and the barista there who I know, she knows everything that was going on, and she was like, "Oh my god, I saw you on The Today Show yesterday," and I was so excited to chat with her about it. I was like, "Oh, it's so great. I totally threw up in the morning and then I felt amazing — that post-vom glow. I totally illuminated the screen." But as soon as she said, "You're on The Today Show," someone just stepped over and was like, "Oh my god, you're The Pug Guy." And you know, I'll take it — I'll take "The Pug Guy," you know what I mean? Like, Jonathan is great, but The Pug Guy also works. And I said yes, and there were four other people in the coffee shop that just kind of got up and came over to me and were like, "Oh my gosh, we love your dog. He's so sweet, you're so funny." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I love compliments. This is so fabulous."

But it was definitely a surreal experience to just think like, Oh, there were like so many people who watched these and my faces in them. And that's such a great thing because I think it humanizes the whole thing in it. You know, people can relate to it because I know there are many dogs out there that are also No Bones professionals, quite like Noodle. I know for sure. So, yeah, it has happened. Noodle more so than me. People will look over and they'll just go, "I know that pug."

BuzzFeed Daily: From time to time, I personally imagine all the things I would do if I suddenly went massively viral. I feel like it's sort of human nature at this point in the 21st century. Is there anything you've been thinking about doing or trying out next, now that you have this massive platform? And if you're looking for suggestions, may I humbly suggest starting a campaign to change Groundhog Day to Bones Day?

Instagram: @showmenoodz

JG: So, OK, so I can I tell you? I believe that campaign has already been launched. Oh my god, I do not control anything. There is a Twitter account called No Bones Day that has 170K followers that I have absolutely nothing to do. The person is so nice. They tag me and everything and my names in the bio. I'm verified on Twitter now, and I have no business being verified on Twitter. I tweet about existential dread and how much I love Fleabag and stuff like that. But the whole thing has been like, "I'm building this plane while I'm flying it." You know what I mean? There's the merch store launch, and I'm like, "Oh my god, you want pins of Noodle? What a fabulous idea." But I don't know how to do that. 

I want to start doing different Noodle stuff. Bones-or-No Bones is eternal, right? As long as Noodle is comfortable and happy, they can continue for sure because TikTok is such a great platform, that I want to do more stuff sort of highlighting how silly he is. I have so many absurd photos of him on his Instagram, and I want to do my top five favorite noodle photos. But it's a total Sophie's choice. I can't actually decide. He's got so many nice sweater pics. So I have to just keep doing this over and over again. 

I like to do skits and stuff as well. I'm a millennial on TikTok. I have anxiety and I like to talk about it, and I feel like people have really responded to my personality on this as well, which I think is something that is also going my way. So I'd love to do some of my own stuff. Noodle is omnipresent, but just some more silly skits and stuff. 

But then the ultimate goal for all of this is to raise awareness around dog adoption, rescuing dogs — specifically rescuing and adopting older dogs. I got Noodle when he was seven-and-a-half years old, and he was loved his whole life, but there's something so incredible about adopting a dog that, as someone explained it to me the other day, came "preprogrammed." It was a really fun way to think about it because Noodle did — he was house trained and he knew the couch was his. He moved into my apartment, and on the first day he was like, "This couch looks nice. Pick me up." It was very clear what he was going to do. So I want to work with some animal shelters or some rescues to try and help drive some attention their way, whether it's during the holiday season or whenever. If I've got a platform and I can help some dogs find some homes, I would absolutely be thrilled to do so.

We also discussed the devastating death of Halyna Hutchins, director of photography on Alec Baldwin’s upcoming movie Rust.

Instagram: @halynahutchins

While filming, Alec discharged the prop gun, leading to Halyna’s death. Director Joel Souza was also injured, and has since been released from the hospital.

Alec has since tweeted about the tragic incident, saying, “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”

As of Friday afternoon, it hasn’t been confirmed how exactly this happened, though police are currently investigating.

Michael J. Fox recently revealed what pushed him to go public with his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis.

Roy Rochlin / WireImage

He told Entertainment Tonight: "The paparazzi...they would stand outside my apartment and heckle at me, like, 'What's a matter with you?' I said, 'I can't be making my neighbors deal with this,' so I came out, and it was great. It was a great thing."

"It was a great surprise to me that people responded the way they responded," Michael continued. "They responded with interest, in the desire to find an answer to the disease, and then I saw that as a great opportunity. I didn't get put in this position to squander it."

As always, thanks for listening! And if you ever want to suggest stories or just want to say hi, you can reach us at [e-mail].