A viral video from Mike Mancusi is resonating with millennials who feel stuck, unfulfilled, and increasingly convinced that work will never give their lives meaning.
The 35-year-old New York comedian recently went viral on TikTok and Instagram after urging people to stop expecting their jobs to fulfill them emotionally.
“The more that you allow some job that you don't even like to define your entire existence, the more it's going to crush your soul,” Mancusi said.
Instead, he argued, people need to build meaning elsewhere.
“You have to find something else to do,” he said. “Whatever you want to call it. A hobby. A passion. But it has to be something that's for you.”
According to Mancusi, millennials need to seek meaning beyond their jobs because the generation’s midlife crisis is different from previous generations’. Boomers and Gen X, who made money in their young adult lives, dealt with their existential issues by buying things. The older generations looked ahead and made decisions based on awareness of their own mortality, whereas millennials look backward and cope with their midlife crisis by retreating into nostalgia.
Speaking as a millennial, Mancusi said, “We were told the blueprint to follow. We all followed it. Here we are unfulfilled… We look back and go, wait a minute, I was told to do all these things. I did them, and still I'm not happy. And that is a way different crisis."
“It’s not to make you money”
Mancusi addressed the millennial midlife crisis in a clip from Dec. 2025. The clip racked up over 200 thousand views on TikTok and 17.8 thousand likes on Instagram Reels.
The comedian explained why the millennial midlife crisis is different–and what to do about it. “What's making us freak out is that we were told what to do. We were told the blueprint to follow. We all followed it. Here we are unfulfilled,” he said. “And this winds up manifesting as a career crisis where people go, well, I've been working on this thing for the last 10 to 15 years. I don't even like it. Have I ever liked it? Did I ever want to do this? Why did I want to do this?”
“And if you find yourself in this position, this is my recommendation to you. You have to find something else to do. And I know what you're thinking. Oh, Mike, you're talking about a hobby? Yeah, sure. Whatever. Whatever you want to call it. But it's something that's for you. It's not to make you money. It's not to please your family. It's for you. Something that you are just intrinsically drawn to that you absolutely love to do every single day.”
Mancusi’s hobbies include comedy and basketball. “For you, it might be painting,” he suggested.
Millennials say he’s right
The clip struck a chord with viewers, many of whom said they recognized themselves in what Mancusi described.
Instagram user @mugenmarley commented, “ours is different because millennials are the first generation to NOT have a future to look forward to.”
“Midlife crisis? Us? Our whole lives have been a crisis…. And Gen Z joined in… well the older generations, double down on making it even worse for all of us 🤣” wrote @nosuchluck1.
“Is sleep a hobby?" Because that’s about the only thing I’d really like to find time to fit into my schedule,” asked @midnighttomorningcoffee. “Because that’s about the only thing I’d really like to find time to fit into my schedule.”
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