Meet the Barstool personality who delivers viral newscasts by ‘journalisming'
"Unpack with Jack Mac" is an almost-daily program that examines the day's major news with satire and sarcasm in easily digestible videos on TikTok and other social media platforms. McGuire begins each video by declaring it's the "most trusted nightly news show," before specifying that the disclaimer only applied to a specific niche audience, such as people "that take their steak medium rare," "put half-and-half in their coffee" or grew up watching "Full House."
While McGuire doesn't take himself particularly seriously, the "Unpack" newscasts sometimes attract more viewers than many CNN programs. He held a moment of silence for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., when she deleted pronouns from her bio, often finds humor in the actions of President Donald Trump, mocks just about anyone in the news and warns viewers to "stay away from the crazies."
A recent video poking fun at pop star Katy Perry's 11-minute flight to space on Blue Origin was viewed 2.1 million times, and McGuire's thoughts on Chipotle making their bowls smaller in April amassed 5.6 million.
"I would not say I'm a journalist because I think it kind of diminishes actual journalists. I do the journalisming thing. Where I say, 'Oh, this is great journalisming,' but… it's not even a word, like I made that up, I made it into a verb. It's not real… it's kind of a joke," McGuire told Fox News Digital.
McGuire says it's probably not a great sign for society that anyone would rely on him for news and his show is not "100% journalism" and was originally intended to simply entertain. However, he believes the modern media landscape that offers something for everyone is an improvement from the "draconian" era when Americans were forced to rely on ABC, NBC, CBS and print newspapers for information.
"People talk about Walter Cronkite back in the day… how do we know that was truthful? It probably was, not to throw Walter under the bus, [he's] an all-time great. One of the best ever. But is it better to have all these news sources, or just to have three? I would argue, probably, all these news sources, all these options… the state of consuming news is in a decent spot," McGuire said.
"I should never be a one-stop shop," he added.
McGuire, who has piled up over 1.1 million followers on TikTok alone, started his Barstool career as a summer intern and eventually worked his way onto the social media team before landing a full-time role when he graduated from college in 2019.
McGuire's first attempt to pivot from a behind-the-scenes social media guy to front-facing content producer didn't go so well. He was asked to be part of the "Barstool College Football Show" with company heavyweights, including Barstool founder Dave Portnoy himself.
"I did so poorly on the first show, Dave kicked me off… from there, I was kinda told, 'Don't do content,'" McGuire said. "I just kind of ignored that."
McGuire continued his role on the social media team while putting out short-form video blogs that quickly resonated. In 2023, Portnoy famously bought Barstool back from PENN Entertainment for only $1 when the gambling company he previously sold the company for about $500 million wanted to move in a different direction and partner with Disney's ESPN.
Portnoy's windfall was also a win for McGuire, who had built up a passionate following since he was swiftly booted off the college football show.
"Dave approached me after he bought the company back and was like, 'Hey, we see all these numbers you're putting up. Would you want to move from social just to doing content?'" McGuire said.
McGuire embraced the new role and set out to publish a new episode of "Unpack with Jack Mac" at least six times a week for an entire year before assessing its future. He often touched on current events in his short-form videos before they were even packaged as a quasi-newscast, and declared the scandal-plagued Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton, Ill., as the "funniest, most corrupt politician" in America back in 2023 – more than a year before the Democrat lost her bid for reelection.
McGuire said he's a "child of the internet," and all his experience online gives him a good sense of what will amuse his audience.
"You kind of have a gut feeling. You see that Tiffany Henyard thing, and you think to yourself, 'OK, I know this is funny. How do I make it digestible in a way that people will find it as funny as I do?'" McGuire said.
"That's kind of the goal and struggle and challenge of content creating," he continued. "You know you have to catch somebody's attention within three to five seconds on this app."
McGuire has become influential enough that former Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign considered doing some sort of video with him at the height of election season.
"I honestly thought it was a joke," he said, noting that it "ended up not working out" but he planned to be respectful while mixing in some humor.
"There was jokes... in the office that it's like, 'Oh, you could flip the election. What if she just dominates you and this is her huge moment, and they call it the 'Jack Mac Effect' in the textbooks? Obviously that wasn't going to happen, but I did think about that a little bit," McGuire said.
McGuire says he's not a journalist, but he isn't sure if he falls into the "influencer" category, either. He feels people like the often-viral Alix Earle are the true social media influencers. Either way, he hopes that Portnoy, who he called a "pretty damn good boss," has come around since kicking him off the college football show after one episode.
McGuire said Portnoy has joked the viral newscasts are "cringe," but said the Barstool boss continues to sign his paychecks and hasn't told him to stop producing "Unpack."
"Dave Portnoy, I don't think will ever really be a fan. Look, it's different. It's like, 'Will he be a fan of Jack Mac?' No, probably not… But I think he respects me. Or maybe, who knows? But I do think he does," McGuire said.
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