guides
Who Is 'PESTRiCA' And What Does He Do? The 'Silly Little Jester' And Plague Doctor Going Viral On Twitter Explained
A jester from Osaka, Japan is going viral on Twitter / X for his juggling, magic and illusionary acts.
The jester is a character performer known as PESTRiCA, and he's been performing illusions online since 2019. Now, he's reaching new levels of popularity thanks to a few viral posts and a new costume.
So who is PESTRiCA and what exactly does he do? Here's what you need to know about Twitter's "silly little jester."
Devil sticks😈 pic.twitter.com/GPRLHNs1jf
— PESTRiCAの日常 (@PESTRiCA_R) December 31, 2024
Who Is PESTRiCA?
PESTRiCA is a Japanese character performer who specializes in illusionary tricks. Specifically, PESTRiCA is known for his "eight rings" and "living statue" acts.
"Eight rings" is a type of performance that involves spinning and manipulating pairs of rings to create optical illusions. "Living statue" involves standing still and pretending to be a moving statue as you perform tricks.
PESTRiCA began posting his performances online in 2019 and slowly gained a following over the next few years. Usually, he performs as a plague doctor.
Recently, however, PESTRiCA has been using a jester costume more and more and performing magic tricks and juggling acts. This new costume and content helped PESTRiCA go viral on X / Twitter in January 2025.
— PESTRiCAの日常 (@PESTRiCA_R) December 29, 2024
How Is Social Media Reacting To PESTRiCA?
At the end of December 2024, PESTRiCA posted a video of himself performing magic in his jester costume that went viral, garnering over 13,000 likes in about two weeks.
Then, a month later in January, another account reposted one of his videos and it gained over 80,000 likes in short order. From there on, PESTRiCA's content has been performing consistently well.
PESTRiCA is even inspiring fan art, most of which depicts him in his now-iconic jester outfit. Some people are referring to PESTRiCA as the "silly jester" or "silly Twitter jester," with many seemingly knowing him only by this persona, not the plague doctor.
According to Social Blade, PESTRiCA gained 140,000 of his 147,000 followers in the last 30 days, highlighting just how good 2025 has been for him so far.
Sunny Side Up 🍳 pic.twitter.com/hYqjrhW7HN
— PESTRiCAの日常 (@PESTRiCA_R) January 10, 2025
For the full history of PESTRiCA, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
