Man who played dead for a year lands his dream job as a corpse on CSI

People can go to extreme lengths to get their dream job. A 42-year-old Kentucky restaurant manager played dead on TikTok for a year, in the relentless pursuit of a job. Nalley's TikTok videos, which have received up to 5.8 million views, are reminiscent of Norwegian "slow TV." The camera rolls, which are usually held by a friend, last for about 10 seconds. Nalley lies sprawled across the floor of Ripley's "Believe It or Not" Hollywood museum or an abandoned road, or lays face down in the snow or a stream as his fox hounds—perfectly cinematically melancholy by nature—sniff him curiously. CBS contacted Nalley, more than 300 days after he began uploading these videos, to inform him they'd noticed his films on their "For You Page" and offered him a job on "CSI: Las Vegas."

So Nalley took a short vacation from his day job, and the CSI social media team flew him to sunny California for four days, according to Insider. He spent a few hours in a beauty chair on set so they could "make me look more dead than I look naturally." Nalley was told to lie still on a stretcher for his big screen debut. He confesses that the most difficult element was "laying still in the same place for five hours," but Nalley had plenty of rehearsal for the job. He's honed his craft over time, learning how to hold his breath for extended periods of time. Nalley, who isn't interested in acting, told the outlet that being dead online sounded like "the easiest way to get into a movie without actually having to do much work."

He has filmed over 350 videos and says that his biggest challenge is to find new places to play dead. Moreover, he doesn't "ever want to be the cause of someone's concern" and has to prevent his dogs from licking fake blood off him. Nalley's TikTok account, @living dead josh, has developed into a scrappy collective effort for his 115,000 followers. Nalley seeks new locations to lie as motionless as possible, and users tag directors and film studios on a regular basis in the hopes of earning him a part in Hollywood.

He is currently posting videos of a countdown until his appearance on TV. In the latest video, he wrote, "8 days until my television debut on 'CSI: Vegas.'" A user commented, "Please post the clip on your page once you debut!" Another said, "We are getting closer. We are so close to it." Now that he's achieved his pie-in-the-sky goal, Nalley's not sure what his TikTok's future will be. He hasn't planned that far ahead yet. For now, he's looking forward to watching his first on-screen role, which airs on November 3 at 10 PM on CBS.