Uber employees 'really enjoyed' London play about Travis Kalanick

2025-04-28 01:10:30admin

The Uber UK office treated 50 employees to a night of London theater Wednesday — but it wasn't just any show. No, it was a satirical take on the rise and fall of a big-time CEO busy disrupting the world with his ride-hailing app and endless scandals.

Sound familiar?

The Vault Festival's play Brilliant Jerks opened Wednesday evening. Uber snagged 50 seats to the show, which focus on the character of Tyler Janowski, an ex-CEO in the ride-hailing world. It's not explicitly former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, but yes it is.

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The show's producer, Holly White, said in an email Thursday that the theater didn't have an exact count on how many of the large group showed up to the play, but "we do know the majority of the 50 booked in from Uber did come to the show last night."

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Even better, those Uber employees who caught the premiere "really enjoyed the performance and passed on their congratulations to the team afterwards, commending the actors," White said.

Props to them for actually showing up.

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When the theater trip was first reported, Uber told Business Insider it was an office outing like any other social and bonding activity the company organizes. The play's writer found it amusing that the very company he's poking fun at would attend his play.

Tweet may have been deleted

We reached out to Uber Thursday to hear what it was like to witness a live re-enactment of its CEO's downfall and the issues the company deals with, such as workers' rights and passenger safety. We haven't heard back yet. But sounds like it was a successful opening, even if at the expense of "brilliant jerk" Kalanick.