I did not learn to drive until I was 25, and it only happened then because I was in a brief stint back in my hometown San Francisco. Except for those two years in my mid 20s, my adulthood has been in New York, a city I truly love… and would never want to drive in. Too much traffic — including but not limited to cars, bigger cars, bike lanes, motorcycles, horses, scooters, buses, pedestrians — all in a hurry, and manning vehicles that keep getting larger and larger (that includes us pedestrians) while the surface area of road remains the same size. So, it’s been REDACTED years since I’ve been behind the wheel, which means I have zero pedals to stand on in weighing in on this story. But don’t worry, that won’t stop me! It seems Joe Jonas spent a good chunk of his Sunday embroiled in the trickiest of all maneuvers: the parallel park. Someone on TikTok watched the spectacle for at least seven minutes and posted a shorter video of it which quickly went viral. So on Monday, Joe playfully responded with his own video on Instagram:
Even global pop stars aren’t immune to the pressure of a tight parking spot.
A seemingly routine moment turned into a viral New York scene when TikToker @neha.nas posted a video of Joe Jonas attempting to parallel park on a city street.
The on-screen text captured the moment: “I love New York because I’ve been watching Joe Jonas parallel park for the last 7 minutes.” She set the scene to the Jonas Brothers’ own song “Burnin’ Up,” adding an extra layer of irony as the clip unfolds.
The lighthearted video quickly took off, pulling in more than 8.5 million views as viewers tuned in to watch the pop star work the curb. Some viewers even point out that Jonas appeared visibly stressed as the minutes ticked by.
Jonas soon realized he had an audience and jumped into the conversation with a playful response of his own. “And I saw you watch and not help once 😔,” he wrote in the comments.
The TikToker didn’t miss a beat and fired back with equal charm. “Listening. Learning. Will do better next time,” she replied.
Brands and fans alike flooded the comments with their own takes on the parking saga. Slim Jim joked, “First rule of parallel parking in NYC: park somewhere else,” while QuickBooks UK quipped, “he’s not burnin’ up… he’s just tryin’ to back it up.”
Others kept the joke rolling with quick one-liners of their own. “He’s still parking as we speak,” one person wrote.
Jonas later kept the joke going on his own Instagram with a video of himself stumbling out of a New York City shop called Sora as if he’s being kicked out, while his belongings are tossed toward him and he redresses as he walks.
He captioned the clip, “just finished up parallel parking from yesterday,” tying the viral moment into yet another punchline.
Help me out, bitches: can someone please speak to me as if I were a very thick, unintelligent person (just pretend!) and explain how getting kicked out of a store relates to a belabored attempt at parallel parking? I see how the caption relates, obviously. But why is he coming out of a store? Shouldn’t he be stumbling out of his car after finally completing the park? What is this narrative??!! The other elements work — Joe’s commitment to the bit and willingness to keep the joke going are great. It’s just this one (central) detail that flummoxes me. Aside from that, I simply had to cover this story because I was just in a car with my mother over the weekend as she pulled off an elegant parallel park in the wilds of New Jersey. (No one wants me to get back behind the wheel again more than my mother and let me tell you, the fact that I’ve touched on the subject here is a testament to how much I love you guys because I WILL be hearing about it from my mother later! But I digress…) Anyway, I applauded her on her successful park, then brought us both to giggles as I recalled the inimitable Lucille Bluth and her singular perpendicular park.
PS — Getting razzed by QuickBooks?! That has to be a new low.
Joe’s comment on a TikTok of someone watching him attempt to parallel park for 7 minutes in New York 🤣https://t.co/gAv45V2hv6 pic.twitter.com/T5KKq9YPFU
— Jonas Brothers Daily News 🩵 (@Jonas_DailyNews) December 8, 2025
photos credit: Patricia Schlein/Wenn/Avalon, Sadou Faye/Avalon
Way back in the day I had to parallel park to pass a drivers test. I did it and have never parallel parked again. It’s just too much. If I can’t find a pull in spot then forget it I will go somewhere else to shop.
Haha same
So I grew up in Manhattan and I only feel comfortable parallel parking!!! When I have to just do that turn into the spot thing, it makes me sweat. I cannot get the angle, right! Is anybody else a New York City, baby? Also, when I was growing up in the 70s, when you were parallel parking, if you needed more room, you pushed the car in front of you and behind you with your car. It was just normal so when I first drove when I was 18, I did that when I was at college and my friends were like what the fuck are you doing? You crazy!!!
My dad made me parralel park in an empty parking lot with 4 posts made if toilet paper. lol I failed and crushed those toilet papers. 😂 but im great at it now yay!!!
When I took my first drivers test in NYC, I passed parallel parking with flying colors, BUT I FAILED MOST EVERYTHING ELSE during the road test, including straight driving. I only ever drove for a few years in LA (a bus strike forced my hand). When I drove I could only drive a stick. I never got the hang of an automatic. I tend to move through life weirdly.
I doubt that I can drive a stick or parallel park any more.
At my first driver’s test, I was able to parallel park, but couldn’t back up in a straight line, fail. Now, at age 59, I’m not super good at either. Can I get a car and driver? (Alas, no)
MY US DL expired while I was living overseas – the country I was living in at the time has a very lengthy, costly and complicated test procedure, so I flew fly back the the States and take the test. I was stressing about the parallel parking aspect of the practical, but the instructor told me that they actually removed it from the test because too many people failed!!! 😱😱😂
When I moved overseas only knowing how to drive an automatic, 30ish years ago, I had to learn how to drive a stick on narrow cobblestone European roads. Fun times.
That was my sister last night watching me parallel park in front of her house in the frozen snow!! Chicago parking typically never phases me but last night was a comedy..
My driving claim to fame is that I’m excellent at parallel parking, in a minivan, before backup cameras. Now I’ve had a camera on my last two vehicles and parallel parking doesn’t even require effort anymore.
I think it’s harder to parallel park with the cameras, when I try to use the rearview cameras I end up perpendicular on the sidewalk! I have to do it the old-fashioned way, and fortunately I’m still good at it.
Yup, I think the cameras make it harder. I used to live in the city with a minivan and parallel parked all the time and it didn’t faze me. Once in a while I had to restart but it wasn’t a big deal and usually I nailed it the first time.
Now I have a Palisade and when I try to PP that thing (which I only do bc I need to PP outside of my kid’s theater rehearsals lol) it takes me like 5 tries. I dont know if its because I was just more used to it with the minivans or if the cameras throw me off.
I got my license a bit later in life, in my late twenties. When it came to the parallel parking portion, I did it, and the tester kindly asked “would you like to try that again ?” I told him nope, that was the best I was ever going to be able to do. We both laughed and I passed my test.
I am not a great backer-upper, either. In parking lots I always park in what my son’s called “pull-throughs – two spots connected front to back so I could pull right out and not have to back up or back in.
I am in my 50s now. Every once and a while I try to find those advanced driving schools where they help you become an expert driver, but nothing like that exists near me now.
I saw the headlines about this and having read the coverage here I’m delighted it’s a gentler story that I thought it might be. More of this type of celebrity story please!
My take is as with most things it’s down to practice, I’ve almost always lived places with street parking so parallel parking is a habit. Knowing the proportions of your car well also helps and I loved the invention of sensors!
Back in the day, says 50s & 60s, cars used to have ‘feelers’ on them, at least on the passenger side. There was a little recessed slot under the fenders, one by each tire, with a foot-long or so flexible metal rod (thin, like an antenna) sticking out, that would let you know you were getting close to the curb. They fell off a lot, because I remember as kids we’d find these things in the street and use them in pretend sword fights.
Speaking of 50s-era cars, back when I was driving my 58 Belair I remember trying to parallel park on Main Street in my hometown. It was a big beastie & my goodness, I think I went forward & back at least 20 times before finally getting it parked! My face was so red by the time I was done! And that was on my side of the street. I always found it easier to parallel park on the passenger side rather than the driver’s side.
I pride myself on my ability to parallel park–what my driver’s test termed “maneuverability”. Ugh, I hate having to rely on street parking though, so many space-wasters!!
Can I take this opportunity to talk about how delightful the Jonas Bros christmas movie is on Disney Plus? We watched it last night and it was exactly what I wanted – not great acting (not terrible but not great considering they were just playing themselves), ridiculous cameos (including Will Farrell’s wife and children) and random songs thrown in throughout. It’s not a good movie objectively but its a fun one.
All that to say that now I know which one is Joe Jonas (I thought it was going to be hard but they made it pretty obvious about 10 minutes in lol) so I feel like I “get” this story hahaha. (I have no knowledge of any of their songs or anything.)
Joe Jonas is the one that married Sophie Turner when she was too young, pressured her into having two babies, and then when she wised up and dumped his tiny ass started a smear campaign calling her a bad mother who parties too much.
Why do I find it easier to parallel park in smaller spaces???
Because you are gifted in a way that a lot of us aren’t. Lucky you!
It’s a tik tok trend. Not the parking.
Getting thrown out of a store?
Fun fact: I have never learned to drive. I live in a major city with robust public transportation. The only time I have ever felt the lack of a driver’s license has been when I want to hit up IKEA. Which is in the burbs.
I owned my previous car for 20 years, and I could confidently and consistently parallel park that baby with my eyes closed. That car felt like an extension of my body. But I’ve been humbled by my new car, which I’ve now owned for 1.5 years and can’t parallel park to save my life. I keep practicing practicing practicing, and I just keep sucking at it! It’s been very humbling for a person who used to smugly brag about my parallel-parking skills. Maybe I need to rewatch the cute/fun/helpful instructional video about parallel parking from RuPaul!
As a lifelong West coaster I am fascinated by Americans who never learned how to drive.
You have to drive to get anywhere out here, especially in most of the places I’ve lived. I’ve been driving since I was, well, too young, to drive! I knew the roads from Tijuana to Vancouver.
Driving meant freedom, so I was highly motivated to learn. I started learning to drive at 13 on back roads around Bakersfield. Mom loved it because she “didn’t have to keep up” her license if my brother and I had our DLs
😏
What’s funny is how I barely drive now. I’ve lived in Seattle for a long time and I used public transport to get to work. Now I exclusively WFH and I my two older kids can drive.
Same! Born in California, grew up in a small town in Oregon (no public transportation! are you kidding?!), and a car meant freedom! I got my DL on my 16th birthday & never looked back.
Hahahaha, I have to parallel park constantly because almost all of the time that’s the only parking option. I have sympathy for Joe on this because women are so scrutinized for it. I swear, if any man is walking by when I’m parking, it feels like Judgment Time. Joe’s at least going with the jokes.
The getting kicked out of the store thing is a tiktok trend that gets tagged #kershawmethod that features dudes walking away, coolly, after getting tossed out of somewhere. They’re emulating a British fashion guy (@4_kershaw_)’s fit checks
Ah. And by the way, I love the Flavia de Luce books!!!
Kismet’s Mama here. Let me tell you a little story. Kismet and her late father, whom I miss more than words can tell, are two of the most brilliant humans I have ever met. And yet, one steaming hot summer day when I asked sweet Kismet to open the car windows, I emerged from the house to find both Kismet and her esteemed professorial father sweating in the hot car, windows still up. Neither one of my two geniuses could figure out which pedal was the brake to be pressed down in order to turn on the car. Somehow it never occurred to Laurel & Hardy to conduct a minor science experiment and try each of the TWO PEDALS involved.
I’d repressed that memory, thanks for the reminder.
And yes folks, I can confirm that Wiggles is indeed Mama Kismet. The secret’s out!
😁
Wonderful story Kismet’s mama! And also confirms what I came to say, driving isn’t necessary in SF if one chooses not too. SF isn’t the transit mecca that NYC is (because few places in the U.S. are) but it’s pretty common not to drive in SF and the weather is nearly always compatible with alternate transit.
Thanks for sharing this delightful story, Ms. Kismet’s Mom. 😁
I can never parallel park and always end up getting out of parking spots I think I might be able to get into. It’s unfounded optimism. I try, fail and move on. No problem.
Loved reading all your stories (even from Kismet’s mom)! So interesting that the the extraordinary people who were always good at parallel parking don’t like the car cameras. They help me but I’m still lousy at it.
One thing I can do is parallel park. I cut my chops learning to parallel park on a hill on a standard shift car. On both the right and left had side of the street. Clutchasted 150k miles.
Actually I think I could parallel my car into a spot smaller than said car!
I think he was just trying to get close to curb and straight. I have seen way worse.