It’s a typical Saturday evening in New Orleans, and you’re getting ready to meet up with friends for a night out on the town.
Naturally, you’re running late, so when you open your ridesharing app, you don’t notice the odd license plate number listed for your driver. Soon enough, your phone buzzes, informing you your ride is approaching.
Stepping out onto the street that’s extra dark thanks to perpetually blown streetlights, you glance at your phone. He’s just about to turn onto your block. You shove your phone into a pocket and look toward the corner.
Instead of the familiar blue or pink glow of a standard ride share window sign, you’re startled by the bright, green glow coming your way. It takes a moment for what you're seeing to register with your brain ... a giant, bright green ogre head floating out of the darkness toward you.
Moments later, the 2018 Dodge Caravan pulls up in front of you, adorned in decals. You open the door, and the night air is suddenly filled not with the sounds of WYLD or WWOZ but a scene from the 2001 DreamWorks film “Shrek.”
Welcome to the NOLA Shrek Mobile. Your night just got 1,000% more interesting.
During the drive, the man behind the mobile, Milton Ladner offers you a variety of Shrek plushies to hold. He’s also ready to queue up Smash Mouth’s “All Star” at any given moment. Sometimes he’ll even dress up like Shrek.
“This is my midlife crisis,” says Ladner, who grew up in the Bywater and now lives in Chalmette. “I'm 57 — instead of trying to get a Porsche or a young girlfriend, I'm Shrek.”
The Shrek Mobile
When riders book the Shrek Mobile, they only have one clue they might not be in for an average Uber ride: the license plate number reading SHREK1.
The surprise of the mobile pulling up has been a big hit, both with customers and passersby.
“They scream, like, 'Oh, my God, it's Shrek!' Ladner says. “They're like, 'Oh, my God, this is the greatest thing ever. You've made my night.'”
The Shrek Mobile is particularly popular with Gen Z and younger millennials who grew up with the movies.
“I get all kind of stories about what Shrek meant to them and stuff like that. 'You're bringing me back to my childhood,’” Ladner says. “Around Tulane University, I'm a legend.”
But at this point, his stardom extends well beyond the Uptown universities. A June 21 TikTok a passenger posted of the van has garnered more than 1.3 million likes and 4.8 million views and counting. “The universe gifted me ... Shrek Uber,” the caption reads.
@420blazemelup the universe gifted me… shrek uber #shrek #uber #fyp ♬ I'm A Believer - From "Shrek" Motion Picture Soundtrack - Smash Mouth
“Somebody told me today when I was leaving work, ‘You know you’re famous?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know,’” Ladner says, laughing.
He’s had a taste of internet fame before. Shortly after he installed the holographic Shrek head, a passenger took a video that ended up on Barstool Sports in 2022, which dubbed the Shrek Mobile “the most electric thing you’ll come across today.”
Nobody’s been watching the stats on the latest video more closely than Ladner, and he’s been excitedly updating his wife on every milestone.
"I enjoy every minute of it, me,” he says. “I'm like, 'Look, it's at 100,000 views! Oh look, now it's at a million within 24 hours! Oooh, now it's at 3 million!'”
“She's like, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.’"
Ladner has worked as a truck driver for the past decade. When rideshare apps started operating in New Orleans, he figured it would be a good way to bring in some extra cash.
It wasn’t until 2022 that he decided to transform the van he uses for Lyft and Uber rides into the Shrek Mobile.
The bright green glow up wasn’t entirely out of left field for Ladner. In addition to being a truck driver, Ladner has also been a Shrek superfan since the first movie came out in 2001.
“It's a movie that kids enjoy, but adults enjoy it more because they get the jokes,” he says.
“Shrek, he's just that normal guy that happened to fall in love with his Fiona,” adds Ladner, who has been married to his own Fiona, Ramona, for 35 years.
The similarities between the two don’t end there. Ladner bears an uncanny resemblance to Shrek, especially once he dons his costume, and like Shrek, he’s a loveable character.
In the early 2000s, the now-abandoned Jazzland-turned-Six Flags was having a Halloween event. Ladner’s wife suggested he go dressed as Shrek. Ladner jumped at the idea, though he hadn’t quite perfected the look that first go-around.
"All I did was paint myself green, and people thought I was the Hulk,” he says.
Milton Ladner and his wife Ramona cosplay as Shrek and Fiona for a convention.
Since then, Ladner has acquired ogre ears, a tunic and vest, leaving no room for confusion. He’s been to multiple conventions cosplaying as Shrek — including Big Easy Con and Wizard World — with his wife sometimes accompanying him dressed as Fiona.
If that wasn’t evidence enough of his fandom, just ask Ladner who his favorite Shrek character is — aside from Shrek himself, obviously.
While most people’s knowledge of the Shrek cinematic universe drops off after the second movie, Ladner has an encyclopedic understanding of the entire franchise. And he’s quick to rattle off trivia from “Shrek Forever After,” the fourth installment of the series.
Turns out, “Forever After’s” Rumpelstiltskin is Ladner’s favorite non-Shrek Shrek character, “because the voice and the way he acts,” he says. “The animator could not find the right voice actor for the character he made, so he voiced it himself.”
So when Ladner decided he wanted his van to have a theme, it was pretty obvious what it would be.
It’s been a savvy business move, with customers tipping more than they would for a ride in a non-Shrek-themed vehicle. He says a customer a few weeks ago tipped him $50.
He sells green T-shirts with a photo of him dressed as Shrek and smoking. “NOLA SHREK MOBILE HAS A POSSE,” it reads. “8 FT 450 LBS.”
Ladner also swears the Shrek decor has kept him safe in certain situations. After all, who wants to mess with the Shrek Mobile?
Since the TikTok blew up, Ladner says requests for private rides have been flying in. His goal is to ultimately provide transportation for bachelor and bachelorette party bar hops, going into each bar with them dressed as Shrek, of course.
“I just wanted to be different. That's the whole thing behind it,” Ladner says. “I wanted people to have fun and something to remember when they go home.”
Milton Ladner cosplays as Shrek at a convention.
Over the years, the Shrek Mobile has been with people through thick and thin.
One customer enjoyed his mobile experience so much that he requested Ladner come back and drive him and his partner on their wedding night a few months later.
When the time came, Ladner was ready, even setting the LED sign in his back window to congratulate the newlyweds.
Except when he went to pick them up, the guy was only with friends.
“He's like, 'Well, things have changed. Just take me and my buddies for a ride,’” Ladner says.
Another customer had just broken up with his boyfriend and was in low spirits. "I don’t deserve to be in the Shrek Mobile,” he lamented. “I'm really sad.”
“I said, 'Well, you're not going to be sad by the end of the ride,’” Ladner says. “He started laughing.”
But of all the feedback Ladner’s gotten, he’s particularly touched by people telling them they feel safe riding with him.
“I'm making an impact on people,” he says, “and I enjoy it.”
Find Ladner on Instagram and TikTok @nola_shrek_mobile.