A little while back, I received a text message from Brother that read "google 'leeroy jenkins' and watch the video, it's hilarious." This made me giggle because the whole Leeroy Jenkins thing is almost five years old now. It could be that Brother just managed to not hear about Leeeeeeroyyyyyy Jeeeeeeenkins! until recently, but I get the feeling that Brother is just now beginning to discover the awesomeness of the World Wide Web. He has always made fun of me for the blog, and still does, but he did comment on a post for the first time ever shortly after Christmas. Also, I may have him beat in internet savvy, but he's been able to change the oil in a car since he was 10-- and I have to have the guys at Jiffy Lube fill up my windshield wiper fluid because my old theory of "just pour everything into the gas tank and let the car sort it out" has backfired on me in the past.
But it got me thinking about youtube videos, and the phenomenon that makes certain videos spread like wildfire. Youtube has only been around since '05, but I can't seem to remember a time when there wasn't a youtube. What did we do without it?
Here are some of my favorite youtube videos over the years, in no particular order. (Side note: I'm not counting things like the Bloomington Bros, or Raaaaaaaandy! or Between Two Ferns. Not because they're not hilarious- but because they're originally from a comedy website. I'll also exclude 'Lazy Sunday' and 'Dick in a Box' since they came from SNL, even though youtube is what really made those sketches blow up. Side note to the side note: that 'Landlord' video that made the rounds about 4 years ago, with Will Ferrell and his daughter: not that funny. Not making the list.)
Boom Goes the Dynamite. Starting with the classics first. This one was probably my introduction to youtube, in a video that is the definition of when someone calls something 'a car accident.' It's incredibly painful to watch, but you can't look away. And for me, the infamous "boom goes the dynamite" line is only my 5th favorite part:
1. "Reggie Miller looking good"
2. mouthing "I'm sorry" to somebody off-camera
3. "Passes to the man"
4. Wayne Simien = Wayne Summers?
5. "...and boom goes the dynamite"
Tourette's Guy. I don't even care if it's fake, it's hilarious (also very NSFW.) I think it was either Kuntz or Weisser or someone who showed this to me in the Gamble Hall computer lab for the first time. Top 5 hardest laughs of my life. We're talking "people staring at me as I'm doubled over, tears streaming down my face, absolutely unable to stop or even quiet down even though I'm in a crowded public place" laughter. (Which also happened to me one other time in the aforementioned computer lab: the first time I saw this Gary Gaetti fan club website, coincidentally created by some dudes in Grand Forks. I still go back and read through it once every 6 months or so. The captions are gold.)
Whistle Tips. "That's only in tha mornin'....you supposed to be up cookin' breakfast or somethin' by then so...that's like an alarm clock...wooo WOOOOO!"
Star Wars Kid. Not holding up as well over time, but damn that was some funny shit the first 30 times I watched it.
Jamie Foxx ending Doug Williams' career after Williams starts bombing at Emmitt Smith's roast. There's a reason why right now you're asking "Who's Doug Williams?" It's so brutal it eventually becomes tough to watch. "Where IS he right now?"
Salad Fingers. One of the creepiest cartoons I've ever seen. Led to six years (and counting) of Hubert Cumberdale and Marjory Stewart Baxter jokes between Paul and I. Chelsey's Mike is a hard guy to agitate, but if you ever need to piss him off quickly, no questions asked, just fire up this video (ironically, he's the one who introduced it to us.) 60% of the time, it works every time.
Ante Up Muppets. I love puppets, I know I've mentioned that a time or two. And I love when people dub in other dialogue to puppets' flapping heads. Especially if it's a hardcore rap song, and especially when it's done this well.
My New Haircut. It's weird, this video is almost dated now, after shows like Jersey Shore and whatnot. But this video, to the best of my recollection, really started the whole making fun of guidos culture. Also, this incident from over three years ago still makes me giggle, what a dipshit. "Not right now Chief, I'm in the fuckin' zone."
Your favorites? I want you guys to hit me with some goodies.
