Viral Videos

Weezer made a music video about viral videos, and the music video went viral. Try saying that three times fast.

In 2008, Weezer released a single called Pork and Beans. In a move that reflected the band’s embrace of social media, they premiered the music video for the song on YouTube, four days before the televised debut on MTV. The video, which featured dozens of Internet phenomena, was an instant hit, amassing over 3.5 million views in its first week.

The first time I watched the video, I could feel my brain start to bleed as I tried to keep up with all of the memes. “Oh, there’s Miss Teen South Carolina! There’s the Afro Ninja guy! Wait, what is the deal with the guy with all of the tee shirts?” The video is a great way for people to test their viral video recognition skills. If you have seen all of the videos referred to in the music video, you have probably spent too much time on YouTube.

Matthew Cullen, who directed the video, sat down with Jenna Wortham of Wired.com to discuss the meaning of the video:

“(Pork and Beans) is this amazing song about being happy with who you are. That’s exactly where it came from. There’s never been a time like now, thanks to YouTube, where people can put themselves out there. So I embraced that concept.”

As Cullen explains, there is an actual person behind each of the people who have unintentionally become celebrities. Mark Hicks, the Afro Ninja, is a professional Hollywood stuntman who “made one mistake at a casting session that is etched in (millions) of people’s memories.” Cullen said that this video is a way for Hicks to show the world that he has embraced what happened and that he his happy with who he is.

Cullen and Weezer aren’t the only ones who understand the public’s deep appreciation for viral videos. Enter Daniel Tosh. The comedian has become one of TV’s brightest new stars as a result of his hit show, Tosh.0. The show focuses on online video clips with Tosh providing sarcastic commentary.

At one point in the show, he usually does a “web redemption,” where he meets with a person or group from a particularly well-known viral video. By doing this, he allows viewers to see the actual people in a setting other than the ones they were immortalized online in.

The show, which premiered on June 4, 2009, launched with an initial order of 10 episodes. It averaged over 1 million viewers per episode, and did particularly well with the coveted 18-24 and 18-34 demographics. It is now in its third season, averaging 2.2 million viewers per episode, beating out The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report to become Comedy Central’s highest rated non-animated show.

There is no doubt that Tosh’s biting humor is a big reason for the show’s success. But it has also succeeded because society is obsessed with viral videos. We enjoy watching them and are always excited to see what else is out there. On top of that, many of us are curious about the behind-the-scenes aspects of viral videos. Who are these people? Why did they act the way they did in the video? How have their lives changed since attaining web celebrity status? These are all questions that were being asked by hundreds of thousands of people, and Tosh.0 has effectively reached that market.