Bottom Line: One of the Internet’s oldest memes, Star Wars Kid is also a prime example of how leaked footage, Kazaa and bad luck can transform into an Internet sensation.

On November 4, 2002 the student made a video of himself swinging a golf ball retriever around as a weapon. The video was filmed at his high school studio, and the tape left in a basement. Inadvertently, he taped it over a portion of a basketball game (as seen extremely briefly at the end of the clip). The original owner of the videotape discovered it and immediately shared it with friends. Thinking that it would be a funny prank, one of them encoded it to a WMV file and published it over the Kazaa peer-to-peer file sharing network. It was also hosted on a personal website. Within two weeks, the file had been downloaded several million times. An adapted version of the video was created, adding Star Wars music, texts, and lightsaber lights and sounds to his golf ball retriever. As of November 27, 2006 it was estimated by The Viral Factory that the videos had been viewed over 900 million times, making it the most popular “viral video” on the Internet.

Meme Anatomy: Embarrassment, Kids, Pop Culture, WTF

Urban Dictionary

An overweight Star Wars fan from Quebec. He taped himself pretending to fight a lightsaber battle (every time I try to see it I’m redirected grrr) which is supposed to be so bad it’s funny. Some of his “friends” uploaded the video to the net. Soon 5 million people saw him. Oh dear.

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: Star Wars Kid

Pictures: Star Wars Kid

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 10,300 – 4
Photo Search Results: 31,000 – 4
Search Volume: 2,240,000 – 4
Blog Search Results: 67,607 – 3.5
News Search Results: 661 – 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Combine a song originally written by Moldovan band O-zone with a webcam video of a kid grooving out to it and you have one of the oldest and most well known memes to grace the tubes. Numa Numa proves that the Internet loves nothing more than slightly off-base music performed by people who should probably never be performing music.

Numa Numa is an Internet phenomenon based on amateur videos, most notably Numa Numa Dance by Gary Brolsma, made for the song “Dragostea din tei” as performed by the CDM Project. Brolsma’s video, released in December 2004 onto the website Newgrounds.com, was the first Numa Numa-themed video to gain widespread attention. Less than three months after the release, it had been viewed more than two million times on the debut website alone. Numa Numa Dance has since spawned many parody videos, including those created for the “New Numa Contest”, sponsored by Brolsma, which promised US$45,000 in prize money for submissions. His original video was named 41st in the 2006 broadcast of 100 Greatest Funny Moments by Channel 4 in the UK.

Meme Anatomy: Embarrassment, Vaguely Foreign, Musical, Iconic Catchphrase

Urban Dictionary

A flash video submitted to newgrounds on december 6th, 2004. it scored relatively low, until site owner tom fulp put it on the front page. it then achieved major success as a hilarious flash video, and although it gained this success too late to win any awards, it still gained a score higher than 4.10 since december it has achieved more than a million views. it has been featured on vh1, cnn, and stolen from newgrounds by at least 80 other websites. and this is only after 2 months (this definition was written on 2/13/05). it is a flash phenomenon sure to beat out all your base.

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: Numa Numa

Pictures: Numa Numa

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 160,000 – 5
Photo Search Results: 242,000 – 5
Search Volume: 386,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 21,078 – 3
News Search Results: 8 – 1.5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: This meme combines a very small amount of embarrassment with a classic trope of Internet phenomenon, children doing silly things. It’s hard to tell just how much this little boy will appreciate his stint of Internet fame but we will leave that to history to decide.

This is a video of my then 7 year old son David in May 2008 I had my Flip video camera with me. His mom wasnt able to go because of work. I taped some of the morning before the surgery to show her and was already planning to tape afterwards. He had just had a tooth removed due to Hyperdontia or extra tooth. This was taken in the parking lot of the dentist office. He was so out of it. The staff was even laughing. This lasted for a few hours and he was fine. He even laughed at the video that night.

He is very smart and always has something interesting to say about many different issues. His philosophical reaction to the medication didnt really suprise us.

David is a very good kid and I am blessed to have he and his brother William as sons.

This has been a great experience for our family. Thanks for watching.

Meme Anatomy: Kids, WTF

Other Sources

Videos: David After Dentist

Pictures: David After Dentist

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 5,130 – 3.5
Photo Search Results: 646 – 2.5
Search Volume: 13,800,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 83,348 – 3.5
News Search Results: 37 – 2

Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: File this one under oddball human tricks. There isn’t too much more that you can see about why it is a meme.

The Fuckparade is an annual summer techno demonstration in Berlin. The event developed in reaction to the exclusion of Gabber music and commercialisation of Love Parade. The Love Parade itself, in 2000, was described as Berlin’s largest tourist attraction, drawing 1.5 million young people to the city.

The “Techno Viking” internet meme features a man dancing at the 2000 Fuckparade. The YouTube video was the #1 clip on Rude Tube’s series-three episode Drink and Drugs.

Meme Anatomy: WTF, Musical

Urban Dictionary

An internet meme created on theforum.com thanks to a video of the Berlin Fuck Parade of 2000 in which a large muscle-bound German man asserts his authority upon the people and dances to demonstrate his power. He is, technoviking.

Other Sources

Videos: Techno Viking

Pictures: Techno Viking

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 2,940 – 3
Photo Search Results: 761 – 2.5
Search Volume: 268,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 6,979 – 2.5
News Search Results: 7 – 1.5

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Miss Teen South Carolina is a classic embarrassment meme with its basis in television. It has gone down in history as one of the most memorable quotations of 2007 and goes to prove that whenever you combine live television and semi-coherent ramblings a meme is on the horizon.

As part of a question and answer portion of the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant, Upton was asked by the questioner, Friday Night Lights actress Aimee Teegarden, “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is so?”

Upton responded:

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our . . . .

According to YouTube, video clips of her response on the website have had over 40 million views. It was the site’s most viewed video for the month of September 2007. Many YouTube users made their own parodies of the incident. The Yale Book of Quotations designated the response the second most memorable quote of 2007.

[Link]

Meme Anatomy: Pop Culture, Embarrassment

Urban Dictionary

A title associated with Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA Pageant 2007, made famous by her answer to the following question asked by Amiee Teegarden:

“Recent polls have shown a fifth of American’s can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?”

Other Sources

Videos: Miss Teen South Carolina

Pictures: Miss Teen South Carolina

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 4,320 – 3
Photo Search Results: 17,400 – 4
Search Volume: 63,900 – 2.5
Blog Search Results: 7,660 – 2.5
News Search Results: 250 – 3

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Like LOLCats before it, FAIL is a meta-meme. The formula is simple, take something embarrassing (preferably violent) and slap the words FAIL on it. FAIL also has the advantage of finding its way into the vernacular along with its kissing cousin Epic FAIL.

“Fail” is the name of a popular Internet meme where users superimpose a caption, often the word “fail” or “epic fail,” onto photos or short videos depicting unsuccessful events or people falling short of expectations. In July 2003, a contributor to Urban Dictionary wrote that the term, “fail,” could be used as an interjection, “when one disapproves of something,” citing the example: “You actually bought that? FAIL.” This most likely originated as a shortened form of “You fail” or, more fully, “You fail it,” the taunting “game over” message in the late 1990s Japanese video game Blazing Star, notorious for its fractured English.

[Link]

Meme Anatomy: Iconic Catchphrase, Embarrassment, WTF

Urban Dictionary

Either an interjection used when one disapproves of something, or a verb meaning approximately the same thing as the slang form of suck.

Other Sources

Videos: Fail

Pictures: Fail

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 748,000 – 5
Photo Search Results: 537 – 2.5
Search Volume: 12,100,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 27,354 – 3
News Search Results: 17 – 2

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Another musical meme, this time with a TV cross-over. South Park has been the birth and death of many a meme.

“What What (In the Butt)” is a viral video created by Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo of Brownmark Films for the song of the same name by Samwell. It is known for its numerous camp references to homosexuality and anal sex. The lyrics of the song, a production of Mike Stasny, mostly revolve around the title. The video was shot in wide-screen format and was primarily produced with a green screen. It was uploaded on Valentine’s Day 2007 to YouTube and Google Video.

With regard to the Christian imagery in the video, Samwell, in an interview with KROQ-FM, said that the opening image is “not a cross, but a flaming symbol that [he] just happened to use,” but according to Stasny, “[Samwell] wanted it because he’s a Christian but he doesn’t do Christian morality. For him, having a burning cross is a way to pay respect to his beliefs.” The video also parodies the flower petal scene from the movie American Beauty. Brownmark Films released an interview with Samwell on April 8, 2007, in which he discussed the public reception of the song at length.

Meme Anatomy: Musical, Iconic Catchphrase, WTF

Other Sources

Videos: What What In The Butt

Pictures: What What In The Butt

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 157,000 – 5
Photo Search Results: 18,900 – 4
Search Volume: 12,100,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 27,354 – 3
News Search Results: 17 – 2

Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Edgar’s Fall is a meme that plays on the fact that the Internet loves to see people hurt themselves, especially if those people need subtitles.

The video features a young Mexican kid named Edgar and his cousin Fernando hiking in a ranch near their home town of Monterrey. The video starts with Edgar being afraid of trying to cross a small stream using two long branches as a bridge. Soon after Edgar starts crossing, Fernando starts moving one of the branches, making Edgar curse angrily with a Mexican “norteño” (northern) accent until he finally loses his balance, plunges into the stream and curses even more as he emerges from the water.

Edgar’s fall was the subject of much media exposure in México which included newspapers and the clip being shown on the TV news.

There are ringtones, games, parodies, remixes and even a web page where Edgar is proposed for Mexico’s presidency. There are over 20 versions of the video including Star Wars, Mario Bros, Street Fighter, and Pokémon. Some publicity campaigns have made use of the video without worries of copyright issues, for example Nike’s Joga Bonito campaign. Edgar has also gained other media exposure, appearing on TV shows and in newspapers.

Meme Anatomy: Vaguely Foreign, Embarrassment, Overreactions, Leaked, Kids

Other Sources

Videos: Edgar’s Fall

Pictures: Edgar’s Fall

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 1,400 – 3
Photo Search Results: 392 – 2
Search Volume: 129,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 88 – 1
News Search Results: 0 – 1

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: When absolutely repulsive footage leaks on the Internet, someone is bound to pick it up and run with it. 2 Girls, 1 Cup itself might be a meme but even more spectacular were the reaction videos born from it.

Part of what has facilitated 2 Girls 1 Cup’s spread are the reactions it causes. Thousands of videos exist on YouTube of users showing the original video (off-camera) to their friends and taping their reactions, although some videos seem to be staged. Even Joe Rogan, host of Fear Factor, a show notorious for the disgusting things its contestants are forced to eat, had to turn away in a reaction video posted to his blog. A reaction video starring a Kermit the Frog puppet proved very popular on the community-based popularity website Digg. In January 2008, Slate magazine documented the reaction video phenomenon with a slideshow featuring various reactions. Violet Blue, an author, described this website as becoming “the new ‘tubgirl’ and goatse all in one disgusting moment of choco-poo-love” in a San Francisco Chronicle article. In the “2guys1podcast” episode of Put It In Your Ears, co-host Gavin St. Ours watches the video after claiming he never will, and his entire reaction is caught on tape. “Genuine Nerd” Toby Radloff was so disgusted by the clip that he had to immediately watch it again. Veteran porn star Ron Jeremy walked off while watching the video on The Playhouse.

The video has inspired several parodies, such as a short film by singer and comedian John Mayer to his blog entitled “2 Guys 1 Cup” where Mayer and Best Week Ever correspondent Sherrod Small enjoy Pinkberry frozen yogurt in the same manner that the women in the original consumed the feces. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also made a parody titled “1 Guy 1 Jar”, which he posted to YouTube, and began to eat peanut butter out of the jar, obviously in the same way of the original video. Filmmakers Justin Roiland and Christian Le Guilloux made a 5-minute series called “2 Girls, 1 Cup: The Show” for the short film competition site, Channel 101. It debuted in first place on January 27, 2008. Canadian comedian Jon Lajoie also made a song named “2 Girls 1 Cup song”, which described the activities in the video as if the two women were expressing their love for each other. The music video was instantly popular, gaining over 7 million views.

Meme Anatomy: Gross, WTF, Overreactions

Urban Dictionary

A 2007 viral video that shows acts of Coprophagia and Emetophilia. It is possibly the first time graphic acts of extreme fetishism have been widely viewed by the general public. Reactions to the video have become a YouTube phenomenon and have spawned other videos of this nature. Reaction to the video have included expressions of shock,hysterical laughter,nausea,and comments such as “What the Fuck” and “Why would they do that?”

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: 2 Girls, 1 Cup

Pictures: 2 Girls, 1 Cup

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 30,000 – 4
Photo Search Results: 80,800 – 4.5
Search Volume: 111,000,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 189,468 – 4
News Search Results: 87 – 2.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: If there is anything more meme-worthy than a celebrity losing his mind in private, it’s a celebrity losing his mind in public. The scene between Kanye West and Taylor Swift at the VMAs set off a tidal wave of photos, spoofs and days worth of Twitter Trending Topics.

On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards while Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone to proclaim that Beyoncé’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, nominated for the same award, was “one of the best videos of all time”. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by U.S. President Barack Obama, who called West a “jackass” in an “off the record” comment. Kanye’s VMA disruption originated a large amount of internet photo meme with blogs, forums and tweets with the “Let you finish” photo-jokes. West posted two apologies on his blog, one the night of the incident and the other the same day he appeared on The Jay Leno Show, on September 14, 2009, where he apologized again. After Swift appeared on The View two days after the outburst, partly to discuss the matter, West called her to apologize personally. Swift said she accepted his apology.

Meme Anatomy: Celebrity, Overreactions, Iconic Catchphrase

Urban Dictionary

Verb: Taking attention away from someone; stealing another person’s moment

Other Sources

Videos: Kanye West

Pictures: Kanye West

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 19,000 – 4
Photo Search Results: 2,000,000 – 5
Search Volume: 15,300,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 2,386,322 – 5
News Search Results: 2,840 – 4

Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars