I Was Internet Famous

December 8, 2015 10:43 AM

Here, nine YouTube sensations whose lives were upended briefly in the past decade (plus one from the prehistoric web era, before YouTube made its debut in 2005) speak about this odd, relatively new kind of fame. Most embraced the experience, seeing where it would take them. Some ended up in dark places. A couple have made it their living and found themselves with new careers. Others stepped away, opting out of the flame wars. Pay attention: Someday, the accidental celebrity could be you.
posted by josher71 (22 comments total)

Can somebody please give Tay Zonday a talk show? Every time I hear him speak or see him write something (like in this article) you can tell that he's thinking things out and through and he articulates them so clearly. So you might not agree with what he's saying but you can tell that his ideas and thoughts are very dynamic and changing and growing with more info. So, uh, yeah, it would be great, I think, to hear his views and thoughts on various topics. Just him in casual conversation with others.
posted by I-baLL at 11:00 AM on December 8, 2015 [19 favorites]

Worst website layout ever! Every time I scrolled down, even one or two clicks, it jumped to the next person . . .

Interesting how the one I felt most badly for, David After Dentist, is the one who did not get personally interviewed. That poor kid.
posted by chainsofreedom at 11:10 AM on December 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

The Evolution of Dance guy!
posted by pipoquinha at 11:31 AM on December 8, 2015

I feel like Upton's situation is different from the others in that all the rest got famous for doing something silly, either intentionally or not. She became infamous for a brain fart that made her look stupid.

It's probably a lot easier being well-known for having done some goofy thing than having a national reputation as an idiot. It must have been really hard for her afterwards.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:47 AM on December 8, 2015 [3 favorites]

Bloomberg's ASL interpreter now has 150 employees? Yes!

That jumping page thing is really annoying.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:59 AM on December 8, 2015

Tay Zonday is definitely an interesting dude. He went to Evergreen State apparently.
posted by atoxyl at 12:10 PM on December 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

Can somebody please give Tay Zonday a talk show? Every time I hear him speak or see him write something (like in this article) you can tell that he's thinking things out and through and he articulates them so clearly.

Boy, you weren't kidding. Zonday's is fascinating reading.
posted by cashman at 12:13 PM on December 8, 2015 [3 favorites]

Loved this bit from Tay Zonday's section:

[Have you talked to anyone else who inspired a meme?] You act like there’s a halfway house where me, Keenan Cahill, Gary Brolsma, and Rebecca Black take turns mentoring the current month’s memes. I meet these people in passing. There isn’t an epiphany of kinship like All Quiet on the Western Front. Perhaps it’s not quiet enough on the digital front.

I bet that at least two dozen people have pitched a similar reality show concept, minimum.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:27 PM on December 8, 2015 [8 favorites]

Except that for a brief shining moment (well, 3 times in 6 years) there was such a meeting ground, and it was epic.
posted by feckless at 12:29 PM on December 8, 2015

Props to anybody who can drop mutatis mutandis into a conversation.
posted by edheil at 12:38 PM on December 8, 2015

Chris Crocker does gay porn now. Odd that this fact wasn't mentioned.
posted by reiichiroh at 12:45 PM on December 8, 2015

My favorite part:
We have an unwritten rule. If someone asks to be bitten, Charlie gets to bite however hard he wants to.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:03 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Several times per year, a stranger asks whether I did “Purple Rain.” I correct them.

Tay, when someone asks you if you did "Purple Rain," you say YES!
posted by DaDaDaDave at 1:49 PM on December 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

As someone who also isn't great at off-the-cuff public speaking, I've always felt so bad for Caite Upton. I got called on to speak, unexpectedly, once during a student council meeting when I was in college, and the verbal diarrhea that came out of my mouth I'm sure made anyone listening wonder exactly how I got into college in the first place. Thank heavens this was in the early 90s, so before ubiquitous cell phone cameras and Youtube.
posted by The Gooch at 1:58 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

I wonder where Chad Vader, day-shift manager, is. Probably working right now.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:18 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

As someone who also isn't great at off-the-cuff public speaking, I've always felt so bad for Caite Upton. I got called on to speak, unexpectedly, once during a student council meeting when I was in college, and the verbal diarrhea that came out of my mouth I'm sure made anyone listening wonder exactly how I got into college in the first place.

I think lots of us have that story, but that's a pretty different context than hers. She wasn't called to speak unexpectedly, she was onstage at a beauty pageant and knew she was going to get asked some kind of general current events question. Another part of it is that even if you translate her answer from anxiety to English, it's a pretty bad answer (to, in fairness, a tremendously bad question).

Of course, other parts of it are that she's a pretty blonde woman from the South, which in our shitty culture are four synonyms for stupid. I do feel very bad for her on that count, she was perfectly placed to confirm the prejudices of snotty liberal pricks everywhere. I may very well have been one of them; I don't really recall what I thought about this the first time I saw it, but I'm sure it wasn't flattering to her and far less flattering to me.
posted by Errant at 4:05 PM on December 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

Came in here to praise Tay Zonday as well. Really interesting read.

I'm actually somewhat surprised that these people's videos are still generating interest so many years down the line. But I guess that's why they were featured in the article rather than some other set of viral video stars. For one thing, they'd have to be in the habit of actually responding to media requests... I bet other people hated the attention and went completely dark.
posted by mantecol at 7:14 PM on December 8, 2015

They left out the "numa numa" guy? I liked his routine, and I liked the song so much I bought the CD.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 11:00 PM on December 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

That Dancing Baby must be in college by now--I hope s/he invested some of that Ally McBeal money.
posted by blueberry at 4:49 AM on December 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mahir! I always wondered what happened to him.
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 5:26 AM on December 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm surprised the Star Wars kid wasn't on here. I know he's been speaking on bullying - would have been interested to hear how he feels about the experience 13 years later.
posted by widdershins at 8:18 AM on December 9, 2015

Star Wars Kid Breaks 10 Year Silence
posted by The Gooch at 9:56 AM on December 9, 2015