No, we did not stage this and yes I was wearing pants

March 11, 2018 3:16 PM

It's been a year since one dad, one toddler , a baby and a mum went viral. (Previous)
posted by threetwentytwo (36 comments total)

Man, that little girl strutting into the room gets me every time. I aspire to enter my meetings like this.
posted by Gorgik at 3:38 PM on March 11, 2018 [24 favorites]

Something about being unwitting makes it impossible to truly imitate.
posted by rhizome at 3:47 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Still so hilarious.
posted by gryphonlover at 3:47 PM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

I think about this video every time I'm on a teleconference where somebody's home reality intrudes. I believe that relatability is part of the video's appeal.
posted by traveler_ at 3:54 PM on March 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

It’s like there’s this magnetic force pulling the family members one-by-one towards the camera, and the mom is fighting with all her might to pull her kids back from it.
posted by mantecol at 3:55 PM on March 11, 2018 [17 favorites]

I love this video so much.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:58 PM on March 11, 2018

My kid just asked what I was laughing at, so I showed it to her. Still funny.
posted by mogget at 4:00 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

He is quite droll about the whole thing!
posted by amanda at 4:14 PM on March 11, 2018

I love this so much, and this little gif. Both make me grin.
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:41 PM on March 11, 2018 [22 favorites]

It had the effect of having some people, like me, bookmark his blog and check in every now and then to see what he's writing about South Korea. So I guess silly videos work.
posted by lagomorphius at 4:43 PM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

I do a lot of video calls these days (I work from home) all my co-workers now regularly ask about my kitty Herbert, who loves to join in on the conference.

I thought the original video was really endearing, such a perfect encapsulation of the struggle to balance all of life's demands.
posted by supermedusa at 5:09 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I love that BBC Dad is so sane about the whole situation, but my heart will always belong to BBC Toddler and her swagger.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:33 PM on March 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

I’ve never seen this! Oh, that poor woman, on her hands and knees closing the door.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:49 PM on March 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

Woman interrupted during BBC interview

ahem
posted by Mike Mongo at 6:32 PM on March 11, 2018 [37 favorites]

Oh, that poor woman, on her hands and knees closing the door.

I had never noticed before one of the links brought it to my attention that her pants were down. It's the ultimate peril of trying to use the loo while parenting.
posted by Ruki at 6:33 PM on March 11, 2018 [11 favorites]

Hah! At work, we'd designate an interrupt to field questions from outside the team, and I used a gif of this to indicate them!
posted by Pronoiac at 6:49 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

It's so good to know this has ended up good for them.
posted by mumimor at 6:51 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Woman interrupted during BBC interview yt

Magnificent.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:13 PM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

Such a shame the map didn't fall off the wall at the end... that would have elevated it to utter comedic perfection.
posted by nnethercote at 7:34 PM on March 11, 2018 [9 favorites]

I love the 9-month-old who is like the Platonic Ideal of a younger sibling, cheerily following behind the big one, grinning all the way, so he can see whatever fun troublemaking she's up to. I also love how the siblings are clearly a troublemaking team.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:09 PM on March 11, 2018 [16 favorites]

There was so, so much to enjoy about this video. The dad struggling to keep a straight face and some semblance of professionalism. The little girl and her walk. The baby in its walker. The mother who asked nothing more of life than 15 seconds to pee in peace and tried to take it only to have her entire family become a viral internet sensation. The careful contrivances to make the spare bedroom look like an office. The forlorn hopes on the part of both parents that they could keep any of the action in that room out of the camera frame.

I did a video job interview a year or so ago and my preparations involved wearing a red sweater and red lipstick above the waist and jeans and work socks below the waist, tidying the area near the camera, and devoutly hoping that my cat wouldn't start up with the existential angst yowling during the interview (he did wander into the frame, but my interviewers claimed to find that charming), so I can relate a little.
posted by orange swan at 8:17 PM on March 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

I stumbled across this Korean TV "day in the life" with the family from last year, if you want to see more of them, with English subtitles for the Korean parts if you turn on the YouTube captioning, it's pretty charming.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:22 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I love the mom and the kids, but... something about that dad always seemed cold and off, beyond just the veneer of BBC professionalism. :/
posted by thejoshu at 9:09 PM on March 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

My version would never go viral, because although you would not see my turned face, the look of terror and immediate retreat of my kids would betray the lie that all is happy and good when I turn back to the screen.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:41 PM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

She's all spirit, so I'd think her parents are doing a fine job in the nurturing department.
posted by Baeria at 10:49 PM on March 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

I always thought the face on the kid in the press conference after was nearly better than the initial clip.
posted by kersplunk at 1:54 AM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

Those kids are clearly so comfortable entering Dad's "office" that I think all is quite well. Kids know when things are safe... and when they aren't.

Up till yesterday I'd missed the toddler going limp, like a trained activist, and Mom closing the door while on her knees. I do feel sorry for Mom's evident anxiety but if anything the global reception of this video should have helped allay that.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:43 AM on March 12, 2018 [8 favorites]

the toddler going limp, like a trained activist, oh hell, i never noticed. Egads i love this clip
posted by chasles at 5:29 AM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

I love the way the mom comes sliding in. Also I don't think her pants were down, I think that's just how the bottom of her sweater looked.
posted by Reverend John at 5:31 AM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

The OP's first link (It's been a year) where the dad reflects with humor and wisdom on all the sudden publicity is really worth reading. Examples:

People often ask me if it is fun or cool to be famous, and I suppose it might be more so if my fame was based on something meritorious.

my wife now tells me I cannot go outside wearing grungy clothes because someone will recognise me. A loss for me but a gain for civilisation, I suppose.

We were lucky that our 15 minutes of fame were due to something positive. Many viral experiences are quite negative: people do something foolish, it is caught on film, and it destroys their reputation.

From the right, one of the very first messages (of the thousands we received) was from a neo-Nazi type calling me a “race traitor”. This was predictable; anyone in an interracial relationship has experienced it. But to be fair, there was little of that.
More curious were the responses from the left which tried to read some kind of race-gender narrative into the video. So my wife’s scuttling along the floor (in a vain attempt to stay out of frame) became some sort of metaphor for white-male social power in Asia. There was also the early controversy about whether my wife in the video was actually the family nanny. My wife and I were not really put out by any of this, but there was enough of it that we felt compelled to address the subject in our press release. We personally see no ideological content in the video. The episode was just a family blooper.

on its one-year anniversary, peak interest in it has passed, making way for the next dancing cat video.
posted by mono blanco at 7:20 AM on March 12, 2018 [11 favorites]

KevOnStage's parody version is delightful too
posted by pseudostrabismus at 7:23 AM on March 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

I've recently moved my office into my home which has many, many benefits but I have had to train the family on a few things. I have a few little door hangers which indicate I'm working but you can knock, or I'm working and do not disturb me at all. I had to get my husband to stop bellowing as soon as he walked in the house, "I'M HOOOOOME! HELLOOOOOO! HELLLOOOO?!" as that's very dorky when I'm on the phone with a client. "Quit shouting into my office!"

I'd love to hear more on BBC Dad's take on balancing work and family life.
posted by amanda at 8:37 AM on March 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

my wife now tells me I cannot go outside wearing grungy clothes because someone will recognise me.

I'd think he'd be more recognizable in a suit!
posted by rhizome at 12:10 PM on March 12, 2018

hahaha i think she meant "YOU MUST LOOK PRESENTABLE AT ALL TIMES BECAUSE YOU'RE FAMOUS NOW AND LOOKING ANYTHING LESS THAN PRESENTABLE IS DISHONORING YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR ANCESTORS" which is an Asian sentiment I'm pretty familiar with, because my mom would probably say the exact same thing if I ever get famous
posted by numaner at 8:29 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Thanks i needed to laugh and cry today and this really helped.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:57 PM on March 12, 2018

the kid was 4 - that's not a "toddler"
posted by thelonius at 1:59 AM on March 13, 2018