These video clips were catapulted into the global public consciousness and continued to find viewers through formal and informal channels. You are likely to have encountered at least some of them before -- a testament to their massive public appeal.
Antoine Dodson warns a PERP on LIVE TV! (Original)
As odd as it sounds, the king of viral videos in 2010 was a U.S. news report of a thwarted sexual assault on a young woman in her Alabama home. Her brother's defiance and eccentric warnings to the perpetrator ("You don't have to come and confess that you did it, we're lookin' for you, we gonna find you, so you can run and tell that, homeboy" -- and to neighbors -- "Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband, because they rapin' everybody out here" -- fascinated the public. The young man, Antoine Dodson, eventually was lionized in music mixes whose tens of millions of views have dwarfed even the audience for the original.
BONUS clip:
Antoine Dodson remix:
Mr. Trololo
With more than 7 million YouTube views in its unadulterated form, this former Soviet crooner's career enjoyed a rebirth that he said pleased but didn't necessarily surprise him. A classic in any language.
Ukrainian President Dances With Wreaths
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was paying his respects at Kyiv's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on a blustery day. And then the inevitable happened.
Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10
Get back to nature with a mindblown hiker whose reaction to this spectacle of nature brought more than 22 million viewers similar euphoria.
BONUS related clip:
'Squirrel From Hell' Takes On Russian Alcoholism
The Russian Health Ministry launched a public-service campaign to battle world-famous Russian alcoholism. This animated short film, titled "Squirrel From Hell," has had over 2 million hits on YouTube since its launch in late November. The spot shows a red-eyed squirrel with a severe case of "the shakes," running around an empty white room, singing and yelling in an alcohol-induced delirium. The rodent -- "belka" in Russian, which is also slang for "belaya goryachka" or delirium tremens in Russian -- raves about "chasing spiders up the walls" and tracking down imaginary creatures with an alcoholic friend, who later murders his wife. At the end of the 56-second animation, the squirrel delivers the line, "Are you on the booze yourself?" and then adds, "Then I'm coming to see you."
Crazy Russian 5-Story Roof Jumps Into Snow
Russia Today helped popularize this clip of daredevils in the Rusian Far Eastern city of Magadan. It actually has fewer hits than a rival video of foolhardy young Russians in a Homemade Bungee Jump. But these Magadan thrill-seekers more than compensate for a lack of views (and good sense) with bravado. Nobody's hurt, but with a police officer in hot pursuit, it wasn't necessarily a "happy ending."
Singing PM: 'Fats' Putin Over The Top Of 'Blueberry Hill' With Piano Solo
In a rare glimpse of Vladimir Putin sweating, the Russian prime minister took the stage in St. Petersburg in December to sing an American classic, "Blueberry Hill." The performance was part of a benefit to raise money to fight childhood cancer.
Phil Davison, GOP Candidate, Delivers Stark County Treasurer Speech, 9 8 2010
This aspiring candidate for local office in Ohio made an impassioned plea to his Republican Party colleagues that shot him to Internet fame and electoral defeat despite his "master's degree in communication!"
Putin Riding His Kalinas
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tried to rally the public around AvtoVAZ's Lada with a high-profile road trip across Russia's Far East. There's no embed available of this video, but it was a bit of an embarrassment when it was revealed that he used no fewer than three of them for his 2,000-kilometer road trip to showcase the Lada while his entourage tailed him in a convoy of some 100 foreign-made cars. The kicker comes after the 2-minute mark.
Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv #1
A modern-day bard plugs into one of the web's meet-and-greet blockbusters to create his own viral blockbuster series of romps through Chatroulette, 17-year-old Russian high-school student Andrey Ternovskiy's blockbuster time-killer. (WARNING: Explicit language. Discretion advised)
Antoine Dodson warns a PERP on LIVE TV! (Original)
As odd as it sounds, the king of viral videos in 2010 was a U.S. news report of a thwarted sexual assault on a young woman in her Alabama home. Her brother's defiance and eccentric warnings to the perpetrator ("You don't have to come and confess that you did it, we're lookin' for you, we gonna find you, so you can run and tell that, homeboy" -- and to neighbors -- "Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband, because they rapin' everybody out here" -- fascinated the public. The young man, Antoine Dodson, eventually was lionized in music mixes whose tens of millions of views have dwarfed even the audience for the original.
BONUS clip:
Antoine Dodson remix:
Mr. Trololo
With more than 7 million YouTube views in its unadulterated form, this former Soviet crooner's career enjoyed a rebirth that he said pleased but didn't necessarily surprise him. A classic in any language.
Ukrainian President Dances With Wreaths
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was paying his respects at Kyiv's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on a blustery day. And then the inevitable happened.
Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10
Get back to nature with a mindblown hiker whose reaction to this spectacle of nature brought more than 22 million viewers similar euphoria.
BONUS related clip:
'Squirrel From Hell' Takes On Russian Alcoholism
The Russian Health Ministry launched a public-service campaign to battle world-famous Russian alcoholism. This animated short film, titled "Squirrel From Hell," has had over 2 million hits on YouTube since its launch in late November. The spot shows a red-eyed squirrel with a severe case of "the shakes," running around an empty white room, singing and yelling in an alcohol-induced delirium. The rodent -- "belka" in Russian, which is also slang for "belaya goryachka" or delirium tremens in Russian -- raves about "chasing spiders up the walls" and tracking down imaginary creatures with an alcoholic friend, who later murders his wife. At the end of the 56-second animation, the squirrel delivers the line, "Are you on the booze yourself?" and then adds, "Then I'm coming to see you."
Crazy Russian 5-Story Roof Jumps Into Snow
Russia Today helped popularize this clip of daredevils in the Rusian Far Eastern city of Magadan. It actually has fewer hits than a rival video of foolhardy young Russians in a Homemade Bungee Jump. But these Magadan thrill-seekers more than compensate for a lack of views (and good sense) with bravado. Nobody's hurt, but with a police officer in hot pursuit, it wasn't necessarily a "happy ending."
Singing PM: 'Fats' Putin Over The Top Of 'Blueberry Hill' With Piano Solo
In a rare glimpse of Vladimir Putin sweating, the Russian prime minister took the stage in St. Petersburg in December to sing an American classic, "Blueberry Hill." The performance was part of a benefit to raise money to fight childhood cancer.
Phil Davison, GOP Candidate, Delivers Stark County Treasurer Speech, 9 8 2010
This aspiring candidate for local office in Ohio made an impassioned plea to his Republican Party colleagues that shot him to Internet fame and electoral defeat despite his "master's degree in communication!"
Putin Riding His Kalinas
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tried to rally the public around AvtoVAZ's Lada with a high-profile road trip across Russia's Far East. There's no embed available of this video, but it was a bit of an embarrassment when it was revealed that he used no fewer than three of them for his 2,000-kilometer road trip to showcase the Lada while his entourage tailed him in a convoy of some 100 foreign-made cars. The kicker comes after the 2-minute mark.
Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv #1
A modern-day bard plugs into one of the web's meet-and-greet blockbusters to create his own viral blockbuster series of romps through Chatroulette, 17-year-old Russian high-school student Andrey Ternovskiy's blockbuster time-killer. (WARNING: Explicit language. Discretion advised)
