Early Youtube
Memes
Youtube is a video hosting website launched
in 2005. It is now one of the most influential
social media sites. Like any other social media,
memes have been made on it since its start.
Dramatic Chipmunk
“Dramatic Chipmunk” is a short video clip
of a prairie dog dramatically turning around,
originally from the Japanese TV Show Hello!
Morning. (Fig. 34) The clip became a very pop-
ular reaction image and gif to represent surprise
and shock. Many people have also parodied the
video by dramatically turning around to face
the camera. There are also a number of mash-
ups with early memes, such as “Star Wars Kid.”
The popularity of this meme peaked in 2007.
Keyboard Cat
“Keyboard Cat” is a video uploaded to Youtube
in 2007 by Charlie Schmidt of a cat named
Fatso whose paws are being manipulated to
play the piano. (Fig. 35) The video was orig-
inally recorded in the 1980s and Fatso died
in 1087. Originally entitled “Cool Cat,” the
video only became popular in 2009 after Brad
O’Farrell posted a mashup video of a man
falling down an escalator with the “Cool Cat”
video, entitled “Play him off, Keyboard Cat.”
This is in reference to the trope of “giving some-
one the hook” for a bad performance, from
Vaudeville shows. This became a meme after
Schmidt made a single-serving site to house
the other mash-up videos, eventually attract-
ing the attention of celebrity Aston Kutcher
who tweeted one of the mashups. There are a
number of parodies and art of the “Keyboard
Cat” ranging from 8-bit renditions, to live
action people dressed as a cat playing the key-
board. Although this is still a recognizable
meme, it has not been popular since 2009.
fig. 33
18 | Part One: Early Memes