DIY or DIE
Become the next YouTube Sensation
By Sam Morgenstern
The crazies out there creating priceless YouTube videos must hate doing homework, have dreams of becoming filmmakers, or have too much time on their hands. By its very nature, YouTube is the epitome of DIY. Anyone with a camcorder, computer, and a half-baked idea can achieve fame on the interwebz. So read on, because your friends at Jerk have compiled some key ingredients to viral-vid success. Remember: the more you make an ass out of yourself, the better. Godspeed.
GET INTO CHARACTER
Lose yourself, as one white rapper once advised us. Fifteen-year-old Lucas Cruishank has become hugely popular with the pre-pubescent crowd for his alter-ego, hyperactive 6-year-old Fred Figglehorn, whose “temper problem” and chipmunked voice snagged his YouTube channel the award for #1 Most Subscribed. Try your own mini-series – who knows, a grandma in a jam band could keep viewers hooked from week to week.
BUST A MOVE
Talent is optional in this category. Try “choreographing” a dance to the latest radio hit, as tween user doglover19970 did in her epic remake of Rihanna’s “Disturbia.” If you can actually move with the music, however, that’s always a plus. This past year, anything taking on Beyoncé’s gyrating “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” video was money – from a single man to a man in a bathing suit in snowy Alaska. Get down on it.
DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY
YouTube confirms that a man impersonating a woman is eternally funny. Remember Liam Sullivan in “Shoes”? His gender-bending ways won him a People’s Choice Award. For John Roberts (no, not the Chief Justice), female inspiration came from the family. To complement his 5 o’clock shadow, he donned a big red, teased wig and oversized glasses to imitate his suburban Jersey mom in classics like “Mother’s Day.” And fear not, ladies: This formula for comedic gold works both ways.
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
When all else fails, snuggle up with a bottle of Jack and hit the “record” button. You’re much more inclined to act ridiculous while intoxicated and YouTube viewers everywhere will totally ROFL at your inebriated antics. Take a cue from “Drunk History Vol. 1.” Its hammered historian explaining the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr rivalry is better than any PBS special we’ve ever seen. Videotape some drunken storytelling at Birdshit Library or a smashed grocery shopping trip at P&C. You may or may not regret it the morning after.