Last weekend, I hosted a viral video night with meme master Jamie Wilkinson at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur. I’ve long wanted to do an event at this magical, redwood enclosed, roadside oasis. The Library is a destination I’ve often visited since moving to the west coast 13 years ago. In recent years, their small outdoor stage has been host to some high profile performers, including Neil Young, Animal Collective, The xx, Laurie Anderson, Henry Rollins & Jello Biafra to name a few. I felt it quite an honor when Magnus Toren, long time friend and director of the Library, invited me to put together an “Internet video night.”

Over the course of 3 hours, Jamie and I took the audience on a show and tell tour of some popular Internet videos that have become memes. I presented first and focused on 4 videos which each have spawned a whole slew of remixes, mashups, animations, reinterpretations and songs. Jamie then presented a series of videos of kids doing embarrassing things on the Internet followed by what happens when kids feed the trolls. The evening was well received and I know we’ll do more of these in the future. Here’s the 4 original videos I focused on with links to each of the remix/mashup/song videos that I followed with.

Double Rainbow Guy

01 Oh My God! song
02 Auto-Tune song
03 2001: A Space Odyssey remix
04 Ft. Boyard remix
05 Taco Bell/KFC inspired
06 Hungry Bear’s Cagefight
07 Hungry Bear’s Wild Turkeys

Insane Clown Posse – Miracles

01 Saturday Night Live parody
02 Juggalo News
03 Magnetism Explained
04 Glad Plugin mashup
05 Fuckin’ magnets, fuckin’ rainbows

Epic Beard Man

01 Critical commentary
02 Animated reinterpretation
03 Epic Beard Man in Mortal Kombat
04 Epic Beard Man’s Punchout for Nintendo
05 Epic Beard Man Tased at A’s Game

Amber Lamps

01 Hey There, Amber Lamps
02 Amber Lamps Song Tribute
03 Animated, Techno Amber Lamps
04 Black Betty, Amber Lamps