The 10 Best Viral Videos of 2018

By Brock Wilbur  |  January 10, 2019 | 9:00am
Screecaps from YouTube
Comedy Lists Best of 2018
The 10 Best Viral Videos of 2018

Hey. The internet does video now. Here are the funniest videos that the internet grabbed hold of 2018 and just wouldn’t let go.

10. Yanny or Laurel

This year’s “Is the dress black and blue or white and gold.” An audio file that plays two words on top of is other scientifically has reasons to sound like one thing or another based on… science stuff. The original video is a few seconds long, but this explainer is one of the most clicked on YouTube videos of the year, because we all needed answers.

9. Johny Johny Telling Lies

So. Complicated thing here. You can probably Google and find one of a hundred versions of this terrifying CGI video, wherein a father and son sing a mash-up of two fairly well known lullabies, but then dance and look into each others’ mouths and discuss truthful behavior and/or sugar. This original video from 2016 had a billion videos, mostly from young children, before adults even heard of it and turned it into a meme in 2018. It’s a signal from that part of YouTube that we REALLY NEED TO BE TALKING ABOUT where bot generated CGI horror is creating a separate reality for kids. Unfortunately, we can’t link to the video that really started the trend this year, because the creators have pulled it from YouTube after issuing copyright take down notices to anyone who posts it. It’s almost as if they know something is at least Very Creepy about it and then don’t want us discussing it. So. That’s a little project for you. Big sites have done some incredible deep dives about it, so go have a journey into the abyss, baby.

8. Yodel Boy

I got a feeling called the blues… everyone’s favorite. #blues #lovesickblues #hankwilliams #yodel #littlehank

A post shared by Mason Ramsey; (@lilhankwilliams) on

This kid is in a Wal-Mart and does some singing. I don’t understand what the big deal is. I sing in Wal-Mart all the time. That’s how my wife can find me. That’s how I keep myself from getting lost in capitalism’s labyrinth, where I would most certainly be slain by Sam Walton in minotaur form. Anyway, I’m sure this boy is nice and already on a singing competition show somewhere, allowing him to never have to shop at Wal-Mart again. Kudos.

7. End Of Ze World … Probably For Real This Time

If you are old enough to have been around at the start of the internet, or at least the emergence of the modern internet, you’ll remember a time when End Of Ze World was basically the most quotable, hilarious thing to ever happen. If you’re young and watching that for the first time: look, get off my back. We had Flash and NewGrounds and nothing else. Although… damn, it really does hold up. Anyhow, the original Weird Twitter Type Joke Video has a modern sequel that’s a bit more political and biting and I’m glad we have it.

6. Rapaport’s Weird Cat

I was gonna give this spot to the Inside The Earth Girl, but quite frankly I’m real bummed out on kids that think the Earth is flat or whatever. This is Michael Rapaport yelling at his mom about a weird cat in the backyard. I enjoy it.

5. Woman Falls From Ceiling

A lot of police videos online are really, uh, bleak these days. This security footage of a break-in and the consequences of thinking you’re smarter than gravity is one of those that I come back to on a bad day to lift my spirits. And, occasionally, to remind me that at 270 pounds, I would probably not be very good at crime for similar reasons.

4. Corgi On Pony

IT’S A DOG ON A PONY ITS A LITERAL DOG AND PONY SHOW AHHHHHHHHHHH

3. Fluff Challenge

What the fluff?! Try this with your pet. Post it, tag me and add #WhatTheFluffChallenge / #WhatTheFluff I’ll be sharing my favourite ones This is where the challenge and hashtag started

A post shared by J A X; (@siberianhusky_jax) on

This started as a joke involving the object permanence of tricking one dog but evolved into people across the internet playing similar sleight of hand-and-everything-else pranks on their pets. The fails on the human-side are perhaps more rewarding.

2. Drag Queen Elsa Snow Plow

A man dressed as Elsa from Frozen left a Boston bar to help free a police vehicle trapped in a blizzard. It’s a lot to unpack and raises a lot of questions about where various characters from the Disney film would fall on the issue of Blue Lives Matter. Hm. Gonna leave that one for later.

1. Gritty

Gritty wins 2018. If I didn’t include this, you’d all murder me. No matter what form he assumed—memes, fan-made videos, official team-made videos, or even live appearances on the ice—Gritty won the Stanley Cup of life itself in 2018. Gritty is the only good thing and he murders fascists. He is both my son and my father and my best friend who stomps fascists. I would die for him and honestly I want to. Here’s some Gritty. Enjoy Gritty and love Gritty.

This is also the best series of Twitter Videos my little broken heart has even seen. Thank you, Gritty, for your service.

Brock Wilbur is a writer and comedian from Los Angeles who lives with his wife Vivian Kane and their cat, Cat. He is the co-author (with Nathan Rabin) of the forthcoming book Postal for the Boss Fight Books series.

 
Join the discussion...