YOUTUBERS REACT TO DAMN DANIEL COMPILATION

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(background conversations)

- (boy, silly voice) Damn, Daniel!

- (laughing) Oh, yes!

- God damn it. God [bleep] damn it.

- No! No! I don't want this!

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!

(emotionally) Damn, Daniel!

Back at it again with the white Vans!

Back at it again with the white Vans!
- What?

- (chuckling) "The va-ha-ans!"

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!
- He's so cute.

- (boy) Daaamn, Daniel!
- He sounds like he could be

congratulating The Karate Kid.

- (boy) Back at it again
with the white Vans!

Stüssy, man!

Damn, Daniel!

- Oh... Daniel. Daniel, you lucky duck.

- This is my favorite thing
on the internet right now.

- It's not funny!

There's nothing funny about it.

- (Flint) Viola!
- Haven't seen this one.

- (boy) Damn, Daniel.
- (laughing)

Okay, that's-- that's good.

- That was it?
(Finebros snickering)

I think that's like every
30-year-old's reaction to Vine.

It's like, that was it?

(slap)
- Girl fight.

- (man) Damn...
- (boy) Daniel!

- (laughs) It's so stupid.

(slap)
- Oh.

- (man) Damn...

- (boy) Daniel!
- "Daniel." (laughs)

- (laughs) Oh, it's great.

- That's-- that's a good meme.

- ♪ I'm too hot, hot damn ♪
- (boy) Damn!

- (snickering)
- ♪ Call the po-lice and the fireman ♪

♪ I'm too hot, hot damn ♪
- (taking deep breath)

- I'm in. I'm in on all these.

- (boy) Damn, trashcan!

Damn, trashcan!

Daaamn, trashcan!

- (laughing)
- (boy) Damn, trashcan!

Back at it again with the black bag!

- (inhales) I hate it.

- I get it. I ain't
laughin', but I get it.

- (Draco) Scared, Potter?
- (Harry) You wish.

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!

- (snickers quietly)

- Radcliffe. (chuckles)

- That's so good.

- They tried too hard on that one.

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!

- Yeah! I'm a future teller!!

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!
- (laughs)

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!
- This one works!

- That works for my generation.
I know that Daniel.

(in video: arguing)

- (boy) Back at it again
with the white van!

- Nice. Nice.

- "The white van."

- (boy) Damn, Daniel!

(overlapping "Damn Daniels")
- Damn-damn-damn-damn...

(chuckles)

- Oh, internet, how I love you.

- I have no clue why this went viral.

And then there's a part of me that's like,

"I know exactly why that went viral."

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- (Finebros) Okay, so were you
familiar with this before today?

- I was.
- I was not.

- Yes, I was.

- I was.

The responses are mixed,
but I find it hilarious.

- I thought it was amusing at first.

And then of course, people, you know,

drove it into the ground
like they so often do.

- Twitter was so happy that a meme
was making them relevant

that they just pushed it onto
everybody who was using Twitter.

- I came across "Damn Daniel"

'cause I put up a video
I was very proud of,

and I was very excited
to look at the comments.

And every single comment
said, "Damn, Daniel."

- (Finebros) What is it
about "Damn Daniel"

that you think made it
become such a giant trend?

- I think it's his voice.

- His voice maybe, like
(imitating) "Damn, Daniel!"

- The voice is one thing,
and then he's not a bad-looking kid.

- There's like this visceral feeling
when you hear the sound of,

"Damn, Daniel!" Like, you're just--
You're like, "I like that."

- (Finebros) A lot of people
seem to not be sure

why "Damn Daniel" would go viral

more so than some
of the other recent trends.

Why do you think this one's
harder to wrap your head around

than maybe another one?

- Of all things, I think
the randomness of it.

- You see, they ask why. I ask why not.

- I don't know. I love it.

I just think it's amazing,
and I'm a huge fan.

- This one seems just
a little bit like... "Huh."

- Watching the original really
didn't do anything with me.

I was just like... "Meh, Daniel."

- I think this is literally
just a product of everybody

wanting to jump on a bandwagon

and not really caring
if that bandwagon sucks.

- With memes and things,

there's usually something more than this.

We can't explain it, but when
you hear that, you smile.

- (Finebros) So there seems
to be an endless stream

of these types of memes
that are now going viral

that people will take and then remix.

Do you think that this concept
is new to the Vine generation,

or has this type of thing
been around for a long time?

- Oh, it's always been around.

- It's evolving. There are
different forms, you know?

There are different platforms,
like Snapchat obviously.

Vine obviously.
But the idea is nothing new.

- The very first
internet videos I ever saw

were those G.I. Joe PSAs that got redone.

Spinning videos into different things

has been around for a while.
- As long as YouTube.

- It happened with me.

I was a Vine meme for--
I still am all the time.

Which is why I find it funny

that people are getting
so amazed by it now.

I mean, it's been around for so long.

- This is just a new version
of a viral video, you know?

You used to have "Leave Britney Alone,"

which was four minutes long,

and it was crazy and funny and weird.

Now people are so ADD.
They need a two-second joke.

- Memes have been around
for a long time, the idea of a meme.

Like taking something,
turning it into your own,

and making a joke out of it.

But that used to be way more underground.

But now everyone does it.

You see it all over Facebook,
all over Twitter, Instagram.

- It's been around since
the advent of the inside joke,

except now news outlets are
so desperate to seem cool and hip.

They're like, "Look at the kids's
new inside joke! We get it!"

- (Finebros) So since
this has become popular,

the two boys who made the video,
Daniel and then Josh,

have received an incredible
amount of notoriety in the media.

But also, some negative things
have happened to them.

- Like what?

- Oh, of course.

How can you gain any popularity
without a bunch of negativity?

- (Finebros) Josh got swatted,
where they prank-call the police

and the SWAT team shows up.
- Oh, yikes.

- (Finebros) And they also
got his Twitter hacked,

and they removed the video for a while.

And they posted all these KKK stuff

all across his Twitter account.
- (incredulously) What?

- What?

(sighs) Poor baby.

- These kids don't have any
prior concept of the viral world.

They're new to this.

So that must be pretty
terrifying, I imagine.

- (Finebros) What do you
think about that aspect

of what can happen
after virality hits people?

- Comes with the fame, man.

- That's really shitty.

I mean, that's kind of the risk
you take when you go viral.

- Once you jump in that pool,

you're swimming with
a certain amount of sharks.

I don't think it's their fault.
I think it's unfortunate.

- It's an unfortunate consequence.

They're really exploiting
these people who are just people

and then taking them to a level of fame

that not only did they not ask for

but they're grossly unprepared for.

- There's almost nothing
you can do to prevent it,

'cause even with celebrityism,

everybody that's normal
wants to be famous.

And as soon as they're famous,
they want to be normal.

And you can't say, "Here's my ceiling.

I want to be this famous and then stop."

No. Josh, bro, welcome to the party.

- Such a great example of how
we're going in the wrong direction.

Like, we're just so ready
to tear people down.

It's a weird trend that's been growing.

Why are we so quick--
so quick to just, like, (clicks tongue)

"All right, I'm not for that.
I bring it down."

- (Finebros) So we ask
this on the show a lot,

but here's a couple of guys
that got viral fame.

Do you think that these guys should
continue making these videos?

- (promptly) No! No!

What are they gonna do?
Go up to stuff and go, "Damn!"

- I think that they're
children in high school,

and they need to focus on their lives.

Sorry. (chuckles) I was this not fun
when I was younger too.

- It wouldn't hurt to try,
but you also look kind of foolish

if you try and then
nothing happens with it.

- There is a way to segue this
into some kind of a job.

Look at Rebecca Black. She had "Friday."

And then she turned into a YouTuber,

and then she started
making content weekly.

- They were both 14, and that's
when I started making videos.

And I was like, "Aw man,
they don't even know

what could happen in the next 10 years

if they took advantage of this."
So you never know.

- If you're enjoying what you do

and there's an opportunity
to capitalize on it,

I don't see why you would
ever say no to that opportunity.

- (Finebros) So finally,
do you think this concept

of the short video meme
is gonna be something

that continues for a while?

Or do you think it will run its course?
- Yeah, I think it will--

- I think it'll continue.
- Continue.

- I think the memes are
only gonna get shorter.

- I'm sure the next evolution,
something will be different

but probably not that much different.

- It'll go on for a long time, man.

They're too bite-sized
and they're too funny

to stop anytime soon.

- I just see this type of stuff
being around for a long time

but also not hindering other
types of content from being big.

- I think it will always be popular.

It's just instant gratification, you know?

If it was around decades before,

then it would've been popular then too.

- It's going to last because
people like short declaratives.

This expectation that everything
have a very quick setup,

a clear delivery, a clear punchline

is informing the way that we speak,

the way that we expect eloquence
to manifest itself in 2016.

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