Mark Gormley (2006)

About

Mark Gormley is an Internet Celebrity from Pensacola, Florida who made his Youtube debut on the channel TheUnchartedZone on December 3rd, 2008.

• See also: TheUnchartedZone.com for more information on Phil Thomas Kat’s community-access-styled show.

Over the course of 2009, Mark Gormley’s Without You has been viewed over 700,000 times.

On January 13th, 2009, a few of Gormley’s videos were featured on Videogum.com in an article entitled “This is your dad’s music video.”

Less than two weeks later, Videogum posted a followup story, Mark Gormley Talks About His Internet Fame; Remains Adorable And Grounded

since then, Mr. Gormley has been enjoying the whirlwind of comments, emails, and offers from the Jimmy Kimmel show that internet fame entails.

The article also featured a Youtube embed of Mr. Gormley being interviewed by his friends at The Uncharted Zone, on the topic of his newfound internet fame, after his videos “took off” with “thousands of views.”

On January 21, 2009, Terry Howard of Cocoa, FL created a Mark Gormley fansite at www.markgormley.com with the header “Behold the awesome power and glory of Mark Gormley!…Amen.”

Encyclopedia Dramatica credits Gormley as the “first major YouTube celebrity of 2009” which is ironic, considering that Gormley’s “rise to fame” took place at the same time as Boxxy.

• See: Mark Gormley on ED

The Appeal

Much like the three wolf moon t-shirt reviews, most of the comments about Mark Gormleys videos are over exaggerated tales of heroism and godliness. This over-the-top exuberence for the ameteur soft-rocker seems to be farcical in nature.

Some comments:

“The legend goes that when Ozzy snorted that line of ants, they were heading towards the power and presence of Mark Gormley . This angered not Mark Gormley who understood that Ozzy knew not to where the ants were heading . But to this day there lives not an ant who forgives Ozzy for that day . Ozzy too suffers without a missed day knowing he denied Mark Gormley’s followers their desired destination …..”

“Last night satan came to me and told me he will no longer be attempting to take over the world because he has witnessed the awesome power that is Mark Gromley . I was told by a weeping satan that he fears Mark Gromley more than god itself . I told satan not to worry because when talking about Mark Gromley and god we may be referring to the same person . Then satan, broken down and near exhaustion told me Mark Gromley’s power stance is more powerful than any exorcism to the demon world …..”

“his voice soothes me better than a glass of warm milk before bed.”

“I heard Mark was actually breathing on the moon before Neil Armstrong landed there.”

“I just covered this song at Open-Mic night. The crowed was cheering uproariously until I attempted the power stance. . . bad move on my part. I’m typing this from the hospital with a broken leg. I better leave it to the professional next time!”

“They should play Mark Gormley’s music to the Taliban. They will immediately surrender amid tears of joy and our troops can come home immediately.”

Much of the aesthetic appeal of Mark Gormley’s videos comes from the “local TV station” style of the video. In appearence and delivery, it is similar to Rainbow Road. The key difference is that Rainbow Road was created by a comedy team intending to create a spoof on this type of video, whereas Mark Gormley is the genuine article.

The Power Stance

One signature move in Mark Gormley’s vast repertoire of awkardness, the powerstance, has become a running gag in the body of Mark Gormley fandomonium.

On February 23rd, 2009, Urban Dictionary user devotedacolyte defined ‘Mark Gormley’ as:

The god emperor of mankind. Produced “Here without you” circa 2008 ad, a flawless musical and visual masterpiece. Do not attempt to mimic his power stances as your frail constitution is likely to collapse from their intensity.

Mark Gormley’s famous power stance :

o
/\
/|

o
/\
| \ <- Only attempt if you are Mark Gormley.

• See the UrbanDictionary page on Mark Gormley.

Spoofs, Tributes, and other derivatives

On March 2nd, 2009, Youtube user Weeniebeen uploaded the following spoof.

Lesser-known derivatives

In June of 2009, a band called The Hard Lessons decided to create a music video for their song Sound the Silent Alarm with the help of Phil Thomas Katt and UGTV. As of November 2009 the video has over 7,000 views.

Another unsigned band Downtown Brown traveled to Phil Thomas Katt’s production studio in Pensacola to shoot a video in September of 2009.

Update: The Return of Mark Gormley

On January 7th, 2010 The Uncharted Zone uploaded a brand new Mark Gormley video for his song Sing Me Your Song featuring giant Cheeto’s balls.

source: Urlesque
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