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![Wavywebsurf Shares Some Of His Favorite Moments Of Internet Lore, Memes And How He Started His YouTube Channel YouTuber Wavywebsurf depicted in his channel's profile pic and fan art
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Wavywebsurf Shares Some Of His Favorite Moments Of Internet Lore, Memes And How He Started His YouTube Channel
veryone has their favorite piece of internet lore, whether it be the strange story behind a meme, the enthralling history of an online legend or simple curiosity about the truth behind a classic viral video forgotten in time. Wavywebsurf launched his YouTube channel in 2016 after developing such a curiosity himself. Now with an established following and a penchant for deciphering online history, Wavy has covered tons of iconic pieces of internet lore over the last four years, with no plans of slowing down anytime soon. We caught up with him to discuss the origins of his channel and learn more about his curiosity for the web. No stranger to memes, Wavy also shared his thoughts on the potential future of their evolution, as well as some of his personal favorites from over the years.
![Wavywebsurf commentating on YouTube](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/495/ddb.png)
Q: Hey, Wavy. Thanks for joining us. So how are things going for you currently? Working on any special topics or other projects in the near future?
A: Things are good. I just got back from a well-needed vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Spent plenty of time outdoors, which was a nice mental reboot. Iâm back on the video grind now. In the mountains, I found myself wondering whatever the hell happened to DeShawn Raw and his Supa Hot Fire character, so that's what Iâm researching at the moment for a potential video ⊠That âooOOOooooOOOOoohhh!!!â clip from his famous parody battle rap video is so iconic, I think It would be interesting to see what happened to the guy.
Q: Funny you mention him because Iâve tried to track him down for an interview and had no luck so far. Anyways, for those who arenât familiar with your channel, would you mind briefly explaining a little about what your content is and what sorts of topics you focus on?
A: Generally, I talk about the legacies and stories behind iconic internet phenomena, memes and online controversies. If you have ever wondered what happened to the creator of some bizarre viral video from 10-plus years ago who seemingly fell off the face of the earth, there's a good chance I have made a video about them. Or perhaps if you remember a big internet debacle, for example, say âThe Fappening,â but only know surface-level information about it ⊠I likely have an exhaustive analysis of the controversy on my channel. A lot of the topics are things that occurred when I was getting into online culture in the mid- to late 2000s, so itâs also a bit of a nostalgia trip in that sense as well.
![Wavywebsurf Childhood Photo](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/492/1a8.jpg)
(Wavy outside of his parent's house near Nashville, Tennessee. Circa 1997.)
Q: Can we start out by hearing a bit about your background? Whereâd you grow up, and what were some of your earliest and most influential experiences with the internet that ultimately led to your interest in covering such topics?
A: I grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Nashville. I would describe my town as, âsuburban, yet country.â As a kid, I was really into gaming and my first real introduction to the internet was through looking up Nintendo 64 cheat codes on sites like GameFAQs. My late â90s online exploration was limited, as my house had dial-up internet which was extremely busted. Iâd say the moment when I truly realized how great the internet was is when my cousins (who had fast DSL internet) introduced me to Albino Blacksheep in the early 2000s. âGonads and Strifeâ was the first viral video I ever watched, and from there, I was hooked. I spent hundreds of hours just consuming weird flash video content and playing half-baked flash games throughout middle school on sites like Albino Blacksheep and FunnyJunk. The first online community I feel that I was truly a part of was a gaming forum called âGametalk.com.â I joined around early 2006 and talked with other users on a daily basis for some time. Itâs now defunct, but I used to be a regular on their Mario Kart DS and Runescape forums. And then there's YouTube. YouTube was big for me, it's pretty much been my favorite website since its inception, which I think becomes pretty clear considering how much of my content is oriented around YouTube and the history of its community.
![Albino Blacksheep More April Fools Day Jokes at http/AprilFoolsDayonineWeb com Main Flash Files Albino Blacksheep - www.albinoblacksheep.com Games Audio Files Download ALBINO ALBINO BLACKSHEEP BLACKSHEEP About Logos Contact New Coke Apri 1 2014 You asked for it. We delivered. Submit Valid HTMLE Valld Hundreds of people over the years have told me they missed the old (oldest) design, and wished they CSS3 could go back to it. It's only on the first page for now, but soon there will be bouncing sheep JavaScript and a comments box. Not to mention animated GIFS. Javascripts, Webrings, a counter, no thumbnails, JavaScripts, a guestbook, ICQ Chat. 11px Arial font, and everythirig you loved about Albino Blacksheep over 10 years ago, including javaScripts. ABS Chat moderator, rmuser (who is now a girl), is helping me with a script (hopetully of the coffee variety) that mimics loading video files over a 56 Kh/s dail-up modem. it will be just how you remembered. Last year I worked really hard to make the current design skinnable and mobile Everything worked flawlessly all year long on the Iatest iPhones and iPads. But that's not what the people wanted. They wanted the old Albino Blacksheep - in glorious 16-bit colour on their 4:3 CRT monitors. None of this new touchscreen tablet sh*t thati wasted so much time with. I'm really not supposed to tell you, but I've even been in talks with Threebrain Group X. and Brian](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/498/9de.jpg)
Q: Do you recall a particular story or individual back then that you were really interested in learning more about that sort of led you to the desire to create content surrounding those kinds of things?
A: I remember feeling rather perturbed the first time ever watching the Angry German Kid Keyboard Crasher video on YouTube. I think it was 2006 when I first watched it, and there was all this speculation in the comments that the kid was some kind of psychopath. It's silly looking back on it, but that video always stuck with me, and I always wondered what happened to him. Turns out, the whole thing was just satire, and the joke was sort of lost in translation with American viewers. There are a lot of weird, one-off viral videos like this that I obsessed over and shared with friends as a kid. As an adult, I revisit this stuff out of interest or simply nostalgia and often find there's a crazy story attached to an old meme or video that nobody really knows about.
Q: Seeing how you only launched your YouTube channel about four years ago, were there any other creative endeavors similar to wavywebsurf that you attempted before? If so, what were they and how did you ultimately decide to settle on your current name and concept?
A: I made my first YouTube channel in 2007 under the name âSkullzofGT.â Skullz was my old username that I went by on the Game Talk forums, hence, âSkullzofGT.â That channel has a few YouTube Poops and some Super Mario 64 death compilations. One of the death compilation videos got like 70 thousand views, which was crazy for the time, but I never really followed up on it and that channel is long since abandoned. About a decade later, I became interested in making YouTube content again with the rise of the commentary community in 2016. I was really interested in following all the beefs at the time between creators, such as LeafyIsHere, h3h3productions,GradeAUnderA, Idubbbz and Keemstar. It was a crazy time for the YouTube community, and something about the spectacle of it all inspired me to create again. That being said, the videos I began making at the time werenât drama-related at all, they were essentially reactions to weird videos that I would discover on the subreddit /r/DeepIntoYouTube. These are now private because of cringe, and that ties into the name of the channel, wavywebsurf. Itâs essentially a wavy (tumultuous) surf of the web and its oddities.
![Wavywebsurf skullzofgt Mario video](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/490/f13.png)
Q: The wavywebsurf channel started in May 2016, and focused on explainers and internet history. When you initially launched your channel, what led you to focus on these types of topics, and how did it evolve over time?
A: Honestly, at the time, I think I was really just interested In how internet culture had evolved over the years and wanted to put it into words. Back then, I seemed to think that the SpongeBob neanderthal meme was like peak comedy. Iâve since changed my stance, but in a way, the rapid progression and obsoletion of the memes I suggested would stick around, sort of ironically, and proves my thesis in that âEvolutionary History of Memesâ video. Memes are this sort of organic, Darwinistic enigma.
Q: One of these early videos was âThe Evolutionary History of Memes,â which went on to receive half a million views, making it one of the most successful from your first year on YouTube. What sort of history did you have with meme culture, specifically, and was it always something you were interested in exploring or explaining?
A: Iâd say my first run-in with meme culture would probably be with YouTube Poop. Granted, you could argue that YTP sort of transcends memes and is an art form in itself. I got into memes in a more traditional sense through Rage Comics, Demotivational Posters and image macros, specifically on the Advice Animals subreddit. Iâve always enjoyed staying in tune with whatever is currently on top of the meme meta, as it allows me to keep a pulse on the internet's current sense of humor.
Q: As time went on, your channel continued to focus on memes, but narrowed in on the people behind them and the stories of those individuals outside of the memes themselves. Can you tell us more about why you decided to explore this side of memes instead and what interested you in this aspect of their lore?
A: I think when Advice Animals started to get popular is when I really started to wonder about the stories behind the memes themselves. For example, Scumbag Steve. I couldnât help but wonder what the story behind the guy in it was. The meme had such a negative connotation surrounding it, so I was naturally curious as to who he was and what his response to being the butt of the joke would be. I like having the entire context in a neatly packaged story.
![Wavywebsurf at an event with other YouTubers DRAFT BE HESAVE COCKTAIL BE](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/493/2e1.jpg)
(Wavy and fellow YouTubers posing outside VidCon 2019.)
Q: Given your extensive history with covering internet personalities, viral stars and online celebrities, weâre curious about why they so often share a tragic or negative outcome after their fame. What have you learned about looking into these individuals and what happens to those who go viral? What ways does this fame affect them?
A: A lot of viral stars and living memes didnât ask for their fame, it was sort of thrown into their lap by the internet. Many arenât prepared for it or donât want it at all. I think in that case, it's highly likely that the attention will be mishandled -- leading to problems. The Angry German Kid was relentlessly bullied because of his video, and Ricardo Milos apparently isnât too fond of his meme status either. Granted, there are exceptions, as some people turn an accidental living meme status into a positive one. People like Antoine Dodson, Back Luck Brian and Rebecca Black all sort of spun their living meme status into a profit. At the end of the day, I think a general rule of thumb is if you find yourself becoming a living meme, try to embrace it and things generally go better for you. That being said, sometimes the internet can take things too far.
Q: In addition to this topic, you also began exploring some of the internetâs more captivating online controversies. So how did this avenue of content make its way into your lineup?
A: I like the idea of covering online controversies because they not only involve the happenings of one singular person, but also sort of contextualizing what the culture of the internet was like at the time of the controversy/event. My Storm Area 51 video is a great example of this. I think, in the future, people will be able to go back to that video and really get a taste of what the internet's sense of humor was back in 2019.
Q: It seems like online controversies pop up pretty much every day now, especially on platforms like Twitter. What do you make of this internet phenomenon? Why do they go viral and create such an uproar?
A: While I do generally enjoy using Twitter, itâs absolutely dogshit for having honest debates. People gravitate to the extremes and use the most incendiary rhetoric because that's what gets likes and followers. EmpLemon made a pretty funny analogy about this in his video regarding Twitter, essentially saying something like, âTwitter is if you took the YouTube comment section and made that an entire standalone website.â
Q: As fellow meme and internet culture historians here at KYM, weâre interested in what tools and techniques you use for your research. Whatâs your fact-finding process like when researching the topics you cover to ensure their accuracy?
A: It depends on the topic. Generally speaking, sites like this [Know Your Meme] and Encyclopedia Dramatica are great jump-off points. Reddit threads, old forum posts and web articles are frequently used sources as well. Wayback Machine has also proved invaluable in digging up old videos and websites which have useful information. If Wayback Machine didnât exist, it would be a massive blow to my workflow. Honestly, I use it quite often for research. Sometimes if the video is about a person/living meme, I am able to get into contact with them directly, which is pretty sweet when that comes together. Some of my favorite videos have first-hand interviews, like the Pruane2Forever video and my Jones BBQ and foot massage video. As far as accuracy goes, it just comes down to double- and triple-checking your sources and cross-referencing them with other sources. Iâm sure Iâve made some mistakes throughout my time making videos, but I always try to be as accurate as possible.
Q: Aside from the research itself, can you tell us more about your creative process? What goes into making one of your videos, and how do you keep them engaging for viewers?
A: Usually the way topic selection goes is that Iâll find myself becoming curious about what happened to an old meme or content creator I grew up with. That being said, I have made plenty of videos about topics that I wasnât necessarily familiar with but thought they were interesting. One example is Marilyn Hagertyâs Olive Garden review. From there, I try to find an overarching story or theme with the topic, such as the Pruane2Forever video. On the surface, itâs essentially a history video about his channel, but tucked away in it is a story about a kidâs struggle with YouTube fame and how his relationship with fans became so toxic that he had to walk away. I think just point by point explaining the history behind a meme or controversy is cool, but it's even better if there's a relatable story behind it all.
Q: All these years later, youâve amassed quite a following and fan base for your channel, but what were some of the biggest hurdles and challenges you faced leading up to your current success? Were your friends and family always supportive of this career?
A: Iâll say, for the most part, Iâve had pretty good fortune on YouTube, but there have been some periods of struggle. In 2017, I came back to YouTube about a year after releasing âEvolutionary History of Memesâ and made trending topics commentary videos for quite some time that never really performed too well. Donât get me wrong, I had a lot of fun during my commentary video and âYour Merch Sucksâ era, but I was just spinning my wheels. It took me about a year to realize that my audience was more so interested in the meme-history-style videos, and when I finally moved back to that, my channel blew up. I guess what Iâm saying here is that Iâm hesitant to reinvent myself when it comes to content creation, but as a YouTuber, that's something you have to do to stay relevant. As far as friends and family, they have always been supportive of my YouTube stuff.
![Wavywebsurf and Justin Whang](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/494/06e.jpg)
(Wavy and fellow YouTuber Justin Whang.)
Q: Looking back on the numerous videos youâve produced over the past four years, is there any one that particularly sticks out as a personal favorite? Building off that, whatâs the one individual or piece of internet lore that youâd say is a sort of âdream topicâ to cover in the future?
A: Itâs hard to give my absolute favorite, but if you put a gun to my head, Iâd have to say my Pruane2Forever video. I was really satisfied with the way I was able to tell that story, and Pruane was a YouTuber who people either forgot about or never even knew existed. Not only that, but the video also had a positive impact on Pruane himself, as it led to him garnering thousands of followers on Instagram. He has sort of a diehard fanbase now over there, and he has been nothing but grateful to me. Pruane is a legend. As far as a dream topic, Iâd have to say the creator of âRam Ranch,â Grant Macdonald. The Grant Macdonald rabbit hole is deep and gaping. The guy has a crazy story behind him and is quite the enigma. Iâve got a script mostly written for it, but I want to get an interview with him before finishing that video. Itâs a work-in-progress, but just know that Iâm in contact with him.
Q: So, how long do you plan to continue wavywebsurf, and what does the future look like for you? Got any new ventures or projects you want to share with us?
A: Iâll continue making wavywebsurf videos as long as people care to watch. I generally do enjoy making these videos, and Iâm sure Iâll change up the formula a bit as time goes on, but I always envision the channel being structured around internet lore.
Q: Apart from YouTube, where else do you spend most of your time online currently? Any favorite platforms or sites youâre active on?
A: As far as social media, I really only use Instagram and Twitter nowadays. On those, you will find occasional hot takes, but mostly memes.
![Wavywebsurf Twitter Meme wavywebsurf @thewavywebsurf me sitting down to record a vid 5 yrs from now IN'! ULTRA SHINOR! R 644 PILOT](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/496/ca1.png)
Q: We know youâre a big fan of memes from viewing your channel, so do you have a few favorites thatâve been making the rounds as of late, or any memes youâve created yourself?
A: I think the presidential bid 2020 wavywebsurf has potential ⊠but maybe thatâs just me?
![Wavywebsurf 2020 Bid wavywebsurf @thewavywebsurf I am formally announcing my 2020 presidential campaign](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/878/668/9ea.png)
Q: As a follow-up, what do you make of our current memescape as opposed to previous years? Do you have any insight about what you think the near future of memes will evolve into?
A: It seems like irony is the name of the game in the current meme landscape, but the irony is quickly giving way to the absurdists. For example, those 21st-century humor meme videos on YouTube where it's just an entire minute of unrelated memes and fart sounds amalgamated into one chaotic giga-meme. Those are fantastic.
Wavywebsurf is a YouTuber who covers all types of internet lore and memes. You can check out his YouTube channel, Instagram and Twitter for additional content.
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