About

Hamster on a Piano is a viral video featuring a white hamster lying on top of piano keys eating popcorn. Uploaded to YouTube in 2007, the video inspired a series of remixes, parodies and memes.

Origin

According to the Wayback Machine,^[1] YouTuber arcobalenoverde posted the earliest known version of the video on February 27th, 2007. The video, entitled "THE LEGEND! Hamster piano and pop corn – Criceto e popcorn!" featured the hamster on the piano and featured the song "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley on the soundtrack (mirror below). The video has since been deleted and credited to Antonio Galati.

Spread

The following year, musician Parry Gripp remixed with an original song that narrated the hamster's actions. The original video, "Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)," published on August 15th, 2008, has since been deleted.^[2] However, Gripp re-uploaded the video on December 23rd, 2011. It has received more than 3.5 million views in less than 10 years (shown below).

Several media outlets reported on Gripp's remix, including Laughing Squid,^[3] TIME^[4] and HuffPost.^[5] TIME ranked the video number on their list of Top 10 Viral Videos of 2008. They wrote:

One of the best things about the internet is its ability to make a star out of the little guy. This couldn't be truer than in the case of the wee white hamster lying on his back atop a keyboard, made famous with the help of Parry Gripp, a whimsical songwriter formerly of the group Nerf Herder who, if his random musical oeuvre is any indication, apparently has way too much time on his hands. The riff is catchy, the pet is adorable -- and, we're pretty sure, was unharmed in the making of this video. Why is it so funny? Well, as the song says, there's a hamster on a piano and he's eating popcorn…on a piano. In short, it's the mundane made madcap. That's why you log onto YouTube, right?

On April 12th, 2012, the British television station Channel 4 aired the seventh episode of the Ricky Gervais comedy series Derek. In the episode, the character Derek (portrayed by Ricky Gervais) watches the Hamster on a Piano video. On July 24th, 2012, YouTuber leah russell posted the video to YouTube (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References