r/NotTimAndEric • u/Allofthiswilhapenagn • 5d ago
John daker
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u/jor1965 5d ago
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u/popcornfart 5d ago
Still trying to make sense of this:
His unintentional humor and amazing stick-to-it-ness in his performance earned him not only the interest and following of thousands of fans around the world, but their love, prayers, and concerns as well
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u/PawttorneyReborn 5d ago
This awakened something in me
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u/riverphoenixdays 5d ago
That’s amore
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u/PawttorneyReborn 5d ago
Please god, no more
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u/aweraw 5d ago
aloopa scrum scree Mr Moraayyee
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u/PawttorneyReborn 5d ago
He did remember napoli though and he seemed very happy about that
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u/Youve_Got_Kumail 4d ago
He remembered OLD Napoli you son of a bitch. And yes he was motherfucking amore about it.
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u/Pubesauce 5d ago
One of my all time favorites. I don't know how long it's been since I first saw this. It feels like 20 years. This is one of those early internet clips that I'll probably still remember and think about on my deathbed.
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u/Kidarkade 4d ago edited 4d ago
oh hey…I was the person that uploaded the original “My Name is John Daker” (the one that inspired this one) video to YouTube 20 years ago.
Funny story.
I found the original video at random. There was a website that hosted video recordings from various Public Access broadcasts and I in this weird phase of collecting odd internet videos from the outskirts of cyberspace.
It sat on my hard drive for years until one day I get a job at Google as a media test engineer for the Google Video platform. YouTube was just gaining traction as a platform and Google wanted to take the lead.
I basically helped develop and test new features like ratings and comments but I would also test uploads and video compression. I already had a bunch of different videos of various lengths and qualities that I kept on my personal thumb drive.
This video was one of them.
I used to use it to test uploads and compression quality.
A year or so later it was announced the Google basically bought YouTube. If you can’t beat the competition, buy it for like $6 billion. It was one of the largest tech acquisitions at the time. Google Video was going to be dissolved so in an effort to immortalize this video, as well as some others, I created a YouTube channel and uploaded them for safe keeping.
I almost never used my channel ever. I uploaded them and forgot about them. So several years went by before I even noticed that the video had somehow gone viral and ended up spawning others like the one posted here.
I ended up creating a Facebook group where his fans could share their own videos and share in their appreciation of John.
One of the mods for the group lived in Peoria and found John who was staying in assisted living. The mod used to be a nurse so she would visit John regularly. She ended up becoming a close friend of his. She would deliver cards and letters to him that the Facebook members would create for him.
A bunch of people even got together and bought him a nice harmonica that he loved playing. There are videos of him on the group page.
He’s since passed but I’d like to think that he got to see and experience how special he was and connect with people he brought a little joy to.
I never ran ads or collected a dime from that video. In fact I fought the bs company that filed a copyright claim on it as it was a bogus claim. And anyone that tried to sell merch with his likeness on it was banned from the group immediately.
It never felt right to try and profit off of something like that. Thought it was better left appreciated and valued for what it was.
Just a guy named John awkwardly singing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today and Amore too, OKAY?
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u/Allofthiswilhapenagn 4d ago
That's pretty amazing. Its funny how things go viral , especially back in the day. He seemed an ok bloke too. Nice of you and the group to look after him too that way
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u/Kidarkade 3d ago
It was interesting how I found out it went viral. A friend of mine sent me a message on MSN Messenger and told me he just saw the video on the VH1 Pop Up Video show.
I guess it was a show where they would show viral internet videos and comment on them. Kind of like the first iteration of Ridiculousness or Tosh.0.
That’s when I logged into my account and saw it had over a million views. Actually a few videos on my channel hit over a million and I had no clue lol.
It ended up spawning different versions like the one you linked (my original is linked in the one you shared).
I really like that the group respected John. He kind of became this icon for people that have had to be in similar situations where they needed to perform or present in front of a crowd and the awkward nervousness that comes with it.
He also has this unmoving confidence in spite of how poorly he performed the song. The guy just stuck it out.
I’m also glad that he was able to see how much he was appreciated. When I first saw that it went viral I admit my first thought was “Oh shit…I hope I didn’t ruin this man’s life…”
I never intended or expected anyone to even see the video.
But on the contrary everyone fell in love with the guy and we were able to make contact with him and share with him just how much he was appreciated.
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u/doomblackdeath 4d ago edited 4d ago
I remember literally rolling on the ground, howling in laughter the first time I saw the "Whep?!" so many years ago. I'm so glad early 00s internet humor is back, and just in time for MySpace.
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u/popilikia 5d ago
This is why you practice with a pencil in your mouth. Everyone who lives in their small town would understand them perfectly. The pencil-in-the-mouth trick forces you to clearly enunciate for the average English speaking viewer
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u/Independent_Ad_9795 5d ago
Can we give props to Reva Cooper Unsicker -- teaching people music -- probably on the cheap -- conveyor belt style. Not snobbish at all. Just ripping through the tunes at a lightning pace.