Nose picking candid-camera style video by Nalts, creator of "Farting in Public"

My wife, Jo, (aka wifeofnalts) suggested weeks ago that I bring Spencer back for a tribute to “Farting in Public.” The simple concept… nose picking in public. 

Of course, Spencer is growing up now, and hasn’t responded to my texts and voicemails. So we found young Vitek quite eager to give it a shot. Vitek is my cousin’s son, and was raised in Poland. The kid was downright enthusiastic about nose picking in front of unwitting victims, and even added some unique touches: the post-pick handshake, the slight-of-finger booger snack, and even the butt scratch groan. 

Well enjoy- maybe even Digg it. And you may just learn how to just save a few bucks the next time you’re ordering food and snacks. In our short drive last night, Vitek receive extra change from one person and free food from another. All with the slight of finger.

This is just brilliant web comedy from Blame Society Films (creators of Chad Vador). “Morning Radio Mysteries: Drunk Ghost” is packed with dialogue and jokes for a very fast 2:24, and features a Scooby-Do like parody that goofs on morning radio comics but doesn’t rely on that one gag.

This is a sequel to “Morning Radio Mysteries: Sidekick Kidnapped,” when the gratuitous human laugh track “Buster” gets snatched.

Someone once said that a new blogger stays on his/her own blog, while a seasoned one comments and reads others. The same is true for video — appearing on other people’s videos is as important as making your own. Especially if that creator is more popular, more talented (which is mostly the case for me), or gets featured.

I was poking around via TubeMogul and was pleased to see the episode of “Retarded Policeman” in which I appeared has a 4.79 rating (out of 5), making this YouTube’s top-rated comedy of the week (and among the top of the month). It was also featured in YouTube’s comedy section (thanks YouTube).

This rating is surprisingly higher than The Retarded Policeman’s debut episode, according to TubeMogul, and tied with the recent episode with Michael Buckley (WhatTheBuck). See full honors below in “more.”

I think this tells us that the initial 24-hour period is most vital because it’s when the majority of the comments come in- and mostly from loyalists so they’re positive. Over time, other people find the content and rate the video down (although comment/rate far less frequently). I saw this with Mall Pranks, which has a fairly low rating now that it’s been paraded around on other sites. I’ve often wondered if it would help to turn off comments after the first several hours, although I suspect that would be penalized since the honor/rating is probably a function of views x rating (with an emphasis on the latter).

So what’s this mean? The power of collaborations and cameoss can grow your audience. In the past few days I’ve gone from 96 on the “most subscribed” to 90th, and added several thousand new subscribers (up to nearly 52K). This is due in part to MediocreFilms, part to MrSafety for his cheesy boob shout out. And the appearance in Matt Koval’s  YouTube-homepage-featured video (YouTube in 1985) helped too.

I just shot two clips for collabs last evening. Me laughing and pointing for Spricket24 (I have no idea) and another short clip for Brett the Intern. Hey- forget my own videos. I just want to be like ShayCarl and pop up in everyone else’s like Michael Caine in 1970s movies.

Parenthetically, ratings don’t always translate to views. My recent video impersonating Sarah Palin is the top rated comedy of the day (TubeMogul says it’s a 4.62 rating), but received <20K views (I kinda thought the pro Obama folks would viralinate this one). Comments were mostly kind — except for those that assumed I’m a flaming liberal just because I wanted an excuse to dress up in drag.

Oh now I’m getting obsessed with stats again. I think I’ll go immerse myself back in Gustav coverage.

In the unlikely event you’re in New Orleans reading this, please evacuate. I’m reading this USAToday article about my home town and so sad to read about people that are choosing to stay behind because they’re “tired of running,” don’t think Gustav is going to be bad, or want to protect their “stuff.”

Protect your lives please. We don’t want another Katrina, and nobody can blame the government for not preparing and warning. Now it’s up to the people (and Gustav).

Here’s a reminder… a video I did to deal with my own sadness of Katrina.

Rhett and Link’s Alka Seltzer road show (see previous post) hit Philadelphia recently, and it didn’t take them asking more than once to convince me and a bunch of YouTube Cewebrities to hit Pat and Gino’s to appear in this video. I picked up CharlesTrippy, ShayCarl, TheMightyThor1212 and those gals to stop by before the YoTube events. We did it for fun not profit, but Rhett and Link were classy enough to feed us, and even send us off with beer money for that night (thanks, guys).

Favorite moment? The nervous look on the face of the agency account manager as she reluctantly handed me a Speedy statue. Don’t worry, agency lady. I’ll behave with him.

Admitting my bias, I’m still putting this promotion down as one of the top three smartest viral video campaigns of 2008. It joins the ranks of BMW’s Rampenfest and Diet Dr. Pepper’s Cherry Coke promotion of TayZonday.

It’s funny, entertaining, balanced well (promotion is subtle), it’s leveraging the charasmatic appeal of two video stars who have been provided creative control of the series. Rhett and Link give us a perfect example of advertising content that is first entertaining. And the branding finds a happy medium between, on one extreme, dominating the video, and on the other relegating itself to ignored pop-ups or lost entirely. The topics are related to food, the tone revitalizes an otherwise stale brand, and Alka Seltzer’s differentiator (the plop, fizz) is not lost. Bringing back Speedy was brilliant too.

The only thing I’d say about all three of these campaigns is that they probably could have been done more cost effectively. Diet Dr. Pepper got TayZonday for a song, but had some production overhead (it was also hampered by the reality that the drink tastes like the smell of a chocolate scratch and sniff, and that’s coming from a hardcore Diet Dr. Pepper guy).

The Alka Seltzer road show was fairly shoestring for television and advertising rackets, but still could be leaner (do you need 5 or more people beyond Rhett and Link at the shoot?). I don’t know about Rampenfest, but it looks very, very expensive (guessing $500-$1,000 MM).

It pains me to see so few views on YouTube for something this well written, acted and edited. It’s called “Font Conference” and it’s a great personification of the fonts we know so well. Baskerville Old Face and Bookman OId Style duke it out. Arial Black feels discriminated. Wide Italian played by an overeating fat guy. Futura played by a time traveler. And Century Gothic is played by a goth emo who resents the conformists (“I can’t wait for you to grow out of this,” says Times New Roman. In the climax, Ransom takes Courier and his daughter Curlz MT hostage, but don’t worry- Wing Dings celebrates in the end.

Extremely well done (right down to the incredible production values with rack focuses and perfect lighting), and especially entertaining for those of us who spend way too much time thinking about fonts.

I just feel sad for Trebuchet, who was sadly left out. Maybe a sequel? Can I humbly submit to play Trebuchet? Or maybe even a serif if College Humor provides acting coaches.

Greetings boys, girls and willvideoforfooders!
I’m your substitute, I mean “GuestOfNalts (.)” today

As you know this self proclamied viral video genius, Kevin ‘Nalts’ Nalty, started talking to himself early on, as we see in several of his more delightful films: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, AND here!

WHEEW!

Kevin has developed a number of personalities, alter egos and of course clones over the years. This is me here in my pre-natal state along with my other clone brothers and sisters. And here is the first generation of a Nalts’ Clone. As you might have guessed he didn’t quite make it. Unfortunately, he was unable to grasp the finer points and magic of editing and fell into a very tragic incident involving a can, the local trash collector and the very large trash collector’s truck. Since, much progress has been made and as you can rightly read I am one of the current generation ‘CloneofNatls’. However, we do prefer being called ‘Spawnsof Nalts’. We have advanced far more than the initial copy, even though we still titter on lame.

As a copy and a real live SpawnofNalts it is my position to make sure that anything Nalts does or thinks when indisposed makes its way to the beautiful eyes of his darling readers, fans, lurkers and all the rest of you, ASAP!

Tomorrow (July 9), on NBC’s Today show in a segment called “Frustrated Fliers.” The interview was shot in NYC yesterday and prompted by “USAIR Sucks” and not “Crawling Through Airport.” See if you can spot the original Nalts at the airport. If not, enjoy these little vignettes to make up for the possibility of a brown out we predicted in NYC. If you missed it because you just couldn’t drag your lazy ass out of bed before 11am, you know who you are, and barring some possible genetic or technical malfunction, me and all the other SpawnsofNalts will try our best to accommodate Today the day after yesterday or sooner right here!

Oh, and bring a clothes pin!

Nalts at the airport Today!

Be glad smell-a-vision never took off!

END TRANSMISSION

Nothing to say here. Just got stuck on this video, which I regard as the biggest ear worm of 2008. By Smosh.

Is it wrong if I’m 39 years old, and I’m singing Smosh songs to my son instead of telling him stories (see below)?

How do I miss something this viral?

It’s called Terrorists Bloopers, and it’s a low-budget parody of the “Girls Gone Wild” advertisements. A funny spoof on cheesy commercials and terrorism. And the ending is worth waiting for.

Here’s some fun trivia about it:

• It was created by a Brooklyn NYC comedy troupe named Poykpac. Here’s another account (PoykpacLive) by the same group. Credits: Directed by Jonny Gillette, story by Paul Whitty, edited by Ryan Hunter and voiceover by Taige Jensen.
• If you’re a terrorist and want to avenge the creators of this parody, here’s where they live.
• Family Guy produced an Osama Bin Laden blooper reel that featured a similar joke. The creators say, “we humbly offer our sincerest apologies for having plagiarized something we’ve never seen.”

No need to waste precious calories eating your food. Now you can strap on a fast-food feed bag, which is filled with your favorite KFC, Taco Bell and Long John Silver meals blended into an easy-to-consume paste.

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move LessWhile you’re watching this hysterical video by “The Onion,” be sure you’ve seen this parody of Blockbuster Video, where families get to tour the way we once rented movies before digital video-on-demand existed.

Historic Blockbuster Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past

I’ve discovered a new trick to define humor in a scientific way. If my chest relaxes when I’m laughing it’s a 10. The Onion rarely fails.