Tag Archives: cute

Can a Search Engine Detect and Rank Comedy? Google Tries.

The newest funny cat on YouTube says No No No No

Look out “I Are Cute Kitten.” There’s a new cat in town, and she says No No No No. And according to research it’s the funniest video out there.
Google is trying to create an algorithm that ranks a video in terms of humor/comedy. Here’s an article about the subject, and here’s a BBC World Service Radio interview I just did live on the topic. Humor is a difficult thing for a computer to detect, but I do think we can collect viewer reactions to draw conclusions.

I spoke last year at the International Society for Humor Studies (see presentation) and the academics and psychologists were having trouble agreeing on the constructs and classifications of humor. It’s a bit like sculpting fog to predict what makes us laugh.
Can Google do it? It is a company made up mostly of engineers. It won’t be an easy or precise task, but I won’t rule it out.
Naturally I DO think that humor can be researched based on human reactions. That’s why (as seen below) I always test my videos behind one-way glass with indepth interviews and focus groups.

Baby Monkey Song (Riding Backwards on Pig)

Here’s the “baby monkey” riding backwards on a pig song on YouTube… the one for which you’ve searched your whole life. You can buy “monkey on pig” song on iTunes too, and I did so just to support the singer (ParryGripp). Note that he’s not riding on a dog, which might have been your impression when you first saw it last fall. It’s clearly a pig, which brings it to a special level of humor. The retro 1970s Partridge Family and Brady Bunch-like arrangement also helps.

To see more of Parry Gripp’s classics, check NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM (the hamster/gerbil), or “Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Cute Cute,” and “Hamster Yawning in Your Face.”

This blog post requires you to sing along. And I can tell if you comply or not.

I Wuv You (pig video)

I love you. No I WUV you. It’s a rainy Friday morning. What else are you going to do? Make a hypnotic and overly cute pig video with your wife’s sqeeked voice. Duh.

Here’s the song “i wuv you” and you have complete rights to use it anyway you wish. Download it, and let me know what you do with it!

Now kids pay attention. This is a desperate attempt to manufacture viral, and comes with great risks. The goal was to squeeze as much cute into 52 seconds, but ensure I spent no more than 1 hour between concept and upload (and that’s counting the custom score). You know my rule… time spent on a video is inversely related to views (my Scary Maze, shot in 25 minutes, is at 23 million). At least I’m transparent.

America’s Funniest Videos Take YouTube By Storm

In a very interesting model, the producer of America’s Funniest Videos is bringing an archive of 1970s-present user-generated content to YouTube. And, no, Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron are not hosting, VHS players are optional, and the AFV brand isn’t involved. Thank God.


Instead Vin Di Bona (who, trivia here, used some of my 1980s clips in the trailers promoting AFV) is teaming with Phil DeFranco (Sxephil) and Toby Turner (Tobuscus) in what’s called CuteWinFail. Read about it on NewTeeVee if you actually want facts. The premise is that the audience decides if it’s cute, a “win” (victory) or “fail” (embarrassment).

Toby is one of few people who can pull off hosting this format with his manic delivery, clever writing and genuine nature. He celebrates the archaic clips without pandering to them… and avoids falling into the dangerous trap of Webjunk and Tosh 2.0, where the host snubs the content. Toby walks the fine line in a way that Phil probably couldn’t have done — simply because he couldn’t likely hide his contempt for the clips (but who among us can throw a stone?). Toby, on the contrary, mocks and celebrates the cheesy moments in what can only be called Tobuscumockercelebration.

I believe it’s one of the smartest collaborations between traditional media and YouTube, and far more likely to emulate the popularity of FailBlog than most production/network “fails” on YouTube. It’s also likely to get Phil and Toby on the big-boy radar since it has the credibility of AFV’s producer.

The biggest difference between “Cute Win Fail” and Failblog, of course, is that the clips are owned by the channel, so advertising is fair game. Poor FailBlog could be making several hundred thousand dollars (actually well more) if it was monetized, but it’s mostly “ripped” content. Di Bona’s production company (see NewTeeVee) owns loads of cheesy b-roll, and it would have been a horrible embarrassment to start uploading and monetizing it without Sxephil and Tobuscus vouching for it and putting it into YouTube context… and allowing it to be self aware of the “cheese” factor in a way that even the smooth Bergeron couldn’t have done.

Rusty’s Song (and he doesn’t care if it goes viral)

Rusty from Rusty’s Song videoRusty is our babysitter‘s dog, and this is his song (see video). Woke up at 4 a.m. with a compelling urge to write it. Don’t ask.

We found our babysitter because she was working at Applebees, and recognized my wife (wifeofnalts) and son (Charlie) from YouTube. And although her cookies taste like chunks of coal, you gotta admit her dog is pretty cute.

Lyrics:
His name is Rusty and this is his song
He’s pekingese but not from Hong Kong
He knows 4 languages but doesn’t do tricks
Please don’t ask him about his ticks

He likes to lick but never smokes
He’s tired of Yoda and Gremlin jokes
He’s not mean but he’ll bite your behind
If you say he looks like Zelda Rubenstein
That’s the lady from Poltergeist and you probably missed that if you were born after the 70s.

He’s voting for Obama and he’s definitely not gay
He believes in God but sleeps on Sunday
Though he can’t use a phone if he did he might
Vote for David Archuletta or Brook White

His name is Rusty and this is his song
We don’t think it’s an ear worm but maybe we’re wrong
Rusty doesn’t care if you think he’s lame
His esteem is too strong to need Internet fame