Seconds For Fame

Now a days you’re always hearing about a something new on Internet that has gone viral, whether it was an app, game, picture or video. When it is a picture or video its usually pertaining to a single person and in most cases it is for something stupid. There are two types of reactions, people who like it, think it is funny or cool and people who get angry about it, “THIS PERSON IS GETTING FAMOUS FOR NOTHING”. In mainstream pop culture, the Kardashian’s are commonly talked about for something new that they did or posted on Internet. “For what reason? They are just people, why do people find the need to constantly talk about them? I could be famous for that too!” It angers people because anyone else could be famous for doing what they’re doing but they’re not. In this generation of media and the Internet, little things blow up into big, popular things for reasons people don’t understand. Two Internet phenomenons that went from garage to glam that I find more interesting are Nick Colletti and Lil Mayo.

Vine became popular in our high schools in 2012. All of the kids thought that it was the coolest thing, where they could make six second videos and post them on the Internet for anyone to see. Some of them were actually cool, maybe because of how they were edited or if they were clever but there were others were just dumb humor. About a year later, the popular trend turned out to only become a phase and most average user had deleted the app on their phones. But there are some people in life who don’t follow the crowd, one of those people happen to be a young 18-year-old named Nick Colletti. He is a chubby, goofy guy from the suburbs outside of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In real life, he is pretty similar to the guy who he plays in his vine videos since most, if not all of them, are based off things or events that have happened in his life. His family inspires a lot of them; he plays his both parents in videos. Growing up, hanging out with his cousins, they would always mess around and do stupid things together. There was always a contest between them for that could make the funnier joke at family parties. He started just making vines because they were funny and just as stupid jokes for himself and his friends.

In 2014, he started to gain more followers on vine and twitter. As his videos kept getting funnier or dumber, he gained more and more followers through the power of sharing on the Internet and word of mouth. It wasn’t until the end of 2015/the beginning of 2016 where he really got popular. People may not know his name but they know of “suh dude”. Plenty of people throw around the phrase “suh dude” because they think it is funny and because other people say it but may not know where it came from. “Suh dude” is a video that he did by himself a few times then did more additional versions of the video with fellow viner/musician, Getter. Now Nick and Getter have clothing called Suh Dude. It may not be the most successful brand yet, but it is on its way. Today Nick is living in Los Angeles working with big YouTube stars and making music with Getter.

Another Internet sensation that started as a joke is Lil Mayo. The average person may not know his name, only seen his videos retweeted on twitter. His fans would refer to him as “THE MOST SAVAGE ALIEN ON THE GRAM.” A sponsored skateboarder from North Shore, Massachusetts named Alex Martyn decided to make an Instagram account that only consisted of alien memes at the beginning of 2015. As the year progressed his meme account started to get more followers than he had expected. Once the account hit 10K in the summer of 2015, he knew he needed to make an upgrade.

He received donation from friends and family and bought a real special effect alien doll from Hollywood, CA from a mutal friend. Once the alien landed in Massachusetts, he was given the name Lil Mayo since it sounds like the classic alien meme line, “ayy lmao”. Alex and his friends would hold the alien and make 15 second Instagram videos of Lil Mayo drinking beer, smoking weed, or hanging on girls. He was living a “lit” lifestyle. These videos were shared on instagram and twitter and blew up to a following of about 300K followers. California skateboard company, Rip N Dip caught attention of what was going on. By the end of 2015, there was a Lil Mayo X Rip N Dip collaboration consisting of boards, tee shirts, hoodies, and stickers. A few of the items sold out immediately. Once 2016 began; Alex and Lil Mayo were flown out to Los Angeles, Denver, and Miami to be present at this year’s Agenda Skateboard Trade Show. All of the huge brands were there previewing their new products for the year. Alex spent three weeks hanging out with professional skateboarders and partying with celebrities such as Dennis Rodman and the cast of Workaholics. As of April 2016, he is working for Rip N Dip helping bring more new creative and wild ideas to the table for the brand to grow.

These two guys from the east coast were just regular guys with creative ideas that took off with the magical powers of Internet connections. They started what they were doing as a complete joke because they thought it would be something funny for themselves and their friends. Again this is something that can totally anger people are making money and getting famous for just putting stupid videos on the Internet.

Another example of getting famous for something dumb would be the well-known, Damn Daniel videos. Daniel actually got famous for doing nothing. His friend, Josh took some videos of Daniel wearing a stylish outfit and said “Damnn Daniel back at it again with the white vans”. He put it on the Internet and people thought it was funny and it blew up over the month of February. The two were boys were featured on the Ellen Show and The MTV Movie Awards. Daniel was given a year supply of Vans on her show and they her their story. Josh only did them as a joke; they both couldn’t believe the popularity they were receiving from the videos. With only being 14 and 15 years old, these boys still have their whole life ahead of them. (Rogers)

The Internet is a power tool that can turn someone from zero to hero in a short period of time. People are suckers new something new and for something that will make them laugh. With this kind of attitude continuing in society there will be many more stories like these to come.

Works Cited

"@alex.martyn • Instagram Photos and Videos." @alex.martyn • Instagram Photos

and Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

"👽#LILMAYO👽 (@lilmayo) • Instagram Photos and Videos." 👽#LILMAYO👽

(@lilmayo) • Instagram Photos and Videos. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

"Nick Colletti's Profile." Vine. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2016.

Rogers, Katie. "We Should Probably Have a Conversation About ‘Damn, Daniel’." The

New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Thecomeuphowtos. "No Jumper - The Nick Colletti Interview." YouTube. YouTube,

11 Sept. 2015. Web. Apr. 2016.