It's a funny life here in Aotearoa and over the years the internet has seen some of our best (and worst) work.
A NZ Reddit thread asked if any clip this country has produced rivals the 1991 Australian ‘succulent Chinese meal’ footage. Inside that thread is a vast collection of that work.
Unplanned, wild and undoubtedly hilarious, these are Aotearoa's greatest viral moments (in no particular order).
AOTEAROA'S MOST CRACK UP VIRAL MOMENTS
Nek Minnit
Levi Hawken’s tale of what happened to his scooter saw a Kiwi saying become the internet’s catchphrase for at least a day. Undoubtedly our most viral moment.
Rip It Lil' Johnny
Little Jonathan’s friend encouraging him to try as hard as possible to achieve his goal of ripping it serves as a perfect representation of the true nature of Kiwi friendship: Pressuring your mate to be a bit of a dick.
Dildo Hits Steven Joyce In The Face
Literally everyone at the scene is smiling after the dildo makes contact with Steven Joyce's face, how could you not? It is a pretty half-arsed protest when you think about it but God, is it good?
Always Blow On The Pie!
Authority figures pretending to be mad and then pulling a funny is always a great gag. The direness in the cop’s face and delivery is elite commitment to the bit.
Head Through Fence
Just pure chaos in this one.
Father’s Day Sunday
If ‘Nek Minnit’ isn’t number one on NZ’s viral leaderboard, ‘Father’s Day’ is. For two whole minutes host Gareth Lischener heroically guides the loveable caller to the right answer (question) and birthed a new Father’s Day tradition.
20 Whacks
Karen’s debt-collecting voicemail is Kiwi toughness and pettiness personified. It also spawned a great Guy Williams investigation.
Just Having Some Dots
A theme in a lot of these clips is the subject of the interview just not caring that they’re being broadcasted to a national, possibly international, audience. Like, in this interview the bloke is saying: ‘Yea mate, I was just smoking weed via my stove when the cops knocked on my door. It was pretty buzzy’. Legend.
Naturally, I Finished My Set
Some Kiwi bloke was near a bombing in Norway and went viral for being a dick during an interview about it.
“I was on my eighth repetition of a 165-kilogram benchpress," he said on Campbell Live at the time. "That’s quite a lot of weight. Naturally, I finished my set and then made my way to the second level."
Truly shocking to me is the fact I cannot find the video anywhere. There are screenshots and remixes, but the actual clip is scoured from the internet.
Eels In The Gutter
Citizen journalism is A1 in NZ. This bloke saw eels in his gutter and got straight to filming, with no fluff in the headline. The same goes with the YouTube description, which reads: “Storm in town flood in the street freshwater eels chilln in the gutter lol”.
O For Awesome
Despite many believing David Tua didn’t know how to spell awesome (say it to his face), he actually said “O for Olsen”. Olsen refers to Olsen Filipaina, a Samoan and NZ rugby league player whom Tua always looked up to.
Aw Gummon
‘Aw Gummon’ sums up a lot of the human experience. Perfectly said by the man in the ‘F**KIN’ PROBLEMS’ snapback.
Bee Stung My Arm
This man’s harrowing tale of continuing to work after a brutal animal attack has served as inspiration to everyone who’s heard it.
Please Tell Me That Is Not Your Penis
Shortland Street legitimately had a plot point that involves a father opening an iPad to show his son a penis, then begging for said son to say: ‘Don’t worry pops, that’s actually another man’s penis’.
Francis
Whangarei Boys' Francis is one of NZ's greatest online celebs. His freestyle was reenacted at lunchtime by thousands and thousands of schoolboys every year.
Put this collection up against any other country's viral repertoire: We winning.
