Laughing Baby
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The Laughing Baby is a
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of a baby laughing. The video became an
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and has had a total of over 100 million views across multiple uploads. Originally uploaded by a Swedish man under the pseudonym of spacelord72, and later re-uploaded and popularized by another user known as BlackOleg, the "Laughing Baby" is one of the few
internet memes An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
that have entered
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. The original uploaded by spacelord72, has had 21 million views as of June 2021 and the reposting by BlackOleg, titled HaHaHa, achieved 62 million views by Sep 2008.


The video

The Laughing Baby video, which was shot by a Swedish man in his kitchen in 2006, has a running time of 1:40, and involves a fixed camera situated on William Nilsson, a blond-haired, blue eyed baby, who laughs after brief
interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
s from a voice in the background (presumably his father, Kjell-Åke Andersson). The video opens with the Swedish text: "kan man ha roligare" which translates as "Can you have any more fun?"


Comments

The clip has become known for its disparate variety of commenters – from the amused to those concerned for the baby's health. These comments were the focus of a ''
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'' article by Michael Agger, who remarked that
upload Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and computer terminal, terminals (SCP/ SFTP). Uploading c ...
ing the video was like "dipping a bunny into acid," further adding that the "Laughing Baby has become an internet monument, and posting a remark is like tagging your name on the
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."


Impact

The Laughing Baby video became a worldwide phenomenon and the tenth most viewed YouTube video of all time. Its success is attributed to "
cuteness Cuteness is a subjective term describing a type of attractiveness commonly associated with youth and appearance, as well as a scientific concept and analytical model in ethology, first introduced by Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz proposed the concept o ...
" and its "adorable nature". The video appeared on the front pages of
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s such as
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, and has been the theme of several
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, which helped to further increase its familiarity and popularity. The baby was featured in the ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' episode " Canada on Strike", where he appeared alongside other
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such as
Tay Zonday Adam Nyerere Bahner (born May 21, 1982), better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday or as "Chocolate Rain Guy",Fox News report about Numa Numa also mentions: ...fellow viral video star, 'Chocolate Rain Guy', aka Tay Zonday (Sep 22, 2010)Foxnews.co ...
and Chris Crocker. The "Laughing Baby" video was shown to
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
and her husband
Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
during a 16 October 2008 visit to
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headquarters in
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. The Queen remarked that the child was a "...lovely little thing, isn't it?" and that it was "Amazing
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
a child would laugh like that."


References


External links


Original video on YouTube (uploaded on Aug 25th, 2006)

William's page on his father's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laughing Baby Viral videos Swedish Internet celebrities Living people Year of birth missing (living people)