Every Second Counts is the name under which comedians outside of the United States were challenged to produce parody videos of U.S. President Donald Trump's inaugural address that "From this day forward, it's gonna be only America ''first''! America ''first''!" The first parody video was produced by Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach within two days after Trump's inaugural address. The second comedian to produce a parody video in the same format as Lubach's video, Jan Böhmermann of Germany, challenged comedians around the world to produce similar videos in the same format of introducing one's own country with a dose of self-deprecating humour and requesting to become 'second' after America.

History

Origins

The first parody video, which inspired all the other parody videos, was produced by Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach's show '' Zondag met Lubach''. Lubach's parody video, titled "The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words", was broadcast on 22 January 2017. In the video, Trump's speeches and actions –mostly from his election campaign– are imitated and mocked by voice actor

Greg Shapiro Gregory Scott Shapiro (born 1968) is a Dutch American comedian, best known as a member of the comedy group Boom Chicago, host of the Dutch satirical news program ''Comedy Central News'' ( nl) and the author of ''How to Be Orange: An Alternativ ...

, who gives a short description of the Netherlands using some

self-mockery Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may also be u ...

as well, finishing with the request that the Netherlands may come 'second' if America is to be 'first'. A semi-serious undertone is formed by fears that Trump's announced "America First" policy signifies

isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...

, including withdrawing U.S. support for NATO: "If you screw NATO, you're gonna make our problems great again." The video went viral, being discussed by multiple international newsmedia and reaching over 73 million views worldwide by 3 February.

Challenge launched

On 2 February during ''Neo Magazin Royale'', Jan Böhmermann questioned the Dutch's role as second to America, broadcasting a rival video that claimed 'Germany second' whilst making fun of the Netherlands and Germany itself as well. Then, he encouraged other satirical talkshow producers in all European countries to make similar videos parodying Trump, themselves and questioning the Netherlands' second place behind America. Production teams in at least eleven other countries committed to making their own parody videos, and by 3 February, versions for Belgium (by ''De Ideale Wereld''),

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(by ''Deville Late Night''), Denmark (by ''Natholdet''), Portugal (by ''

5 Para A Meia-Noite ''5 Para A Meia-Noite'' (5 to Midnight) is a late-night talk show that airs on Thursdays on the Portuguese TV channel RTP1 (formerly on RTP2 RTP2 (''RTP dois'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned pu ...

'') and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

(by ''Laikykitės ten'') had been released; these would all be gathered on the website everysecondcounts.eu. Shaun Streeter did the voice for the videos produced by Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, and Denmark.

Beyond Europe

By 6 February, Italy (by ''Casa Surace''), Luxembourg (by ''Studio Ben''), and Morocco (a non-European country, expanding the contest further) had joined the fray. On 8 February, the website of Every Second Counts changed the original layout from a virtual 360° NATO council room with national flags of all European countries plus Morocco and Namibia next to each seat, to a clickable world map divided into the continents of "Europe", "Middle East", "Africa", "Oceania", "North Asia", "South Asia", "North America" and "South America", with "North Asia" and "North America" currently being unavailable.

Common elements

Though widely varying in contents specific to each country's presentation, and the way in which they criticise and/or ridicule President Trump and his ideas and actions, the videos often share common elements. Many revolve around (sarcastically) taking pride in or mocking their own country's history, and comparing it to Trump's actions or American history in general, and how the latter is better, equal or worse. *Criticism of Trump's immigration policy **Criticism of Trump's electoral promise and since 25 January 2017 plan to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexican border, and make Mexico pay for it, including comparisons to countries' own "walls" such as the Afsluitdijk and the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

**Criticism of Trump's electoral promise and since 27 January 2017 decree to halt immigration from several Muslim-majority countries *Criticism of Trump's treatment of women, especially the ''grab them by the pussy'' incident * Criticism of Trump's mockery of

Serge F. Kovaleski Serge Frank Kovaleski (born April 8, 1961) is a South African-born American investigative reporter at ''The New York Times''. He contributed to reporting that won ''The New York Times'' a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of the Eliot Spitzer ...

, an investigative reporter at '' The New York Times'' with arthrogryposis. *Criticism of Trump's apparent lack of commitment to NATO *Criticism of Trump's alleged tax evasion *Ridicule of Trump's appearance: his allegedly "tiny hands" and "orange" skin colour *Mockery of Trump's use of "the best words" and the way he says "huge" (sounds like "yuge"). *Comparisons between Trump's towers and famous architectural structures within the country. *Criticism of the Trump administration's usage of the terms " fake news" and " alternative facts" *Joking that nobody knows where their country is located, and pointing to a different country if Trump might ever want to strike it with a nuclear attack

Lists of videos

Note
EverySecondCounts.eu
only lists countries

Countries

The table below lists 117 videos for 80 unique countries. At four videos, there are more videos for Algeria than for any other country listed. The websit
EverySecondCounts.eu
features 38 of the videos, only one per country.

Other physical locations

The table below lists 43 videos for 40 unique entries.

Notes

References

External links

*{{officialwebsite, everysecondcounts.eu * The talk page for this article, which contains a table with links to additional videos that for various reasons are not included in this article Internet memes introduced in 2017 Internet memes introduced in the 2010s Political Internet memes Viral videos Ethnic humour Dutch political satire German political satire National identity Parodies of Donald Trump