Double Rainbow (viral video)

Double Rainbow refers to a viral video posted by Paul "Bear" Vasquez. The clip, filmed in his front yard just outside Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California, chronicles his sighting of and Stendhal syndrome-like reaction to a double rainbow. As of January 28, 2012, the video has more than 32,000,000 views on YouTube.

History

Paul Vasquez posted the video to YouTube himself (as user Hungrybear9562) on January 8, 2010. On July 3, comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel linked to the video in a post on Twitter, saying that he and a friend had declared it the "funniest video in the world." The video quickly gained over one million views.

A July 16th feature on the video by CNN.com stated that the video had gained 4.8 million views.

In popular culture

YouTube users created fan videos using clips of Vasquez's voice from the Double Rainbow video, making it an internet meme.^{[citation needed]}

On July 5, 2010, the Gregory Brothers auto-tuned the video under the name "Double Rainbow Song". Their video has since gotten over 25 million views and has become a viral video in itself, almost surpassing the original in number of views. The song has been covered by the likes of Amanda Palmer, Jimmy Fallon (as Neil Young) and also the Axis of Awesome during a live recording of a charity show in the UK.

On July 26, 2010, Cartoon Network in the United States broadcast a 30-second clip that parodies the video itself, placing two Rainicorns (the fictional rainbow-unicorn hybrid in the series) instead of real rainbows while Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio) is making comment, during the end credits of Adventure Time. Bill Amend's comic strip FoxTrot also features a parody of the original video.

On November 29th 2010, virtual pet site Neopets released an event in their "Game Master Challenge" series, titled "More Amazing Than a Double Rainbow Across the Sky!". Users who completed this specific challenge (available for one day only), were rewarded with an item entitled, "Double Rainbow Background", with an item description of "But what does it mean?". Issue 472 (published December 2010) of the Neopian Times included a question in their editorial section relating to the meme-based item.

At the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, Zachary Levi, winner of Actor Action, referenced the double rainbow, when he joked "Thank you very much, it's like a double rainbow of epicness".

The website CollegeHumor made a spoof of the video, showing Double Rainbow Guy in everyday life marveling at things such as a double-parked car, a double cheeseburger, and double dipping chips.

The character Lux from the video game League of Legends, sometimes says in game: "double rainbow, what does this mean?"

In an episode of Tosh.0, Paul Vasquez appears on the show with Tosh in a Web Redemption, where they parody the video with a quadruple rainbow.

In the game Pocket God, an episode was added which was centered around the many sayings in the video, as well as added a function where you could draw a double rainbow in the sky.

The video is also referenced in the Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked movie, released in late 2011.

Likewise, the video is referenced in the sixth episode of Revenge; a character calls Paul Vasquez "a genius."

The online adoptable game Valenth released a rainbow-themed pet called the Double Leupak as a reference to the viral video.

In 2012, a web-based commercial inspired by the video promoted New Balance 890 Rainbow running shoes.

External links

• Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10 - the original video at YouTube
• Podcast Episode 6 Paul Vasquez interview with Todd Stayner
• Podcast Interview Episode 6 with Todd Stayner and Paul Vasquez