Greatest Hits of Viral Video

Back Dorm Boys, Lonely Girls and One Mad Man

Asian Kids Lip-Synching the Backstreet Boys

One of the first viral hits, this video features two Chinese students (Wei Wei and Huang Yi Xin) passionately lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way" to a cheap Webcam in their dorm room. I can't tell whether I hate or love these guys, especially the freaky one on the left (Wei Wei), but I keep watching because I like the guy in the background playing Counter Strike. According to Wikipedia, the "Back Dorm Boys," as they've come to be called, were later signed as spokespeople for Motorola cell phones in China.

lonelygirl15

Lonelygirl15 is a fake video blog cooked up by Marin County, California, screenwriter Ramesh Flinders and his friend Miles Beckett, a physician turned filmmaker.

The star of "lonelygirl15," a fictional teenage girl named "Bree," is played by New Zealand actress Jessica Rose. For a long time people thought the series was a legitimate video blog, until some Los Angeles Times reporters finally outed the creators and the star in September 2006. There's just something about Bree and her so-called life that keeps 'em coming back for more, even after the series' cover was blown.

The World's Angriest RV Salesman

This viral hit consists of a bunch of outtakes from a 1988 industrial film shot for Winnebago by one Jack Rebney, also known as The Angriest Man in the World. In the video, Rebney loses his temper over everything from forgotten lines to too many flies on the set. According to Wikipedia, the outtakes first surfaced around 1990 and circulated from person to person for years before it ever showed up on the Internet. "The Angry Winnebago Man" is one of those videos that was just waiting for the YouTube age to begin: once it hit the viral video circuit, it spread as fast as an RV going down a mountain pass with no brakes. (Warning: This video consists of pretty much nothing but foul language.)