Guy McLaren: Star Wars Kid or Gary Brolsma?
by Fred Roed on 06/09/07 at 2:43 pm
14 comments
Before today, I had never heard of a guy called Guy McLaren.
This morning, when booting up the Rock, I couldn’t help but notice a new furore bubbling under the SA blog landscape. Nic, from SA Rocks has apparently caught this guy out before, and now a blog called ‘The Colony‘ is onto him for pretending to provide a decent website offering. Clicking through to the first link on Muti that caught my eye, ‘Flash is Evil’ (check it out here), I sat back in awe and watched a genius at work.
After watching the second video (check it out here – it’s actually his first in a series of ‘Netiquette’ vids), I realised that this guy could be a big star. If he plays his cards right, that is.
Think back a while ago, three years or so. There were two big names in the viral world: The Star Wars Kid, and the Gary Brolsma (the kid who mimed the Europop song in his bedroom). Both were the stars of self-filmed videos that made it onto the world wide web, and were seen by millions of people.
Guy McLaren, I pretty much disagree with everything you have to say, but I reckon you got a good thing going here. You’re hilarious. Your netiquette vid (the one where your breakfast returns on you halfway through, and ends with your dogs going for the postman) is sheer brilliance. The Flash is Evil vid is just poetry. Your line ‘I haven’t even showered yet!’ deserves to be immortalised on every social media site on the planet.
The thing is, you’re at a crossroads here. You have to make a choice: Do you want to be the Star Wars Kid, or Gary Brolsma?
Consider the two stories: The Star Wars Kid filmed himself doing Jedi tricks and ended up being the ridicule of the free world. He had a nervous breakdown, left his school and then watched in agony as his folks tried to sue the kids who put the video on the net.
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Gary Brolsma filmed himself singing ‘Numa Numa’ and ended up making a fortune. Taking the piss out of his new-found fame, our hero promptly went and cut a single. He went on to star on TV and sold millions through merchandising. He even launched a t-shirt range.
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I thought of t-shirt idea for Guy – check this out…
I couldn’t find any decent pics of him, so I used David Brent instead.
Guy, good luck mate. Love your work.
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Wezzo
Sep 6th, 2007
Haha, oh man – I would buy that shirt in a heartbeat.
Grant
Sep 6th, 2007
Classic!…. I gotta get one of those shirts!
“The thing is, you’re at a crossroads here. You have to make a choice: Do you want to be the Star Wars Kid, or Gary Brolsma?”- LMAO
Love your work.
Stii
Sep 6th, 2007
Guy could become the next Chuck Norris…
Fred
Sep 6th, 2007
Guy is Chuck Norris.
Justin Hartman
Sep 7th, 2007
Guy is my hero
Paul Jacobson
Sep 7th, 2007
I think the Numa Numa guy is a genius!
friendsofguy
Sep 7th, 2007
here;s the pic of him taken from his facebook profile
http://profile.ak.facebook.com/profile6/535/118/n528496644_9067.jpg
Fred
Sep 7th, 2007
Flippin’ classic pic! I’m loving him more and more every day.
Guy rocks.
Guy, if you’re reading this – this is your fifteen minutes brother! Now, you got to do something hectic to top the last two vids.
If you want, I can be your personal brand consultant…? I’m expensive, but I’m good.
Stii
Sep 8th, 2007
I must say, Fred I’m with you on this! Guy is a legend! Truly becoming an icon in our times! If you make the shirt, I’ll buy it!!!!! Just say when!
Guy McLaren
Sep 9th, 2007
Thank You I love this post. May I please post the T- Shirt on my site. I will link back and acknowledge your genius.
I also when someone prints this T Shirt I want one. Maybe I should print them?”but can I put my own picture on it.
Guy Mclaren Interview at Uno de Waal
Sep 10th, 2007
[...] I removed the graffiti by deleting the entries from the very secure database.The blog Ideate (in this post) likens you to the Star Wars Kid and Gary Brolsma, the Numa Numa guy. What do you think of this? [...]
Guy
Sep 10th, 2007
Uno thank you for that well balanced post.
Jack
Nov 13th, 2007
It’s great to see South Africans doing so well in the world, great article. Guy, the next Mr Bean
Colyn Serfontein: The allegations and lies | Guy McLaren
Jan 7th, 2009
[...] you have to say, but I reckon you got a good thing going here. You’re hilarious. … http://www.ideate.co.za/2007/09/06/guy-mclaren-star-wars-kid-or-gary-brolsma/ – 38k – Cached [...]