The Funniest Videos Ever and How They Affected the Outcome of the 2008 Election - Webmasters

The world of viral videos finally came of age in the election of 2008. There has been an onslaught of some of the funniest videos that "man" could ever think of has been created this year. Many still come from average citizens taking their potshots at their candidate of choice. When big name acts are created and some of the funniest videos ever are created and it that seem intended only for viral consumption, you know the playing field has been shifted around somewhat. JibJab was able to commercialize their various videos for public consumption and again produced some of the most seen viral videos. But Saturday Night Live proved its relevancy by producing some entertaining and pointed videos. The spoof of the Sarah Palin-Katie Couric interview was one of the most satirical- mainly because there was very little editing of Palin's actual comments. They quoted her verbatim and it was every bit as funny if they had written it themselves. This skit was One of the funniest things I have seen since Eddie Murphy getting caught with the transvestite.This year saw the creation of funniest and sexiest viral stars, Obama Girl, Amber Lee Ettinger. Granted, most of the appeal is a good-looking female, but the phenomenon would not have existed in any other year without the viral nature of the internet and consumer base ready to pass the video along.Many of the debate videos were turned into tidbits that were easily passed along thanks to the various sites hosting and providing easy sharing capacity. One that really funny pranks that pushed the envelope was the Palin prank phone call that was placed online. There is no actual video, but the audio of Palin thinking she was talking to the real French president when it was radio disk jockeys became an immediate classic. One of the most meaningful virals was Ron Howard's well made and heart-felt clip of himself as Opie and Richie Cunningham with both Andy Griffith and the Fonz to make an appeal on behalf of Obama. As an unsolicited campaign ad, it was enormously effective and very sincere in its use of very familiar characters. Slightly ironic as well, considering Howard has since admitted he voted for Nixon in 1972. One of the more humorous campaign appeals from a celebrity came from Sarah Silverman pleading with Jewish youngsters to go to Florida to convince their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama via the "Great Shlep." Obama won Florida. Was it in part due to the funniest viral video ever? Who knows? Finally, what is viral video without Paris Hilton? She worked with Funny or Die to produce a set of spots that spoofed the process after a legitimate McCain ad made fun of her celebrity. Did viral videos influence the election? Probably no more than any other new medium as it was introduced, but the future will tell if elections will take new form with viral videos.To listen and watch to some of the funniest clips of MCcain and Sarah Polin make them self look like idiots just go to