Honey Badger
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About
The Honey Badger is a viral video featuring nature documentary footage with voiceover narration provided by Randall, a self-proclaimed animal lover who has since launched a successful YouTube series of similar videos. The Honey Badger video gained a great deal of popularity in early 2011 for its sassy commentary and irreverent personification of the mammals.
Origin
The video, titled "The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (original narration by Randall)", was uploaded by YouTuber czg123[1] on January 18th, 2011. The video features original footage taken from a National Geographic special[2] on the ornery and tough honey badgers, which aired in 2007.
Precursors
Prior to the breakout of Randall's "Honey Badger" video in 2011, there have been a number of viral parody dubs over wildlife documentary footage, such as "Fuck Planet Earth"[6] uploaded by YouTuber F1nalB0SS in June 2008. However, the earliest known instance with irreverent voiceover commentary was uploaded months later on October 13th, 2008, titled "I Hate Nature."[7]
In November 2010, internet humor blog Cracked[8] published an article titled "6 Animals That Just Don't Give a F#@k," which received over 2.5 million pageviews since its post date. Despite some surface similarities between the Cracked article and Randall's narrative, research does not suggest any direct connection betweeen the two.
Spread
Between its online debut on January 18th, 2011 and December 2011, Randall's Honey Badger video racked up more than 26 million views and spawned a cult following on YouTube. By the end of the year, his channel had over 40,992,000 upload views, averaging out to 20,074 views a day. Randall's highly memorable quotes such as "honey badger don't give a shit" or "honey badger don't care," coupled with his passionate interpretation of the animal's adventures made the video an instant hit.
Towards the end of January 2011, the honey badger video was covered by Internet humor blogs like Urlesque[9], Huffington Post[10], Funny Or Die[11], and BuzzFeed[12] as well as mainstream entertainment news sites like PopCrunch[13] and TMZ.[14]
Randall's honey badger narration also inspired a variety of image macros, remixes and tribute videos centered around catchphrases from the video. Meanwhile, sites and stores like Hot Topic sought to capitalize on the viral status of honey badgers by launching several t-shirts and other merchandise with pictures of honey badgers and Randall quotes.
On April 19th, a brief reference to a honey badger appeared on the popular TV series "Glee,"[21] most likely alluding to Randall's video.
Notable Examples
Wild Wild World of Animals
Inspired by the viral spread and positive reception of his honey badger video, Randall created a YouTube series titled "Randall's Wild Wild World of Animals"[15] using similar documentary footage of wild animals. Episodes included "The Miracle of the Daffy Jesus Lizard," "The Great White Sea-Monster" and "The Slowass Sloth" among others.
Mainstream Media
On February 22nd, 2011, Randall created a video in collaboration with MovieFone[16] in which he provided commentaries in a round-up review on 2011 Oscar nominees using the same style of voiceover from the honey badger commentary.
In March 2011, Huffington Post[17] published an exclusive video titled "The Pigs of Wall Street" featuring Randall's commentaries on the greed of the U.S. financial industry.
In mid-March of 2011, Australian rugby player Nick Cummins stated to the press that his new, more agressive tackling style was inspired by the honey badger "after watching a wildlife documentary."[18] Although he never specifically mentions the Randall video, the timing of his announcement suggests that it may have been the "documentary" to which he was referring.
On January 12, 2012, NASCAR driver Danica Patrick made a public announcement that her strategy in 2012 would be to emulate the honey badger:
And the honey badger, it was last year, I think, somebody showed me this video of the honey badger, and the commentator on it was very, very funny. Anyway, the honey badger, he doesn't give a crap, he takes what he wants. And that's how I'm going to be this year, like a honey badger. But I feel like it's a little diluted with the football player [Tyrann Mathieu, see American Football below] that has the honey badger nickname, too. He's No. 7, as well.[32]
Commercial Features
Grasshopper
On May 31st, Randall released a commercial for Grasshopper[19] in which he provides a voiceover in similar style of other videos. In June 2011, Microsoft's search engine Bing[20] released an update to the tools they make available to webmasters and SEO experts. They called the update "Honey Badger."
MythBusters
On July 24th, the Discovery Channel released a promo titled "MythBusters: Randall's Busters"[22] which previewed scenes from the upcoming season of Mythbusters narrated by Randall in his typical style.
Bankrupting America
On August 17th, 2011, Bankrupting America, a campaign started by the nonpartisan, nonprofit project Public Notice, launched a PSA video titled "Crazy Washington Honey Badgers"[23] on YouTube, featuring Randall's voice explaining the debt crisis and the recent showdown in Congress:
Wonderful Pistachios
On September 30th, 2011, a TV commercial for the snack company Wonderful Pistachios starring a honey badger with familiar voiceover by Randall debuted on YouTube and aired during the broadcast of ABC series Dancing With The Stars. The clip features the "fearless animal" cracking open pistachios with a narration by Randall. Since its launch in 2010, the ad campaign for Wonderful Pistachios has featured a number of Internet sensations and pop culture icons such as Keyboard Cat, Angry Birds, and the Annoying Orange.
Upon the release of the video on YouTube, several news publications like Forbes[24], MSNBC[25], and Entertainment Weekly[26] wrote articles about the commercialization of the honey badger.
American Football
On January 6th, 2012, CSN Bay Area reported that the San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh had been using the honey badger video as a motivational tool.
On January 10th, The Washington Post[27] published an article in which the honey badger narrator Randall compared LSU's cornerback Tyrann D. Mathieu, nicknamed "Honey Badger", to the animal itself:
“He just plays with such heart and vigor,” Randall said. “It’s just very exciting. To me, that embodies the honey badger. He just takes whatever he wants and nothing is going to stop him.”
Animated Series
On January 17th, 2012, the entertainment blog Hollywood Reporter published an article about Canadian production company Six Eleven Media's plans to develop a Honey Badger animated series.
The project, which soon will be pitched to broadcast and cable networks, will follow an animated Randall, who is the chief professor of life sciences at a dysfunctional university. His course will feature his trademark color-commentary on documentary footage of topics related to science and the animal kingdom while forming an unusual bond with his students, fellow professors, and the University mascot, “Honey,” a “nastya--” honey badger.
The story was subsequently posted to The Daily What[29] which pointed out that a Honey Badger book[30] and several iPhone apps[31] were already available.
Search Interest
External References
[1] YouTube – The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger
[2] YouTube – MUST WATCH: Honey Badger-The Most Fearless Animal on Earth
[3] Daily Telegraph – Look out, it's a Honey Badger!
[4] Twitter – @RandallsAnimals
[5] Forbes – A Chat With Randall: On Nasty Honey Badgers, Bernie Madoff And Fame
[6] YouTube – Fuck Planet Earth
[7] YouTube – I Hate Nature
[8] Cracked – 6 Animals That Just Don't Give a Fuck
[9] Urlesque – Randall's Animals is the Only Nature Show Worth Watching
[10] Huffington Post – Honey Badger Don't Care
[11] Funny Or Die – The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger
[12] BuzzFeed – The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger
[13] PopCrunch – Watch: Honey Badger Viral Video “Honey Badger Don’t Care!”
[14] TMZ – Olivia Goes Wilde for the Honey Badger
[15] YouTube – Randall's Wild Wild World of Animals
[16] MovieFone – EXCLUSIVE: Honey Badger Host Randall Don't Care About the Oscars
[17] Huffington Post – Randall's Animal – The Pigs of the Wall Street
[18] The Northern Star – Cummins to become the honey badger
[19] YouTube – Grasshopper
[20] Bing – Updates to Bing Webmaster Tools, data and content
[21] YouTube – Glee Honey Badger Reference
[22] Discovery Channel – Mythbusters: Randall's Busters
[23] YouTube – Crazy Washington Honey Badgers
[24] Forbes – Honey Badger Goes Dancing With The Stars
[25] MSNBC – Honey Badgers Sells Out to Pistachios
[26] Entertainment Weekly – Honey Badgers don't give a [bleep]… but he sure likes pistachios
[27] The Washington Post – The Honey Badger goes hungry in LSU’s BCS national championship loss to Alabama
[28] Hollywood Reporter – Honey Badger Viral Sensation Heading to TV
[29] The Daily What – The Interpipes Are Leaking of the Day
[30] Amazon – Honey Badger I Don't Care
[31] iTunes – Honey Badger
fn.32 Yahoo! Sports – Danica Patrick wants to be like… the honey badger?
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