The Internet has been around longer than some people have been alive, and the phenomenon of the Internet celebrity is nothing new. Back in the days before Y2K, there were already people getting famous on the Web, for good reasons and bad. This feature inducts the Hall of Famers from that pre-YouTube era. These vintage Internet celebrities went viral before anybody knew what "viral" meant. Let's see how fame treated them.
Vintage Internet Celebrities
It's not easy being an Internet celebrity, as these men and women can tell you. In this feature, the viral hits of yesteryear make a comeback. Has time improved these vintage Internet celebrities like wine or ripened them like farts?
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By K. Thor Jensen October 24, 2011 |
Credit: Pixyland.org
| 11 | Peter Pan |
Before Facebook, to get a glimpse of a weirdo on the Internet you'd need to find their personal home page. One of the first such vintage Internet celebrities to come to the attention of the world at large was Randy Constan, aka "Peter Pan." Constan, a New York native who moved to Florida in the mid-90s, posted pictures of himself in a Peter Pan outfit frolicking around in an attempt to win a girlfriend. Amazingly enough, he did eventually find one, and the pair were married in 2009. Randy still puts on the green tunic and tights for special occasions.
Credit: Mahir Cagri
| 10 | Mahir Cagri |
The original Borat, Turkish man Mahir Cagri became one of the first ever vintage Internet celebrities when his web page, inviting all readers to come to Turkey and stay in his home, went viral in 1999. Cagri's awesome mustache and devil-may-care demeanor won him fans around the globe, but no girlfriends. Cagri even attempted to file a lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen for jacking his swagger, but nothing ever came of it. Although mostly forgotten today, Cagri was so popular that he was referenced multiple times on Late Night With David Letterman.
Credit: JenniCam
| 9 | JenniCam |
Let's get away from the creepy dudes and into something a little sexier. Jennifer Ringley discovered the exhibitionistic properties of the Internet in 1996 when she installed a camera in her dorm room. Every three minutes, the camera would upload an image to the Internet. With that gesture, JenniCam was born. Always on, no matter what, the camera captured the minute details of Ringley's life, both boring and not. In 2003, she finally turned the camera off and disappeared from the public eye, becoming a vintage Internet celebrity.
Credit: Hironori Akutagawa
| 8 | Oolong The Rabbit |
Not all early Internet celebrities were human. Oolong was a rabbit owned by Japanese photographer who had an unusual talent - he loved to balance things on his head. Pancakes, teacups, stuffed animals - all found a home atop the cute little rodent's dome. The little bunny became a vintage Internet celebrity in 2001, kicking off a variety of image macros and even being covered by the New York Times. Alas, the vintage Internet celebrity died in 2003, but the photographer is raising a replacement rabbit.
Credit: Andy Milonakis
| 7 | Andy Milonakis |
Born with a growth hormone deficiency that arrested his development at the "chubby teenager" phase, Andy Milonakis proved that the Internet can make anybody famous. His early viral videos were posted on his website and features bonged-out freestyling and ludicrous situations. It wasn't long before the mainstream media picked up on him and he was getting regular gigs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! In 2005, MTV even gave him his own show, but it was canceled in 2007 and he slunk back to into vintage Internet celebrity shame.
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