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For me, I really like cute memes even (and especially) when they’re only about big lumps with knobs. Which lumps are we talking about, and why are their memes cute? It’s Corn Kid, and I can tell you all about it.
Recess Therapy and Corn Kid’s Initial Discovery
For the uninitiated, Recess Therapy is a YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok series where host Julian Shapiro-Barnum asks small children all about themselves and their interests, to cute effect.
In a video posted on August 4th, 2022, he met this seven-year-old named Tariq in Prospect Park, in Brooklyn New York. They were at a weekly food festival, and Tariq was apparently enjoying his first-ever corn on the cob.
Which he enjoyed a great deal.
This video is full of cute-child one-liners. And that’s the reason it took off. According to Tariq, “it has the juice” “when I tried it with butter, everything changed,” and “ever since I was told that corn was real, it tasted good.”
Memes, Spread to TikTok, and the Corn Kid Song
On TikTok, the original video earned 3.4 million views in three weeks, over the course of the initial hype. And honestly, why not when Tariq is that adorable?!
So this video was a phenomenon unto itself, but along with the wealth of views, came the inevitable image macros, emphasizing Tariq’s love of corn, and almost turning him into a sort of ultra-specific archetype.
A few weeks after the initial post, a song consisting of samples of Tariq’s takes, was released by content creators The Gregory Brothers, also known as schmoyoho.
They were the group that earlier that year had been responsible for the viral Chrissy Wake Up song.
They previewed the new Corn Kid song on TikTok on August 18th, about two weeks after the original video, then posted it in full to YouTube 10 days after that. It probably took that long to put together, because between the preview and the full-length version, Julian, the host of Recess Therapy, was able to revisit Tariq in person.
On the 24th and 25th, Julian released a follow-up video, in which Tariq created the corn dance.
In the fallout, reply videos were created by full-grown humans from all over the internet, versioning out both the song and dance into choral versions, dramatic musicals, emo-rock style covers, and much more.
The Viral Fame of Corn Kid
Tariq himself got busy promoting the meme as well. In the wake of his unexpected fandom, and chaperoned by his mother Jessica, he appeared on Cameo, attended the premiere of a Robert Zemeckis movie, where he asked “who is Tom Hanks?”, appeared on daytime talk shows, partnered with Green Giant for a charity corn giveaway, starred in a Chipotle ad, is now South Dakota’s official “corn-bassador,” and even appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
So, it seems like the entire universe is on board with Tariq’s enthusiasm, and it’s great when a meme is able to bring this much joy to this many people.
Have a corn-tastic day everyone.
Editor’s note: Corn Kid was a nominee in the “Big Mood” category of the 2023 Daily Dot Hall of Fame!
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