Video: Most Amazing Celeb Moments Caught on Tape

By Brooke Tarnoff Posted Dec 15th 2009 03:55PM

As the decade draws to a close, we wonder: what could be more representative of the last ten years than the phenomenon of viral video? In the early days of the '00s, amazing moments caught on tape were sent around as email attachments, but with the advent of YouTube in 2005, alerting your friends to the best videos was as simple as copying and pasting a quick link.

We'll always remember the people who snagged their 15 minutes on the Internet, for better or worse - Chris Crocker, the wedding dance party, Christian the Lion - but it's not just vids of regular Joes and jungle cats lighting the web on fire. Celebs appear in viral videos all the time these days, whether showing their funny sides on purpose (a la 'SNL' digital shorts) or caught enjoying an on-set tirade dangerously close to recording equipment. In honor of the "aughts," let's take a look at the Most Amazing Celeb Moments Caught on Tape after the jump.

The Fall of Hasselhoff: Once the very definition of buff masculinity, former 'Baywatch' hunk David Hasselhoff became a one-man cautionary tale on the dangers of drinking in 2007. His young daughter captured footage of the actor lying on the floor, drunkenly grazing on a Wendy's hamburger and slurring expletives. The Hoff's shameful binge flew around the web at the speed of light.

D*ck in a Box: 'Lazy Sunday' was Andy Samberg's first foray into viral video, but adding pop star Justin Timberlake to the successful formula of 'SNL' digital shorts was the key to one of the most-forwarded memes of time immemorial (or at least since the invention of the Internet). Even your mom laughs when you sing "Step one: cut a hole in the box."

Michael Richards' Racism: While 'SNL' was JT's vehicle to bring his sense of humor to the people, some stars' moment of Internet fame exposes something much less flattering. Michael Richards of 'Seinfeld' revealed the ugly underbelly of his comedy with racial epithets during a stand-up routine in 2006. His jaw-dropping rant preceded public apologies, but it was a career-ender anyway.

Prop 8 the Musical: Stars share more than jokes and prejudice on the web - some use the viral machine to promote their politics. Celebs like Jack Black, John C. Reilly and Neil Patrick Harris banded together during the controversial California Prop 8 debate in 2008, making this pro-gay marriage musical to voice their opinions.

Alec Baldwin Voicemail: A testament to the power of YouTube: Alec Baldwin left his 11-year-old daughter a nasty voicemail, calling her a "rude little pig" in 2007. It was widely shared via the video-only site, after a bunch of enterprising individuals set the audio track to pictures of the disgraced actor.

Joaquin Phoenix on 'Letterman': Letterman pulls in millions of viewers on his televised broadcast, but his audience is just a fraction of the people who watched Joaquin Phoenix deliver the weirdest, most uncomfortable interview of all time. Joaquin's beard graced computers around the world for weeks after his 'Late Show' appearance in February.

Britney Spears Almost Drops Baby: Viral video might be the worst thing to happen to Britney's sense of privacy. In 2006, a paparazzo caught footage of Britney nearly dropping a months-old Sean Preston. Stumbling with a baby might not be Internet wildfire for a normal parent, but when you're the Princess of Pop, your every misstep has the potential for legend-of-the-web status.

'Office' Cast on Writers' Strike: We remember the 2007 Writers' Strike as the season of reruns. For TV writers, it was a battle to get paid for Internet revenue - a major source of income for studios. The writers and actors of 'The Office' took to Battlefield Web to drum up support. Their video made the rounds - and the writers finally won their demands. Sort of.

Christian Bale Freakout: Alec Baldwin should have warned Christian Bale: don't say ugly things near devices capable of recording audio. The track of Bale flipping his lid on the 'Terminator Salvation' set was remixed, sampled and set to video, bringing great shame to Bale and great joy to its vast Internet audience.

Rickrolling: When Rick Astley made the video for 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' he had no way of knowing he'd someday be part of the most aggressive viral Internet prank of all time. From 2007-2008, the "rickrolling" craze meant you never knew when a clip of this video would show up in the middle of whatever you were trying to watch online.

Comments

(19)

Saturday 26 December

By Hannah

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I actually felt sorry for Britney over that video. She turned her ankle for pete's sake, and she and her bodyguard she did a great job of recovery. It's not like she dangled the baby off a balcony. I'm sure she's not the first mom to stumble or even take a fall while holding a baby.

By Kyle

Exactly! They treat Micheal Jackson like some hero, when in all reality he was the biggest weirdo of all time. Dangling a baby of the balcony was intentional, tripping with a baby was accidental, its not like she wanted anymore crap from the paparazzi.

By pinkthenred

I agree, this could have happened to anyone carrying a baby. She had a lot to be thinking about as she carried her child among that pack of wolves. They should have moved out of the damn way. She was a mess at that time but to fault her for stumbling is reaching.

By gkennan

Yeah! LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!

By hotrodqd

when my youngest son was a few months old I always carried him out to the car when we left to go somewhere....one day I stepped on my shoe string and fell down 5-6 steps holding my infant son in my arms ...luckily I had the sense to twist & turn landing on my side & back shielding my child from the impact and acted as a cushion for him as I landed ....it really messed up my knee and back ...but I'm just thankful he wasnt injured ....so why you taking another shot at britt again ? we all try to be good responsible parents but sometimes things happen ya know . are you perfect ?

By Margie

Poor Brit, that was an accident. Not like hanging the baby over a balcony on purpose (rip Mike) but that was stupid. When you are famous you can't have faults I guess.

By the titanicmike

exactly Hannah and Margie,a freakin accident. Far from dangling your child off a balcony! Oh I forgot that was the I'm really not a pedophile, even though I have 8 locks on my bedroom door michael do no wrong wacko!

I'm so glad you posted your story hotrod...I was waiting for people to start saying she shouldn't have been wearing those shoes...but you have proved that even tennis shoes can cause a fall. Good that you saved your little one from harm, and I'm sorry you got hurt...but I think 99.9% of moms would do exactly what you did. And I think Britney would have fallen right on her face to keep her baby from getting hurt too.

By marg

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Yes, that was a VERY bad interview with Joaquin Phoenix. However, I truly feel that after "cleaning up" and the memories of how his brother, River, died from drugs, Joaquin has made a tremendous turnaround and I very much enjoy the movies he has been putting out. Shows that some actors/actresses are smart enough to care and love themselves and change their life around.

By HarmyG

"Britney Spears Almost Drops Baby"??

You guys are part of the problem. This disgusts me.

By jess

I feel so sorry for david hasselhoff's daughter, I had an alcoholic parent and that is just so hard and sad. I feel so bad for that child, it's just sad. His behavior will scar her for life. poor poor kid.

By Thor

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Poor daughter? Rubbish! This poor teenage girl purposely filmed her recovering, alcoholic father and exploited him on the internet. She no doubt has endured some hardships in dealing with having an alcoholic parent, and his actions were sad, bringing discredit on himself; however,her actions were in the category of two wrongs not making a right. Daddy relapsed and put himself in a bad position to which he had to accept responsibility blaming himself, BUT, POOR daughter only helped to ensure she would be the drama-seeking, "Oh Whoa is me" empress of the future. Typical teenager thinking applied here. No thought of how things would turn out because of HER actions as well. "Let's smear daddy's reputation and soak up all the pity from everyone viewing my video." In short, they were both very wrong, but funny thing is, no one focuses on the brat who set out to blast her father by exploiting his alcoholism. What a winner she is. Everybody should have such a caring, loving, and helpful child like her. Would you want one? Seriously, if this happened in public, game on, but this was in the home. Nothing sacred there anymore.

By anglhart

Chrisian Bale is a pompus ass

Sunday 27 December

By Erick

Christian Bale is a total douche bag! I didn't realize it till I heard that tape. Who the f__k does he think he is? I hope someone knocks his a_s out the next time he starts mouthing off again.

By very encojonao

so where's the cheesecake and jelly that yuo show on the feature picture? maricones!!!

By lamalanga

REDNECK chocha pendejera que vives en ese pig sty double wide pecebre adonde pasas tu vida distilando meth.PARROTMALITO va a terminar esto por mi parte.a polonia cabron!!!

By QueenB

Brittneys baby isnt no 1 mo old hes holding his head up perfectly..

By Skppygddss

Seeing Rik Astley ::I know that's not how the article spells it but I'm pretty sure that's how he spells it:: makes me think of the Literal Video Version Rickroll. That thing is freakin hillarious!

Friday 01 January

By anim_lvr

No matter how many times I have heard the video from Alex Baldwin it never ceases to shock and piss me off. Regardless of his and his ex-wife's relationship, you should never behave that way toward a child or for that matter any human being. He later apologized but for me I believe he only did that because it was made public and the total uproar that the video caused. In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine my father calling me those names and the hurt and humiliation that I would feel if they were voiced. Baldwin also always been extremely arrogant and narcisisstic and this video only confirms his real personality. For him to be forgiven so quickly was unbelievable to me.

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