a month or so ago, someone posted an SNL rap skit called "lazy sunday" to a viral video site called youtube. the video spread like wildfire across the net. i never saw it myself, because i couldn't get it to work in firefox.

apparently it was funny because a lot of people enjoyed it, and a couple "answer track" videos were even made, one for the west coast (which i have also not seen) and another fantastic one called lazy muncie, representing the midwest side straight outta muncie indiana. that one i have seen, and it's a hilarious must-see if you're familiar with the muncie area. if you're not from the area, you'll probably still recognize the icons of "small city" life.

from here you'd expect it to go the way of the typical internet meme and slowly die (though a smaller number of people will continue to "discover" it well into the future). but then things get weird. from boingboing:

A source at YouTube informs BoingBoing that NBC recently sent the user-submitted video hosting site a nastygram over the Saturday Night Live "Lazy Sunday: Chronicles of Narnia" video.

That's right -- NBC's lawyers are beating YouTube with a DMCA stick because the viral content distributor helped facilitate NBC's biggest viral hit, ever.

YouTube's blog states, "We know how popular that video is but YouTube respects the rights of copyright holders. You can still watch SNL's Lazy Sunday video for free on NBC's website."

But only Windows users can access the video on NBC.com -- the site in general is kinda buggy for non-Windows users. And the iTunes download costs $2 (see reader comments). Also, it took NBC a while to get the video there in the first place, and when the internet loves your work, it doesn't wait. That's why NBC should be sending flowers and chocolates to YouTube, not love notes from lawyers.

the video wouldn't be popular if not for youtube and sites like it. but now that it is, nbc wants to take it away from those sites and force people to go to "authorized" sources (which are either broken or charge money). this will only result in fewer people getting to see the video in the future, so not only is the peacock biting the hand that feeds it, it's also cutting off its beak to spite its face.

the boingboing post also includes a link to the lazy sunday video on google video, and if it still works (if nbc hasn't gotten to them too), i will watch it there immediately.¶

i was idsappointed that they didnt mention the Muncie noise scene. ;) ¶

i've now watched all three, and "lazy muncie" is definitely the funniest. i can't believe a media company could shoot itself in the foot like that... don't they realize what terrific publicity this all is for their dying show? it actually almost makes me want to watch it, now that it's spawning such interesting memes! ¶

jim davis throwing gang signs. now i've seen everything. ¶

having now seen all three, i'd probably agree that lazy muncie was the funniest. the original was probably the best produced, meaning if i didn't speak the language, that would be the best-sounding song. but that's not surprising, considering they had access to nbc studios.

i wasn't very impressed with lazy monday at all. it had a couple funny lines, but they really pushed the pottery thing too far and it wasn't that funny in the first place.

and yes, how can you beat jim davis throwing signs? ¶

mr. pibb and red vines does indeed equal crazy delicious, though. ¶