…or have they gotten better at hiding? 2006 was 15 years ago. And no leprechauns…
It’s nearly that magical time of year again: St. Patrick’s Day. You know what that means. *Pulls up Youtube*
“To me it look like a leprechaun, to me. All you gotta do is look up in the tree. Who else see the leprechaun? Say yeah!”
“YEAAAAH!!!”
The words were etched into my mind from the moment I first heard them. I knew they would be important even then. If not for the entire internet, at least for me and people around me. Was there actually a leprechaun in the South?
Other internationally viral videos like the Bed Intruder (“Hide yo kids, hide yo wives, and hide yo husbands, cause they rapin’ everybody out here.”) and the slightly lesser known “Struttin’ that ass,” guy are both from my home town of Huntsville, Alabama but came to light slightly later and from the far north of the state while the southern tip was home to Mobile, Alabama’s Crichton Leprechaun. But all are from the “Heart of Dixie” and that means a lot to a southern meme connoisseur.
“Many of *YOU* brang binoculars, camcorders, even camera-phones…” “This amateur sketch resembles what many of *YOU* say the leprechaun looks like.” So… they either knew that ONLY this local community was going to watch this news channel or they want to make sure anyone watching knew only these “idiots” were saying and doing these things.
When introducing the piece the two at the desk are already laughing as if everyone in the community should all be looked down upon when it’s pretty obvious (most) everyone is in on the joke and having fun with their friends, and makes the really strange wording of the piece just feel all the more odd and condescending.
Back in the studio they make fun of the Amateur Sketch after choosing to air it themselves… if it’s so bad don’t put it on TV, at least roll with the joke… then the lady laughs “People will do ANYTHING for a pot of gold!” It’s just odd. If you’re gonna air a story about a community of (what is at least shown to be) all African American people who are in on the joke, maybe play it straight and be in on the joke too, or with a wink act like you too “JUST DON’T KNOW what it is,” or laugh WITH and not AT them.
Even back then it was a good idea to protect your own cheeks from getting clapped by the PC Police. It’s not like it would have been any less entertaining… it would have been just as… if not more funny to play it straight like I described and agree that there MIGHT be something we don’t know about, POSSIBLY a leprechaun *wink wink* and not make fun of poor people on the news while we are at it.
This might make it sound like it pisses me off. It doesn’t. Just a few nitpicks I’ve noticed over the years of enjoying the video regularly. I love this story and I don’t think they ever meant any harm. Probably didn’t think about it much before airing. But these days you gotta think about what you say.
It’s just, after all this time there has been no significant follow up and I’m thus left with some questions: are there just no more leprechauns in Alabama? Could a better sketch have helped? COULD it have been a crack head that got a hold to the wrong stuff (as opposed to the right stuff: crack, I guess)? How is yelling “Yeah that leprechaun is still in the tree. Don’t be afraid,” at random cars driving by who didn’t even ask the same as “directing traffic?” His great-great grandfather was Irish and was from 10,000 years ago? His grand father’s grand father…? The first humans in Ireland were 9000 years ago. Shouldn’t leprechauan flutes come from around the 800’s AD or later and not 10,000 years ago when there weren’t any leprechauns and be made of something other than PVC pipe?
Where IS the gold at?
Looking at the video, and everything else through a 2021 lens I guess I can see why the leprechauns might choose to stay so much better hidden now.
Anyway here is a remix that still claps fat all these years later.
