The Internet is a fickle place, but it reliably loves two things: The cute and the offbeat. Twins may be becoming less and less unique, but they’re still rare enough to evoke wonder and fascination on YouTube. It helps, too, when said twins are chubby and pre-verbal (or possibly possessed by demons). To kick off Slate’s special twins issue, here are five of the Web’s most entertaining viral videos starring multiples.
Justin and Jeremy Garcia may only be five years old, but they’ve already internalized a long-standing bit of conventional wisdom about being a twin: Make sure you have a distinct role in the relationship. Garcia Twin on the right owns the dance floor; his brother gets lead vocals.
“Laughing Baby” is one of the all-time most-watched videos on YouTube; it stands to reason that TWO giggling babies would also be popular. Identical twins Peyton and Brennan (who also have a pair of fraternal-twin siblings) seem to have maintained their sunny disposition into toddlerhood: In a video posted two years later, the boys have a merry old time pratfalling and pushing each other off the furniture.
This mesmerizing video of Sam and Ren McEntee—two fat, gurgly babies wearing diapers and socks—went viral this spring. It shows the two boys careening around their family kitchen, seemingly conversing with one another in a private language. (Stay tuned for a piece on “cryptophasia,” or “twin language,” in our twins issue this week.) The video, which has currently been viewed some 31 million times on YouTube, spawned its own mini-genre of translation videos.
Better than the sneezing panda? Very possibly.
In the mid-’90s, back when they were better known as the Romulus and Remus of T.G.I.F. than as baby-faced fashion moguls, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen began starring in a direct-to-video series about the many glamorous parties the tweens attended (e.g., Hawaiian beach parties, camp out parties, and mall parties). Years later, enterprising YouTube user philipmserious discovered that, if you slow down the song “Gimme Pizza”—the highlight of the series’ first episode—you get the scariest slumber party soundtrack of all time. Also, a disgusting looking pizza.
For more on twins, check out our special issue, which is running throughout the week.
