I’m sure that many of you who are surfing the Internet regularly have heard of the phenomenon known as “Rick Rolling“. For those who don’t know, it is basically a prank that people on the net pull (usually on forums) whereby they post a link which is supposedly relavent to the topic being discussed, but the unsuspecting person ends up watching the following video of Ricky Astley song, “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

I suppose the whole humour in the gag is being surprised by the music and embarassed by the cheesy 80’s song and dancing (now I can’t seem to get it out of my mind!). The Rick Rolling phenomenon had spread virally through the Internet and is widely recognized in the Internet community. Even CNN aired a short piece regarding the popularity of Rick Rolling. The gag was supposedly originated from the popular web board known as 4Chan. Rick rolling was actually a variant from the gag known as “Duck Rolling”, whereby links to news stories would lead viewers to a photoshopped picture of a duck on wheels. It is estimated that over 30 million viewers have been “Rick Rolled” worldwide and it looks as though it may revive Rick Astley’s career….it was announced by Rick’s music label that they will soon release a new “Best of Rick Astley Album”. Oh the humanity…

-Stephen