Double Rainbow
You might remember it as What does it mean, Double Rainbow All The Way
Viral classics15 of 40
2010·The social era·amazing
A man alone on a hillside having a genuine experience, which the internet treated first as a joke and then as the point.
The line people quote“What does it mean”
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Double Rainbow All The Way
- First known
- 2010
- Began as
- A video upload
- Format
- Video
- Made by
- Paul “Bear” Vasquez, filming from his land near Yosemite, California
- Uploaded by
- Vasquez himself, as Hungrybear9562
- What it said
- “Double rainbow all the way across the sky”, “What does this mean?” and “Too much!”
- Origin
- Likely original upload
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
Paul Vasquez films a double rainbow over the Yosemite Valley from his front yard in Mariposa County, California, and is overwhelmed by it — weeping, laughing, and asking what it means.
The Gregory Brothers made an auto-tuned version; it appeared in adverts and films. Vasquez appeared on Kimmel’s show and remained a public figure until his death in May 2020.
Why it matteredWhat changed
It is the cleanest example of a video nobody saw for six months and then everybody saw in a week, because one person with a large audience linked to it. Two days after that it had been turned into a song, which is how fast the remix machinery of 2010 worked.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
Paul Vasquez films two rainbows from his property in Mariposa County and uploads the video the same day.1
- Picked up
The television host Jimmy Kimmel tweets a link to it, calling it the funniest video in the world. It passes a million views soon afterwards.1
- Remixed
The Gregory Brothers post an Auto-Tuned Double Rainbow Song made from his voice.1
- Mainstream
Vasquez is interviewed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!1 What else happened on 26 July
- Later
The video opens the feature film We’re the Millers.1
- Later
Vasquez dies aged 57 in hospital in Mariposa, California.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asIt spread the day it was posted.
ActuallyIt was uploaded in January 2010 and barely watched until July, when one tweet sent it round.1
What it createdWhat came out of it
- Remixed into Double Rainbow Song!Video · 2010
The Gregory Brothers’ song, posted two days after the video spread, is made from Paul Vasquez’s voice.
More from hereIn this collection
RelatedMore like this
Records this one is explicitly related to — a copy, a remake, a parody, the same meme or the same maker.
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · the upload that made its maker known
Where it came fromWhat we know
High-confidence original source.
Earliest known source: YouTube
Created by Paul Vasquez. Originally uploaded by Hungrybear9562. Established by research, not by who posted the copy shown here.
- When
- Originally published 2010.
- Where
- Known on YouTube.
More from 2010You were there
More from the social eraMore of the archive
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things