The 15 Types of Harlem Shake Videos

There's one for everyone, awful humans that we are.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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By now, you've definitely heard of the "Harlem Shake" viral video craze, which isn't the actual Harlem Shake, but a thirty-second video that involves (1) An Electro-Clash Track, played over a video of (2) A single person, usually in a group of people, usually wearing some kind of "silly" headgear, (3) Air-humping, or doing an equally Beavis-like dance, (4) Until the beat drops, at which point, (5) Everyone who was previously a docile fixture of the background then goes wild, and then (6) It ends.

If you're anything like the staff of Complex—you did your best to avoid these, until finally, you couldn't take it anymore, tapped out, and submitted yourself to watching this ridiculousness. As such, we might as well help you, dear reader, navigate your way through the brain-meltingly toxic waters of viral-video saturation point, like the one we're at right now.

These are The 15 Types of Harlem Shake Videos. Take this wisdom, and do good with it.

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The Young, Homoerotic Harlem Shake Video (Home Edition)

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Funny? Yes. Kinda.

Also known as "The First Wave Harlem Shake Clip" video. This is the Patient Zero of Harlem Shake videos: Neither entertaining nor not-compelling, it'll be studied for years to come as part of the intellectual endeavor that is uncovering the science behind making some incredibly stupid shit catch on, and how unbelievably adept certain groups of people—like teenage boys without anything better to do—are at it over others.

The Flash Mob Harlem Shake Video, Done Poorly

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Funny? No.

It's just boring. You can go to any sports arena in the country and see the spectators go bananas for anything like this. Also, college sports fans are either the most brilliant or annoying mass groupings of people when they work together to do great things. This is an example of the former.

The Flash Mob Harlem Shake Video, Done Well

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Funny? No, but enjoyable.

Here's the difference between a Flash Mob Harlem Shake Video done well, and one done poorly: Camerawork. Also, having at least one funny element, or eye-candy, in this case: A mascot-mascots are always funny, or creepy, but generally the creepier they are, the funnier they are-and cheerleaders.

The 'One Thing That Supposedly Makes Watching This One Worth It' Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? Ocassionally.

Every halfway decent one of these videos should generally have at least one person doing something funny that you first glaze over, in effect, giving you reason to watch again once you have the moment of 'Wait, was that person actually doing that thing I think they were doing? In this case, it's a grown man repeatedly punching an inflatable giraffe in the head.

The Celebrity Harlem Shake Video (Likely Editon)

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Funny? No.

Celebrites with reputations for themselves being current and in-tune with nu new-media trends are already pretty insufferable. Jimmy Fallon, from time to time, can escape this insufferability. But here he uses The Roots—one of the greatest hip-hop acts of all time—to further a viral sensation named for something it absolutely is not, which should already elicit a reflexive "SMH" for anybody who knows better. The fact the Fallon, a pretty funny guy, couldn't bring it any funnier than this? Massively disappointing, but also, to be expected of anyone so unequivocally committed to jumping on viral video bandwagons so quickly.

The Grown-Up, Homoerotic Harlem Shake Video (Professional Athlete Edition)

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Funny? No.

Please note that a corporate brand sponsored this video, and that's just one of the reasons—like the Dallas Mavericks, or any number of the professional athletes before or after them who will make these—the entire sub-genre of Sports Celebrities Doing Funny Things should really be limited to SportsCenter commercials, running their own Twitter accounts, and playing the Meow Game on live television.

The 'My Wacky Workplace Made This' Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? Fuck no.

You know what sucks more than having to go to a grueling workplace? Pretending like that grueling, sweatshop-style, meme-making factory workplace is a good time. You know what's worse than that? Watching someone else do it.

The Celebrity Harlem Shake Video (Unlikely Editon)

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Funny? Yes. But not for the reasons they want it to be.

Of course celebrities were going to get in on this, with a few unlikely entries. These aren't funny because these are the Unlikely Celebrities Doing The Harlem Shake, they're funny because someone-possibly on their social media teams, though also, possibly the celebrity themselves-suggested they do this, and thought it was a good idea and a way to improve their image or exposure. Which it isn't. It just makes them look like the rest of the assholes on the Internet doing the Harlem Shake.

The Pop Culture Edit-Cut Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? Sometimes.

This is a variable: On the one hand, if cut well, these can be tremendously funny. On the other, they can ruin something that could be tremendously funny. The best possible outcome is a video like this one, in which you know what's coming, which is only going to be funny for about a tenth of a second, and yet: You remain transfixed.

The Celebrity Harlem Shake Video (Older, Decidedly Unhip Edition)

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Funny? No. Not even remotely.

These people ruin everything, all of the time. If none of the videos that came before this made the Harlem Shake truly terrible for you, this one should do it, as is so often the case with viral sensations. This is like watching your parents log into Facebook for the first time: An awkward, inevitable moment that inarguably changed everything for the worst thereafter.

The Counterintuitive 'Screw The Harlem Shake' Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? No.

Of course someone was going to make the 'The Harlem Shake Sucks' video. It just needs to be better than this (take, for example, this one). In other words, if you're going to bring it, bring it strong, bring it home, or don't bother bringing it at all, because you're just making it worse.

The 'Inanimate Object' Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? Genuinely.

No explanation, here. It just works.

The 'Cute Animals' Harlem Shake Video

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Funny? Kinda, but it doesn't really need to be.

Like the washing machine that came before it, these dogs are doing things that humans will never be able to do as well as they can: Make a dumbass viral sensation completely entertaining. Resistence is futile.

The Young, Homeerotic Harlem Shake Video (Suspended Athelete Edition)

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Funny? Yes.

Sadly, this hockey team got suspended from their playoffs for making this video. But was it worth it? Well, the fact is: Making a Harlem Shake video is a dirty job, but someone has to do it well, and nobody knows homoerotic humor quite like The Male High School Athlete. For their sacrifice, and for the fact that there's so much funny shit going on in this video (as opposed to this one, which also got those guys in trouble), these gentlemen deserve to be enshrined in the great pantheon of Viral Video Internet Martyrs for millenia to come. Instead, they're just going to miss the playoffs because adults are fucking stupid and generally the most unfunny people ever.

The Actual Harlem Shake

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Funny? No. Just sad.

This one's just sad, because it makes you realize how brilliant the actual Harlem Shake is, and how many people will cease to recognize this as the actual Harlem Shake. Also, because someone will inevitably make a Harlem Shake Does The Harlem Shake video, because this is the Internet, is why.

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