‘David After Dentist’

We all have those “If only I had a camera” moments. In May 2008, as my 7-year-old son returned from having a tooth pulled, I was fortunate enough to have one. It was David’s first trip to the oral surgeon, and my wife couldn’t be with us, so I brought along a camera to record the before and after. As it turned out, the after was more interesting than the before, as David, still loopy from the anesthesia, sat in our car and spoke to the camera: “Is this real life? ... I have two fingers... You have four eyes ... Is this going to be over soon?” he asked. And then he let out an ear-piercing scream. It was a hilarious, existential exchange between father and son, and nine months later, I decided to post it to YouTube to share with family and friends. Within three days, the clip--titled “David After Dentist”--had over 3 million views. Anderson Cooper was talking about it on CNN; we were invited on the Today show, The O’Reilly Factor, and Tyra. It became a viral sensation and still gets an average of 100,000 views a day. We’ve now created a Web site, where we sell T-shirts benefitting organizations that do free dental work, and hear from fans daily who describe the laughter David’s viral moment has brought to their day. Despite all that, our lives haven’t changed much. David is a normal 9-year-old boy who excels in school and loves playing football. But his video, already Internet meme lore, will always be a cherished moment for our family.