James Kollar: Epic Beard Man

James Kollar: EPIC BEARD MAN

• The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc. 

“Epic Beard Man” is a meme whose name was derived from a video titled, “AC TRANSIT BUS FIGHT I AM A MOTHERF***ER.” The “Epic Beard Man” is the nickname given for the main figure of the video, a man named Thomas Bruso. The video centers around Bruso getting into a reacial altercation with a black male on an AC Transit bus (Bruso is wearing a shirt saying “I AM A MOTHERF***ER which is where the video’s name came from.) In the video, Bruso is confronted by the black man after a heated confrontation, and Bruso begins to violently attack the man until he has been beaten into submission. I would post the video here, but it is far too violent and obscene to be put on this blog. However, here is the transcript of the video depicting the heated exchange between the two men (courtesy of knowyourmeme.com)

Black man: …AC Transit
Bruso: Let’s get back to business. How much you charge me for a spit-shine?
Black man: what?
Bruso: How much you charge me for my Stacy Adams? I’m going to a funeral on Friday…You said you… [note: Stacy Adams are a brand of shoe.]
Black man: Did you get what I said just now?
Bruso: Yes
Black man: Why a brother gotta spit-shine your shoes?
Bruso: You offered!
Black man: I didn’t offer you s**t.

Follow up videos were made such as news interviews of what happened and user response videos on YouTube poured in. The video’s creator, a woman named Lyanna came under heavy criticism for her background commentary in the video, calling Bruso “pinky” after what was probably the color of his skin, and also stealing Bruso’s bag which he left on the bus after he stormed off. This lead to a response by the internet group Anonymous, which began Operation: I AM A MOTHERF***ER to harass Lyanna for her actions. She immediately made a response video apologizing for her actions.

There have been continuous video responses since the incident where “the thing they all have in common is that most enjoy watching Epic Beard Man’s retaliation against the black man” (know your meme.) Here is an example of a user response video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dz3KIBj59uI

Another spinoff of the video became a phenomena known as “Amber Lamps,” which is what the black man is heard to be yelling after Bruso had his way with him. The man’s intentions was to call for an “ambulance,” however after being beat down his pronunciation of the word came off as “Amber Lamps.” The word Amber Lamps took on a life of its own, and viewers began associating it as the name of a girl in the video who sits on the bus and completely ignores the vicious fight happening. Her calm composure created a new meme centered around her:

The “Epic Beard Guy” meme also led to documentaries about Bruso’s life, and even a mock feature film intending to reenact Bruso’s interesting life story.

• When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why? Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

I personally feel that this video became so rapidly popular on the internet due to how quickly the situation escalates between Bruso and the man. It becomes extremely violent very fast, and its unexpectedness is what makes it such a crazy and appealing video, which is perfect for internet sharing. The video also is funny because of Bruso himself, wearing his “I AM A MOTHERF***ER” shirt and coming off as incredibly insane. There is a common enjoyment of watching a man give such a dominating physical assault, especially when his age and looks resemble that of Santa Clause.

Also, since the video only shows Bruso acting in response to the black man’s aggression, many see his actions as self-defense, making the video seem all the more interesting that the old man had such ability.

• How popular did it become and over what time span? (include "Google Insights" interest). 

Here is the “Google Insights” interest for the search term “Epic Beard Man”