BROWNMARK FILMS – “What What (In the Butt)”
Special Entertainment created Brownmark Films and made the music video for Samwell’s single “What What (In the Butt)”. The video has since become a smash hit with over 25 million downloads so far on YouTube alone. Follow-up videos featuring Samwell have been downloaded millions of times as well.
An episode of South Park revolved around the What What phenomenon and featured a shot-for-shot re-creation of the video, starring Butters (a popular South Park character) in place of Samwell.
Samwell was a guest on the BBC television show Lily Allen and Friends, where his interview with Lily Allen was followed by a live performance of “What What (In the Butt)”, complete with choreographed male dancers. The “What What” song also surfaced on a recent episode of Sweden’s Got Talent in which four naked young men danced to the song. Members of the Israeli Army made a controversial fan remake of the video which became popular after being featured on Boing Boing.
What What (in the Butt) has been listed on YouTube’s “Most Discussed Videos Of All Time” and “Most Watched Music Videos Of All Time” charts for over a year. The video has screened at the Milwaukee International Film Festival, the MIX Brasil Film Festival, and at numerous art galleries. It’s received over 96,000 viewer comments so far, has been written about in over 1,500 blogs and news articles, and has been honored with over 1,000 response videos. In January of this year, the video won a Pill award for Best Animation & FX at the Pill Awards show in New York.
Through the assistance of loyal fans, subtitles for the video have been translated into numerous languages such as German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Danish to name a few.
Samwell now has his own line of merchandise available including T-Shirts, underwear, running shorts, and more. A new music video called Protect Respect has just been launched on YouTube, and a feature film called What What (In the Butt): The Movie is currently in development.
Feb-24 New Video! “Samwell Goes To Johnny Depp”
Feb-17 Defamer writes about What What the Movie!
Dec-9 New Video! “A Truly Samwell Christmas”
Jul-31 New video! “Samwell Goes To The Woods”
Follow Samwell on Twitter at OfficialSamwell!
“Here is today’s truly most viral video, because real humans, not charts decide what is viral … This whole thing, funny as it may be, seems like a perfectly executed viral conspiracy. Shrouded in mystery, baked on MySpace, and referred to as a WORLD PREMIERE, it has nearly 100,000 views on YouTube and the buzz about it far trumps that. We assure you this will be all over the place.”
- – VH1’s Web Junk
“YouTube hero Samwell’s ‘epic anthem’ What What (In the Butt) has propelled the Chicago unknown to internet fame.”
- – Singer Lily Allen
“This is the stuff that gives my life purpose.”
- – Fresh, Crunk+Disorderly
“Skip the remix, this one’s perfect for my rave.”
- – DJ Douggpound, writer/editor, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
“For some reason I kept picturing Tim Hardaway playing one-on-one with this guy, and Hardaway lost by forfeit.”
- – Eric Fensler, writer, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
“The video of Butter’s dancing to What What In the Butt is TiVo rewind worthy, and will get stuck in your head immediately. Long after the episode ages poorly, I’ll still be humming, “What what, in the butt!’”
- – BlogCritics Magazine
“Long live freedom of expression.”
- – Adam Curry, Original MTV VJ, Daily Source Code
“Song of the day: ‘What What (In the Butt)’ by Samwell.”
- – NME
“This week features Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo, who made the music video for Samwell’s What What (In The Butt), which became a YouTube smash.”
- – DJ Hostettler, The Onion A.V. Club
“19,864,151 Samwell fans simply cannot get enough of his smash hit What What (In the Butt).”
- – Defamer.com
“The YouTube star’s recently launched merchandise store is chock-full of items directly referencing that ode to behinds.”
- – Idolator.com
“In the recent ‘Canada on Strike’ episode of South Park the boys parodied the earworm viral video What What (In the Butt).”
- – Comedy Central Insider
“If you haven’t seen the video for ‘What What (In the Butt),’ you need to.”
- – Jason Harper, Pitch Music Weekly
“What was the most played song on our iPod in the past week? Samwell’s ‘What What (In the Butt).’”
- – Scissor Sisters interviewed by Gothamist
“Frat masculine archetypes and tranny lipgloss sensations alike bonded over the sinful pleasure of the simple beat and the even simpler lyrics.”
- – Courtney Nichols, Fruit Fly Life
“Topping the list so far is the horrendous rap – and YouTube sensation – What What (In the Butt) by American singer Samwell.”
- – Joanna Hunkin, New Zealand Herald
“Milwaukee’s best example of overnight Internet success may be Swant and Ciraldo, whom you might know from their video for Samwell’s ‘What What In the Butt.’ For months they remained the anonymous creators of a million-hit world-famous video, overhearing random conversations about it while hiding behind the proverbial curtain.”
- – Jeff Kenney, Vital Source Magazine
“Special Entertainment’s Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo are responsible for the hilarious visual journal through Samwell’s hit and were pretty damn excited when last night’s episode of South Park spoofed the video.”
- – Julie Lawrence, OnMilwaukee.com
“It seems like a joke, but I kinda think this is a totally serious statement of pride and Pat Robertson’s worst nightmare. Either way, the unsigned singer Samwell and the folks at Milwaukee production company Brownmark Films have succeeded in creating a video that joins ‘It’s Raining Men,’ ‘YMCA’ and ‘Lick It Up’ in the pantheon of very gay videos.”
- – VideoStatic.com
“In addition to its YouTube success, the video was embraced by the blogosphere and many mainstream media outlets as well. The runaway internet success of What What (In The Butt) put them squarely in the crosshairs of the internet exploitation that South Park parodied.”
- – Good Is The New Bad
“The What What (In the Butt) guy had quite a following on YouTube.”
- – Carol Hilker, Examiner.com
“I wonder if Samwell has become the next gay icon after Kylie Minogue?”
- – Top 10 YouTube Pop Culture Videos
Media Mentions:
“People started sending it to their friends and next thing you know you have a worldwide sensation … It’s the best three minutes you’ll spend all week — I mean, it’s magic.”
- – Kevin & Bean, L.A.’s #1 Morning Show, KROQ
“We love it! It’s equal parts brazilliant and shiteous, yet we couldn’t stop from smiling. Yes, WHAT WHAT in the BUTT! Check it out!”
- – Perez Hilton, PerezHilton.com
“A short music video posted online by a fellow calling himself Samwell has circulated around the world via the Internet. Samwell tells us he is gay, but he’s not tapping into a gay audience, necessarily. He is tapping into the stupendous growth of interest in anal sex among everybody else.”
- – Brian Alexander, MSNBC
“For Samwell, Madonna and Janet Jackson are the biggest pop stars. He very well could be a mixture of the two. With only one song to his credit he has transcended cybercelebrity and achieved celebrity itself.”
- – Ines Munoz Martinez-Mora, El Pais
“This one is simply too amazing to slip through the cracks. I don’t know much about who or what this is, but it’s by someone called Samwell … you’ll be glad you stuck around.”
- – VH1’s Best Week Ever
“Sheila ‘What, what, WHAT?!’ Broflovski needs to put out a cover of this song immediately.”
- – Dan Savage of Savage Love
“I said, what what?”
- – Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing
“It’s hilariously campy, and when it hit the Internet last February, people forwarded it to everyone they knew.”
- – Lilledeshan Bose, MKE Magazine
“Not sure what makes this such compelling viewing, but the piece de resistance has gotta be either the extended smile, or the “What” on each ass cheek.”
- – Stereogum Magazine
“What What (In The Butt) seemed a mild satire on the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck videos from Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
- – TV Squad
“I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a long time, and What What In the Butt has been stuck in my head for the past week!”
- – The Daily Illini
“Samwell conquered the world with the video What What (In the Butt) and followed it up with a series of saterical art videos.”
- — Pride Radio Denmark
“It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen.”
- – Shaun Morgan of Seether
“Samwell: Noted for being an openly gay R&B artist and Internet sensation. Hit Single: What What (In the Butt), a campy homage to all things, ummm, anal.”
- – Brittanie Shey, Houston Press
“Gay as hell, but that’s not the point.”
- – Howard Insider, The Daily Dose
“A peppy anal-sex romp.”
- – Shepherd Express
“In addition to its YouTube success, the video was embraced by the blogosphere and many mainstream media outlets as well. The runaway internet success of What What (In The Butt) put them squarely in the crosshairs of the internet exploitation that South Park parodied.”
- – Good Is The New Bad
“The video quickly went viral on YouTube, gaining millions of viewers and even the attention of actor Johnny Depp.”
- — Marc Felion, Feast of Fun
“A man dances and sings his risque single, What What (in the Butt).”
- – CollegeHumor.com
“What What In the Butt — Butters’ new song becomes an internet sensation.”
- – The Daily Show.com
“Someone will do a flash video of “What What in the Butt” using that picture of McCain apparently trying to give Obama a rimjob at the last debate.”
- – OpEdNews
“We were definitely thinking we were moving up in the world, going from Iron and Wine to Samwell. We got to meet him and he was very nice.”
- – The 1900s, interviewed by OnMilwaukee.com
“My daily tip is that you search for What What (In the Butt) to get a good laugh.”
- – DJ Mona, Sveriges Radio, Norway’s National Radio