JibJab

digital entertainment studio

JibJab is a website created by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis in 1999. JibJab was noticed in the 2004 U.S. presidential election with their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land is your Land" became so popular. The company creates original content. It has three main sections on the website: eCards; "Everyday Fun Sendables" such as funny videos; and "Originals," including "This Land," "Time for Some Campaignin'," and "Big Box Mart."

JibJab has also produced commercials for clients like Sony, Noggin, Disney and Cartoon Network.

Political comedy change

Capitol III change

JibJab made a flash movie for the 2000 United States presidential election in July 2000, which featured a rap battle between the two main candidates, Vice President Al Gore and Texas governor George W. Bush. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush also make cameos.

Ahnuld for Governor change

In 2003, JibJab made a flash movie making fun of Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor of California.

This Land change

For the 2004 United States presidential election, JibJab made a flash movie entitled "This Land", which is a parody of This Land Is Your Land. The two main candidates, President George W. Bush and US Senator John Kerry are the main stars. The parody was very popular.[1]

Good to Be in DC change

JibJab followed up with another animation set to the tune of Dixie. In this video, animated versions of Bush, Kerry, and their running mates, Dick Cheney and John Edwards, singing about their hopes for the upcoming election.

Second Term change

Immediately after Bush's election victory, JibJab released a third video, "Second Term", in the tune of She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain.

Time for Some Campaigning change

For the 2008 United States presidential election, JibJab released another animation. It is in the tune of Bob Dylan's The Times They Are a-Changin. Animated versions of the two main candidates, US Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, sing about their hopes for the election.

He's Barack Obama change

Upon Obama's election victory and him taking power, JibJab released another animation, where they showed Obama as a superhero. The music is a rock version of When Johnny Comes Marching Home, and it is about Obama's promises as President.

2012 election change

JibJab did not make another animation and instead focused on their e-card business. However, an election web-app released in October of that year.[2]

Year in Review change

JibJab started the tradition of making animations reviewing the events that happened each year, with an animation released between Christmas and New Year's Eve, sung to all classic melodies. The tradition originally lasted from 2005 to 2014, however JibJab revived the tradition in 2020 due to popular demand.

"2-0-5" (2005) change

This is a parody of the songs Auld Lang Syne and Turkey in the Straw, and is sung in the perspective of George W. Bush. The events mentioned include:

Nuckin' Futz (2006) change

This is a parody of Jingle Bells sung in an elementary-school Christmas concert. Notable events mentioned include:

In 2007 (2007) change

This is a parody of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, portrayed by angels, who were afraid God would be upsetted by the year's tragic events and would rather sugar-coat it in the song. Notable events mentioned include:

The JibJab Year in Review 2008 change

This is a parody of Miss Suzie sang by Baby New Year 2008. Notable events mentioned include

  • The 2007-08 financial crisis
  • The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
  • The liquidity crisis of the American International Group
  • The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers
  • The continuing War in Afghanistan
  • The automotive industry crisis's impact on the Big Three automobile manufacturers
  • Jesse Jackson threatening to castrate Obama
  • Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton's YouTube video claiming to have seen Bigfoot's corpse in northern Georgia
  • The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
  • David Duchovny undergoing rehabilitation
  • Dick Cheney having a heart attack
  • Energy crisis
  • Barack Obama defeating John McCain in the 2008 United States presidential election
  • McCain forgetting how many houses he owned
  • Sarah Palin being McCain's running mate, which shocked the press
  • The Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing
  • Bill Gates leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft
  • Vladimir Putin's role in the Russo-Georgian War
  • Hurricanes Ike and Gustav
  • John Edwards cheating on his wife

Never a Year like '09 (2009) change

This is a parody of The Entertainer. Notable events mentioned include

So Long to Ya 2010 (2010) change

This is a parody of The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze portrayed by Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Notable events mentioned include:

  • Tea Party movement
  • The foreclosure crisis
  • Obamacare
  • Joe Biden swearing on national television while introducing Obama during the signing ceremony
  • An earthquake in Haiti
  • The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, disrupting air travel across Europe
  • Greece's debt crisis
  • The Deepwater Horizon oil spill
  • The Mosque at Ground Zero
  • WikiLeaks
  • The campaign finance reform in the United States
  • Elena Kagan
  • Obama's popularity declining
  • Charles B. Rangel, Stanley A. McChrystal, and Hamid Karzai
  • The war in Iraq
  • Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
  • Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck on Fox News
  • Colleen LaRose
  • Michelle Obama going to Spain
  • JetBlue flight attendant incident
  • Rahm Emanuel's resignation
  • Russian spies
  • 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
  • Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act
  • California legalizing marijuana
  • Inherited wars
  • Debt
  • Gridlocking politicians
  • Iran's nuclear threats
  • Presidential seal falls off podium during speech at women's conference

2011 Buh-Bye (2011) change

This is a parody of My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean. Notable events mentioned include:

  • The introduction of Ben & Jerry's new ice cream flavor, "Schweddy Balls", inspired by Saturday Night Live
  • Charlie Sheen
  • Theft claims by Lindsay Lohan
  • Charges of sexual assaults against Dominique Strauss-Kahn
  • The campaigning of Republicans Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain for the 2012 United States presidential election
  • The trial and conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child scandal
  • Standard & Poor lowering America's rating
  • The high unemployment rate
  • The United States debt-ceiling crisis
  • Weinergate
  • Taxation and Class War debates
  • Rupert Murdoch getting hit with a pie
  • The 2011 United States listeriosis outbreak
  • Greek debt
  • The Arab Spring (including the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the 2011 Libyan civil war)
  • The death of Muhamar Gaddafi
  • The removal of Don't ask, don't tell
  • The claims and denials of homosexuality in Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie
  • The death of Osama bin Laden
  • An earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan
  • Riots in Great Britain
  • The 2011 end times prediction by Harold Camping
  • The widespread 2012 phenomenon (also called the Mayan Prophecy or the Mayan Apocalypse)
  • The short-lived marriage by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries
  • Jessica Simpson and Beyoncé have babies
  • The bankruptcy of Borders Group
  • Netflix policy changes lead people to unsubscribe, consequently losing over 75% brand value
  • Justin Bieber's new hairstyle
  • Rebecca Black's hit song "Friday"
  • The Royal Wedding
  • The Occupy Wall Street movement and the widespread of the Occupy movement
  • The deaths of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Taylor, Betty Ford, Randy Savage, Andy Rooney, Peter Falk, Ryan Dunn, and Amy Winehouse
  • The Nyan Cat
  • The last Space Shuttle mission
  • The incident in Zanesville, Ohio when exotic animals, such as lions, tigers, and bears were released.

2012 The End is Near (2012) change

This is a parody of Down By The Riverside portrayed by Mayans. Notable events mentioned include:

2013 What a Year (2013) change

This is a parody of Give My Regards To Broadway. Notable events mentioned include:

  • The 2012–13 Egyptian protests and the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi
  • Drone warfare in Pakistan
  • Edward Snowden exposing the NSA scandal
  • Sequestering
  • A government shutdown
  • Obamacare
  • Rob Ford smoking crack
  • Weinergate again
  • The movie Gravity
  • The Pope quits
  • The striking down of the Defense of Marriage Act and California Propisition 8
  • Kanye West having a baby
  • A royal baby
  • The popularity of The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, as well as the latter's series finale
  • The launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C
  • Harlem Shake by Bauuer
  • Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus
  • Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post
  • Paula Deen allegedly saying the N-word
  • Blurred Lines
  • The deaths of James Gandolfini, Lou Reed, Nelson Mandela, and Margaret Thatcher among others
  • Blockbuster going out of business
  • Batkid
  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • What Does the Fox Say by Ylvis
  • Floods in Colorado
  • A typhoon in the Philippines
  • A tornado in Oklahoma
  • Sharknado
  • The Justin Bieber-Anne Frank controversy
  • Marissa Mayer buying Tumblr
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  • Jennifer Lawrence playing Katniss Everdeen
  • Jason Collins coming out as gay

2014 You are History (2014) change

This is a parody of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Notable events mentioned include:

  • 2014 Winter Olympics
  • 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
  • The December 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment hack and temporary cancellation of The Interview
  • The How I Met Your Mother series finale
  • Renée Zellweger's facial reconstruction
  • The 2014 Omar J. Gonzalez White House intrusion
  • Kim Kardiashian's butt
  • ISIS
  • Russia fighting against Ukraine
  • The Republicans taking over Congress
  • Barack Obama's executive orders
  • Michael Brown and Eric Garner's deaths, and subsequent unrest
  • Ebola
  • Washington, D.C. and Colorado legalizing marijuana
  • Jay Leno retiring from the Night Show, being replaced by Jimmy Fallon
  • The ending of Colbert Report
  • All About that Bass by Megan Trainor
  • Shia LaBeouf no longer being relevant
  • Roger Goodell terminating Ray Rice from the Baltimore Ravens and Adrian Peterson from the Minnesota Vikings over domestic violence cases
  • The marriage of Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie and George Clooney to Amal Alamuddin
  • The divorce of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow
  • Justin Bieber's egg-throwing and DUI incidents, subsequent arrest, and continued career downfall
  • The Solange Knowles-Jay-Z elevator brawl
  • Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • The Rosetta Spacecraft successfully landing on a comet
  • The success of Guardians of the Galaxy and Interstellar
  • 4Chan
  • "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and his giant mountie hat from the 56th Annual Grammy Awards
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic
  • Jane Foster becomes Marvel Comics' first ever female Thor
  • The deaths of Casey Kasem, Norman Bridwell, Robin Williams, Sid Caesar, Pete Seeger, Richard Attenborough, Mickey Rooney, Maya Angelou, Jan Hooks, Harold Ramis, Joan Rivers, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
  • The 2014 FIFA World Cup, specifically Germany's 7-1 thrashing of Brazil in the semifinals
  • "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj and Eaten Alive
  • The iPhone 6
  • Malaysia Airlines aircraft losses (The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17)
  • Potato Salad Kickstarter
  • Gamergate controversy
  • The Chase Bank, Home Depot, and Sony data breaches
  • Tracy Morgan's traffic accident and subsequent lawsuit against Walmart
  • The Washington Redskins change their logo
  • Malala Yousafzai winning a 2014 Nobel Peace Prize
  • The discovery of Dreadnoughtus schrani, believed to be the largest dinosaur ever to exist
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens announcement
  • Janet Yellen becomes Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
  • The racist comments made by Donald Sterling, and the ensuing controversy

2020 You've Got to Go (2020) change

This is an original song. Notable events mentioned include:

  • Billie Eilish winning at the Grammys
  • Parasite winning an Academy Award
  • Brexit
  • Donald Trump getting impeached
  • The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns
  • The usage of face masks
  • The use of "Karen" as an insult
  • The use of hand sanitizer during the pandemic
  • The closing of barber shops during the pandemic, resulting in "pandemic hair"
  • Panic buying of toilet paper during the pandemic
  • The use of the app Zoom to communicate during the pandemic
  • The closing of movie theaters during the pandemic, resulting in the rise of streaming service
  • The killing of George Floyd and subsequent unrest
  • Donald Trump's tweets
  • Sweatpants
  • Tiger King
  • The murder hornet scare
  • The rise of Tik Tok and Donald Trump's attempt to ban the service
  • Jeff Bezos being rich
  • Sports events held in empty stadiums due to the pandemic
  • LeBron James wins his fourth NBA championship
  • The deaths of Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, among others
  • Incidents during the 2020 United States presidential election, including Donald Trump interrupting Joe Biden and a fly landing on Mike Pence
  • The delay of the final results of the election, due to mail-in voting caused by the pandemic
  • Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump in the election, and Trump's accusitions of voting fraud and attempts to overturn the election in favor of Trump
  • US West Coast fires
  • The failing economy caused by the pandemic

References change

  1. https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2004-07-27-jibjab_x.htm
  2. "JibJab".