Phone notifications are a part of life, some more exciting than others, and most so disconnected from your day-to-day that you glance at your screen for two seconds, tops. That includes weather updates, but also Amber Alerts: You never think you’re going to be the one to catch a perp, so it’s just another license plate lost in the wind. A new viral comedy sketch, however, posits a different, perhaps more responsible, response to such an alert.
Mark Phillips (@SupremeDreams_1) posted the sketch, which was made with the comedy outfit RDCworld1, and it unfolds as a slice of fast-paced action about how “they expect you to react when you get an Amber Alert.” The main character is just minding his business playing a game, but shoots into real-life rescue mode when the alert comes. He and his mates embark on a high-speed chase—the aerial shot is perfection—and rescue the baby from supposed doom.
A simple premise, sure, but it’s more than 8 million views on Twitter at the time of this writing, not to mention another million and change on YouTube. Numbers like that can’t be ignored.
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SNL wishes it had this kind of talent
Except maybe with a whole lot more white people involved, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.
Would be nice if that was how people reacted, instead of calling 911 to complain about the alert like a lot of dummies in Canada are doing.
Some 70 year old just got charged for doing that. About time.
Came here to say just that. Fucking assholes.
Numbers like that can’t be ignored.Watch me.
No
WATCH ME GODDAMN YOU
Is this an ‘Attention Alert’?
Nobody can do the SHINGALINGlike I do
Check and mate.
This video of the Windows XP startup sound slowed down to 24 hours has nearly 8 million views. Numbers like that are SUPER easy to ignore.
So is that video.
I get amber alerts all the time. Sure, I look at the screen and see where the perp was last seen and think to myself, “sounds about right.”I mean, how would you expect most people to react if they got an alert everytime there was gunfire heard in Compton, Camden, Kensington or Brooklyn?
I’ve gotten two Amber Alerts while at ballgames. It’s a surreal experience when 20-30,000 phones all buzz at once.
Not sure if this is a coincidence or not (they may have seen the sketch and riffed on it in the episode) but the “We Hate Movies” podcast did an extended riff/argument on the expectations vs reality of the Amber Alert as well just this past week. I bring this up because pretty much every discussion board connected to that podcast was immediately spammed with hundreds of links to this video, so I’d just assumed it was something that had been floating around previously.
Have to admit, I’m not sure whether the fact that this article feels the need to describe exactly what happens in the video from beginning to end despite containing not one, but two embedded links to it is some kind of deep-cut parody of the nature of Amber Alerts themselves or is just a reflection of modern clickbait writing.
LOL, but it’s helpful for those at work who can’t watch the video.
I am rarely able to watch the videos so appreciate the description.
I don’t know why.
So people actually get Amber Alerts when they’re not getting ready for bed and already at home for the night?
Am I a bad person because I turned off amber alerts on my phone after being woken up at 3 am one too many times?
The problem w/Amber Alerts is that the authorities in my area don’t seem to understand what the system is for. It’s supposed to only be used for “stranger abductions” when a witness sees a perp grab some kid off the street, but we keep getting them for stuff like custodial disputes when a parent decides to keep the kid beyond the weekend or make an unauthorized school pickup.
This was cute, but “how Popeye’s be trainin they employees” is still their best.
Use your hands!P.S. I’m also kind of partial to the CVS and Walgreens employees yelling at each other.
I’ve never gotten one of these. Does it require an iPhone? In any case, it doesn’t seem I’m missing out on anything.
No, I’m a Samsung user and I’ve gotten them. Not as often as I get hurricane, tornado, and flash flood alerts. Life on the Gulf coast is fun.
Okay, I laughed. “I GOT THE BABY! I GOT THE BABY!” You got me, kids.
This is also a favorite:
The closing shot of the guy running off toward the horizon with the baby kills me.
This is why we’ll never have another civil war. Even a missing child couldn’t rile Americans out of their stupor.
Call me awful, but I turn that shit off.