As of Friday a video of a wonderful and elaborate April fools prank played in the Oregon state house by state lawmakers has gone viral. The video is a bi-partisan collection of state lawmakers reading lyrics from Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" while speaking on the house floor. When the words are edited together, they make the greatest political Rick Roll ever.
The 'Rick Roll' was the brain child of Portland based Oregon representative, Jefferson Smith. The elaborate operation was carried out during a special session of the Oregon legislature in February 2010, when each lawmaker was allotted time to speak on the House floor.
According to reports, Smith, who developed the concept with his wife, a few colleagues and several friends, one of whom is a video editor, had a few rules about the joke. The lines had to be delivered on the House floor during a lawmaker's regular floor speech, which is, under Oregon law, videotaped for public records purposes. And the lines of the lyrics had to be spread out, so as not to tip off the state House clerk or other observers to what lawmakers were up to.
Rickrolling is a long established Internet meme involving Rick Astley's 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." Rickrolling is usually executed as a classic bait and switch, the observer is expecting one thing, but given another: Astley's hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up."
Here is a sample of the comments from the relevant Twitter stream:
For political nerds, this is just hilariously awesome. Watch the video!
Be prewarned...BEST RICK ROLL EVER
I rick-rolled my ANTH 101 class, but doing it to the Oregon state legislature is far more impressive
The first time rickrolling has been cool in years
Oh, those silly Oregon lawmakers. Actually, this is kind of awesome.
THE ULTIMATE RICKROLL!
Watch the video, and enjoy!
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