As you already know, planking mania is sweeping the nation. Everybody’s doing it. Now hold that thought right there.
Remember loveable oddball Tom Green, that guy who had a popular oddball show on MTV in the 90s and who was married briefly to Drew Barrymore? Well, he’s claiming to have invented planking back in 1994, and, you know what, I think he may have a pretty strong case!
While the trend appeared to emerge from nowhere, there is video evidence that it started as early as 1990 when comedian Tom Green was an 18-year-old rapper. Green planked three times during a segment on his rap group, Organized Rhyme, broadcast by the Canadian music channel Much Music.
The former MTV talk show host said he called it “Dead Guy” when he performed the stunt on his cable TV show in Ottawa, Canada, starting in 1994.
“I don’t want to take anything away from anybody, but I do have video evidence,” Green told CNN Tuesday.
“That bit never aired on MTV,” Green said. “It is a very obscure piece of video.” In fact, Green contacted Rogers Cable, the Canadian company that hosted his early non-paid show, to dig up the clip.
“The point of that video, we did a random, ridiculous thing and made a social comment with it,” Green said. “Will people stop and help you on the street?”
And here’s the video…
We’re gonna go ahead and award this one to Tom Green — who these days hosts an internet show on his website. I guess sometimes you have to claim cultural relevance any way you can get it.