Every Second Counts is the name under which

comedians A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience di ...

outside of the United States were challenged to produce parody videos of U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

's inaugural address that "From this day forward, it's gonna be only America ''first''! America ''first''!" The first parody video was produced by Dutch comedian

Arjen Lubach Arjen Henrik Lubach (; born 22 October 1979) is a Dutch comedian, author, music producer and television presenter. He hosted the weekly news satire television show '' Zondag met Lubach''. As of 21 February 2022, he is the host of a new show on ...

within two days after Trump's inaugural address. The second comedian to produce a parody video in the same format as Lubach's video,

Jan Böhmermann Jan Böhmermann () (born 23 February 1981) is a German satirist, journalist, and podcast and television host. He also worked as a writer, producer, radio host, and is best known for his activism through publicity stunts. Early life and educat ...

of Germany, challenged comedians around the world to produce similar videos in the same format of introducing one's own country with a dose of self-deprecating humour and requesting to become 'second' after America.

History

Origins

The first parody video, which inspired all the other parody videos, was produced by Dutch comedian

's show '' Zondag met Lubach''. Lubach's parody video, titled "The Netherlands welcomes Trump in his own words", was broadcast on 22 January 2017. In the video, Trump's speeches and actions –mostly from his election campaign– are imitated and mocked by voice actor

Greg Shapiro Gregory Scott Shapiro (born 1968) is a Dutch American comedian, best known as a member of the comedy group Boom Chicago, host of the Dutch satirical news program ''Comedy Central News'' ( nl) and the author of ''How to Be Orange: An Alternativ ...

, who gives a short description of the Netherlands using some

self-mockery Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may also be u ...

as well, finishing with the request that the Netherlands may come 'second' if America is to be 'first'. A semi-serious undertone is formed by fears that Trump's announced "America First" policy signifies

isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangle ...

, including withdrawing U.S. support for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

: "If you screw NATO, you're gonna make our problems great again." The video went viral, being discussed by multiple international newsmedia and reaching over 73 million views worldwide by 3 February.

Challenge launched

On 2 February during ''Neo Magazin Royale'',

questioned the Dutch's role as second to America, broadcasting a rival video that claimed 'Germany second' whilst making fun of the Netherlands and Germany itself as well. Then, he encouraged other satirical talkshow producers in all

European countries The list below includes all entities falling even partially under any of the regions of Europe, various common definitions of Europe, geographical or political. Fifty generally recognised sovereign states, Kosovo with limited, but substantial, ...

to make similar videos parodying Trump, themselves and questioning the Netherlands' second place behind America. Production teams in at least eleven other countries committed to making their own parody videos, and by 3 February, versions for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

(by ''De Ideale Wereld''), Switzerland (by ''Deville Late Night''),

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

(by ''Natholdet''),

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

(by ''

5 Para A Meia-Noite ''5 Para A Meia-Noite'' (5 to Midnight) is a late-night talk show that airs on Thursdays on the Portuguese TV channel RTP1 (formerly on RTP2 RTP2 (''RTP dois'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned pu ...

'') and Lithuania (by ''Laikykitės ten'') had been released; these would all be gathered on the website everysecondcounts.eu. Shaun Streeter did the voice for the videos produced by Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, and Denmark.

Beyond Europe

By 6 February,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(by ''Casa Surace''),

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

(by ''Studio Ben''), and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

(a non-European country, expanding the contest further) had joined the fray. On 8 February, the website of Every Second Counts changed the original layout from a virtual 360° NATO council room with national flags of all European countries plus Morocco and Namibia next to each seat, to a clickable world map divided into the continents of "Europe", "Middle East", "Africa", "Oceania", "North Asia", "South Asia", "North America" and "South America", with "North Asia" and "North America" currently being unavailable.

Common elements

Though widely varying in contents specific to each country's presentation, and the way in which they criticise and/or ridicule President Trump and his ideas and actions, the videos often share common elements. Many revolve around (sarcastically) taking pride in or mocking their own country's history, and comparing it to Trump's actions or American history in general, and how the latter is better, equal or worse. *Criticism of Trump's immigration policy **Criticism of Trump's electoral promise and since 25 January 2017 plan to build a wall along the U.S.–Mexican border, and make

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

pay for it, including comparisons to countries' own "walls" such as the

Afsluitdijk The ''Afsluitdijk'' (; fry, Ofslútdyk; nds-nl, Ofsluutdiek; en, "Closure Dyke") is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village o ...

and the Berlin Wall **Criticism of Trump's electoral promise and since 27 January 2017 decree to halt immigration from several Muslim-majority countries *Criticism of Trump's treatment of women, especially the ''grab them by the pussy'' incident * Criticism of Trump's mockery of

Serge F. Kovaleski Serge Frank Kovaleski (born April 8, 1961) is a South African-born American investigative reporter at ''The New York Times''. He contributed to reporting that won ''The New York Times'' a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of the Eliot Spitzer ...

, an investigative reporter at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' with

arthrogryposis Arthrogryposis (AMC) describes congenital joint contracture in two or more areas of the body. It derives its name from Greek, literally meaning "curving of joints" (', "joint"; ', late Latin form of late Greek ', "hooking"). Children born with one ...

. *Criticism of Trump's apparent lack of commitment to

*Criticism of Trump's alleged tax evasion *Ridicule of Trump's appearance: his allegedly "tiny hands" and "orange" skin colour *Mockery of Trump's use of "the best words" and the way he says "huge" (sounds like "yuge"). *Comparisons between Trump's towers and famous architectural structures within the country. *Criticism of the Trump administration's usage of the terms "

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in realit ...

" and "

alternative facts "Alternative facts" was a phrase used by U.S. Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, during a ''Meet the Press'' interview on January 22, 2017, in which she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's false statement about the ...

" *Joking that nobody knows where their country is located, and pointing to a different country if Trump might ever want to strike it with a nuclear attack

Lists of videos

Note
EverySecondCounts.eu
only lists countries

Countries

The table below lists 117 videos for 80 unique countries. At four videos, there are more videos for Algeria than for any other country listed. The websit
EverySecondCounts.eu
features 38 of the videos, only one per country.

Other physical locations

The table below lists 43 videos for 40 unique entries.

Notes

References

External links

*{{officialwebsite, everysecondcounts.eu * The talk page for this article, which contains a table with links to additional videos that for various reasons are not included in this article Internet memes introduced in 2017 Internet memes introduced in the 2010s Political Internet memes Viral videos Ethnic humour Dutch political satire German political satire National identity Parodies of Donald Trump