John's giraffe-love bit ('people love giraffes who love giraffes')
running joke · status: running joke (last seen 2023) · last event: callback (2023-09-08)
Begun in 2008, when John credited the views of their most-watched videos to a giraffe-sex screenshot ('people who love giraffes who love giraffes'), the joke became one of the brothers' longest-running: songs, a shirt, toys and whole videos about giraffe sex, still recalled in 2021 and 2023.
Parts: John asks the men of YouTube to explain their fascination with giraffe sex (2008) · Hank's giraffe-love t-shirt: pre-order at DFTBA.com (2010)
Told alongside: John's puppy-sized elephant (2008) · The Evil Baby Orphanage (2007)
About: giraffe, KevJumba
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-02-21 | first use | John attributes the views of one of Hank's most-viewed videos to its giraffe-sex screenshot: 'we're people who love giraffes who love giraffes'. (playful) | People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes 00:01:43 |
| 2008-02-26 | callback | John contrasts nerdfighter-like with people who say they want to see giraffes doing it. (playful) | Best Wishes! 00:03:03 |
| 2008-02-27 | variation | Hank turns the 'people who love giraffes who love giraffes' phrase into a full comic song about the viewers his giraffe picture attracted. (playful) | People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (The Song) 00:01:00 |
| 2008-05-20 | callback | John reports the only two videos watched more by men than women have giraffe sex as the thumbnail and asks men why they love giraffes who love giraffes. (playful) | Guys Love Giraffe Love 00:01:10 |
| 2008-06-08 | callback | Hank says he likes zoos because he likes giraffes who love giraffes, but the National Zoo has no giraffes. (playful) | Monkeys!!! (with pants) 00:01:29 |
| 2009-01-03 (said on 2009-01-02, implied) | callback | John accepts that giraffe-mating videos draw more views and, as previously noted, says people love giraffes who love giraffes, then explains giraffe urine-tasting. (playful) | Giraffe Love and Other Questions ANSWERED 00:00:27 |
| 2009-02-24 | callback | John notes their only videos not watched mostly by women are those with giraffe sex as the thumbnail, and advises becoming a giraffe. (playful) | How to Make Guys Like You 00:00:34 |
| 2009-05-13 | callback | Hank reads out a birthday card showing 'giraffes loving giraffes'. (playful) | My Birthday Rocks 00:00:32 |
| 2009-07-01 | callback | Hank sings that KevJumba stole the brothers' giraffe-sex thumbnail. (joke) | Most Subscribed: A Song 00:00:27 |
| 2009-11-24 | callback | In his thankful list Hank names giraffes, 'especially giraffes who are mating'. (playful) | 50 THINGS!! That I'm Thankful For 00:02:20 |
| 2009-12-27 | callback | Hank lists giraffe love among the subjects of their videos. (playful) | How To Be a Nerdfighter: A Vlogbrothers FAQ 00:03:15 |
| 2010-03-24 | callback | John reminds Hank how he loves giraffes before ranking the giraffe kick ninth. (playful) | Top 10 Animal POWER MOVES 00:00:19 |
| 2010-05-05 | callback | Hank's song 'Nerdfighteria Island' sings of 'giraffes who like giraffes' on the island. (playful) | HANKO DE MAYO!!!!11!! 00:05:36 |
| 2010-07-20 (said on 2010-07-19, implied) | callback | John notes the brothers' three most-viewed videos are 'giraffe sex, giraffe sex, and giraffe sex'. (playful) | I Like Balls 00:01:14 |
| 2010-10-19 (said on 2010-10-18, implied) | callback | John notes the three most viewed vlogbrothers videos all feature giraffe sex and finally makes a video about giraffe sex itself. (playful) | Giraffe Sex: A Terrifying Introduction to Nature at Work (and Play) 00:00:01 |
| 2010-10-22 | callback | John calls Hank's shirt an 'ode to giraffes who love giraffes'. (playful) | Making Adorable Music 00:02:04 |
| 2010-10-29 | callback | Hank jokes that the shirt's adorable giraffes only want to love each other briefly before the male runs off and shags other males. (joke) | Hank Has Questions 00:03:19 |
| 2010-11-26 | callback | John says P4A day would make YouTube about charity instead of kittens on Roombas or giraffe love; Hank later plugs the giraffe love shirt. (playful) | p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger 00:00:31 |
| 2010-12-01 | callback | Hank's song opens its animal list with giraffes, whose males have more sex with each other than with females. (playful) | Makin' Babies: A Song 00:00:28 |
| 2011-02-11 | callback | Hank notes his two shelf giraffes are not currently making love, which is too bad for them. (joke) | 200 People in Your Pants 00:01:09 |
| 2011-02-16 | callback | Hank says the brothers have sometimes been unfair to the giraffes and thinks they can make it up to them. (playful) | This Video Brought to you by Nyquil 00:02:28 |
| 2011-02-23 | callback | John imagines viewers of the giraffe sex videos clicking away when they find only a guy talking. (joke) | WE ARE 812 YEARS OLD 00:00:43 |
| 2011-05-13 | callback | John films zoo giraffes for ten minutes, but they look at him as if to say they will not mount each other on camera. (joke) | Winkels to the Left, Winkels to the Right: Thoughts from Places, Antwerp 00:01:43 |
| 2011-07-20 (said on 2011-07-21, implied) | callback | Hank's toy giraffes act out 'giraffe love'; he notes it should be two males from what they have learned about giraffe love. (joke) | HARDCASTLED! 00:00:54 |
| 2011-10-10 | callback | Opening the animal-mating Truth or Fail, John fakes a giraffe fact: 'Just kidding, there will be no giraffes.' (joke) | Animal Mating and Librarian Talking 00:00:29 |
| 2011-10-21 | callback | In the Nerdfighters' game, Hank's recorded voice screams 'holy giraffe sex!'. (joke) | Signing Psychosis, BlizzCon, TFiOS, Awesome Adventures, and URLatron 00:00:58 |
| 2012-08-13 | callback | Asked for YouTube channel pointers, John says what has worked best for the vlogbrothers is giraffe sex as the thumbnail. (joke) | John and Rainn Wilson Talk Romance 00:02:49 |
| 2013-05-28 | callback | John says the ad model would have the brothers drop Thoughts From Places for giraffe sex, which he admits he digs. (playful) | NERD FACTOR! (...And Why I Fear for Tumblr) 00:00:41 |
| 2016-12-20 | callback | John answers a tweet missing the days when the brothers just made giraffe-sex videos by recapping giraffe sexuality. | How Giraffes Mate, and Why It Matters 00:00:09 |
| 2021-10-14 | callback | Asked why he stopped making videos about 'unerotic giraffe sex', John first notes there is no other kind of giraffe sex. (joke) | Pizza Sized Johns or John Sized Pizza? It's Question Thursday 00:01:27 |
| 2023-09-08 | callback | Hank recalls that in 2007, when YouTube picked the exact middle frame as thumbnail, he deliberately held up a giraffe picture from a book at the midpoint, and the video got many views. | Giraffes are Way More Complicated Than We Thought 00:00:00 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).
What is said about it
20 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2008-02-21 · People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes — John: Asked why the most-viewed Vlogbrothers videos are Hank's, John guesses Hank is funnier, but says one owes its views to a screenshot of two giraffes having sex. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:42
- 2008-02-27 · People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (The Song) — Hank says his one spectacularly successful video did well because people thought it would show giraffe sex, so he wrote a song about it. (playful) — 00:00:00
- 2008-02-27 · People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (The Song) — Hank sings that about ten months ago he made a video showing a picture 'of an intimate nature' and only realised its draw a hundred thousand views later. (playful) — 00:00:31
- 2008-05-20 · Guys Love Giraffe Love — John reports that 294 of the brothers' 296 videos have been watched by more women than men; the two exceptions have giraffe sex as the thumbnail. — 00:01:10
- 2008-05-20 · Guys Love Giraffe Love — ask: John asks the men of YouTube to explain in the comments what fascinates them about giraffes who love giraffes. (playful) — 00:01:10
- 2008-06-08 · Monkeys!!! (with pants) — Hank says he likes zoos for giraffes who love giraffes, but the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. has no giraffes, which disappointed him. (playful) — 00:01:29
- 2009-01-03 (said on 2009-01-02, implied) · Giraffe Love and Other Questions ANSWERED — a viewer: A viewer says John's videos that discuss giraffe mating get on average ten times more views than those that don't. — 00:00:21
- 2009-01-03 (said on 2009-01-02, implied) · Giraffe Love and Other Questions ANSWERED — John says male giraffes nudge females with their heads to make them urinate, then drink the urine to taste whether the females are ovulating. (playful) — 00:00:36
- 2009-02-24 · How to Make Guys Like You — John says all their videos except those with giraffe sex as the thumbnail are watched by nearly three times more women than men. (playful) — 00:00:34
- 2009-02-24 · How to Make Guys Like You — John says there are about six ways to get 15-year-old boys to like you: become a giraffe, become World of Warcraft, be 'hot', be yourself, act like an idiot, consider different boys. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:52
- 2010-03-24 · Top 10 Animal POWER MOVES — John says a giraffe kick has been known to decapitate a lion. — 00:00:17
- 2010-07-20 (said on 2010-07-19, implied) · I Like Balls — John concedes the brothers lack the moral high ground, since their three most-viewed videos are, in order, giraffe sex, giraffe sex and giraffe sex. (playful) — 00:01:14
- 2010-10-22 · Making Adorable Music — ask: John tells Nerdfighters there is only one week left to pre-order Hank's shirt celebrating giraffes who love giraffes, with the link in the doobly-doo. — 00:02:04
- 2010-11-26 · p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger — John says the idea was to take over YouTube so that for one day it would be about charity rather than kittens on Roombas or giraffe love. — 00:00:31
- 2010-12-01 · Makin' Babies: A Song — Hank: The song says male giraffes have more sex with each other than with females. (playful) — 00:00:31
- 2011-02-11 · 200 People in Your Pants — Hank also shows two giraffes, Cowboy Bebop's Jet, his junior-cotillion photo, a Pro Image of soccer-days John, VidCon and LeakyCon programs, an 'evil baby Hitler' and a concept Chevy Volt. (playful) — 00:01:09
- 2011-02-16 · This Video Brought to you by Nyquil — Hank feels the brothers have been unfair to the giraffes and thinks they can make it up to them. (playful) — 00:02:28
- 2011-07-20 (said on 2011-07-21, implied) · HARDCASTLED! — Hank makes toy giraffes from LeakyCon mate, remarking that from what they have learned about giraffe love it should be two males. (joke) — 00:00:54
- 2016-12-20 · How Giraffes Mate, and Why It Matters — The description says John re-introduces Nerdfighteria to giraffe sex, long a staple of the vlogbrothers channel. — video description
- 2023-09-08 · Giraffes are Way More Complicated Than We Thought — Hank: After giraffe videos in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2016, Hank says more than seven years without a giraffe video is the channel's longest giraffe drought. (playful) — 00:00:29