Viral Sensation ‘David After Dentist’ Reflects on Fame 15 Years Later
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fifteen years after going viral, “David After Dentist” video star David DeVore Jr. shares his thoughts about his fame.
David After Dentist chronicled 7-year-old David’s endearing existential crisis after undergoing dental surgery. “Is this real life?” David asks his dad before telling him, “I have two fingers. Now four fingers.”
The video went mega-viral and now sits at 141 million views. Having a lasting impact on pop culture, DeVore still gets recognized today.
“My friends or my dad usually tell people, ‘Do you know who he is?’” DeVore told TODAY. “When I got to college, people learned (who I am) on their own.”
DeVore welcomes any residual interest in the video, noting that he doesn’t hold it as a central part of who he is.
“I love it,” he said. “The video is an isolated part of my life—there’s ‘David After Dentist’ and there’s me. It’s not part of my identity. It’s just a thing that happened.”
He is also thankful for the opportunities that came from the video’s popularity.
“We went to Brazil for a meme conference, New York City and Los Angeles,” he said. “I felt most famous when I got invited to the film premiere of RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET in 2018.”
“David After Dentist” was also included in a 2010 Super Bowl commercial, and in 2021, the family sold the video as an NFT for 3.3 Ethereum, a cryptocurrency worth more than $11,000.
Now that David is older, the DeVore family has given him the money they have made from the video over the years.
While going viral had major upsides, DeVore’s parents also faced heavy backlash after the video was first released. A newspaper editorial suggested they should be reported to child protective services for filming their son in a vulnerable state. Bill O’Reilly invited them on his show so he could tell them the video was exploitative.
“I [recorded] it for my wife who couldn’t be at the appointment,” DeVore Sr. explained, defending his decision to create the video. “I have no problem if people come after me, as long as it’s not directed toward my son.”
“A kid on drugs was a crazy and hilarious thing to see,” DeVore Jr. added.
Following the video’s viral success, DeVore Sr. hoped to use their notoriety to spread the gospel by starting a Christian-content-focused website.
“While shareability has become a recent phenomenon through social media,” he explained, “Christ was really the first example of that in the way that he sought to spread the gospel while he was here on earth.”
Videos like this are common now, with thousands of videos sharing the funny things people say when waking up from surgery, a trend the DeVore family believes they kicked off.
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