11 Very Wild Videos on Cameo, the Greeting Video Service That Just Raised $50 Million in VC Funding
Brett Favre, Stormy Daniels, and more just want to wish you a very happy birthday
As far as I can tell, Cameo is the ultimate promise of the internet.
For $40, you can get Matt Iseman, host of American Ninja Warrior, to reveal the gender of your child. Blogger Perez Hilton and his bizarre bleached beard will wish your friend a happy birthday for a minute and a half at the cost of $45. And for $350, you can have Ice-T tell your friend to stop buying anime, recorded on the set of Law & Order: SVU.
Cameo was created in 2017 as a marketplace for people to buy short personalized videos from their favorite celebrities, but anyone can apply to join. That means dog influencers, YouTubers, and Bam Margera can all get paid to open an app and record a 30-second video for real American dollars. The service is growing, too. The company just raised $50 million in a Series B funding round in June.
Cameo’s fame economy is fascinating, so I’ve been watching these videos for the past two hours instead of doing “real” work. Here are some of the wildest videos I’ve found.
- Football legend Brett Favre, who has appeared in dozens and dozens of actual commercials for actual corporations, will film a potato-quality ad in his living room for the low, low price of $500. I bet Buffalo Wild Wings feels silly now for forking over all that cash.
- Ken Bone, a man famous for asking a softball question on energy policy during the 2016 presidential debates while wearing a red sweater, says, “Good morning, Pank, let’s get this bread.” Bone is also famous for being quick to hawk merch after his internet stardom and by our count has made more than $1,400 filming Cameo shoutouts from his couch. You can also watch Bone’s beard grow over time if you scroll up through older videos, which is disturbing.
- Stormy Daniels wishing Mia a speedy surgery recovery by saying, “It can always be worse: At least you didn’t have to see Trump naked.”
- A man dressed as Jesus Christ was paid $25 to tell someone named Reagan to give Will’s bass guitar back or else they won’t get into heaven. On Cameo, Christ is less of a spiritual figure and more of a disappointed parent threatening to turn this car around and go right back to eternal damnation unless you give your friend their belongings back.
- A six-minute video from YouTuber Nikocado Avocado getting cozy in bed and consoling a fan named Anna on her grandfather’s death. This is a charming and sweet video about dealing with loss — until you find out that Anna’s grandfather died 10 years ago. There’s also some instructive deep breathing and some shaky climate science.
- Bam Margera telling a group of friends who call themselves “the Cocksmen” that they’re going to have a great surf trip.
- Instagram influencer Gucci Berry offering wisdom to the newly engaged couple Victoria and Prince: “There’s only one good thing that goes with a wedding, and that’s a good swift kick in the nuts.” Honestly, just click the link.
- A “happy 12-year wedding anniversary” from two chimpanzees. Unless these chimps are getting a cut of the action, I’m calling PETA.
- Dee Snyder, lead singer of Twisted Sister, is now playing corporate gigs from the comfort of his own home. Watch him sing “Happy Birthday” to Velocity Resource Group, a real “twisted” company that “leverages [a] global workforce to deliver résumés overnight.”
- This video is only wild in how wildly inspirational it is. It’s a gift to the world. Kali Muscle is, as his name would imply, extremely muscled. He’ll help you get somewhat muscled too as an online coach and trainer. He has a 4.6 star rating on Facebook.
- As a palate cleanser, you can also commission dog influencers on this website, which is incredible. Here’s my favorite so far: Ryder the Samoyed.
That’s just a taste. You could easily spend much more time on Cameo — and I will — because I’m somewhat convinced it’s the best site on the internet. It’s lucrative, too: Cameo takes a 25% cut of money paid to celebrities for their shoutout. CEO Steven Galanis told Variety that top earners can make more than $100,000 per month on the app. Tech’s next unicorn? Maybe so.
