The Kid Who Rocked the World From His New Jersey Bedroom

Aug. 24, 2007 — -- You might not know Gary Brolsma's name, but if you've ever watched video on the Web, you're probably familiar with his work.

Brolsma is the pudgy, baby-faced teenager from Saddle River, N.J., who boogied and lip-synched his way into Internet infamy with the "Numa Numa" dance -- an arms flailing, head-bopping and eyebrow raising performance to a Romanian pop song, all performed from a computer chair.

"The eyebrows were pretty spontaneous," said Brolsma. "I just threw them in. I was kind of bored so I just turned on the Webcam and just went for it. The moves came out of nowhere."

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What started out as one man's boredom quickly caught fire, and pretty soon it seemed like everyone was getting in on the Numa Numa dance.

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"Not only did I find myself singing the chorus, I was repeating it to friends. The guy's moves were perfect, and that's what really gave it sizzle," said Tyler Gray, senior editor of Radar magazine. "It started pinging around like a bullet in a metal box, and before you knew it … everyone who had a blog was downloading it."

Even though Brolsma is not the type you expect to be executing sharp dance moves and flawless lip-synching -- he's more Pillsbury doughboy than Justin Timberlake -- he was awkwardly perfect, and people just couldn't stop watching.

"From the date I originally posted the Numa Numa dance to now, it's up to 100 million views!" he told ABCNews' i-CAUGHT.

Pretty soon, Brolsma went mainstream and every newspaper and TV program wanted to "talk to the kid who did the video that was flooding their e-mail inbox," said Gray. Brolsma was a star, appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America".

This Internet sensation even took Dan Balan, the singer and songwriter of the infectious Romanian pop song that inspired Brolsma's dance. "My friend called me and said, 'Turn on the TV,' and there was this morning show and they were talking about an Internet phenomenon. When I heard [my song] I couldn't believe my ears."

It turns out "Numa Numa" was a major international hit before Brolsma's video hit the Web. "It was number 1 in 32 countries," said Balan. Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and of course Romania had already discovered "Dragostea Din Tei" in the native Romanian.

But the song has exploded anew since Brolsma's viral contribution. Thousands of people have posted copycat videos of themselves doing the "Numa Numa" dance, and the song has been covered hundreds of times in more than 15 languages. In France, five versions of the song simultaneously appeared in the Top 20.

All of this has helped to make Brolsma a Web celebrity. He has made a cameo on Fox's sitcom "The War at Home" and will make an appearance on the grandest stage of all -- a Super Bowl ad -- this winter. He was recently named the No. 1 Internet superstar by VH1. He's gotten e-mails from U.S. troops abroad who say his dancing has helped them get through hard days, and he said he even received marriage proposals and requests from women to father their children.

"I'm really grateful about all the things that I've got to do," he told i-CAUGHT. "I never thought anything like this would ever happen to me."