By Tricia Pursell
The Daily Item
SUNBURY — Three amateur videographers who struck YouTube gold with their spoof about Snyder County in April are getting even more attention now that they have expanded their satire across the state.
"We're From Snyder County" brought in 60,000 hits, but "Pennsylvania Guys," a parody of Katy Perry's "California Gurls," has been viewed a quarter of a million times since the five-minute video was posted July 21.
Creators Jason McGuigan of Shamokin, Justin Derr, of Sunbury, and John Duttinger, a Sunbury native living in Texas, sport Amish suspenders in front of a Weis supermarket, dress like Ben Franklin guzzling a lager in front of Pottstown's Yuengling brewery and don green wigs and beads on St. Patrick's Day in Scranton.
Other Pennsylvania favorites include references to Halfway Dam at the Raymond B. Winter State Park, Clyde Peeling's Reptiland, Punxatawney Phil and, of course, the Pennsylvania Polka. The video also features deer heads on living room walls, flannels shirts with suspenders and scrapple.
McGuigan said Wednesday that they have spoken to dozens of media outlets, including television, and have found references to their video on countless websites.
"Our phones have been blowing up," he said. "It's just overwhelming at this point."
The Patriot News reported that Jay Paterno, assistant Penn State football coach and son of head coach Joe Paterno, tweeted about the parody on Twitter.
The only marketing for the video was through social media sites. The first day saw little reaction, but from then on, its popularity went viral.
"We had hoped for it," McGuigan said, "but we weren't banking on it at all. We're more than satisfied now."
McGuigan and Derr both credit a Daily Item article on the Snyder County video in April for their current success. It was a big step for them, they said.
All three of the young men, who make up the production company they call "Sloppy Secondz," have jobs, but they intend to increase the amount of time they spend on their spoof videos as they prepare to make them a full-time career.
McGuigan said they've already had offers from New York.
"I'll leave my job in a heartbeat" if they get the right opportunity, he said. "This is our dream."
Eighty percent of the references in the video were gathered from the three's own adventures in their home state, while the rest, such as in northwestern Pennsylvania, were found through a quick search on the Internet.
And they listened to their Snyder County video viewers this time — adding references to the popular Middleswarth chips and the McClure bean soup, staples in central Pennsylvania.
It took them three weeks to put the video together — "a lot of sleepless nights," McGuigan said — in order to post it on YouTube while the Katy Perry song was still hot.
"We did want to hurry, because the song was really big," Derr said. "And still is."
The popularity of their video, he said, hasn't really sunk in for him yet.
"I don't even know what to think," he said. "It's really great, though."
Derr has tried to learn as much as possible about video editing since a member of their team — videographer James Burgess, formerly of Selinsgrove, moved to Manhattan. Derr got some pointers from his friend and has "basically gone to the school of YouTube," he said jokingly. "There's still a lot to learn."
Duttinger, the rapper in the parody, recorded his part from his home in Texas.
"It was great to see him involved," Derr said. "He did a great job."
The three have written more than 20 spoof songs and have put together 10 videos. Their skills, they say, have come a long way since their video making began.
"We have quite a few ideas for future songs," McGuigan said, "but we're all still thinking about what we're going to do (next)."
They said they want to continue to publish videos with a "happy medium" in content, with "nothing over the top."
"It will help us appeal to a wider audience," McGuigan said.
n E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com.
