Grandson - "Grandpa why was 2020 such a bad year?" Me - "It all started in 2016 when they killed that damn gorilla..."

I predict that when ever someone says "this year sucks" in the 2060s the now aged Millennials and Zoomers will say "this is nothing compared to 2020" in a similar way to how boomers say the current unrest is nothing compared to the 1960s.

JJ hair has reached baroque prince level

I also don't think masks are fully ever going away. Also, I am convinced handshakes are coming back eventually, although several disagree with me.

I would argue that 2020 was the year TikTok solidified its status as a major platform. 2019 was big for the app but it wasn't acknowledged as a "big 5" app until 2020 regardless of whether you love it or hate it

If you remember, "skype" was a common verb before the pandemic. How "zoom" came to take its perch, I have no idea.

im not looking forward to 2020 nostalgia advertising.

Speaking on the topic of the video, I recently started to experience an interesting issue: I started to ask myself "Why aren't they wearing masks?" while watching photos and pictures from the past.

I think JJ chose wisely 2020 zeitgeist’s agents/historical objects

In Brazil, we know something has entered our cultural canon if that thing becomes a Carnival costume

We know dang well that in 15 years or so there'll be high schoolers gawking about how retro face masks are and such.

The most important thing is JJ. Without him, quarantine would be a nightmare.

This is a very weird but interesting youtube rewind

As for the Among Us characters, I agree about their icon potential. However, I think rather than minions, it could be like Hello Kitty or Jack Skellington and all those characters that would be on holographic stickers that you would put 4 quarters in for. Pretty similar to the design of Domo too.

Not gonna lie, I would like a video on the American Cultural Cannon. (i.e. a video on how American culture spread to other cultures)

I think Chadwick Boseman could probably be added to this list, otherwise I think you are right with your picks

"Our stereotypes of the old always tell us about the values of the young." I'd say you got that right JJ!

You forgot one: JOE EXOTIC

10:50 - Among Us is very fun. It reminds me of games kids play in school, like Heads Up 7-Up or forms of novelty tag like _Freeze Tag_ or _Sharks and Minnows._

"Bruce Lee wasn't necessarily the best at what he did" *citation needed

One of the best things about 2020 is we are finally all back on board with saying “twenty-twenty” instead of awful mouthfuls like “two-thousand-nineteen” the last ten years have been this tug-of-war between the two phrasings.

2020 was the year KZfaq went absolutely wild with midroll ads, specifically of off-putting Chinese mobile games.

“Stereotypes of the old always tell us a lot about the values of the young.” idk how to explain it but that made me sad.

Bruh, Kamala's term isn't even finished and she's already fallen into obscurity 💀

Oooh yeah. Another Award winning video from J.J.

I was more than half way through when I realised the candle in the background wasn’t real

JJ, you mark my 2020. I have just been accepted at William Paterson University to study journalism. Seeing your content has inspired me to follow a career in journalism, and seeing your progression from flags of the world to deep analysis and unbiased breakdowns always means a lot to me. you and the whole KZfaq educational community have always captured my imagination, especially now when I am at 17 years old and just bombarded with entertainment vlogs and other pointless content

2020, the (only) YEAR OF QUIBI!!!

I’ve binge watched JJ’s content throughout the year and he’s really helped me cope during this roller coaster of a year.

At least among my circle of friends (college age), “zoom” has become a general verb. “We should zoom again tomorrow” is a perfectly normal sentence even if you’re talking on FaceTime and plan to again. I think the word just has better mouth-feel than “FaceTime” or “video call” or “skype” (if that still exists), so it gets generalized.

"We never have to see them old and lame" -- maybe that should be the quote of the year, J.J.

1:36 Nothing says japanese culture like Obama.

The most popular thing this year should have been your channel.

After so many years, we still have no video about your time in Japan!

I literally burst out laughing at the "its wine o'clock somewhere meme' its so fucking funny

Interesting take on non-common phenomena of the year. One thing I would add is remote work as a whole becoming highly normalized (tangential to zoom I suppose). I think there will be some fundamental shifts in certain economic powerhouses as well as company culture being less rigid.

This video came for me right after I finished my exams at school! Really appreciated this lighthearted year end wrap up dude!

Tragic icon status could also probably go to Chadwick Bosemen as well

Love your channel, been watching it for a long time! This year was very fun and interesting! I guarantee next year will be as fun and exciting as well!

8:33 Helicopters dammit, that's what a flying car is.

We have flying cars, they are called "helicopters".

This is such a great video that's gonna be very nostalgic in the years to come, 2020 will be an iconic year.

I know JJ isn’t a very big sports fan, but sports fans like myself will definitely remember 2020 as one of the weirdest years in sports. With teams playing in eerily empty stadiums, and the NBA and NHL playing in a bubble.

I appreciate how you're trying to be unbiased and respectful towards different viewpoints even though you sure have your own opinions.

I really enjoy these culture videos as well as the last few you've done! I hope you're doing well and are less stressed out about politics. I think it's your insight we value, regardless of topic

Impeccably well written. Keep them coming, sir!

You have such astute cultural and historical analysis. Awesome job!

I've been bingeing JJ's older videos for the past few weeks and a little sad to suddenly see Halimah Yacob covered up on his corkboard hahah

Fun fact, no one in Canada has been named Karen since November 2019

2020 has not been kind to American culture luminaries. Giants like Kobe, Chadwick Boseman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Alex Trebek to name a few.

Got finals in a couple days, JJ uploads always help

Now that it's 2022, I'm finding myself seeing 2020 in my mind as a kind of monolith already. And I know you said you were reaching, but I think that, just as much as the pandemic, it's a subconscious effect because it's a shiny, pretty looking number. You're scaring me J.J.

Also I think "2020" is extra compatible with cultural canonization because we haven't been able to globally identify a year or decade as a named identity for 20 years. Remember when there was "90s guys?" Other than "millenials" (which is not universally popular). Welcome to the 20s!

3:22 Wakko packs away the snacks While Bill Clinton plays the sax We're Animaniacs!

Congrats on 250k subscribers. Great video, Thanks.

ALSO OMFG JJ THIS VID SLAPS💖💖

JJ's flow looking fresher with every video

The people absolutely obsessed with the pandemic constantly saying “be safe out there” as if we’re in the purge.

hi, j.j.! I look forward to your videos every Saturday!

I look forward to your videos every Saturday. Thank you. 😎

Btw, I just read your OPed in the Washington post and it was incredibly well-written. I guess since your register on this channel is informal I never realized how serious of a writer and journalist you are.

Wow what a great video! I think the thing you might have missed was 'Working from Home' , at least, I hope so. I think A LOT of people who used to drive into the office are gonna put their foot down on the idea of Always driving back in... Which I think is important, bc another aspect of all this is the Aversion to Public Transportation and thus increased car use that might ripple forwards, in an ecologically negative way.

Your mane has become a Canadian icon of pride my friend! I love it, keep it growing!

Didn’t know you made this video until I watched your one about 2021. Your year wrap-ups are really good and I like how you explain your reasoning

9:48 for the longest time I've often said "Skype" to mean video calling in general, even during the pandemic. Can totally see Zoom taking on that role, but for me personally will probably still call it Skype.

I think making a retroactive one of these videos for a year you remember well might be a good idea. Say, 2010. Maybe this video could become an annual tradition?

2016 still feels more of a year than 2020, 2016 is when things could be seen as going downhill especially with politics while 2020 will just be synonymous with covid and the decade of shitty years

Thanks for another fantastic video, JJ!

This might sound strange, but I think the niche sport of NASCAR became much more apart of the American cultural cannon of 2020. There was the horrifying Ryan Newman crash in the 2020 Daytona 500, the virtual iRacing series that took place at the start of the pandemic, NASCAR was the first "major" live sport to regularly return in May, there was the Bubba Wallace noose controversy at Talladega over the summer. All of these were considered major events in the American sports media, and a lot of them were related to 2020 events like sports shutting down because of Covid and the BLM movement. It was certainly a big year for NASCAR in terms of national attention, and I am very curious to see if the stock car racing series has staying power in the American cultural landscape moving forward.

I think a lot of people forget that the year started with people thinking we were about to go into WWIII

I’d like JJ to do more of these types of videos, like one for 2021 and beyond

HAPPY A QUARTER MILLION SUBS J.J🥳🥳🥳

I never thought I would say this, but that was a very interesting meme analysis! The Karen meme says a lot about the likes and dislikes of today's younger generation and the societal changes that they want to make in the future.

With that thumbnail, you know you’re gonna hit people’s recommended

I just Knew you 1 week ago...and you already are one of my favorites channels

I just want to say that whenever a century begins, it seems like it's around the 20's when we see the real tone of the said century. In 1820 maybe pushing 1830, that's when the Wild West era officially begins but by 1920, that era comes to an end and suddenly we see everyone owning a car and having electricity in their houses. Now we're in 2020 and I think we have new tone that's about to be set and 2020 very much cut the ribbon. Where the 1920's gave us the rise of the movie theaters(in full swing and everywhere), 2020 has given us the decline and the beginning of the streaming wars. We now wear masks to try to stop the spread of germs and this will probably stick and maybe standing 6 feet away from each other will also be kind of normal. It's both sad and depressing and something we just might be seeing coming to fruition.

Filler vs Canon. The Anime Community knows this well (especially Naruto fanatics like me). I see the pandemic as canon but not main plot... Oh yeah the Japanese (and a lot of Asian countries in the area) wear masks because of the Gobi Desert sand winds.

"The year of turning Japanese" Yeah uhm, Americans "turned Japanese" a while ago.

Another great video, JJ. You hair is beyond amazing.

Thanks JJ. Needed this

Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt had a baby, then that baby had a baby with Carl Sagan, and that baby was you.

2:41 you should have used the “I don’t wear underwear cause things need to breath” clip lol

i can’t wait to come back to this video in a couple years or even just a year

Woah that chat notification chime when you were talking about video calls threw me. Huge nostalgia just for a "boodaboop"

This is an important video as Im currently trying to erase 2020 from my mind with semi-lethal doses of booze

As a former busboy/retail clerk, I'm glad for the Karen stereotype. I am blessed to have rarely met them in real life.

Amazing video as always

Watching videos like this now is like looking through an old school yearbook

I think the year showed us that the most important thing in our lives is toilet paper

2020 was the COMPOSITE year: began 1962 cuban missile crisis mood with US - Iran tension, became briefly 1974 with Trump impeachment, then 1919 (COVID) with some 1929 (stock market crash and massive unemployment), had a flaming 1968 summer (Floyd protests), and finally this november it became for a few days the 1983 "Return of the Jedi" final scene.

As someone with glasses, I will remember this year as the one that my vision was 2020

I think this time has also allowed for major inner reflection of who we are as a people in the world and realizing its a time for the next gen to move it. Good video jj

The boomer meme was really entertaining. I've been bitching about boomers since about 2003. I think though its not a generalized "old people" complaint, but more a complaint specifically about the boomer generation having misplaced priorities, and the social affects it had on millenials.

9:47 In Romania adidas is the generic name for trainers

I'm curious about how work-related travel will be coming back - as much as we all know that it's better for the environment, and a business' bottom line for someone from Toronto to zoom-into a meeting in Vancouver.. but how much is actually lost by not being in person. I can't quite imagine a world where we give that up - not matter how logical it would be.

Great video JJ

That image at 11:22 with Boomers sharing Among Us memes made me do a spit take. I loved the addition of that extra "The MAGA Resistance" in there as well.

Imagine if something like WW3 gets announced 1 hour after this video and this video becomes the most ironic thing ever.

I love zoom, i'm planning on moving from California to South Dakota at the start of January, and thanks to zoom job interviews i already have a job set up for me when i get there, plus zoom college classes make it easier to study and work as I'm not tied to a set location for classes and can just have my class wherever i want.

LMAO at 3:55 when you used the Minecraft taking damage sound for Kamala Harris.