2013 / Video / Comedy music video
What Does the Fox Say?
A Norwegian comedy duo asked what sound a fox makes and answered with invented noises.
The original is hosted off-site; this page provides context and a link to it.
What was this?
The song starts as a tidy animal-noise lesson, then stops at the fox and spirals into increasingly theatrical guesses. Forest creatures, rave lighting, costumes, and a chorus of invented noises turned a children’s-question premise into maximalist pop nonsense.
Why it spread
The official video broke out internationally through YouTube shares, parody videos, and classroom sing-alongs. It ended 2013 as YouTube’s top trending video, crossing language and geography with a joke that required almost no translation.
What happened
The song starts as a tidy animal-noise lesson, then stops at the fox and spirals into increasingly theatrical guesses. Forest creatures, rave lighting, costumes, and a chorus of invented noises turned a children’s-question premise into maximalist pop nonsense.
Where it came from
Ylvis—the Norwegian comedy duo of brothers Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker—released “The Fox” as a music-video sketch tied to their television comedy work. The official TV Norge upload arrived in September 2013.
Why it mattered
What Does the Fox Say? showed how a polished comedy music video could still spread through internet-sharing culture. It helped a local comedy act reach a global audience without changing its premise.
How it spread
The official video broke out internationally through YouTube shares, parody videos, and classroom sing-alongs. It ended 2013 as YouTube’s top trending video, crossing language and geography with a joke that required almost no translation.
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