Long before YouTube transformed pop culture, there was a primitive form of sharing videos using patch cords and two VCRs. Funny clips would spread across the country through underground VHS tape swaps, weakening in quality after multiple generations of dubs.

When he was a freshman in high school, comedy writer Nick Prueher swiped a janitorial training video from the break room at McDonald’s, where he was put on probation for not smiling enough. The tape, which chipperly explained the difference between regular clean and McDonald’s clean, became a living-room hit with his friends.