Voting Station

Left Shark (Bryan Gaw)

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Oddity

The Resume

    Backup dancer in Katy Perry’s Super Bowl 2015 halftime performance (featuring 'Teenage Dream' and 'California Gurls')
    Performance come under fire due to apparent lack of knowledge of the routine choreography
    Bizarre dance moves of 'the shark' became a viral phenomenon and widely circulated internet meme
    Intensified speculation of the shark set off wide speculation as to the true identity of 'the shark'
    Searches identified the costumed dancer to be Houston native (and resident of Los Angeles) Bryan Gaw
    Gaw's prior credits as a dancer include 'Alvin and the Chipmunks,' 'Drake and Josh Go Hollywood,' 'Katy Perry: Part of Me,' and 'Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour'
    Appeared, along with his partner 'the Right Shark,' as guests on CBS' 'The Late Late Show' with John Mayer
    Garnered a record 118.5 million viewers in the United States alone, becoming the most watched/highest rated show in Super Bowl history
    Viewership was higher than the game itself, which was viewed by an audience of 114.4 million (Feb. 1, 2015)

Why Left Shark (Bryan Gaw) might be annoying:

    His human alter ego's YouTube channel linked to virtually no videos on it, as of 2015.
    Many a YouTube viewer it is who asks: 'Which left? Our left? Katy Perry's left?' (Your left!)
    Part of the confusion comes out of the fact that the shark's dance moves weren't all THAT bad (for all we know it was the Right Shark whose dancing was off...)
    His Super Bowl Halftime performance was derided by The Washington Post as '[doing] his own thing frenetically on national television.'
    One SB Nation review of the Left Shark's dance remarked that he had probably 'failed out of choreography school.' Many speculated that he moved like he was either drunk or hung over judging by the aimless swinging of his fins.
    Within 24 hours of the performance going viral, social media lit up with Twitter and Instagram users declaring themselves to be the 'halftime shark.'
    For a while, it looked like fans had found their Shark's true identity after one Reddit user claimed to have talked to him on Tinder. He turned out to be another 'shark wannabe' imposter intent on cashing in.
    He and his partner needed to communicate through a marine biologist interpreter during his Late Late Show spot (a shark that can dance but not talk, there's something you don't see everyday!)
    He inspired such a cult following on the internet and social media that one Katy Perry fan went so far as to permanently ink a tattoo of the Left Shark on his forearm.
    When an Orlando artist started manufacturing 3-D prints of the Left Shark and selling them online for $25, Katy Perry's lawyers sent him a cease and desist letter over alleged copyright infringement (Feb. 5, 2015).

Why Left Shark (Bryan Gaw) might not be annoying:

    That's the saddest, most sheepishly embarrassed-looking shark to hit the street since Jaws 3-D!
    The dance moves sucked, but he doesn't twerk in teddy-bear themed attire.
    And, he didn't 'accidentally' rip off<1002> <906>part of Katy Perry's top on national television with his fin, either.
    He upstaged attention magnate Katy Perry during what was supposed to be her 'big moment' by sheer accident (and got as much attention as either participating team that year - to the point where he was dubbed 'the real Super Bowl MVP').
    Perry was a good sport about it, for the most part, and continued to utilize Gaw in her future projects (he was a long-time stage performer from her past concerts).
    He’s also one of only 163 people who Katy Perry follows on Twitter.
    He was defended by the performance choreographer, RJ Durell, who admitted to not giving any specific dance move instructions to the dancers.
    Durell further admitted to instead telling them to mimic Perry's moves and 'to have loads of fun, and bring to life these characters in a cartoon.' He claimed that Gaw 'nailed it,' in that regard.
    The Left Shark costume was put on display at the NFL Experience exhibition in downtown San Francisco, in the lead-up to Super Bowl 50 (Feb. 2016).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 92 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 19 Votes: 47.37% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 23 Votes: 47.83% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 111 Votes: 57.66% Annoying