From left, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, are part 'gator.

Lillington, NC-based musical comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have performed for millions of fans across the world, attended the Grammys, and written and directed more than 200 videos, and yet the general populace of North Carolina doesn’t even seem to realize that they’ve got two super stars in their own backyard.

Introducing “Rhett & Link,” North Carolina’s most famous Internet phenomenon.

Rhett & Link are not simply famous, they are “world famous,” thanks to this new fangled invention we’ve come to call the Internet (a series of tubes) mixed well with a heavy dose of raw talent.

“Well, we do have engineering degrees from NC State,” Neal noted. “… which don’t help us any.”

Odds are, if you are aware of McLaughlin and Neal’s work, it is through having stumbled upon one of their hundreds of online videos, or through their short lived CW TV series, “Online Nation” (2007).

“We were originally approached by a television show on the CW that was using online clips as part of the show …” said Neal. “Then we ultimately became the hosts of the show. So, that’s how we got into entertainment full time. Once that show was cancelled, we found ourselves jobless, but with a little studio space, computers, video cameras, and the desire to make more web videos. At that point we started approaching smaller companies for sponsorship.”

One of their first attempts was with their “Corn hole song.” A song dedicated to the everyman sport of Corn hole. After writing the song, the boys approached online corn hole equipment manufacturers Ajjcornhole.com about using their product in the video, and then charging a fee for each view (as of this writing the video has received more than 400,000 views).

Their motive was necessity, Neal explained, as at this point in their lives, both men were married with children, and couldn’t simply create funny videos for quick giggles like in their college days.

“Our first sorta viral video was Pimp My Stroller,” said McLaughlin. “We  had a number of videos made before YouTube came along. We had done a video called Pimp My Stroller that someone just took and put  on YouTube without our knowledge. It gave us our first real taste of viral video. It wasn’t too long after that, that we uploaded the Facebook song, which has been our biggest video to date with close to three million views.”

Creating a Meme

With 200 videos under their belt, McLaughlin and Neal believe they’ve honed a sort of sixth sense when it comes to creating something that will catch on and stand out in the vastness of the Internet (LOLCats, RickRolls and Leeroy Jenkins, oh my). The two childhood friends write, direct, produce and act in all of their videos, and leave little room for the unexpected. Still, McLaughlin admits, even they have been caught by surprise.

“There’s still a lot of it you just can’t plan,” said McLaughlin. “We wrote this fast food song, and hid a camera in our car, so that we could perform it at a Taco Bell drive-in. We were thinking that it would be a good Internet video. But we never could have anticipated that the drive-in attendant would listen to this two minute song with all of the stuff that we’d ordered and actually get it exactly right. We couldn’t have engineered that, but once it happened, we knew that it was going to take off.”

Though not every video becomes an Internet sensation, McLaughlin and Neal’s following of more than 69,000 YouTube subscribers, a combined 11,364 followers on their separate Twitter accounts, and 5,117 fans on their Facebook page has meant that just about anything they release could a big enough audience to fill an arena stadium.

Don’t expect to see McLaughlin or Neal playing in any live arenas anytime soon however. Currently the duo are content to let their videos do their traveling.

“We’re both married, we’ve both got kids. The life of a live musician involves a lot of travel and is a life that at least at this point, we are not in the position to live, nor do we really want to live,” said McLaughlin. “We have the choice of either going to a comedy club and playing for 150 people, or uploading a video and having 150,000 people watch it and comment on it in the first couple of weeks. We love playing live and live audiences, but really, we can only do so many things - and this is a great way for us to be in front of a lot of people at once while not having to worry if our guitars are in tune.”

Currently McLaughlin and Neal are continuing to create sponsored online videos, while delving into other passions, such as film making. Check out the trailer for their latest documentary, “Looking for Ms. Locklear” below.

For more information on Rhett & Link, go to www.rhettandlink.com