CC Hurdler On Tosh.0

YouTube hurdlers race to fame on Comedy Central

By JUSTIN L. MACK • jmack@jconline.com • February 23, 2011
In 2006, two Greater Lafayette girls struggled to finish a junior high hurdles race, falling several times and showing visible signs of fatigue along the way.

Five years and more than 1 million YouTube hits later, the pair was given a national stage to finally determine who deserves the title of worst hurdler ever.

Alexis Patzschke and Natasha Burns, both 18, became YouTube stars last year thanks to "Alexis Courage," a clip filmed by Patzschke's dad, Jay, that went viral late last year. It shows the girls stumbling and knocking over hurdles long after others had finished the race.

The video became so popular that the girls were flown to Los Angeles to be a part of a segment on "Tosh.0" -- a television show on Comedy Central that features funnyman Daniel Tosh commenting on the Internet's most talked-about clips.

The stars of the clip, who met for the first time for the trip, said they are having a blast with all the attention, and they are now looking back and laughing at the once embarrassing track meet.

"I think it's really exciting and cool," said Alexis Patzschke, who joined Burns, friends and family at The Other Pub in Lafayette Tuesday night for a Tosh.0 viewing. "A lot of people thought it was motivating."

The Original Video!!!

Burns, who learned of her inclusion in the video only a week before heading to film Tosh.0, said the response was surprising.

"It's like I got this attention for being a klutz," she said. "For being clumsy, we got paid and we got to be on TV. It's been great."

Tosh used the girls' video as the starting point for what he called his first ever "web rematch" segment. It started with a mock press conference -- with him as the only reporter -- and a pre-race hurdle training program that had the two girls emulating the retro "Donkey Kong" video game, complete with arcade sound effects.