Comedian Karl Porter ‘overwhelmed’ as slow-motion goal celebration goes viral
A football-loving comedian has said the last few days have been a “rollercoaster ride” after a video of him performing a slow-motion goal celebration went viral.
Karl Porter shared a clip of the celebration, which came complete with an imaginary knee-slide, on his Instagram page earlier this week.
The video has attracted nearly 3.7 million likes in four days, with the official account for the Premier League replying to say the performance was “superb!”.
The celebration also went viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, with hundreds of thousands of users liking various posts which shared the clip.
Some said it was “genius” while others called it “perfection”.
Speaking about the reaction to the video, Mr Porter told Sky News: “It’s just been overwhelming, just in terms of the reaction.
“I just didn’t expect it to blow up as much as it did. It’s really hard to get my head around. Hard to take in.”
The 30-year-old, who has been a lifelong fan of Liverpool FC, said he would often mimic goal celebrations when he was a boy.
He grew up watching the likes of Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney.
However, his viral celebration is not based on any particular player.
Porter, who lives in Manchester, continued: “It’s something I have been doing since I was kid, just watching goal celebrations and trying to perfect them.
“I wanted to try it out on stage because it’s something different. I see humour in celebrations, with it being so physical, the facial expressions and everything that goes with it.
“It just felt right to do it on stage.”
Porter has also posted a message on his Instagram account thanking those who liked the video.
He said the reaction has been “truly overwhelming” and the last four days have been a “rollercoaster ride”.
Mr Porter has been doing the routine for around six months – with his performance that went viral taking place at the Up The Creek comedy club in Greenwich, London.
In the footage, the stand-up comedian tells the audience he can “do a goal celebration in slow-motion” before asking: “Do you want to see that?”
The crowd replies “yes!”
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Porter then composes himself before pretending to fix his gaze on an incoming football as he jumps into the air to head it into an imaginary goal.
The audience is already in hysterics with one heard saying: “That’s f****** class.”
Mr Porter then smiles like a striker who has just scored the winning goal before running towards imaginary fans.
His slows nods of head as he mouthed an expletive were a familiar site for the millions of football fans who tune in to watch the Premier League every weekend.
Porter ends the celebration by doing the sign of the cross on his chest before looking up to God.
Professional footballer Mats Hummels, who plays for the German national team and Borussia Dortmund, tweeted: “That is just perfection. Incredible performance.”
Another X user wrote: “I’ve watched this 400 times.”
Damascus, another use of the social media platform, posted: “I swear I’ve seen this a thousand times already and it keeps getting funnier. How is he so good at this?”
Another user wrote: “Take a bow, son. This is genius.”
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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