Trololo / Eduard Khil

Three decades after a Soviet-era baritone sang wordless syllables in a brown polyester suit, the internet discovered Eduard Khil—and in that discovery, found the perfect soundtrack for digital absurdity itself.

The "Trololo" meme centers on a 1976 recording of Soviet singer Eduard Anatolyevich Khil performing a non-lexical vocable version of the song originally titled "I Am Very Glad, As I'm Finally Returning Back Home" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The performance, which featured Khil singing using sounds like "la la la" and "lo lo lo" instead of actual lyrics, was an example of the vokaliz tradition—a style of singing similar to pantomime and American scat singing from the 1920s (Know Your Meme, 2025).

The song itself was composed by Arkady Ostrovsky and originally featured lyrics describing a cowboy riding his horse to his farm, with lines about his beloved Mary knitting a stocking thousands of miles away (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). However, according to Khil, he and Ostrovsky ultimately decided the lyrics were too suggestive to pass Soviet censors and opted for the wordless version instead (Slate, 2012; Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 2010).

The video remained obscure for over three decades until January 2010, when it was uploaded to YouTube. On January 27, 2010, Reddit user gn3xu5 submitted the video to the r/WTF subreddit in a post titled "Trololololololololo," which received over 580 upvotes and 95 comments (Know Your Meme, 2025). The post marked the beginning of the video's viral trajectory through English-speaking internet communities.

The Trololo video first appeared on various sites beginning February 21, 2010, with the most prominent being the website trololololololololololo.com, which helped push the video into popular awareness by receiving more than three million hits in its first month (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The video was later renamed "Mr. Trololo original upload" and accumulated over 26 million views over the following eight years (Know Your Meme, 2025).

The meme achieved mainstream recognition on March 3, 2010, when it was featured during a segment on The Colbert Report, after appearing on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld multiple times over the previous weeks (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). This television exposure catapulted the video from internet curiosity to cultural phenomenon, introducing Khil's performance to millions of viewers unfamiliar with internet meme culture.

The name "Trololo" emerged as an onomatopoeia of Khil's distinctive vocalization style throughout the song, and the video quickly became associated with internet trolling—leading to its alternate designation as the "Russian Rickroll" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025; Dictionary.com, 2021). The comparison to Rickrolling proved apt, as both memes involved surprising viewers with unexpected musical performances that became inescapable parts of internet culture.

Khil himself remained unaware of his internet fame for several weeks after the video's viral spread. He discovered his newfound celebrity only when his 13-year-old grandson Eduard Junior informed him that everyone knew his song on the internet—in Japan, England, and America—and that they were even selling t-shirts (Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 2010). The singer's initial reaction combined bewilderment with pleasure, as he told reporters he hadn't heard anything about it but found it nice and thanked them for the good news (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

The meme's popularity sparked renewed interest in Khil's singing career beyond his vocalized performance. For a time, the "Trololo" website included a petition for Khil to come out of retirement to perform on a world tour (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). The 76-year-old singer embraced his unexpected internet stardom, adopting "Mr. Trololo" as a stage name and engaging with his newfound global fanbase (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

The cultural impact extended beyond simple viral fame. The video was parodied by actor Christoph Waltz on Jimmy Kimmel Live, by Craig Reucassel of The Chaser on Australian television, and in September 2011 appeared in the Family Guy tenth-season premiere episode "Lottery Fever" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). These mainstream media references demonstrated how thoroughly the meme had penetrated popular culture beyond its internet origins.

On December 31, 2011, Khil performed the Trololo song again live on a Russian New Year's television special, marking a triumphant return to the spotlight he had largely left behind (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Within the first week of January 2012, the new performance video went viral once more, earning over four million views and demonstrating the meme's staying power (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

Tragically, Khil suffered a stroke on May 28, 2012, and died one week later on June 4, 2012, at a hospital in St. Petersburg at age 77 (Know Your Meme, 2025). His death was widely covered by international media including The Washington Post, NPR, and The Huffington Post, with a Reddit post titled "Eduard Khil ('Trololo Guy') dies in St. Petersburg, aged 77" reaching the front page and accumulating over 18,000 upvotes in 11 hours (Know Your Meme, 2025).

The legacy of the Trololo meme continued long after Khil's death. On September 4, 2017, Google released an interactive doodle featuring an animated version of the original video to celebrate what would have been Khil's 83rd birthday (Know Your Meme, 2025; The Washington Post, 2017). The tribute introduced the meme to a new generation of internet users while honoring the singer whose accidental viral fame had brought joy to millions.