Here’s what Daniel and his friend from “Damn Daniel” are doing now
Even though 2016 was, overall, a hideous trash fire of a year, at least one good thing came out of it: the “Damn, Daniel” meme. And while the two teens behind the viral video, Josh Holz and Daniel Lara, rose to near-instant fame in February, the meme died quickly (as memes are wont to do), and we haven’t heard all that much about them since. So we were excited to find out from a new interview what the Damn, Daniel boys are up to now!
As part of its Internet’s Most Fascinating series, Cosmopolitan writer Steven J. Horowitz sat down with Daniel and Josh for an in-depth interview about their lives post-meme and managed to paint a pretty darn charming portrait of two friends from Riverside, California.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLXgcybgedm
If you’re not familiar with the Damn, Daniel meme, it took the internet by storm when Josh tweeted a video praising (and ribbing) his friend Daniel for his slick outfits. In each short clip, originally posted to Snapchat, Josh calls out “Daaamn, Daniel!” and points out his friends shoes, saying, “Back at it again with the white Vans.”
Damn Daniel pic.twitter.com/Va10hmpePO
— J O S H (@Josholzz) February 16, 2016
We may never know what made the video so popular — the eager bromance? the fact that the guys look like they stepped out a movie about teen life in California? the inexplicable whiteness of Daniel’s sneakers? — but the boys were an instant hit. They quickly made an appearance on the Ellen show, were the subject of tweets by Vans, secured a manager/lawyer, and signed on with United Talent Agency and L.A. Models.
Since then, they’ve starred together in an LG commercial, auditioned for a Disney project (though they haven’t heard back about it yet), and acted as Ellen’s reporters on the red carpet at the MTV Awards.
Despite getting mobbed regularly after the video rose to fame and stopping for photos with fans up to 100 times every day (they still take about five a day), the two remain down-to-earth BFFs.
"I've always seen myself as Daniel. I've never seen myself as famous or a celebrity," said Daniel to Cosmo. Josh concurred, saying, "You don't want to go anywhere thinking, 'Oh yeah, I'm famous.' You could get so much crap for it. We haven't changed that much."
Daniel told the magazine he plans to pursue aviation in college (but is interested in modeling and acting now), and Josh wants to become a YouTuber, shooting and editing his own videos. Seems like just the right fit for both! Read more from the excellent interview here.
