M*A*S*H Viral Video after Five Years

Five years ago today, I created a five minute video that was seen around the world. More than 12 million times.

I am using this milestone to look back at the craziness of the first week.

It all started with this post on my Facebook page which I shared to the two M*A*S*H group pages I belong to. I was seriously hoping for a couple hundred views and a “Brilliant!” or two.

What I didn’t expect was being on this side of a true viral video with more than four MILLION views in the first week. (More than a thousand views a minute Monday through Wednesday that first week.) As all viral videos do, it slowed down immensely since then, but it has still been seen over 12 million times on various Facebook pages and YouTube channels. It’s been shared more than 740,000 times. 

I was contacted by people from all over the world including a high-ranking Australian government official and your everyday ordinary MASH fan.

It was written up in 29 online articles. With only one of them actually reaching out to me before publication.

It was downloaded from my Facebook account and reuploaded to several other Facebook pages and YouTube channels. (It took me a couple days to post it on my YouTube channel because I had an issue logging in.)

But most of all, people close to the show reached out:

Post: “I got noticed by the biggest star of the show! Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) contacted me through his podcast Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda Facebook page to say how much he liked the video.”

Post: “Loretta (Hotlips Houlihan) Swit pinned my post from Saturday night to the top of her Facebook Page about an hour ago. #MASH #MASH4077”

She reached out to thank me for creating it. Here’s our quick exchange.

The daughter of Gary Burghoff (Radar O’Reilly) asked me to send a link off Facebook so he could see it. She wrote, “Gary isn’t on Facebook and she wanted the YouTube link to send him. She said, “It’s amazing that this show can still have so much impact today. Thanks for your creativity. He loves seeing that stuff. Stay safe out there. ♥️”

A friend of David Pollock (MASH writer) asked me for the YouTube link so he could send it to David. Lethe wrote back this morning, “David is passing the video on to Burt Metcalfe, producer on M*A*S*H.”

Family of Burt Metcalf (Executive Producer) reached out to tell me how much he enjoyed the video.

Knowing that those involved with the show appreciated my work was really gratifying.

Here’s how the first week went. 

I posted the “M*A*S*H and the Coronavirus” video Saturday (3/28) evening just before 7 PM ET to my Facebook page, then shared it on MASH fan group pages. It was posted a couple days later on my YouTube channel.

It was interesting to see this slowly bubble and then take off. 

Here are some of my posts from the first week.

March 30
Post: “Holy shit! Somehow news about my video made it to military.com!

Nearly 600,000 video views at this posting.”

It hit 1 MILLION views on Tuesday just after 10A …less than three days. It had nearly 100,000 shares and countless comments on all of those shares. 

Later that day:

Post: “This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever been part of. I honestly was only expecting a couple of thousand views and a BRILLIANT or two, but what I witnessed today was awe inspiring.

The MASH video went from 1 to 2 million views in less than 13 hours. I had to shut off friend requests from other than friends of friends. But I have a great list of compliments and reviews

As of this post…2,002,811 Views

It’s time for bed. Thanks for letting me brag.”

April 2
Post: “Just as I am dozing off last night, I get a message from a writer at this veterans online magazine…I answered a few questions and voilà!”

You can read the article at Wearethemighty.

Message from my friend Lynn Williams-Freeman:
I shared your video with my company and one of our HR managers is married to a nurse.  Well she shared it with her and this is the SLACK response I received this morning:

Hey, Lynn. I shared this with my wife who works at NIH. She shared it with some physicians and nurses there who are working on various things related to COVID-19 – some treating patients who tested positive, some working on treatments and vaccine. She received a lot of responses saying that it was such a welcome distraction and, for some, it was the first time they had smiled/laughed all day. I’m sure its making its way around campus. Thanks so much for sharing and thanks to your friend!

Post: “THREE MILLION!

Took a little more time to get from 2 to 3 million views, but the video is still going strong.

When I get an opportunity, I look at what people who are sharing say on their post. Here’s a couple of favorites:

Favorite comment with video share:

This is the Coronavirus content I’ve been looking for!!

Favorite comment with story share:

My boss sent this in an email this morning with the instructions to watch it before beginning work.

Made me chuckle, I love that show!

My reply: Great boss! I don’t even think mine’s seen it yet and I sent it to him Monday.

3,005,353 Views when I wrote this.

>20,000 views on YouTube, which has only been up for 24 hours or so.”

April 3
Post: “4 million Facebook views

Things are slowing down. Finally got to 4M views on Facebook earlier this evening. (Finally…lol)

Still have people from all over the world reaching out to me via Messenger including a Cabinet Sec & Multicultural Affairs Shadow Minister from Australia, and one of the members of the Motels.

Another person wrote. “I think the planet needs you to make a few more video clip compilations 🤪”

My Facebook Post 4,048,502
My YouTube post 66,014
Wendy Rice 59,796
PromiseKeepersNZ 90,563

TOTAL 4,264,875”

April 4
Post: “ONE WEEK AND FINAL UPDATE

Thanks to everyone who shared, commented, reacted and genuinely had fun with me over the last week.

It was interesting to see the life of a viral video from the other side. I found my video featured on nine different websites, four of them were stories about the video. Only ONE of them reached out to me before publishing. And several of them linked to one of the other YouTube videos. So if you share the YouTube version, please use the video with this post.

Despite it being suggested a multitude of times, there is no way I could duplicate this with ANY other show. I just don’t know another show as well as I know M*A*S*H.

Now back to my old normal, boring self. 😉

The view count at 7P – one week after posting on Facebook:
My Facebook Post 4,400,532 (410K shares)
My YouTube post 82,394
Wendy Rice YouTube 72,926
PromiseKeepersNZ YouTube 123,623

TOTAL 4,679,475”

It was truly an outstanding experience and so much fun to witness.

I’m just glad you all liked it.

Count as of March 28, 2025.

BTW…NONE of the MASH Facebook groups I belong to will post this anymore due to “No COVID Posts” rules. But those groups were instrumental in helping push this video viral.

PS…I lost count on how many times I saw “Brilliant!”