The Star Of Many Viral MTL Stunt Videos Finally Answered What We're All Wondering... WHY?
A Montrealer named Yaya, better known as @parkourporpoise, knows we could all use a laugh every now and then, and has found ways to provide us with exactly that.
The stuntman has made videos doing some of the craziest and funniest things in and around the city, like driving through downtown playing Mario Kart, taking his work-from-home setup on the road and taking a bath in the ice-cold river.
Editor's Choice: Quebec Was Voted The Worst Canadian Province For Handling The Pandemic
It goes without saying, though, that these videos should definitely not be re-enacted as they are highly dangerous.
MTL Blog got the chance to talk to Yaya about making videos and the impact that they have on his fellow locals.
Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
How do you constantly one-up yourself?
I'm really not trying to one-up myself. That's possibly the best compliment that anyone could give me.
I'm just trying to make videos. If they're getting better or they're getting worse, I really just appreciate the feedback.
The focus isn't to make them better, the focus is simply to make videos.
"Parkourporpoise" has always been my name, even though I don't do as much parkour anymore. I've been on Instagram since it was just a pictures app.
I was posting, posting, posting, but then I hurt my knee really badly, so it stopped me from doing parkour for about a year.
I still wanted to make videos. Through that, I started doing different things and then the "other" stuff started to go viral, so I thought, "Well this is fun. I'm gonna do more of this."
Do people in Montreal recognize you? What's the reaction been?
Sometimes, people will come up to me and be like, "Hey! You're that parkour dude!" When they do, it's pretty cool.
It would be cool to grow a huge social media following and maybe do some good with it. Maybe grow a huge YouTube, huge TikTok, huge Instagram, all of it really.Â
But it goes without saying, PLEASE don't try to re-enact these videos since they are extremely dangerous.
Why do you think it's so important to make people laugh/smile/gasp in a crazy time like this?
I think it's just important to make people feel happy with themselves. If you could have a positive experience, laugh and smile and get you out of your bubble, then I think it's amazing that we can laugh.
It's important to be able to get some sort of break and some sort of escape, especially with everything going on in the world.
And if people are even getting that from my videos, then I'm super honoured to be able to do that. It honestly means the world to me.
The stunts shown in these videos should not be reenacted.Â
