I rickrolled Dr. Tiki. In public. At his own event. And took video. Here’s the video of it happening:

I’ve only been genuinely rickrolled twice and both were by Dr. Tiki, including the “lala Shower Outtakes” video that made it the front page of Digg.com. So when I heard that Jeff Macpherson (the guy who plays Dr. Tiki on Tiki Bar TV) announced a “Dr. Tiki meetup” at my local watering hole Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge, I had to come up with a plan to get him back with a rickroll while he was there.

To trick him into clicking through to a rickroll while at a Tiki Bar seemed like it would be a difficult task, but I had some advantages: One, I am good friends with Martin Cate, the mastermind behind Forbidden Island, which was Dr. Tiki’s destination. And two, I designed and programmed Forbidden Island’s tiki-themed touchscreen jukebox. The idea of using something other than the Internet-- specifically a jukebox -- to rickroll someone seemed incredibly devious and yet the same time strangely appropriate. I pitched it to Martin and he was in.

It all came together quickly. I made a special build of the jukebox software that when activated, would make every song selection on the juke trigger the Rick Astley video full screen. I got it working in record time and coordinated with Martin to clandestinely install it on the jukebox before opening.

The rest was up to Martin himself. The plan was for Martin to give Dr. Tiki a tour of Forbidden Island -- which is a top notch Tiki bar truly worthy of a Tiki connoisseur’s guided tour -- that would culminate at the jukebox. At that point Martin would add free credits to the juke while secretly turn on the rickroll mode, then encourage Dr. Tiki to pick a few songs. Meanwhile, my friends Chad Spacey, Rebecca and I would shoot video.

The plan worked like a charm. Dr. Tiki was caught completely off guard. Someone not in the know even asked him what was going on and got him to explain the whole rickroll phenomena on camera. It was a classic moment. Jeff Macpherson was truly a great sport about it, a genuine nice guy, and I’m glad I and the other Forbidden Island regulars were able to meet up with him while he was in town. It took a lot of work to rickroll him in public like that, but it was totally worth all the effort. I’d like to think we’re even … but I wonder if I have to watch my back, virtually speaking.

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