Hi My Names Catrina

1984Viral video / reaction memedead

Also known as: When a new person starts at work · Pink Windmill Kids · Can't Stop the Music intro

Hi My Names Catrina" is a 1984 clip from the British children's show Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show, featuring ten kids enthusiastically introducing themselves, which resurged in 2016 as a workplace-introduction reaction meme.

"Hi, My Name's Catrina" is a viral clip from the 1980s British children's show *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* in which ten kids introduce themselves with overwhelming enthusiasm before launching into a dance number. The clip sat mostly forgotten for over three decades until November 2016, when it blew up on Facebook and Twitter with the caption "When a new person starts at work," racking up 11 million views in days3. The meme turned the original child performers into unlikely internet celebrities in their 30s and 40s.

delayed virality memeswork memesaccidental fame memeschildrens media memesbritish memes

Overview

The clip runs about 24 seconds. Each kid steps forward, says their name in a sing-song cadence ("Hi! My name's Catrina!"), and does a little choreographed gesture while the others bop along. The whole thing has the manic energy of stage school kids performing live on national television for the first time, which is exactly what it was1. The over-the-top enthusiasm paired with the cheesy 80s production values made it perfect meme material decades later.

*Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* was the fifth television series for British comedian Rod Hull and his puppet Emu. The show featured a group of ten children singing and dancing to popular tunes inside Hull's Pink Windmill set3. This particular clip came from the very first episode of the live series, which is why the kids did named introductions for the audience1.

The original segment aired in 1984 as part of the opening of the first live episode of *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* on ITV. For the new live format, the producers trimmed the cast from the usual 20-30 children down to ten and gave them a more prominent role, including this introductory song before a rendition of the Village People's "Can't Stop the Music"1. The kids were all students at Corona Academy stage school1.

Spencer, one of the original cast members, recalled that "for this new live format they only had ten children, whereas there had been 20 to 30 before, and we were more involved in the show, so they had us perform this little song to introduce ourselves"1. Fellow cast member Joe remembered thinking "it didn't rhyme" and being unsure about his line "And I'm Joe to you!"1.

The clip was uploaded to YouTube at some point in the early 2010s, where it attracted modest attention. Hugh, one of the performers, noted that co-workers had stumbled across the clip on YouTube a few years before the viral explosion, which triggered his memories of filming1.

Origin & Background

Platform
ITV (original broadcast), Facebook (viral spread)
Key People
Instant Regret, Rod Hull
Date
1984 (original), 2016 (viral spread)

The original segment aired in 1984 as part of the opening of the first live episode of *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* on ITV. For the new live format, the producers trimmed the cast from the usual 20-30 children down to ten and gave them a more prominent role, including this introductory song before a rendition of the Village People's "Can't Stop the Music". The kids were all students at Corona Academy stage school.

Spencer, one of the original cast members, recalled that "for this new live format they only had ten children, whereas there had been 20 to 30 before, and we were more involved in the show, so they had us perform this little song to introduce ourselves". Fellow cast member Joe remembered thinking "it didn't rhyme" and being unsure about his line "And I'm Joe to you!".

The clip was uploaded to YouTube at some point in the early 2010s, where it attracted modest attention. Hugh, one of the performers, noted that co-workers had stumbled across the clip on YouTube a few years before the viral explosion, which triggered his memories of filming.

How It Spread

On November 27, 2016, the Facebook page Instant Regret posted the first 24 seconds of the clip with the caption "When a new person starts at work." The post pulled 88,000 reactions, 11 million views, 83,331 shares, and 223,000 comments.

The meme jumped to Twitter almost immediately. Users started tagging themselves as specific kids from the clip, identifying with "the cool mom" or calling the whole thing "FCKN GOALS". One widely shared comparison came from user @suitelifeondick, who likened the experience to being greeted by staff at cosmetics chain Lush. Lush's Oxford Street branch in London took the bait and recreated the video themselves, captioning it "Walking into Lush Oxford Street like…".

Vice UK journalist Marianne Eloise tracked down several of the original performers for interviews about what it felt like to go viral 32 years after filming a kids' TV intro. On December 7, 2016, Catrina Hylton, the girl whose name became the meme's title, posted a video of herself dancing along to the original clip. Several cast members, including Joe, Catrina, Hugh, Abbie, and Emma, created a Facebook page called "Pink Windmill Kids" to capitalize on the sudden attention.

The adults later reunited to film a new version of the intro, this time as grown-ups doing the same choreography. Mashable covered the reunion, noting that "they know exactly what everyone wants: a reunited version of that intro. They do not disappoint".

Media

How to Use This Meme

The meme works best as a reaction to any situation involving overly enthusiastic introductions or forced workplace cheer. The most common format is posting the video clip (or a GIF from it) with a caption describing a relatable scenario where people are being aggressively friendly or performative.

Popular caption templates include: - "When a new person starts at work" (the original and most common) - "When you walk into [specific store]" (like the Lush comparison) - "When everyone introduces themselves on the first day of [class/camp/training]" - Tagging friends as specific kids from the clip ("I'm Catrina, you're Joe")

The humor comes from the contrast between the kids' almost unsettling level of enthusiasm and the mundane reality of whatever social situation the poster is describing.

Cultural Impact

The meme's biggest real-world impact was on the original performers themselves. Catrina Hylton had gone on to a career in children's theatre in Australia, creating and performing educational shows for pre-school kids. Hugh became a 6th Dan master in Choi Kwang Do and a fitness instructor voted "People's Choice Instructor of the Year". Emma ended up working wardrobe for Disney's *The Lion King* at London's Lyceum Theatre. Joe pursued kids' TV presenting through the 90s on shows like *Motormouth* and *The DJ Kat Show* before becoming a director and cameraman. Spencer went into data management research, which he described as "quite a different path from jumping about in Pink Windmill". Debbie moved into advertising after studying computer science, and Abbie became an ambulance technician.

The fact that these former child performers had built completely ordinary adult lives before suddenly being recognized online gave the whole story a wholesome quality that amplified the meme's spread. Brands like Lush adopted the format quickly, with the Oxford Street store's recreation being one of the earliest corporate responses to the meme.

Fun Facts

Joe also appeared in an episode of *Poirot* during his acting career.

Catrina had a record contract with CBS Epic after leaving the show and released a single called "Born Too Late".

Spencer was dropped from the show after a prank gone wrong in which he broke a lift at the hotel where the cast stayed during filming.

Debbie described herself as "a HUGE Beyoncé fan" in her Vice interview, adding "I'm not sure how that's relevant, but then again, I'm in a 30-year-old viral video, so…".

The original show was live, and the kids were told just before going on air that millions of people across England would be watching.

Frequently Asked Questions

Hi My Names Catrina

1984Viral video / reaction memedead

Also known as: When a new person starts at work · Pink Windmill Kids · Can't Stop the Music intro

Hi My Names Catrina" is a 1984 clip from the British children's show Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show, featuring ten kids enthusiastically introducing themselves, which resurged in 2016 as a workplace-introduction reaction meme.

"Hi, My Name's Catrina" is a viral clip from the 1980s British children's show *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* in which ten kids introduce themselves with overwhelming enthusiasm before launching into a dance number. The clip sat mostly forgotten for over three decades until November 2016, when it blew up on Facebook and Twitter with the caption "When a new person starts at work," racking up 11 million views in days. The meme turned the original child performers into unlikely internet celebrities in their 30s and 40s.

delayed virality memes work memes accidental fame memes childrens media memes british memes

Overview

The clip runs about 24 seconds. Each kid steps forward, says their name in a sing-song cadence ("Hi! My name's Catrina!"), and does a little choreographed gesture while the others bop along. The whole thing has the manic energy of stage school kids performing live on national television for the first time, which is exactly what it was. The over-the-top enthusiasm paired with the cheesy 80s production values made it perfect meme material decades later.

*Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* was the fifth television series for British comedian Rod Hull and his puppet Emu. The show featured a group of ten children singing and dancing to popular tunes inside Hull's Pink Windmill set. This particular clip came from the very first episode of the live series, which is why the kids did named introductions for the audience.

The original segment aired in 1984 as part of the opening of the first live episode of *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* on ITV. For the new live format, the producers trimmed the cast from the usual 20-30 children down to ten and gave them a more prominent role, including this introductory song before a rendition of the Village People's "Can't Stop the Music". The kids were all students at Corona Academy stage school.

Spencer, one of the original cast members, recalled that "for this new live format they only had ten children, whereas there had been 20 to 30 before, and we were more involved in the show, so they had us perform this little song to introduce ourselves". Fellow cast member Joe remembered thinking "it didn't rhyme" and being unsure about his line "And I'm Joe to you!".

The clip was uploaded to YouTube at some point in the early 2010s, where it attracted modest attention. Hugh, one of the performers, noted that co-workers had stumbled across the clip on YouTube a few years before the viral explosion, which triggered his memories of filming.

Origin & Background

Platform
ITV (original broadcast), Facebook (viral spread)
Key People
Instant Regret, Rod Hull
Date
1984 (original), 2016 (viral spread)

The original segment aired in 1984 as part of the opening of the first live episode of *Emu's All Live Pink Windmill Show* on ITV. For the new live format, the producers trimmed the cast from the usual 20-30 children down to ten and gave them a more prominent role, including this introductory song before a rendition of the Village People's "Can't Stop the Music". The kids were all students at Corona Academy stage school.

Spencer, one of the original cast members, recalled that "for this new live format they only had ten children, whereas there had been 20 to 30 before, and we were more involved in the show, so they had us perform this little song to introduce ourselves". Fellow cast member Joe remembered thinking "it didn't rhyme" and being unsure about his line "And I'm Joe to you!".

The clip was uploaded to YouTube at some point in the early 2010s, where it attracted modest attention. Hugh, one of the performers, noted that co-workers had stumbled across the clip on YouTube a few years before the viral explosion, which triggered his memories of filming.

How It Spread

On November 27, 2016, the Facebook page Instant Regret posted the first 24 seconds of the clip with the caption "When a new person starts at work." The post pulled 88,000 reactions, 11 million views, 83,331 shares, and 223,000 comments.

The meme jumped to Twitter almost immediately. Users started tagging themselves as specific kids from the clip, identifying with "the cool mom" or calling the whole thing "FCKN GOALS". One widely shared comparison came from user @suitelifeondick, who likened the experience to being greeted by staff at cosmetics chain Lush. Lush's Oxford Street branch in London took the bait and recreated the video themselves, captioning it "Walking into Lush Oxford Street like…".

Vice UK journalist Marianne Eloise tracked down several of the original performers for interviews about what it felt like to go viral 32 years after filming a kids' TV intro. On December 7, 2016, Catrina Hylton, the girl whose name became the meme's title, posted a video of herself dancing along to the original clip. Several cast members, including Joe, Catrina, Hugh, Abbie, and Emma, created a Facebook page called "Pink Windmill Kids" to capitalize on the sudden attention.

The adults later reunited to film a new version of the intro, this time as grown-ups doing the same choreography. Mashable covered the reunion, noting that "they know exactly what everyone wants: a reunited version of that intro. They do not disappoint".

Media

How to Use This Meme

The meme works best as a reaction to any situation involving overly enthusiastic introductions or forced workplace cheer. The most common format is posting the video clip (or a GIF from it) with a caption describing a relatable scenario where people are being aggressively friendly or performative.

Popular caption templates include: - "When a new person starts at work" (the original and most common) - "When you walk into [specific store]" (like the Lush comparison) - "When everyone introduces themselves on the first day of [class/camp/training]" - Tagging friends as specific kids from the clip ("I'm Catrina, you're Joe")

The humor comes from the contrast between the kids' almost unsettling level of enthusiasm and the mundane reality of whatever social situation the poster is describing.

Cultural Impact

The meme's biggest real-world impact was on the original performers themselves. Catrina Hylton had gone on to a career in children's theatre in Australia, creating and performing educational shows for pre-school kids. Hugh became a 6th Dan master in Choi Kwang Do and a fitness instructor voted "People's Choice Instructor of the Year". Emma ended up working wardrobe for Disney's *The Lion King* at London's Lyceum Theatre. Joe pursued kids' TV presenting through the 90s on shows like *Motormouth* and *The DJ Kat Show* before becoming a director and cameraman. Spencer went into data management research, which he described as "quite a different path from jumping about in Pink Windmill". Debbie moved into advertising after studying computer science, and Abbie became an ambulance technician.

The fact that these former child performers had built completely ordinary adult lives before suddenly being recognized online gave the whole story a wholesome quality that amplified the meme's spread. Brands like Lush adopted the format quickly, with the Oxford Street store's recreation being one of the earliest corporate responses to the meme.

Fun Facts

Joe also appeared in an episode of *Poirot* during his acting career.

Catrina had a record contract with CBS Epic after leaving the show and released a single called "Born Too Late".

Spencer was dropped from the show after a prank gone wrong in which he broke a lift at the hotel where the cast stayed during filming.

Debbie described herself as "a HUGE Beyoncé fan" in her Vice interview, adding "I'm not sure how that's relevant, but then again, I'm in a 30-year-old viral video, so…".

The original show was live, and the kids were told just before going on air that millions of people across England would be watching.

Frequently Asked Questions