This will be remembered as one of the classic comedy lines of the early 21st century, but the real story of this wonderful Saturday Night Live skit is that it is rapidly becoming THE poster child for the snowball effect referenced below. The online video site YouTube has recorded over 1.5 million views in the past week and a half, to say nothing of the likely million or so views from the NBC.com website. The network has made the video available as a free download for iTunes, and those numbers aren’t available either. When all is said and done, this will likely pass the number of downloads of the famous Jon Stewart Crossfire episode.

The New York Times notes the story, and, of course, Jeff Jarvis has something to say:

“I’ve been recognized more times since the Saturday it aired than since I started on the show,” said Mr. Samberg, 27, a featured player in his first season on “SNL.” “It definitely felt like something changed overnight.”

Every network exec, show producer, star, agent, and media prognosticator should pay attention to that: The internet makes stars. Well, actually, the audience makes stars, now that we’re empowered to.