Rick Astley performed in my city last night. Astley’s career has recently been revived by the Rickroll, a popular online video bait-and-switch prank. Acknowledging that which revived him, Astley pulled a bait-and-switch on his audience by having a local celeb sing the Rickroll song, Never Gonna Give You Up.
The local celeb is named Roderick Paulate, so this became a Roderickroll. You’re a punny one, Rick.

Since YouTube just made Rickrolling mainstream, linking to the original version of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up has just become too common. Distinguish yourself above other Rickrollers and impress the geek babes in your life by linking to the classiest, sexiest version on YouTube: the 2005 live performance, complete with sexy violinists and a nod to Kylie Minogue mashups.

Now you can get Rickrolled by Rick himself. After the phenomenal six-million-view success of YouTube’s April Fools prank featuring his 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley’s old music videos now appear on his official YouTube channel.
It’s a revenue-sharing partner account, so if you’re going to Rickroll someone, you can thank Astley by linking to his upload of Never Gonna Give You Up. Even popstars from twenty years ago can understand the power of online video.

April 1, 2008 is not the best day to hit the YouTube Featured Videos list. You may be familiar with Rickrolling, the practice of posting a deceptive link that leads to a video of Rick Astley’s 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up. This April Fools’ Day, YouTube Rickrolls everyone as Featured Videos links all lead to Rick’s immortal hit.
Congratulations to YouTube on demonstrating a deep understanding of Internet culture. May I respond with Tay Zonday’s version of Never Gonna Give You Up.