Former college runner-turned-viral sensation Daniel LaBelle uses physical comedy to re-imagine Olympic sports
Daniel LaBelle can sprint 100m wearing Donald Duck shoes, taped to tennis rackets, wrapped in extension cords, or dressed up as a yeti.
He can jump from counter to counter in his kitchen without touching the floor, outrace a microwave timer, have an epic table tennis rally in his house, or ride a snowboard on a treadmill.
If victory at the Olympic Games were earned through laughs, the USA-based social media star would have multiple gold medals. With more than 59 million followers across his channels, LaBelle has discovered the perfect formula of blending sport and humour.
“One thing I always hope that I can do through my videos is inspire people to be themselves,” LaBelle said. “Because weird is good, weird is fun. Weird makes life more exciting. And why do you want to be like everyone else? Being like everyone else is boring, so be yourself. Be weird, be goofy and be you.”
Olympics.com spoke to LaBelle to discover how he concocted his viral formula, what sports he definitely does not recommend trying at home, and why he would turn down a chance to race Noah Lyles.
From weddings dancefloors to "floor is lava"
Daniel LaBelle did not always run while wearing a Spiderman costume, holding 200lb weights or trying to impersonate Tom Cruise. There was a time he wore regular running gear and had a predictable goal: to get to the finish line first.
“I grew up a runner,” he said. “From my earliest memories, I loved to run. Even my parents said when I was a two-year-old, I was running and running and climbing. It's kind of funny that I ended up doing this as a full-time career.”
Inspired in part by watching USA’s Maurice Greene sprint at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, LaBelle ran track from junior high to early college, and also tried cross-country running. In addition to athletics, he has played football, ice hockey and roller hockey, and dabbled in artistic gymnastics.
This background would prove essential when, in early 2020, LaBelle had the idea to turn his exercises into comical sketches.
By that point, he had been working as a photographer for 10 years with weddings, senior proms and family portraits making up the bulk of his portfolio. Heeding the advice of social media savvy businessmen Gary Vaynerchuk, LaBelle decided to launch a TikTok account to promote his business.
That is when his well-planned scheme took an unexpected turn.
“I quickly realised people don't want to see pictures of random couples that I'm taking. People want to be entertained,” LaBelle said. “And so, I grabbed my wife and I said, ‘Hey Bailey, I'm going to pretend like I'm a four-year-old getting his pictures taken’, because if you ever try to take pictures of a four-year-old, it's absurdly hard, but also absurdly funny.
“We filmed that video and the next day it had a million views and that was my wake-up call for potentially starting this comedy career because what it gave me was a sense of belief. I never thought I could be that person that could get a million views on a video.”
LaBelle kept shooting more physical comedy videos to see if he could recreate this success. Many of them also went viral and by that summer he had around 5 million followers on TikTok.
Soon he was making more money on TikTok than through his photography, so LaBelle stopped taking photo jobs and dove into making videos for social media full-time.
Creating "what if" physical comedy worlds
LaBelle’s videos are a combination of humour, physical prowess and make-believe worlds. He discovered this winning formula in the first of his sports-related videos that went viral and has since continued to perfect it.
That first video was based on a simple question: “What if we lived in a world where people did everything in a rush?” LaBelle sped up life, racing through house chores and flipping through books like a champion speed reader. The viewers loved it, and LaBelle went on to make a whole “rush series” around the concept.
His next videos gave people a glimpse into a world where people sprinted instead of walked. He also imagined worlds where athletes used their sports skills in daily life.
“I like creating ‘what if’ worlds that don't actually exist,” Daniel LaBelle to Olympics.com
While LaBelle tries to focus on sports that he is already familiar with, sometimes he includes a sport that is outside of his comfort zone, such as basketball. In those cases, he makes sure to do his research.
“I'll occasionally look up videos on YouTube to get a feel for how people move and how people throw and how people run,” LaBelle said. “When I imitate a person, I really want to nail the unique way that they physically move, even if it's very subtle. It's really important to get right because that's often what brings the relatability in the comedy.”
Even more research goes into the videos where he impersonates celebrities and characters doing sports. Before attempting to run like Forest Gump, Rocky and Mr. Bean, LaBelle pored over their signature traits and movements.
LaBelle’s spot-on impersonations are even more impressive given that his acting experience, until now, was confined to a few skits he did as a camp cabin counsellor.
The lack of an acting background was never a hinderance, however. The key, LaBelle says, was to zero in on his existing skills and figure out how to make the most of them.
“I never really felt like I would be a good stand-up comedian or a comedian that uses lots of words, but I've always felt like I could - this is going to sound funny - like I could move my body in unusual ways,” LaBelle said. “And so that's what I leaned into. I leaned into physical comedy, which morphed into my love for running. I call myself a physical comedian and athlete. It's that combo which organically created that signature style that I have.”
Race the USA track team? No, thank you
On the comedy side, LaBelle draws his inspiration from slapstick comedians such as The Three Stooges and the Monty Python troupe, while on the sports side his biggest heroes nowadays are Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman.
He was even considering doing a collaboration with the USA sprinters – but then remembered one major drawback.
“I've actually met Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman and it sounded like they were interested in maybe doing a collaboration someday,” LaBelle said. “Maybe I'll collaborate with them. The only thing I'm worried about is if I do a collaboration with them, my audience is going to realise how slow I actually am. Because for the average person, I'm decently fast but to a Christian Coleman or Noah Lyles, I would just get smoked. It'd be pretty embarrassing.
“Maybe it'd be fun to do a collaboration with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Maybe someone who is still faster than me, but I could be a little bit closer to them.”
Long jumping in the kitchen, sprinting in high heels and other things not to try at home
Professional athletes and Hollywood stars are not the only ones inhabiting LaBelle’s "what if" worlds. Weekend warriors and office workers are also regular characters. These are worlds where people ride office chairs to work and turn laundry loads into workouts.
But while LaBelle is an avid advocate for daily exercise, there are things from his videos he says people should definitely not try to replicate.
“There was a scene where I sprinted into the kitchen and jumped across the kitchen and landed on a counter and then grabbed some cereal or something, and then I jumped across the kitchen onto another counter. Definitely don't recommend doing that,” he mused. “I don't recommend sprinting in high heels. Which I did and it worked out but don't want any people spraining any ankles trying to imitate that”
Fortunately, so far, LaBelle's injuries have been limited to sprained fingers, bruises and “a lot of rug burns”.
He admits, however, that his competitive nature can sometimes trump self-preservation instincts. He is eager to win even when racing in social media videos, especially if the person he is racing is his regular guest, brother Caleb.
On one such shoot, when the brothers were creating a “what if people literally ran a business meeting” make-belief world, a suit-clad LaBelle pulled a hamstring trying to beat Caleb in the final scene.
“We were running all out towards the finish line and in my mind I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think Caleb's going to beat me’," LaBelle recalled. "I didn't even care about the video anymore. I was just like, ‘I'm going to beat Caleb to the finish line’. And so, I took it that extra 110 per cent and I lost my form a little bit. And then I felt this twinge in my leg. I'm like, ‘Oh, no’. I had a minor pull and we had to stop for the day.”
While LaBelle can usually scrape through his video shoots with a few bruises and the occasional rug burn, his house often takes a real beating.
“I injure our house a lot,” he admitted. “A lot of holes, a lot of scrapes, a lot of broken lamps. I joke that I need to start a lamp budget because I break so many lamps. But it's all good. Anything I break, I just see as a business expense.”
A family team and a brotherly rivalry to push the limits
Lucky for LaBelle, his family members have no problem with him turning the house into a boxing ring or a badminton court.
In fact, LaBelle’s family are his team. His brothers, mother and wife feature in his videos, his father helps as the “unofficial stats guy” and his sister works part-time for him.
Brother Caleb is especially prominent on the social media feed. A serious runner himself, he flies in from Colorado to LaBelle’s home in Wisconsin once a month to film one or two videos. The two are similar in their running times, which adds a dash of drama to the filming.
“He is almost exactly my speed," LaBelle said. "We're so close in running speed that we'll race, and we don't always know who's going to win.”
Caleb is also someone who motivates LaBelle to keep upgrading his training regimen to make sure they stay close in running speed. For the most part, LaBelle's videos are his training, but he also has a habit of doing longer-distance runs and lifting weights three to four times a week in the gym.
And when he does go to the gym, it is often a relief when compared to what he needs to do during his video shoots.
“It's a little bit more relaxing," LaBelle said with a laugh. "I could just go to the gym and lift weights for 20 minutes without worrying about falling or scraping my knee or carrying 200lbs weights across the road and worrying about what the neighbours are thinking of me."