Authored By seanphippster

Of course it’s stupid. That’s the point.

A YouTube video showing a person dressed as a Wacky Waver wind dancer at various downtown locations cropped up last week on social media.

The video-set to the soundtrack of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”-has garnered mostly positive reactions, although it has created some confusion because of its absurdity.

The Wacky Waver made an appearance at Con Nooga-Chattanooga’s multifandom convention-over the weekend as a cheerleader during the adult big wheel races, among other events.

Jessica Graves, a producer and editor at WDSI Fox 61, is the genius behind the costume. She got involved in costuming about five years and regularly attends Atlanta’s Dragon Con.

Her past costumes include Mara Jade Skywalker and Emma Stone’s character from “Zombieland.” But she said the idea of a full-body costume appealed to her.

“I’d always be one of those people that had these big, crazy costumes,” she said. “And I love that it’s anonymous and when I take it off, people go, ‘That’s a chick in there!'”

Graves got the idea for the Wacky Waver costume when her cat started playing in a pop-up laundry hamper.

“We were just teasing the cat and it started moving around and I thought, ‘I can make a Wacky Waver costume out of this,'” she said.

Wacky Waver is the term coined by “Family Guy” used for the large, inflatable tube men often seen in front of car dealerships and Jacuzzi stores. In order to replicate the movement, Graves purchased several laundry hampers online. She said the entire costume cost $75.

Graves used cardboard initially as head support before finally settling on a gutted construction helmet as a base for the costume. She said it “kind of” works.

“For the reaction I get, $75 was totally worth it,” she said. “And the best part about it is that I can just fold it up and carry it under my arm when I’m done with it.”

As an employee at WDSI, Graves has always been interested in video storytelling. Her co-worker, Bo Wheeler, also an editor and producer for Fox 61, just purchased some new camera equipment and offered to record the antics of the Wacky Waver.

“We’re videographers, and we were just goofing around,” she said. “We thought it would be funny to do one of those slow-pan reveal shots. I think ‘God Bless the USA’ is a hilariously patriotic song. It’s absurd.”

Graves said the video took about an hour to edit from start to finish.

For the movement, Graves was inspired by Kaitlin Olson’s dance moves as Dee on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” She also learned the technique from her friend Rachel, an interpretive dancer in Nashville.

“My girlfriend told me to just imagine air,” she said. “It’s absolutely exhausting.”

The future of Wacky Waver is uncertain, though Graves has no intention of retiring the costume anytime soon. She won the WDSI costume contest and said the popularity of the costume has grown beyond her imagination.

“People love it,” she said. “They just want to party with Wacky Waver.”