Viral fame is a fickle thing to achieve nowadays, but one young Maltese comedian’s short sketch got just that yesterday, amassing as many views as 10% of the entire country’s population in a couple of hours.

Taking to Tik Tok (and eventually Facebook) yesterday, local stand-up comedian and popular memer James Ryder shared his latest creation, and it wasn’t long until the views, comments and shares started pouring in.

The premise was simple enough; how would popular horror film tropes play out if they had to happen in Malta? Specifically, Sliema, ?amrun, Birgu and St. Julian’s?

From stereotypical pepe’ panic to a ?amallu outburst that ends up threatening the would-be killer, the clip has it all, even throwing in a quick jab at the island’s ceaseless construction sites in there for good measure.

In a matter of hours, the short 46-second clip had gotten over 41,000 views and more than 100 comments… and that’s just on Tik Tok. Meanwhile, on Facebook, the clip got another 16,000 views, more than a thousand reactions, over 250 comments, and nearly 300 shares. By the end of the day, it had gone fully viral.

This is not the first time that one of Ryder’s videos got thousands of views, but even for someone like him, this latest clip was a surprisingly instant success. “Genuinely didn’t expect the video to blow up like this, thanks so much!” the young comedian commented some hours later.

The hilarious video must’ve done wonders for Ryder, who was yesterday promoting his nomination for the Lovin Malta Social Media Awards, where he’s been shortlisted for the Best Tik Toker Award.

Voting closed last night as the clock hit midnight, but we’re willing to bet this latest viral video gave Ryder a very helpful nudge.

“I’m from ?amrun but I still voted for you,” one person said, with another jokingly adding “NEVER COME TO ?AMRUN.”

“Today’s video was solid proof that we as Maltese have a great sense of humour and don’t mind laughing at ourselves,” Ryder said on Facebook after what must’ve been a very busy day of notifications. “Thank you all for watching, thank you all for voting, much love.”

Tag someone who lives in Sliema, Ħamrun, Birgu or St. Julian’s!