They did it, we watched it - millions of times

From the hand of Henry to the heckler of Kenny, via the emergence of Susan Boyle. KEVIN COURTNEYpicks seven magnificent YouTube moments of 2009

IF YOU WANTED to talk about the big events of 2009, Twitter was the place to put your soapbox. But if you wanted to actually see what everybody was talking about, YouTube was still the one to watch. From pilot "Sully" Sullenberger landing in the Hudson to Jedward doing it again and again on the X-Factor, YouTube captured almost all the moments of 2009 (no one got footage of Tiger Woods's wife wielding a golf club). The most-watched clip of the year was – surprise, surprise – Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent, viewed 120 million times so far. Movie trailers for Avatarand Twilight: New Moonattracted huge audiences, while viral campaigns featuring rollerskating babies and a choreographed couple dancing up the aisle spread like wildfire. Here's a few choice YouTube moments of 2009.

PAT KENNY’S HECKLER

Stand-up comedians are well-versed in handling hecklers, but Pat Kenny had no witty retort handy when an angry audience member berated him about his €600,000-plus salary on The Frontline. Kenny had been discussing social welfare payments with the Minister for Social Affairs, Mary Hanafin, when Inchicore man Alan O'Brien launched into a tirade against Kenny and other high earners at the State broadcaster, saying they had no right to pontificate about social welfare payments when they were being paid huge salaries from the licence fee. O'Brien somewhat sabotaged his case by admitting he had been waiting 20 years to confront Kenny.

THE HAND OF HENRY

YouTube is filled with clips claiming to show UFOs, but there’s no doubting the veracity of one flying object clearly seen by a million viewers on that fateful November night in Paris. The only person who didn’t see Thierry Henry’s hand, however, was referee Martin Hansson, and no amount of pleading by the Irish side could make him a believer.

And no amount of recriminations could force a rematch, so we could only watch helplessly as Henry’s hand pushed us out of the World Cup.

SUSAN BOYLE BURSTS ON TO THE WORLD

In a world where looks and talent are considered inseparable, the arrival of Susan Boyle, 47 and "never been kissed", overturned all the usual showbiz certainties. All good drama has the element of surprise, and the clip of Boyle's first appearance on Britain's Got Talent, singing I Dreamed a Dream, never fails to surprise and delight. She has since withered a little under the spotlight, but for a brief, wonderful moment, the shrinking violet from Blackburn in Scotland was positively blooming.

GREEN TD TURNS THE AIR BLUE

Some people go into an empty room and let fly with a few expletives just to let off some steam. Unfortunately for Green TD Paul Gogarty, there was still a handful of people in the Dáil chamber when he gave deputy Emmet Stagg an unedited piece of his mind.

Only a handful, mind – Gogarty’s outburst fell on mostly empty seats. He apologised immediately to the Ceann Comhairle for his “most unparliamentary language”. There’s an idea for the recession – install a swear box in the Oireachtas, and let everyone eff and blind away for charity.

BALLOON BOY

It’s a bird, it’s a plane . . . no, it’s actually a rather dumb and reckless publicity stunt.

The world watched with mounting concern as an out-of-control helium balloon, possibly containing six-year-old Falcon Heene, floated high in the Colorado skies. Imagine his parents’ relief when Falcon was found safely hiding in the attic of the family home.

Now imagine their discomfort when Falcon told his dad on CNN: "You said we did this for a show." Turned out that dad Richard Heene was keen to have his own Osbournes-type reality TV show, and is alleged to have cooked up the hoax to "increase local and national awareness of the Heene family". Heene and his wife Mayumi have pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the hoax, and are due to be sentenced next Wednesday.

KANYE WEST RUINS TAYLOR SWIFT’S BIG MOMENT

Some things you just don’t do. You don’t take sweets from a baby, or steal a kid’s trike. And you don’t snatch the microphone from a 19-year-old country singer just as she’s accepting her award for best video, then declare to the world that Beyoncé should have won instead.

But that’s what Kanye West did to poor Taylor Swift during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. President Obama reflected viewer sentiment when he called West a “jackass”. Wonder if Kanye would have been so quick to snatch the mic from Kenny Chesney?

VIJAY SINGH’S HOLE IN ONE

During a US Masters practice round last April, Vijay Singh scored the holy grail of golf – a hole in one. Could he repeat the feat in the actual competition? Don’t be silly.