With Christmas and New Years right around the corner, 2008 is finally drawing to a close.

Over the past twelve months, we saw the election of the United States’ first African-American president, a global economic collapse and a renaissance in Britney Spears’s career.

Yes, it was quite an eventful year, and good/bad times were had by all.

But, honestly, all those events pale in comparison to one thing: 2008’s most popular viral videos.

From Bert and Ernie to Bill O’Reilly’s now-infamous teleprompter outburst, YouTube was inundated with funny, off-the-wall clips that made us laugh one day, and then peeved us the next when our friends started to spam us with them.

Still, I can think of no better way to close out the year than with a video recap of the best things from the Internet in 2008.

Enjoy.

[Video created by Videogum]