Marlboro Local’s Lost Bar Mitzvah Footage Goes Viral Years Later

MARLBORO, NJ - Jake Dylan has never seen the footage from his Broadway-themed Bar Mitzvah party - nor has anyone, for that matter. When the videographer hired to film the event informed his parents that the videos were nowhere to be found, the budding star - now a paraprofessional and dance teacher - thought he’d never get to relive the night again.

15 years later, over 100,000 viewers on social media are reliving the moment alongside the Marlboro native after the videotapes were rediscovered earlier this year. It was when he uploaded a video of himself to Tik Tok dancing to Jennifer Lopez’s 2000 hit “Let’s Get Loud” that the 27-year-old dancer began to receive large-scale attention. Over the past month, friends, family and even the dancer from the party’s DJ team have reached out to comment on the video (watch a clip below).

Dylan told Patch that, although he found plenty of moments to cringe at while rewatching the footage, the videos serve as an important testament to his love of dance and music.

“I was working in New York theater when I first saw the video, it was nice seeing that I was having fun and doing theater even back then,” Dylan said. “I post everything and everything nowadays. I’m always posting about J-Lo and my obsession with her, so I had to post it … a million friends and family started seeing it and reaching out overnight.”

The adorable viral dance is far from Dylan’s last effort at making people laugh. Comedy has always come easy to the Monmouth County local, who started making skits on social media in 2014 while studying at Pace University. In fact, his most popular character, “Monmouth County Mom," has gained a following on his Tik Tok and Instagram platforms.

“I started doing videos when I was commuting to New York for school, I was really anxious at the time. I used it as a way to decompress from the stressful dance major I was in,” Dylan said. “Then I started Monmouth County Mom and it went really viral. It’s [inspired by] all of my mom’s friends that are from Brooklyn that moved to Central Jersey. It’s any Jewish-Italian mom.”

In fact, the entertainer has received so much attention that his content has been shared by celebrities such as Shay Mitchell. He even landed a partnership with dating app Hinge to create comedy skits with two of his most beloved characters, Jackie and Steph.

While Dylan has certainly proved his dancing skills in his interpretive tribute to J-Lo, the 27-year-old says he hasn’t ruled out other options in the entertainment world. The dance teacher told Patch of his love for musical theater, acting and art as a whole and wouldn’t limit himself to one creative medium.

“I want to do it all,” Dylan said. "It’s a cliche, but I want to be like J-Lo. I want to do movies, I want to have songs and I want to dance at concerts. I want to do it all, everything that there is to do.”