Keanu Reeves has been in a lot of movies and in almost every single one he manages to say “whoa” at least once. Now, a website developer has helpfully created a site where you can listen to every single Reeves whoa that exists.
The site whoa.onrender.com builds upon work that was begun by YouTuber “Owenergy” who, in 2018, uploaded a video that compiled every Reeves whoa that had occurred so far. That video, which is nearly six minutes long, catalogues Reeves’ whoa from 1986 until what was then the present day. Now, whoa.onrender has updated these whoas and made them accessible via JSON APIs which can be embedded into websites. The site also features a rotating “whoa” player, which includes the audio and video of every Reeves whoa.
The site was developed by web developer Avi Mamenko. Mamenko notes that “some of the ‘whoa’ scenes in Owenergy’s YouTube video either appear out of order or are miscounted—these mistakes are corrected in this API. Keanu Reeves has also said additional “whoas” in movies released after 2016, which are also included in this API.” Mamenko puts the total number of Reeves whoahs at 118 at this point in time.
Having cycled through the many iterations of Keanu’s signature exclamation, my personal favorite has to be from the 1980s teen comedy The Night Before. I have never seen this movie and it looks utterly ridiculous (the trailer showcases a subplot in which Reeves’ character accidentally sells his cheerleader girlfriend to a Los Angeles pimp named “Tito”). Reeves’ whoa from this movie is one of the most deranged things I have ever heard in my life. It sounds vaguely like the noise an extraterrestrial quadruped might make if it were trying to learn English for the first time.
Anyway, great job Mr. Mamenko. You have done us an important service. The vital historical task of cataloguing Reeves’ whoa library continues.