Illinois man is World's Fastest Clapper

Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Arlington Heights man is fastest clapper in the world
Bryan Bednarek of Arlington Heights holds the Guinness world record for fastest clapping.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- How do you get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Just ask Bryan Bednarek of Arlington Heights and he'll tell you.

There are strange sounds coming from Energy Command Studios in Arlington Heights. It's clapping, clapping like you've probably never heard before. That's because Bryan Bednarek, 23, is now recognized as the world's fastest clapper. He set the record in this studio in February, and Guinness has now made it official. Bednarek executed 804 claps in just 60 seconds. How does something like this get started?

"It started in high school," Bednarek says. "A lot of friends started pestering me and pestering me and eventually I decided, you know, I'm going to try to break the record."

He watched the video of the former record holder on the internet and then just concentrated and worked at it until his hands turned into a slap happy blur. On this Energy Command Studio video it's almost impossible to tell how he does it, but he says it's really quite simple.

"I wish there was some kind of trick. It just all came naturally," he says. "I'd say move your elbows up and down, that's the only thing you have to do. Just clap normally in your palms. Clappity, clappity, clappity."