It was 2015. Glitzy. Loud. Over 118 million people were glued to their screens for Super Bowl XLIX. Katy Perry was riding a giant mechanical lion, looking every bit the pop titan. But then, the beach set happened. Enter the blue foam. Enter the flailing fins. Suddenly, nobody was looking at the fireworks or the hits. They were looking at a guy in a katy perry shark costume who seemed to have completely lost the plot.
Most people call it a "fail." Honestly? That’s the first thing everyone gets wrong.
The Myth of the Botched Choreography
We’ve all seen the clips. On the right side of your screen (Stage Left), a shark is hitting every beat with surgical precision. On the left (Stage Right), there’s a creature that looks like it’s trying to swat away a swarm of invisible bees. This was the birth of Left Shark.
The internet immediately decided this dancer was a mess. A local hire, maybe? Someone who forgot the steps? Total amateur hour?
Wrong.
The man inside that suit was Bryan Gaw. He wasn’t some random guy they found in Glendale. He had been dancing with Katy for five years. He was a seasoned pro who had toured the world. Years later, Gaw finally spilled the tea: the "mess" was actually intentional.
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"There’s a set choreography," Gaw told NPR. "There’s also what’s called free-style choreography."
Think about it. You’re in a seven-foot-tall, goofy blue shark suit. You can’t be "cool." So, Gaw decided to play a character. He wanted to be the underdog. He chose to be maximum goofy because he was on a maximum stage. While Scott Myrick—the guy in the "Right Shark" costume—played it straight, Gaw went rogue. He didn't forget the dance; he just decided to dance like no one, and yet everyone, was watching.
That Time Katy Perry Tried to Own the Ocean
You can't talk about the katy perry shark costume without talking about the legal circus that followed. It’s one of the weirdest footnotes in copyright history.
Shortly after the Super Bowl, a 3D artist named Fernando Sosa started selling little 3D-printed figurines of Left Shark. He was just a guy trying to ride the meme wave. Katy’s lawyers were not amused. They sent a "cease and desist" faster than a shark bite.
They claimed she owned the "intellectual property" of the shark.
This backfired. Spectacularly.
Sosa hired a law professor, Christopher Jon Sprigman, who basically told them to pound sand. The legal argument was simple but brutal: costumes are "useful articles." In the world of U.S. copyright law, you generally can't copyright a "useful" item like a dress or a shark suit unless the artistic part can be separated from the functional part.
Plus, there was the question of who actually designed it. It wasn't Katy. It was Marina Toybina and Viktoriya Koleva.
The Trademark Office eventually rejected Katy’s attempt to trademark the "Left Shark" image because it was just... a shark. It didn't identify her as the source. It was a rare moment where a massive pop star's legal team got checked by a meme.
Why We Are Still Obsessed in 2026
It’s been over a decade. Why are we still talking about a piece of foam and a guy who wobbled?
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Maybe it's the relatability. In a world of filtered Instagram feeds and perfectly choreographed TikToks, Left Shark is the patron saint of "just trying my best." We’ve all been that shark. You're at work, you've got the suit on, you're supposed to know the "Teenage Dream" dance, but you're just... flailing.
The costume itself was a masterpiece of "camp." It wasn't supposed to be high fashion, even though Jeremy Scott handled Katy’s main outfits. It was meant to be a cartoon come to life.
The Shark Stats
- Performer (Left): Bryan Gaw
- Performer (Right): Scott Myrick
- Change Time: They had about 90 seconds to get out of "Dark Horse" gear and into the sharks.
- Visibility: Almost zero. Myrick admitted he actually ran into a palm tree during the performance, but the camera missed it.
The Unexpected Feud Connection
Here is a detail most people miss: those sharks were actually "soldiers" in the Great Katy vs. Taylor War.
Both Gaw and Myrick were part of the group of dancers who left Taylor Swift’s Red tour to join Katy’s Prismatic tour. This was the catalyst for the song "Bad Blood." When you see those sharks dancing, you're looking at the very people Taylor was singing about when she said, "She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me."
So, Left Shark wasn't just a meme. He was a geopolitical player in the world of pop music.
Lessons from the Fin
If you're looking to recreate the katy perry shark costume for a party or just want to understand its legacy, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, don't aim for perfection. If you're "Right Shark," you're boring. You're just a background dancer. If you're "Left Shark," you're the story.
Second, visibility is key. Or rather, the lack of it. Part of the charm was the limited movement. The suit was bulky, the eye holes were poorly placed, and the heat inside was probably unbearable. That physical struggle translated into the "clumsy" charm that won over the world.
To really nail the vibe today, you have to embrace the imperfection. The shark costume isn't about the ocean; it's about the absurdity of being a human trying to navigate a world that expects you to be a pro, even when you're dressed like a predatory fish.
Next Steps for Your Own "Left Shark" Moment:
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- Check the Material: If you’re buying a replica, look for poly-foam. Inflatables are easier to store, but they don't have that "stiff" look that made the original so funny.
- Master the Flail: Practice moving your arms about half a beat behind the music. It’s harder than it looks to be convincingly bad at dancing.
- Ignore the Lawyers: Unless you’re selling thousands of units, you’re safe to wear your fin with pride.
In the end, the katy perry shark costume didn't just define a Super Bowl; it defined a specific era of the internet where things didn't have to be "aesthetic" to be iconic. It just had to be real. Even if that "real" was a guy in a blue suit, lost in the lights, just doing his own thing.