Julian Smith

About

Julian Smith is an American actor, director, and Youtube celebrity ("juliansmith87")^[1], where he is best known through a series of humorous videos. A typical video ends with Smith's famous phrase: "I made this for you!".

His comedy style varies from dark and sinister to hyper and often overdramatic. His humor is decidedly British, reminiscent of Monty Python in terms of falsetto, cross-dressing, etc.

Smith is also known to possess several other alter-egos, as he often portrays multiple characters throughout his videos. Smith's friends, as well as other Youtube stars, have also made appearances, some serving as recurring characters.

Roles / Appearances

Internet

• Jeffery Dallas is the mentally-challenged "cousin" of Julian Smith, who is often seen singing such random songs as "Jellyfish" and "Red Eye Flashes Twice" (both appearing as music videos).
• Mr. Timn is a milkman seen in several of Smith's videos. He will usually confront people through their window, before becoming distracted by something in the distance, where he wanders onto the road and is inevitably hit. He has reappeared multiple times, despite his deaths.
• In September 2010, Smith appeared in the comedy web series The Annoying Orange as the voice of Walnut in "Going Walnuts".

Television

• Smith also appeared as himself in the TV series Smash Cuts, which ran for a total of two seasons.

Spread

In April 2009, Smith uploaded a Youtube video entitled "25 Things I Hate About Facebook", which inadvertently went viral and now has over six million views. The success of said video eventually lead him an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show and afterwards a proposal from Facebook itself in order to create a video within their headquarters. Julian Smith's channel now currently has over 200 million views and over one million subscribers, making him the 19th most subscribed director on Youtube. He also has over 110,000 followers on Twitter, as well as over 350,000 likes on Facebook.

Such videos as "Malk", "Racist Coffee", and "Hot Kool Aid" have also earned Smith viral success. Many of his videos have been featured on ABC, Funny or Die, the Huffington Post, etc.

"Kidnapped"

On December 12, 2008, Julian uploaded a video to his YouTube channel entitled “Kidnapped – Ep. 1”. This video began a series spanning the course of seven weeks documenting Julian's "capture" by a character called Gabrielle. His captor demanded that Julian reach 1,000 subscribers in five weeks or "he will be execute". Julian's "release" took place seven weeks later having earned over 1,150 subscribers in the process. This series helped to establish Julian as a film director.

On December 29, 2011, Julian uploaded the video “DJD – Hunting” to his jeffreydallas YouTube channel. This video served as a precursor to the next season of "Kidnapped", which debuted on Julian's main channel on January 1, 2012. The first episode, “Kidnapped – Wake (Ep. 1)”, began the second season, which, as before, documented Julian's "capture", this time requiring Julian to reac 1 million subscribers. This time, Julian did not fulfill the requirements, resulting in his "death", which, through a series of plot twists, he was able to escape from. The second season featured characters and elements from Julian's previous videos, as well as a guest appearance by YouTubers Rhett and Link.

While the Kidnapped videos were dismissed by some as a sort of "publicity stunt" to earn him subscribers, others viewed them as intriguing pieces of film, with the added plot twist of Julian's life being tied to is subscriber count.

"Hot Kool Aid"

In July 2009, Smith uploaded a video called "Hot Kool Aid", which went viral over the internet, with now over 14 million views. The video featured Smith offering a pitcher of "hot kool aid" to his brother (played by Steven Brockman) before being swiftly declined, which leads Smith to go berserk. The video is one of the most famous uses of the line, "I made this for you!", as Smith is seen shouting it just before the video ends. The video also spawned several parodies on Youtube and merchandising on sites, like "Zazzle".

"Malk"

Later in November 2009, Julian uploaded a video called "Malk", which used the pronunciation of the word "milk" as the prime source of humor. The video begins with Julian and his friends at a dining table. Julian asks for some milk from his friend, Josh, pronouncing it "malk", only for his friend to refuse unless he pronounced the word in his desired way. Julian and the others begin to purposely ridicule him by repeating "malk" over and over, till he points a gun to his head to contemplate suicide, prompting the others to point their guns in an attempt to prevent him from shooting himself. The scene switches, only to reveal that it was just Josh suggesting ideas to Julian over the phone, to which he replies, "It's just so… dark!", before putting his cat into the oven as an act of irony. The video has over 17 million views and has also spawned several Youtube parodies.

Music

Smith has also produced several songs in the midst of his career, most of which are available for download on iTunes, "Grandma Like Whoa" being listed as the "Top Album". The song also has over six million views on Youtube.

Personal Life

Smith was born from Pastors Chris and Laura Smith on May 19, 1987 in Nashville, Tennessee – the second of six children. Later in 2009, during the beginning of his Youtube career, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he would marry Sarah Smith the following year. They have two cats, Scout and Pepper (who have also made appearances in his videos), and a black Labrador named Frank.

External References

^[1] YouTube – Julian Smith's channel