About

Stuart Ashen, (more commonly known as his online name, Ashens), is a British comedian, actor, animator and reviewer who started his career as an extra in British comedy and satirical series' and eventually gained a large YouTube following in the years following 2009 for his reviews of generally poorly produced bootleg wares, tastings of poor or out of date consumables and various comedy sketches. He has since gained 900k subscribers to his YouTube Channel with 200 million overall views.

History

Stuart Clive Ashen was born on the 16th of December 1976 and has subsequently achieved a PhD in Psychology. Ashen's started his acting career in 2003 appearing as extras in various satirical productions along with a minor presence on the web under the moniker Dr Ashen. Between 2007 to 2011, Ashen's has appeared in various British comedy and satirical shows such as Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and The Armstrong and Miller Show. He has also starred in a few online projects such as Ashens Techdump and Sci-Fi series The Proxy.

YouTube Career

Since 2006, Ashen started the YouTube page "Ashens" in which Ashen created reviews for old and poor quality electronic products, these reviews being interspersed with various comedy clips and animations. In 2010 given the good reaction and small following to his previous work, Ashen increased the production of his review series having at least an episode a week. Since then, the Ashens channel has grown into a satirical comedy review channel with many different series and projects being undertaken by Ashen.

Poundland Special

One of the most popular series Ashen produces is the Poundland Special series. Poundland is a chain of reduced item stores in the UK with a similar concept to American 99 cent stores. Due to the poor quality of consumer products on sale at these stores, Ashen's reviews of these products with emphasis being placed on their over advertised quality against their proper quality has lead to a series of comedic videos showing the typical quality one can expect from such a store.

Bootleg and "Tat" Reviews

Similar to the Poundland Special reviews, Ashen has also received numerous bootleg and worthless products for him to review by his fan base. These products include fake iPhones, Tablets, Phones, Electronic devices, toys and other "tat" which are reviewed to the same standard as their genuine counterparts. Due to this, the juxtaposition between the strange characteristics of the bootleg material against the genuine material has lead to various comedic moments.

Food Special

Along side his videos of consumer products, Ashen also tastes and reviews various poor quality or out of date food. These foods have ranged from infamous food products such as the "Full chicken in a can", "Sandwich in a can", "Poundland all day breakfast" and various out of date foods such as 17 year old chocolate and 30 year old beer. Ashen's subsequent reactions to the food's appearance and taste have made this series become a fan favourite and caused the series to be occasional rather than stick to its original one off special.

Mystery Boxes/Blind Bags

Besides Ashen's various "tat" reviews are blind bag and mystery box openings, reviews where he opens various blind bags and mystery boxes and reviews the products inside. These reviews then usually end with him burning the product with a blowtorch, though sometimes the product escapes the blowtorch. He has opened products from various brands such as Cut the Rope, Portal, The Hunger Games, and My Little Pony.

Popular Creations

Sad Onions.

Sad Onions refers to Ashen's term for the standard age restriction logo on toys and materials for children which Ashen describes as a Sad Onion. Due to the reoccurring gag on various Ashens videos, the phase Sad Onion has became a popular term among fans of the channel along with the description now being widely used to refer to the age restriction logo.

An Excellent Product

An Excellent Product refers to the Chef Excellence range of "Stay Fresh Resealable Bags" which were reviewed by Ashen during his Poundland Special 2 Review. Due to the poor quality of packaging and the amateur artwork used on the front of the packaging combined with a stock photo of a chef as a mascot, the product was lambasted as the definition of Poundland tat. The phase "An Excellent Product" subsequently became a joke referring to the poor quality of a product Ashen was currently reviewing with it being likened to the "Stay Fresh" bags.

The Brown Sofa

The Brown Couch refers to Ashen's brown suede sofa which has became a staple of the channel. Due to it ubiquitous nature in most of Ashen's video reviews, the sofa has became a popular symbol of the channel with it appearing in fan art and it being one of the Ashens trademarks.

Fifty Thousand Shades of Gray.

Fifty Thousand Shades of Gray relates to a spoof novel of the erotic best seller Fifty Shades of Gray. However the title of the book is literal as the novel only consists of the phase "Shades of Gray" repeated 50 thousand times. Due to a complaint on Amazon regarding the contents of the book, It was removed from publication which has lead to the few copies that were in circulation to be sold for well over the original price.

Other Projects

Comedy Sketches and Shows

On top of doing the Ashens channel for YouTube, Ashen has collaborated with a range of fellow comedians and YouTube personalities in creating one off comedy sketches and recurring comedy characters. Along side these videos, Ashen has also created various internet series' such as "Ideas Men" and "Through the Tech Hole"

Feature Films and Shorts

Ashen has also produced and acted in various short films and a full feature film titled "Ashens and the Quest for the GameChild". The film featured along side Ashen, Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf) and Warwick Davis.

Search Interests