Take one part man-child, two parts satirical comedy and a haircut only Justin Bieber could be jealous of and you have YouTube superstar Shane Dawson.
The native Californian may be considered one of the original YouTubers as he began his channel is 2008. He is not necessarily a vlogger (though he does have a separate channel for vlogs), as many of his videos are comedy sketches. It is his immense fan base and international brand make him staple of the Internet video world.
He began his youtube channel after posting a video he filmed at his workplace, a weight loss clinic. The subject matter in the video was deemed racy and disrespectful to the company and they fired everyone involved. It was then that Shane turned to youtube and ever since then his career has taken off.
He creates satirical parody videos, many of them filled with content that could never make it to regular cable. He generally will focus on pop culture events, celebrities and his self-created cast of ragtag characters.
I don’t particularly agree with many things he says or does in his videos, but I think it is great that YouTube (generally) provides an outlet for self-expression in whatever way the creator wishes.
Shane’s appeal may be attributed to his sincerity in sharing his struggles, such as weight and abuse/bullying issues. His candid personality is magnetic to others who may feel they are struggling with similar issues.
Shane’s main channel “Shane Dawson TV” currently has about 5.3 million subscribers with his other channels “Shane Dawson TV 2” and “Shane” have a combined 6 million subscribers.
Like many other YouTube celebrities, Shane has dabbled in music. Since 2010 he has released 7 separate singles, some of them charting on iTunes. He also hosts a weekly podcast called “Shane and Friends”.
In recent Shane Dawson news, he has recently announced that a television show he created based upon his experience working in a weight loss clinic was purchased by NBC. In my opinion, this is a great example of YouTube’s viability in the world of self-promotion and exposure.
Within his past five years on YouTube, Shane went from your average uploader to a media mogul with a “real-life” show on network TV. It is amazing that in our day and age, ones passion can be recognized and furthered through new media outlets.
Subscribe to Shane Dawson TV here.
Subscribe to Shane Dawson TV 2 here.
Subscribe to Shane here.
Listen to the Shane and Friends podcast here.
