Who Is This YouTube Senstation ‘Fred?’

By Sarah Matheny on September 3rd, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 2 Comments

Now that I’ve heard that voice, as much as I try, I can’t un-hear it and go back to my pre-”Fred” life.

While researching the Top 10 Internet Searches by Kids, I discovered that You Tube sensation “Fred” was number 9 on the list.

Huh?  I quickly racked my brain for all the “Fred”s this could possibly be referring to.  Fred Durst? No, he’s so 1999.  Fred Flintstone?  No, that’s more like 1959.

After a quick search on You Tube, I discovered a slew of “Fred” videos, from “Fred Has a Party” to “Fred Loses His Meds.”  These videos feature the character “Fred Figglehorn,” who is said to be a hyperactive six year old with an alcoholic mother and a jailed father.  Fred participates in all sorts of shenanigans, which he narrates every crazed moment of in a sped up, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” reminiscent manner.

While I found the voice to be highly annoying, my 2 and 4 year olds were busting up in fits of laughter as I did my “research.”  Upon digging further, I learned that “Fred” is really 15 year old Lucas Cruikshank, a high school student from Columbus, Nebraska.  Since  filming and posting his first “Fred” video in April 2008, “Fred’s” channel has become the most subscribed to channel in You Tube history (almost 1.5 million) and each of his dozens of videos has received well over a million hits, over 60 million total.  That has meant over $14,000 in income for Cruikshank.  That certainly beats a paper route.

Still, Cruikshank acknowledges that “Fred” can get a little grating at times.

He explains, “I actually hated ‘Fred’ at first and at one point wanted to kill him off…’Fred’ IS the person you wouldn’t want to be around in real life because he’s annoying, but he’s also got heart and vulnerability, which is part of what I think draws the fans to him too.”

Fred fans agree.  They are drawn to the everyman, or “everykid” nature of the videos.  There is no network scripting, producing and editing the programming, it’s all the work of Cruikshank.  As one blogger puts it, “Fred is watchable, and lovable…because he is visibly himself.   A regular, rural kid from Nebraska in a tract home made apparent through his consumer camcorder:  plush couch, wood-paneling, corn fields. And yet, this likable real Lucas is notably and obviously playing the character.”

While I can’t say I’ll be methodically hitting refresh on my browser, waiting for that next “Fred” video like I’m the high eBay bidder moments before closing on $25 Coach bag, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for Lucas Cruikshank in the future.

In the meantime, I’ll be instructing my kids on how to use the camcorder.  Mama needs a new bag.