Fred Figglehorn

Fred Figglehorn is a fictional character who is the primary subject of a channel on the video-sharing website YouTube. The Fred channel is the most subscribed and one of the most viewed, with over one million subscribers starting at April 7, 2009 at around 3:26 pm. Later on the Day he had received 7,250+ more subscribers. It appears that Fred receives around 4-5,000 subscribers a day. The videos are centered around a fictional 6-year-old, Fred Figglehorn, who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".. The character of Fred is played by Lucas Cruikshank, a 15-year-old from Columbus, Nebraska, United States By June 2008, the channel had 255,000 subscribers, making it the number 1 most popular (and subscribed) channel of all time. The "Fred Goes Swimming" episode was nominated for the "Favorite User Generated Video" award at the 35th People's Choice Awards, but it lost to Barack Roll. Cruikshank also starred as Fred in an episode of iCarly, a sitcom on Nickelodeon. According to YouTube Insight metrics, the largest group of viewers is 13 through 17 year olds, though Cruikshank points out that this could skew lower because users must state they are at least 13 to create a YouTube account. The series is also more popular with female viewers than male. However, the adult audience is growing. The 35–44-year-old audience is larger than the 18–24 audience, which Cruikshank's manager theorizes is created by parents looking in to see what their children are viewing. Also Fred has about 1,022,831 subscribers on April 10 2009. There are also many imitators of Fred.

Appearances

Fred has appeared on CNN , Fox 11 , iCarly , and there are rumors he may be on The Suite Life On Deck. Lucas (Fred) posted on his YouTube channel that he will be appearing at Hot Topic in Glendale, CA at the Glendale Galleria. Saturday April 18, 2009 at 3:00pm. His Season 1 Fred shirts are also available at Hot Topic.

Episodes

"Classic" Videos

• Fred On Halloween: Fred celebrates Halloween. He dresses up like a wizard and is not allowed to go Trick-or-Treating and while at home breaks his game system.this is also the first Fred video.
• Fred On St. Patrick's Day: Fred celebrates St. Patrick's Day by turning the video completely green with a cheap green filter and dressing up like a leprechaun
• Fred Goes To The Park: Fred goes to the park and breaks the swing and later gets in trouble for it. He also breaks the rules by playing with a fake gun.
• Fred On The 4th: Fred celebrates the 4th of July by lighting fireworks (which scare Fred and he starts to think that his neighbors are lighting bombs).
• Fred Gets Babysat: Fred's mom leaves him with a babysitter and he gets really mad at her and back talks.
• Fred On Halloween 2: Fred goes trick or treating for the first time.
• Fred On Christmas: Fred goes over to his cousin's house for Christmas.
• Fred On Valentine's Day: Fred gets his very own Zip-it for Valentine's Day, and uses it to send messages to Judy, a girl he has a crush on.

Season I

• Fred On May Day: Fred celebrates May Day by giving all his neighbors May Day Baskets. But no one wants any and Kevin, his neighbor, throws his back at Fred...
• Fred Loses His Meds: Fred loses his medication, which he needs to take in order to act like a normal kid. As a result, he goes outside during a thunderstorm warning and ding-dong-ditches Kevin's house as payback for throwing his May Day Basket at Fred.
• Fred Gets Bullied: Kevin is mad at Fred for ding-dong-ditching his house, so he challenges Fred to a fight. Luckily, Fred has the cat with rabies on his side.
• Fred Gets Detention: Fred gets detention for having too many absences at school and fears his dreams of being a pediatrician will never be fulfilled.
• Fred Goes To The Dentist: Fred goes to the dentist, but his visit is not as expected.
• Fred Stalks Judy: Judy hasn't been texting Fred back on her Zip-It, so Fred sneaks into her house.
• Fred On Father's Day: Fred celebrates Father's Day by sending a letter to his dad, a rock star who is on death row.
• Fred Goes Swimming: Fred swims in a pool his mom picked up at a local dump.
• Fred Meets Bertha: At the bar Fred meets a girl named Bertha. She seems nice, but is she really?
• Fred's Mom Is Missing: Fred's mom hasn't come back since his play-date with Bertha, and Fred becomes happy...until he sees the downsides.

Season II

• Fred's Grandma Has A Secret: Fred's grandma, who has moved in to watch him, ruins Fred's shirt and tells him where his mom really is: rehab.
• Fred Goes Camping: Fred tries to go camping, but his grandma forbids him from camping outside. So instead, he camps inside.
• Fred Auditions For A Play: Fred auditions in his school play of Grease, He gets the part of a background tree, and is very proud of himself.
• Fred's Mom Returns: Fred's mom returns from rehab.
• Fred: A Star In His Own Mind: Fred goes to bed after an outburst, and has a dream where he is famous.
• Fred Sneaks Into Judy's Party: Fred goes to Judy's annual party despite the fact that he is not invited.
• Fred Tries To Ride A Bike: In an attempt to be cool, Fred "borrows" Kevin's bike, and tries to teach himself how to ride it.
• Fred Runs For President: Fred runs for class president, but Kevin runs, too.
• Fred Faces A Dirty Campaign: After Kevin and Judy turn Fred's campaign negative, he proceeds to get revenge.
• Fred on Election Day: Fred and Kevin lose the presidential title to a girl named Cleopatra.
• Fred on Thaksgiving: After Fred's mother and grandmother leave him home alone he decides to celebrate Thanksgiving by himself.

Season III

• Fred Rescues The Neighborhood Squirrels: Fred tries to rescue "The Neighborhood Squirrels" when Judy and Kevin tell Fred that they have become trapped in a hole (Fred also regains his blue shirt, which his grandmother somehow turns red when she come to care for him while his mom is in rehab).

• Fred Cooks for Judy: Fred decides to cook for Judy to impress her but it turns out she does not like the food. Then Fred's "true friends" (Neighborhood Squirrels) eat the buttered mushrooms and T.V. dinner (the food Fred cooked for Judy) instead.

• Fred on April Fools Day: Fred learns about April Fools day and decides to prank Judy and Kevin, but goes a little overboard.

• One Million Subsribers: Fred's channel has reached 1,000,000 subsribers, so Fred (who doesn't even know what one million is) and Lucas thank everybody for subsribing.

Extra Videos

Lucas Cruikshank also made other videos that weren't part of the actual series. These episodes were: Fred's Campaign Video(which cannot be found on his channel), Fred Sings at YouTube Live!!!(can only be found on YouTube Live), Fred on Thanksgiving, Fred on iCarly(can be found on youtube.com/fred and also icarly.com), and One Million Subscribers(this is the only episode that Lucas Cruikshank uses his real voice). NOTE: He does not edit his voice for his mom, Judy, Kevin, and his grandmother.

Content

Lucas Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids". The Fred channel was launched by Cruikshank on October 1, 2005 and is the fastest-growing channel in YouTube's history. It now has over a million subscribers, with the millionth on April 7, 2009 at around 3:45 pm.

The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between". The character posts his videos to his YouTube channel, even though he is not supposed to be using his mother's video camera, or posting videos, or even having a YouTube account. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice — making him sound more like a 6 year old and less like a 15 year old. According to Cruikshank, this effect and the hyperactive appearance of the character are achieved by speeding up the video.

The character lives with his recovering alcoholic mother, whose voice is heard often in episodes. (Fred usually communicates with all characters off-screen unless it is an animal). But Fred's Mom has been seen in one episode, called "Fred on Halloween". It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (like being locked in a dog cage for three days) but he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after she was at rehab. He also has a crush on a girl is his Kindergarten class, named Judy. Judy has a very mean attitude, and is always "being a brat" but "it doesn't matter, 'cuz she's really pretty!" According to "Fred Gets Babysat," Fred's birthday is sometime around late October because in the video at one point he says "My birthday is in like a month" and this video was originally uploaded on September 29. Fred's grandmother is mentioned as briefly caring for Fred while his mother was in rehab, on account of alcoholism. When his mother returns, in "Fred's Mom Returns", his grandmother leaves and his mother begins making him do chores such as picking up sticks. It is known that Fred has anger issues. In one episode however, "Fred: A Star in his own Mind", other characters are seen such as people that work for him and fan girls (although this occurs in a dream sequence). Fred's favorite meal is a TV dinner. However, in one episode Fred's mom takes away his TV dinner privileges. Fred's father was mentioned in the episode "Fred on Father's Day", where we find out that Fred's father, who is supposedly a rock star, is on death row in the state penitentiary. He also mentions being threatened by the supposed former owner of the original www.youtube.com/fred who knows where Fred lives.

Characters

All of the characters are voiced and played by Lucas Cruikshank.

• Fred Figglehorn is a 6-year-old boy, who is said to have anger problems. He's the only character ever seen on screen (other than Mrs. Figglehorn in "On Halloween" and Santa in "On Christmas"). He is clearly noted for his fast, high voice, and jolting eye movements.
• Mrs. Figglehorn is Fred's alcoholic mother. In "Fred's Mom is Missing", Fred mentioned that "a common place you could find [her] is, obviously, at a bar" and that "you can also find her standing on corners, wearing revealing outfits", and that "she's never really told [him] why she does that, but she says it somehow makes her money?" In another episode, Fred also mentioned that his mother was recently fired from a job at a fast food restaurant.
• Grandma Figglehorn is Fred's grandmother, and was first mentioned in "Fred On Thanksgiving", but fully introduced in "Fred's Grandma Has a Secret" as Fred's caretaker while his mother is in rehab.
• Judy is the object of Fred's infatuation, who is also one of the most popular kindergartners. Judy dislikes Fred, often embarrassing him, and is instead dating Kevin. Judy also has a Zipit® like Fred who constantly sends messages to her, which she either replies with insults, or does not reply at all. On "Fred Stalks Judy", he goes to visit her and, finding the door unlocked, enters the house and goes through her things. He is immediately discovered, and runs home, fearing arrest.
• Kevin is Fred's arch-enemy. Kevin has been described as fat on many occasions, and has a severe dislike for Fred. The cat with rabies bites him in "Fred Gets Bullied" and "Fred on April Fool's Day". He ran against Fred in the kindergarten presidential election, but both lost to an unknown candidate named Cleopatra.
• Mr. Figglehorn is Fred's dad who is on death-row in the state penitentiary. It's said by Fred's mother that he was once a rock star, and is never shown on screen. In YouTube Live, Fred mentions his dad is in Alcatraz.
• Bertha is Fred's friend and a popular second grader at Fred's school. They met in "Fred Meets Bertha" when their mothers go to the bar together
• Cleopatra appears only in one episode "Fred on Election Day", where she beats both Fred and Kevin in the school class president election.
• Fred's pets — Early in the series, Fred befriended a stray cat which he calls "the cat with rabies". In "Fred Gets Bullied" and "Fred on April Fools Day" , the cat bites Kevin, giving him rabies, and saving Fred from a beating. Fred has also befriended the neighborhood squirrels (really dogs that he calls "squirrels") and Sparky the dog who often runs in a local park (although he is also seen in places besides the park in "Fred on the 4th" and "Fred on Christmas".) Fred also has a more traditional pet, a Cockatiel (seen in several episodes) and another cat named Dolly (who is only mentioned in "Fred on St. Patrick's Day",and "Fred Gets Bullied".

• The Crazy Guy - Never actually appearing except through e-mails and letters to Fred(though it is rumored he might appear on Fred's website), he claims to be the original owner of Fred's YouTube account, and that he knows where Fred lives. Every time Fred gets something from him, he gets worried that he'll make good on his threats to hurt him.

Lucas Cruikshank plays the main character, Fred, as well as voicing every character. Lucas introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He currently lives in Nebraska with his family, including three brothers and six sisters. His three younger brothers, Will, Tommy, and Colin, are said to be the inspiration for the show.

On October 16, 2008, Cruikshank's Fred channel became YouTube's most subscribed channel overall with over a million subscribers, and altogether his Fred channel has received over 32 million channel views and over 220 million video views since its launch on May 1, 2008. He passed Smosh, JiggyJiggy5, MySaviors, and Nigahiga as well as many other famous channels such as Miley Cyrus' and The Jonas Brothers.

Cruikshank's "Fred" has been sponsored since its inception by the Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2), which has several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred Channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred now has a separate website promoting the Zipit and has starred in television ads for the device on Nickelodeon. Cruikshank has generated in excess of $100,000 from ad revenue and sponsorship, and has hired a licensing firm to market Fred merchandise. He made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and "Lucas" on Nickelodeon's iCarly:"iMeet Fred", which originally aired on Monday, February 16, 2009, and will additionally be seen on the Disney Channel's The Suite Life on Deck on July 7, 2009 as a guest star. Walden Media also hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer. Cruikshank recently launched a website to promote the Fred series and selling Fred t-shirts and other merchandise he also sells this merchandise at Hot topic stores. Cruikshank also recently appeared on The Tyra Banks Show.

He will soon be able to voice Bojo, Hollywood's pet monkey in the upcoming, Nicktoons Film Festival 2009.

Film

There is an internet-rumor that an upcoming flash animated film based on the Fred series is set. Based on the most versions of the rumor, Cruikshank is going to be co-writing and directing the script with Lee Czeck, a new director hired by Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, the producers of the film. Also, many rumors suggest Cruikshank will NOT be playing the main charecter, or any, for that matter, due to the fact he has 'too much publicity,' according to him. No date is noted in the rumors, but a few mention the fact it will be in several years, so that the writers will be able to 'make it Fred hilarious in every way'.

External links

• Fred's Official website
• Fred's YouTube Page
• Fred's Zipit page: http://www.fredonzipit.com