Michael Buckley (YouTuber)
Template:Infobox Internet celebrity Michael Buckley (born June 8, 1975) is an American Internet personality and comedian. He has gained considerable recognition for his popular vlog What the Buck, in which Buckley gives humorous commentary on popular culture. Buckley maintains one of YouTube's most popular channels with several million viewers each month.[1] In October 2007, Buckley "broke all records" of YouTube ratings when four of his shows ended up on the week’s 10 top-rated videos.[1] Buckley has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times discussing Internet entrepreneurship[2] and The Advocate discussing homophobia on the internet.[3] On 18 March 2008, he won a 2007 YouTube Awards for best commentary with the video "LonelyGirl15 is Dead!".[4][5][6]
Buckley, who is openly gay, has a husband and lives in Connecticut with their four dogs Ellie, George, Colin and Buddy.[7][8] To show his fans his "softer side", Buckley has also begun to vlog about their home life.[8]
History
Early career
Buckley, a Connecticut native, is one of three children and moved to his parents' summer home on Cape Cod after graduating from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. He began working at a group home for children with developmental disabilities.[8] In 2002, he moved back to Connecticut and started a "normal 9–5 office job".[8] After appearing on television with his friend Kristin Tierney for a fund-raising drive for CPTV the two decided to create a public-access chat show called Table for Two at local public-access television studio in July 2005.[7][8] Both the "Buck the Hustler" and "What The Buck" names derived from an open casting call incident in Brooklyn, "they called me the next day and asked me to come back. They christened me 'Buck the Hustler'."[7]
Career
"What the Buck" began as a small weekly segment on Table for Two and gave him "a chance to riff and rant on his own".[8] His cousin then posted some on YouTube and "it snowballed."[7][8] Buckley started building a following on MySpace and started his YouTube vlogs channel in May 2007, with his main focus centered on celebrities and pop culture, often satirizing and parodying them.[7][1] In September 2008, he quit his low-paying day job as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company and is now earning more money as an online entertainer.[2] Edge Boston summarized his work as: "Three or four times a week, he uploads his slickly made commentaries on celebrities and pop culture that are amongst the snarkiest to be found on the web."[7] His high-energy and rapid-fire delivery and style has been described as being "irreverent, fast-talking, pop-culture-obsessed"; he has been likened to "a living can of Red Bull."[8] He is one of the most subscribed vloggers rising to be the second most popular comedian within the first five months of posting.[1] His online success has led to more mainstream media work including DirectTV, Leeza Gibbons' syndicated radio show, a regular guest spot on Fox News Channel's weekly gossip show "Lips & Ears" and "RedEye".[8] Courtney Friel, host of Fox's "Lips & Ears", came across "What the Buck" and invited Buckley onto the show, "The beauty of YouTube ... is that they have complete creative freedom".[8]
On 6 September 2007 "The Top (& Bottom) Gays of You Tube!", the first all-gay collaboration video by YouTube's most subscribed video bloggers, was posted by Buckley to create a "YouTube gay village."[7][9] Featuring Chris Crocker, William Sledd,[10] and "Gay God" (Matthew Lush), the video consisted of each of the four bloggers commenting on the others' vlogging, with Buckley acting as host for the various outtakes.[9] As of October 2008 in the rankings of most subscribed channels, in all categories, "What The Buck?!" is 7th, Crocker's channel, "It's Chris Crocker" is 15th, and Sledd is 40th..[11] As of November 2008, the video has been viewed over 1,000,000 times, with over 8,500 comments.[9] On 23 April 2008 Buckley began to broadcast regular live shows on the social broadcasting website, BlogTV. His live shows have already been viewed by over 200,000 people. He appears live on Wednesday and Sunday nights on Blogtv.
References
- ^ a b c d Kalbag, Sachin (21 October, 2007). "What the Buck! Comedian holds sway". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Stelter, Brian (10 December, 2008). "YouTube videos pull in real money". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Doig, Will (February 26, 2008). "Homophobosphere". Advocate.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2008
- ^ Norman, Pete (March 21, 2008). "Chocolate Rain Singer Wins YouTube Award". People.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2008.
- ^ Carlson, Erin (March 21, 2008). "Chocolate Rain' claims a YouTube award". Yahoo News via the Associated Press. Retrieved on March 23, 2008.
- ^ Powers, Lindsay (March 21, 2008). "YouTube Awards: Chris Crocker Loses for Britney Spears Freak-Out ". US magazine. Retrieved on March 23, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nesti, Robert (28 March 2007). "What The Buck?!: An Interview with Michael Buckley". Edge Boston. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Klimkiewicz, Joann (21 October 2007). "This Buck Doesn't Stop: How Hyper-Chatty Wallingford Public-Access Host Became YouTube Sensation". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ a b c Buckley, Michael (September 6, 2007). "THE TOP (& Bottom) GAYS OF YOU TUBE!". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Fenton, Angie (10 December, 2007). "Bravo, William, bravo". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Most Subscribed : (All Time)". YouTube. 15 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)