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Ray William Johnson

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"Equals Three" redirects here. For the communications agency, see Equals Three Communications, Inc..
Ray William Johnson
Born1981 or 1982 (age 42–43)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Other namesRWJ, Ray Johnson, RayWJ
OccupationYouTube comedian
Years active2007–present
Known forYouTube videos
Websitewww.raywj.com

Ray William Johnson (born 1981/1982) is an American actor and comedic vlogger best known for his YouTube series Equals Three, in which he provides commentary on viral videos.[2][3] Many of the videos featured on Equals Three are noted to have received an additional boost of popularity.[4][5][6][7][8] As of July 2012, the RayWilliamJohnson YouTube channel has over 5.4 million subscribers, and over 1.8 billion video views.[9] In February 2011, one industry publication noted that Johnson currently had six of the top twenty most watched videos of the month.[10]

Background

Johnson graduated from Norman North High School in Oklahoma, in 1999,[1] however Johnson's Youtube profile states he was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[11] In an interview with Wall Street Journal, Johnson says that he studied at Columbia University, as a history major,[1] while his profile adds he was preparing to study law.[11] While at Columbia, Johnson started his first formatted show, Equals Three, as a way to combine two popular video styles, watching viral videos and video bloggers.[2]

Current projects

Equals Three

Ray William Johnson
Title card
GenreComedy
Created byRay William Johnson
Written byPhil Haney
Steve Greene
Marvin Silbermintz
Erin Schmalfeld
Ilana Cohn
Brandon Perna
"Big Rob"
Lance Patrick
Ray William Johnson
Presented byRay William Johnson
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish Spanish (Igual a Tres)
No. of episodes265
(as of March 3, 2012)
Production
Executive producerRay William Johnson
ProducerErin Schmalfeld
EditorBrandon Perna
Original release
NetworkRayWilliamJohnson
Release2008 (2008) –
present
Related
Breaking
Your Favorite Martian
Igual a Tres
YFMTS

In Equals Three (stylized as "=3"), Ray William Johnson reviews, criticizes, and adds commentary to some of the internet's latest viral videos.[3] Equals Three episodes are usually uploaded to his channel every Wednesday and Saturday. In these episodes, Johnson interacts with his audience by posting a viewer-submitted "comment question of the day", then features five of his favorite comments in the preceding episode. Equals Three is on one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube, having over 5 million subscribers in July 2012, and has been recognized by Guinness World Records.[2][12][13] Because of his popularity, Equals Three episodes can consistently obtain several million views within a week. Johnson has been able to leverage his popularity to secure several celebrity guests on Equals Three, including Robin Williams,[14] Gabriel Iglesias,[15] Kal Penn,[16] Margaret Cho,[17] Bobby Lee,[18] T.J. Miller,[19] Garfunkel and Oates,[20] John Cho,[16] Jason Biggs,[21] Andy Milonakis,[22] and Traphik.[23]

Your Favorite Martian

"Your Favorite Martian" redirects here. For the American sitcom, see My Favorite Martian.

In January 2011, Johnson launched a collaborative YouTube channel called "YourFavoriteMartian", which features animated music videos.[24][25][dead link] The songs are performed by a virtual band of four fictional cartoon characters: PuffPuff Humbert (vocals, voiced by Johnson), DeeJay (turntables), Axel Chains (drums), and Benatar (vocals, guitar/keytar).[26] Johnson writes lyrics, raps, sings, composes beats, and sometimes collaborates with other musicians to produce the songs.[27] The following is a list of music videos that have been released so far:

# Name Featured Artist Upload date Length
1 My Balls — January 26, 2011 3:13
2 Zombie Love Song — February 9, 2011 3:59
3 Bottles of Beer — February 23, 2011 3:41
4 Club Villain — March 9, 2011 4:12
5 The Stereotypes Song — March 23, 2011 4:26
6 The Unofficial Smithers Love Song — April 6, 2011 3:55
7 Orphan Tears Wax April 20, 2011 3:36
8 Mr. DoucheBag — May 4, 2011 3:55
9 Transphobic Techno (Bitch Got a Penis) — May 18, 2011 3:25
10 Grandma Got a Facebook — June 1, 2011 3:33
11 Tig Ol' Bitties — June 15, 2011 3:52
12 Fight To Win Destorm June 29, 2011 3:51
13 Stalkin' Your Mom (Cover) Wax July 13, 2011 3:13
14 Robot Bar Fight — July 27, 2011 3:12
15 8-Bit World Hoodie Allen August 10, 2011 3:30
16 Puppet Break-Up — September 14, 2011 3:23
17 Whip Yo Kids Nice Peter September 28, 2011 3:29
18 Booty Store — October 12, 2011 4:23
19 Nerd Rage!!! — October 26, 2011 4:00
20 Epileptic Techno — November 9, 2011 3:38
21 Dookie Fresh — November 23, 2011 4:08
22 Santa Hates Poor Kids — December 7, 2011 3:55
23 Shitty G — December 21, 2011 3:51
24 Friend Zone — Jaunuary 4, 2012 3:33
25 She Looks Like Sex Mike Posner January 18, 2012 3:26
26 We Like Them Girls — February 1, 2012 3:44
27 Alien — February 15, 2012 3:50
28 White Boy Wasted Dumbfoundead February 29, 2012 4:05
29 Complicated — March 14, 2012 3:51
30 Take Over the World — March 28, 2012 3:44
31 Text Me Back — April 11, 2012 3:41
32 Jupiter — April 25, 2012 3:53
33 Just a Friend (Cover) — May 9, 2012 3:47
34 Somebody That I Used To Know (Cover) — May 23, 2012 3:53
35 Fight for Your Right (Cover) — June 6, 2012 3:33
36 Love the Way You Lie (Cover) — June 20, 2012 4:21
37 Road Rage — July 4, 2012 5:06

To date, Johnson has released 31 original songs, 1 remix, and 5 covers through the channel. As of July 2012, the channel has over 1.8 million subscribers, making it one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube,[citation needed] and over 411 million video views.[28][29] Due to the rapid growth of popularity of the channel and the music videos getting more views than the Equals Three episodes, Johnson has commented in his Breaking Los Angeles video blog that he at some point hopes to have the music videos released weekly instead of bi-weekly.[30]

Breaking

BreakingNYC is a former daily video blog or vlog that Johnson started in December 2009 while living in New York City. He made the vlogs almost daily until June 2010. After nearly a year-long hiatus, Johnson resumed contributing to the video blog channel, creating a new higher quality series with a similar format. The new series titled, Breaking Los Angeles and the Adventures of Puff Puff, was released every Friday and is filmed in Los Angeles. Johnson often featured notable guests in his new series, including rappers Wax, Hoodie Allen and Dumbfoundead, slam poet George Watsky, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, and actor/director Bobcat Goldthwait. After Johnson took a three-month hiatus from making videos for the channel, a third season of Breaking Los Angeles (retitled to Breaking: Season 3), premiered on December 14, 2011 with the series finale on March 1, 2012.

References

  1. ^ a b c Glazer, Emily (February 2, 2012). "Who Is RayWJ? YouTube's Top Star". My Fox Phoenix. Wall Street Journal. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c Humphrey, Michael (28 June 2011). Ray William Johnson: =3 Adds Up To Most-Subscribed On YouTube, Forbes
  3. ^ a b Gasch, David (February 7, 2011). Pop!shots: ‘Equals Three’ goes viral, Boise State Arbiter
  4. ^ (March 4, 2011). Lo más visto del mes en YouTube Argentina, Canal-AR (in Spanish, Argentine technology publication)
  5. ^ Vnouček, Petr (March 5, 2001).Nejlepší videa: Bowling s kočkou a polský Pat a Mat, Týden (in Czech)
  6. ^ Hathaway, Jay (March 2, 2011). Co Za Asy – What Is It, and Why Is Everyone Posting It in YouTube, Urlesque (AOL) ("Superstar YouTuber Ray William Johnson")
  7. ^ (December 12, 2010). Reinangrep på NRK-reporter sees av millioner på YouTube-kanal, NRK (in Norwegian) (noting rise in popularity of video about a reindeer attack due to Johnson's coverage; notes that Johnson is one of YouTube's biggest celebrities, "en av YouTubes aller største kjendiser," with over two million subscribers, with the largest comedy channel on YouTube with over 373 million views)
  8. ^ (May 22, 2010). Türkiye'den YouTube'tan en popüler kişi kim?, Beyaz Gazette (in Turkish)
  9. ^ "RayWilliamJohnson's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  10. ^ Balleck, Matt (February 14, 2011). Three Ways Brands Can Act More Like Partners On YouTube, MediaPost Publications
  11. ^ a b "RayWilliamJohnson's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  12. ^ Comedian Ray William Johnson sets new record for YouTube subscribers, Guinness World Records
  13. ^ Hustvedt, Marc (28 June 2011). Ray William Johnson Now #1 Most Subscribed on YouTube, Tubefilter
  14. ^ Short Hairy Guys (Nov. 8, 2011)
  15. ^ Surprise? (Nov. 21, 2011)
  16. ^ a b Chicken Lady (Nov. 3, 2011)
  17. ^ Goosing (Nov. 18, 2011)
  18. ^ World's Biggest Condom (March 16, 2012)
  19. ^ Chicken Lady (Jan. 20, 2012)
  20. ^ Zebra Hickey (Jan. 17, 2012)
  21. ^ You're So Metal (Apr. 6, 2012)
  22. ^ Drunk Chick Proof (May 18, 2012)
  23. ^ Hooter Hula Hoops (May 22, 2012)
  24. ^ Bradshaw (January 24, 2011). Ray William Johnson's New Project "Yourfavoritemartian" Finally Rolls Out January 26, 2011, www.zimbio.com
  25. ^ About YourFavoriteMartian. Yourfavoritemartian.com
  26. ^ http://twitter.com/#!/RayWJ/statuses/62415238233997312, Twitter, Retrieved June 22, 2011
  27. ^ e.g. Orphan Tears features Wax
  28. ^ "YourFavoriteMartian's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  29. ^ YouTube spotlight: "The Stereotypes Song". The Independent. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  30. ^ http://www.youtube.com/user/BreakingNYC#p/u/8/LUXPIiREOvQ, Breaking Los Angeles, Retrieved June 22, 2011

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