Gunnarolla

Gunnarolla
Born Andrew Gunadie
February 7
London, Ontario
Residence Toronto
Nationality Canadian
Occupation Internet personality, video producer, musician, teacher, comedian
Years active 2006–present
Website www.youtube.com/gunnarolla
gunnarolla.com

Internet information

Web alias(es) Gunnarolla
Signature phrase "À la prochaine"
"À plus!"

Andrew Gunadie (better known as gunnarolla on YouTube; born February 7) is a Canadian internet personality, musician, and video producer. He is best known for "Canadian, Please", a music video in which he co-starred and co-produced with Julia Bentley. Collectively, his YouTube videos have surpassed 10 million views. In 2013, he won the Digi Award for Online Personality of the Year.

Early life and career

Gunadie was born on February 7 and raised in London, Ontario. He obtained a BA (Honours) in Media, Information & Technoculture at Western University, and a diploma in Television Broadcasting at Fanshawe College.[1][2][3]

Gunadie has worked in post-production on several Canadian television productions, and he was also the Senior Coordinator, Multimedia Content for TIFF.

"Canadian, Please" and issues of racism

Gunadie gained popularity on YouTube with the release of "Canadian, Please",[4] a song and music video that he co-produced with Julia Bentley, and released just before Canada Day in 2009.[5]

In the video, the pair sing about all the reasons why one would want to be Canadian, while wearing traditional RCMP jackets. The video went viral soon after its release, and has surpassed 3 million views. On December 20, 2009, Gunadie and Bentley performed the song live at the Olympic Torch Relay in Niagara Falls, Ontario.[6]

Gunadie received many racist comments and threats, due to the fact that he is of visibly Asian descent. Many viewers felt that he was not an adequate representative of Canada, despite the fact that he was born, raised, and continues to live therein.[7]

As a response to the criticism, Gunadie produced a video entitled "He'll Never Be a Real Canadian".[8] Issues of race and stereotypes have since become a theme in Gunadie's work. His experience with racism was featured on a segment of "Online Uncovered" on CBC's Connect with Mark Kelley.[9]

"Canadian, Please" was later featured in the YouTube video "Canadian Dances Moves" which also went viral.[10]

Team Andrew

Early in 2010, Gunadie teamed up with fellow musician and Internet personality Andrew Huang to produce videos and music, and series such as We Are What You Tweet and New State Plates. The pair have toured North America, Australia, and New Zealand together, and are commonly referred to as "Team Andrew".

"The Comic Sans Song"

While on tour in Australia, Gunadie began production on the music video for "The Comic Sans Song"[11] which is part of Gunadie's #22songs series and features a rap by Huang. The majority of the video is set in Hosier Lane in Melbourne, Australia, and features Gunadie and a group of Australian fans.

The music video was released on May 22, 2012 and gained popularity thanks in part to being featured on BuzzFeed,[12] Clients from Hell,[13] MTV Buzzworthy Blog,[14] Mashable,[15] and even Ban Comic Sans.[16]

Dreamz

Early in 2013, Gunadie and Huang teamed up again to form an electro-pop music duo called Dreamz. They entered CBC Music's Searchlight contest under this new name. Their debut single "Come On" was selected as CBC Here and Now's Song of the Week on March 11, 2013, and was played on CBC Radio One all that week.[17]

They made it as far as the Top 16 of CBC Music's Searchlight contest, representing Toronto.[18][19]

Like/Comment/Subscribe live show

Outside of YouTube, Gunadie has teamed up with fellow YouTube personality Andrew Bravener to produce and host Like/Comment/Subscribe; a live, interactive show that features screenings and performances.[20] According to Gunadie, the goal of the show "wasn’t to make the big videos bigger. We went into the community to find those hidden gems: rants, confessions, re-cuts, mashups, lip-syncs & even that ‘weird’ part of YouTube."[21]

They premiered the show on Saturday, September 29, 2012 from 7pm to 7am at TIFF Bell Lightbox during Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2012.[22] Their hashtag #YTTO trended on Twitter that night.[23] They later presented the show at PHI Centre on Saturday, March 2, 2013 for Montréal en lumière 2013[24] and presented a special edition of the show at the 2013 North by Northeast festival in Toronto.[25]

Gunadie and Bravener also hosted the 2012 Digi Awards alongside French-Canadian host and producer Anne-Marie Withenshaw, and YouTube personality Harley Morenstein (of Epic Meal Time).[26]

Along with Andrew Bravener, he presented “Cringeworthy!”, a variation of the "Like/Comment/Subscribe" show, at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014.[27]

Late 2013-present

Gunadie hosted various screenings and made appearances at Buffer Festival in Toronto.[28]

He also served as YouTube correspondent for CBC’s Searchlight competition, wherein he hosted a series called “Searchlight Spotlight”.[29]

In March 2014, his EP titled “S*X” peaked at #1 on the comedy chart of iTunes Canada.[30]

Audience involvement

Gunnarolla is well known for engaging his subscribers. Not only is his content fun and entertaining, he invites his audience to participate in the creation of it. He uses social media platforms like Twitter, tumblr, Facebook and YouTube to gather input from his fans and incorporate their ideas in his videos.

A notable example of this is from his #22 Songs project. The video “The Chicken Told Me I Was Gay ♫ (13/22)”[31] is completely written by fan comments. It turned out to be an absurd yet well loved addition to Gunnarolla’s work.

Another example of audience engagement can be seen in the joint effort series “We Are What You Tweet,[32]” in which Gunnarolla and Songs To Wear Pants To[33] read and act out hilarious and ridiculous audience tweets.

Discography

Year Album Information Tracklisting
2012 #22songs
  • Released: January 22, 2012
2013 As Heard On Youtube Vol 1
  • Released: June 2, 2013
2014 S*X
  • Released: March 24, 2014
2014 As Heard On Youtube Vol 2
  • Released: December 9, 2014

References

  1. Belanger, Joe. "TV’s hip V-Mix shines its spotlight on talented South Asian Canadians". lfpress.com. The London Free Press. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  2. "Alumnus profile: Andrew Gunadie, MIT '08". University of Western Ontario. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  3. "Canadian, Please". Fanshawe College News & Events. Fanshawe College. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  4. Gunadie, Andrew. "Canadian, Please". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  5. 'A' News London. "'Canadian, Please' on 'A' News London". youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  6. Chao, Phil. "gunnarolla and honeychip performing "Canadian, Please" LIVE!!!". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  7. Tran, Sylvia. "Interview with YouTuber gunnarolla". ricepapermagazine.ca. ricepaper. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  8. Gunadie, Andrew. "He'll never be a real Canadian". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  9. Hollet, Jennifer. "Racism online". cbc.ca. CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  10. Lau, Andree. "Canadian Dance Moves Strangely Hypnotic (VIDEO)". huffingtonpost.ca. The Huffington Post B.C. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  11. Gunadie, Andrew. "The Comic Sans Song". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  12. Gunadie, Andrew. "The Comic Sans Song". buzzfeed.com. Buzzfeed. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  13. "Everyone’s favourite font, now in song-form.". clientsfromhell.net. Clients from Hell. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  14. James, Nicole. "Someone Made A Music Video About Comic Sans, I Think I Want To Marry Him". buzzworthy.mtv.com. MTV. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  15. Erickson, Christine. "Not My Type: Why the Web Hates Comic Sans". mashable.com. Mashable. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  16. Combs, Dave. "The Comic Sans Song". bancomicsans.com. Ban Comic Sans. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  17. "CBC Radio Show Program Logs". cbc.ca. CBC Radio Show. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  18. CBC Music. "Meet our Searchlight Top 16 acts". music.cbc.ca. CBC Music. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  19. "Searchlight". cbc.ca. CBC Radio. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  20. "Like/Comment/Subscribe". montrealenlumiere.com. MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  21. Criger, Erin. "‘Tweet’ blanche: Social media plays huge role in all-night art fest". citynews.ca. City News Toronto. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  22. "Like/Comment/Subscribe". scotiabanknuitblanche.ca. Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  23. Gunadie, Andrew. "Like/Comment/Subscribe: A Show About YouTube // Trailer". YouTube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  24. "Like/Comment /Subscribe". phi-centre.com. PHI Centre. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  25. "PRESENTATIONS | Like/Comment/Subscribe: A Live Show About YouTube". nxne.com. NXNE. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  26. "The Digi Awards Cap Off Another Successful Year, Showcasing Canada’s Leaders in Digital Media". nextmediaevents.com. NextMEDIA. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  27. "CRINGEWORTHY! The Best of the Worst Videos Online". scotiabanknuitblanche.ca. Scotiabank. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  28. Stead, Julia. "Buffer Fest brings the best of YouTube to Toronto". blogto.com. blogTO. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  29. Miner, Mike. "11 ways to rock Searchlight". CBC.ca. CBC Music. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  30. Gunadie, Andrew. "#1 on the Canadian iTunes comedy chart! Couldn't have a better debut. Thank you xxxo". plus.google.com. Google. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  31. "The Chicken Told Me I Was Gay". Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  32. "We Are What You Tweet". Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  33. "SongsToWearPantsTo Youtube". Retrieved 24 October 2014.

External links


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