Fred's YouTube channel is programming for kids by kids

Last week, someone in the online video business gave me a simple tip.

"Fred," the guy said.

"Fred?" I said.

"Yes," he said. "Kids love Fred."

I had not heard of Fred, much less known that kids loved him. But that would swiftly end. As soon as I could, I searched for Fred on YouTube and found his video channel. There were plenty of videos, and I hunkered down to watch.

A warning before I continue: Fred is for immature audiences only. The following article may contain themes and language that are unsuitable for anyone over 16.

The first thing about Fred is that he brings new meaning to the word hyper. The fictional 6-year-old, invented and played by 14-year-old Nebraskan Lucas Cruikshank, is a fast-talking tyke with "temper problems," an absentee father and a propensity to screech if things don't go his way. If those traits aren't enough to dissuade you, Fred's voice is 'chipmunked,' raising it several octaves above Cruikshank's own to achieve, if not maximum verisimilitude, then certainly maximum annoyingness. Try to imagine a shrill, halting super-soprano bleating these lines from an episode called "Fred Goes Swimming":

"I'm ready to go inside the pool! Oh my God, it's cold. I love swimming. I love swimming! This pool is small. On TV I saw a pool that was really big . . . oh my God, there's a shark! I'm scared. Just kidding, it's just a toy shark. I got you!"

Doesn't sound like your cup of tea? That makes two of us. Let us say we are outnumbered; with nearly 250,000 subscribers, Fred's YouTube channel is the fourth most subscribed in the site's history. Meaning every time he posts a new video, nearly a quarter of a million people get notified.

Since he created his channel less than two months ago, Fred has racked up more subscribers than almost all of YouTube's old guard, passing up lonelygirl15, LisaNova, kevjumba, and sxephil. He's also got more subscribers than the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Soulja Boy, and oh yeah, CBS.
   

And those are just his hard-core fans. Once Fred's videos are released, they rocket into the YouTube exosphere, generating 4 and even 5 million views a pop -- repeat viewership numbers that are unmatched anywhere on the Internet. Fred's most-viewed episode, "Fred Loses His Meds," would've been the top-rated show on cable last week.

Pretty good for a kid with a camera. Fred -- or rather, Lucas -- lives in rural Nebraska with his parents and has seven brothers and sisters, some of whom appear in the videos with him. He goes to school in a converted barn and had never seen the ocean or been on an airplane until he visited L.A. in February.

(I couldn't reach him for this article because, a representative said, he was en route to perform in a national dance competition, and may have been outside of cellular range.)

It's remarkable that Cruikshank stormed to the top of YouTube with almost no coverage from either the blogosphere or the mainstream media. The Associated Press wrote a story in July about Cruikshank and his two cousins, Katie and John Smet, now 15, with whom he began making videos in 2006. But that was a year ago, "JKL productions" still only had 7,500 subscribers and Fred had yet to take off. Since then, there hasn't been a peep.

That an act with millions of fans could escape the popular attention is more evidence of the digital fissuring of our culture. As we ensconce ourselves ever further in our respective demographics, personal and professional, we continue to drift apart from the people right next to us, until even an iceberg holding 4 million tweens can float by unnoticed.

Not that we should've noticed. If you're past a certain age, Fred's appeal is essentially inscrutable. His antics are Kryptonite for grown-ups, repelling any but the most vigorous attempts to watch an entire episode and keeping us in the dark about why kids seem to love him so much.

"They just think he's the funniest thing ever," said Valerie Moizel of the L.A.-based WOO ad agency, which found out about Fred after it conducted kid-centered focus groups for its ZipIt instant messaging product -- which later showed up in Fred's videos. "We watched them watch him -- they fall on the floor hysterically laughing. They're just mesmerized."

And more than just the zaniness, it's possible that kids are connecting to Fred on other levels too. He has parental, behavior and girl problems, so there's a little something for everyone.

"The biggest draw is the subject matter," Moizel added. "He really knows how to touch on things that are current and that teenagers deal with."

So here we are at a moment when for all its cash and talent, the best of Hollywood's online efforts slide off the wall like penne al dente, while a Nebraska kid with a $100 camera can attract a giant, hugely valuable audience by jumping in a baby pool with his clothes on. What does he know that we don't?

Cruikshank's generation is the first one never to have known a world without the Internet. These kids speak the language of computers and technology as well as they speak English -- if not better. So it figures that one of them would be the first to produce a hit show for his peers -- one that adults did not help produce and are equally not meant to watch. This is a new model: for kids, by kids.

"fred your so lol i can't believe you!" read one of the 25,000 comments on a recent episode. "fred I LOVE YOU haha this is so funny," said another, and perhaps most representative: "fred iz soo cute!!" It seems that this farm boy has a few special admirers.

But Hollywood, ever hungry for tween eyeballs, has predictably caught the scent. Cruikshank recently signed with James Dolin, an L.A. business manager at Sonesta Entertainment. Along with the product placements -- for which he's being paid "generously,"  Moizel said -- he's also appeared in a commercial for the ZipIt that aired on Nickelodeon, ABC Family and the MTV*.

Before long, Cruikshank may end up on stage, playing electric guitar and drinking virgin mai tais with Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

I won't be in the audience for that, and I'm sure I won't be missed.

*Earlier I wrote that the commercial had aired on the Disney Channel.  Not correct.

Mark Milian of Latimes.com contributed to this report.

Comments

[Granny]

My 41 y/o sister turned me on to Fred Videos. I'm a 60 y/o Granny and I think Little Lucas is a genius talent.

[Malik Roberts]

the first ever time i was introduced to Fred was just yesterday, late last night. I started to like it, and this is the second night I've watched it on Youtube, and I gotta say IT'S FUNNY AS HELL!!!! Lucas is definetly gonna be a comedy legend if he keeps doin' what he's doin'. Fred's funniest video is the time where he loses his meds and just bounces off the walls. That, and the time he gets a detention, was some really really funny stuff.

Btw, I'm a 16-year-old African-American, and I really do like Fred. Lucas is one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen, and he's just a year younger than me! Another amazing thing about Fred I think is that SO MANY people, kids and adults alike, both love the show's little online episodes. And four months after Fred premiered, it's already a cult classic.

Keep 'em comin' Lucas, and we'll keep watchin' em.

[SP]

I'm a classically trained musician and vice-president of a corporation and I LOVE Fred. He's hysterical. He's not just for kids. Look past the squeaky voice and his timing is genius. His commentary on modern life is historical as well as hysterical. He tackles tough issues with humor and courage.

How in the world did he get to be such a great showman?

[Mercades]

hi fred your show is very cool awesome and funny. Keep rockin and making new vidoes i love you...

[Enid]

Wow, the article writer needs to find his sense of humor, which has apparently been LONG LOST. I am 22 years old, a full-time college student and marketing associate, and I LOVE Fred!! You don't have to be a certain age to enjoy his videos, as you imply. Can't you see that he has impeccable timing, and a certain wacky, zany charm that appeals to so many people? If you can't find the humor in his videos, I feel sorry for you. You must really be trying to compensate for something by being so careful to appear serious, mature, and "adult"... if by adult you mean having zero fun in life. Jeez.

[Paladin]

No, you don't have to be young to find Fred's videos funny, just immature. But, of course, immature people don't know they're immature because their only frame of reference is immaturity.

OK, now you can tell me I have no sense of humor. It's fine because I have an answer. It's not that I don't have a sense of humor - it's just that I happen to have a good one.

Oh, I don't find Letterman funny, either.

[Matto]

Is this comment section for real? Honestly? We are so doomed. A maximum of four years before the top video everyone is totes omg LOLing to will be of someone jingling their car keys in front of the camera. devolution people, devolution.

[Cassie]

I'm 13 and I looooooooooooooooove Fred!

[Hzqi]

Paladin, I wish I could give you a hug for comfort in the coming apocalypse.

This squawking clown is the sound of the comedy vehicle grinding flat on the tarmac. It can't get any lower. Or should I not dare say that? I have serious reservations about the mental competency of any self-professed adult who finds this witless dribble to be even mildly entertaining. Even accidentally entertaining, let alone funny. No wonder you have to graduate to supreme artlessness to cut a fat check in the music world for "tweens". What the hell did everyone expect from a generation raised on the Teletubbies? Sophistication? The most remotely discriminating sensibilities? We've poisoned the well and raised batch of stunted wits, whose criteria for amusement seems to be the cheapest, lamest humour, custom fit for the most easily amused. So what's next? With the current trajectory of quality probing the earths core, what inane monument to bad taste will supplant Fred?

Once upon a time children had Mozart and Prokofiev writing for them. Now they have Miley Virus. And then there was Fred, who really needs to drop dead for the good of humanity (I look forward to the mumbler who redirects that, at me). Fortunately people with actual talent are still producing shows for the Tots and up (Pocoyo stands out as a recent, excellent creation). For now I'll go back to my collection of Jim Henson that I bought for my young ones, and appreciate what actual humour looks like. I estimate Fred will blow over like so much airy-foam, and people will eventually deny they ever liked it. Call me when the Horsemen have left the building.

-Hzqi

[ErniePF]

Anyone over the age of 18 who admires and encourages this type of mindless hyper-drivel:

Please don't have children.

[Madison Vargo]

Hi I LOVE YOU

[jelly]

heyfred !! i love your vidoes .your vioce is cool but is tht computerized or did you make that voise? o well o :)

[Shehla]

im 23 yrs old and i totally love fred! i got totally hooked after coming across his video on yotube! n his humor isnt just for kids, its wacky n funny n its amazing how hes perfected that kind of comedy! its not easy! i wish him all the best n hope he makes it for more people to be able to watch his vids! (but without crippling his originality!)

[bartlett]

you rock fred

[Rachel]

OMG Fred is so FUNNY AND HOT!!!
BUT REALLY FFFFUUUUUNNNNYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!

[donna mae l. delosreyes]

wow that was halarius if I were a juge I would give that a 100%

[donna mae l. delosreyes]

wow that was so funny I love it so much hooray I can watch another one I love fred videos it's halarius I love it so so so so much but I realy think his voice is weird but your videos are funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!