Drew Gooden (born October 26, 1993) is an American

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, comedian, and former Viner who makes comedic videos, mainly on

internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

and

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

. His

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel has over four million subscribers. Before YouTube, Gooden was a Viner best known for his "Road Work Ahead" Vine. He often collaborates with fellow YouTuber

Danny Gonzalez Daniel James Gonzalez (born June 12, 1994) is an American commentary YouTuber and musician who originally came to prominence for his short comedy sketches on Vine in 2014. He created his main YouTube channel that same year, subsequently mov ...

; the two went on their We Are Two Different People Tour in 2019. In 2021, Gooden won the

Streamy Award The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wri ...

for Commentary.

Personal life

Drew Gooden was born on October 26, 1993, in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, and has lived in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

since moving there at a young age. He has a sister and a younger brother. Growing up, Gooden wanted to write for ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. Gooden met Amanda Murphy (born ) in 2015 after she commented on one of his Vines and they started a

long-distance relationship Partners in LDRs typically use frequent telecommunications to maintain their relationship A long-distance relationship (LDR) or long-distance romantic relationship is an intimate relationship between partners who are geographically separated fro ...

for over a year. The two got engaged in 2016 and married on March 10, 2019.

Internet career

Vine (2013–2017)

After

dropping out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most in ...

of community college two times and taking

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

classes, Gooden joined

Vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

, a six-second video platform, in 2013. Gooden's videos ("Vines") were short

comedy sketches Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

—his first viral Vine depicted a

Venn diagram A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between set (mathematics), sets, popularized by John Venn (1834–1923) in the 1880s. The diagrams are used to teach elementary set theory, and to illustrate simple ...

of him and his favorite shirt, which both had in common a "mortal enemy" in

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accolades, including two Primetime ...

. He described Vines as spontaneous, "the video equivalent of a tweet". Gooden created what would become his most popular Vine in 2016. On the way to work in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, he asked his girlfriend to record him driving past a "Road Work Ahead" sign and saying, "Road work ahead? Uh, yeah. I sure hope it does." The

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

would later be described as one of the "most recognizable videos on the internet," although ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' also called it "passably funny". Gooden remained known for the Vine several years later, calling it his "catchphrase" and selling

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

based on it; he was recognized at

VidCon VidCon is an annual convention for influencers, fans, executives, and online brands. The event primarily features prominent video stars from across the internet. It was founded by veteran YouTube creators John and Hank Green ( Vlogbrothers), a ...

as the "Road Work Ahead guy". He also found it annoying and wanted to separate himself from the video. According to him, the Vine was never as popular when Vine was still active but spread through Vine compilations on

. Gooden appeared in the Vine-produced web series ''

Camp Unplug Camp Unplug was a series of thirty-six Vines which follow thirteen Viners who grudgingly attend a "digital detox camp", filmed at Camp Wandawega. Described as Vine's "first long-form original series", Camp Unplug was released on June 23, 2016, dur ...

'' (2016), where he first met fellow Viner

. By the time Vine closed in January 2017, Gooden had amassed several hundred thousand followers. Besides a small Twitter account, he had no other online followings and decided to migrate to

alongside many other Viners.

YouTube (2017–present)

Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden on their We Are Two Different People Tour in 2019

Gooden experimented with different formats and types of videos. As he had wanted to transition to longform content, Gooden's initial idea was to create longer comedy sketches that were similar to his Vines. He eventually settled on being a commentary and

reaction Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure. Physics and chemistry *Chemical reaction *Nuclear reaction *Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law * Chain reaction (disambiguation) Biology and ...

and his following slowly began to rise again. Gooden's breakout video was a highly critical review of

Jake Paul Jake Joseph Paul (born January 17, 1997) is an American Professional boxing, professional boxer, influencer and actor. He began his career posting videos on Vine (service), Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 bi ...

's live show, uploaded in June 2018. Unlike his other videos, which then averaged one hundred thousand views, the review was viewed four million times in one month. He reached one million subscribers in October 2018. Gonzalez also started a commentary channel on YouTube and the two began traveling to appear in each other's videos, becoming close friends. Gooden said that making videos with Gonzalez was more enjoyable because they did not require a script. A

running joke A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...

between their fans is that they pretend to confuse the two YouTubers together, but as of 2023 neither comedian appreciates this joke. This inspired their We Are Two Different People Tour in 2019, with YouTuber

Kurtis Conner Kurtis Matthew Kenneth Conner (born May 4, 1994) is a Canadian comedian, YouTuber, and podcaster. , his YouTube channel has accumulated over 5.38 million subscribers. Internet career Early online career (2013–2017) Conner began social me ...

as a guest star. The tour, with music, effects, and theatrical elements interspersed with sketches and comedy routines, was their first major live performance and ran from September to October. The two also released a

parody song Parody music, or musical parody, involves changing or copying existing (usually well known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular style of a composer or performer, or even a general style of music. In music, parody has been us ...

called "We Are Not the Same Person" to promote the tour. Gooden was a Featured Creator at the 10th Annual VidCon. Three years after starting YouTube, Gooden began creating content full-time. In 2021, he won a

in Commentary. Gooden was nominated in the same category the next year but lost to Gonzalez.

Content and reception

Gooden is a commentary YouTuber. His videos mainly consist of "deep dives" into YouTube,

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, and

. Gooden frequently discusses the difficulties internet celebrities such as

Lilly Singh Lilly Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber, television host, comedian and author. She began making YouTube videos in 2010. She originally appeared under the pseudonym Superwoman (stylized IISuperwomanII), her YouTube username ...

, and

Logan Paul Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American influencer, professional wrestler, Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, boxing, boxer, and actor. He has over 23 million subscribers on his YouTube channel ''Logan Paul Vlogs'' and has ranked ...

face in breaking into mainstream media. He also covers

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

creators and makes comedic summaries of poorly received movies. His videos contain comedic elements and comedy sketches, and are usually filmed in his house. ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' described his videos as his "own comedic version of

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

". He often shares his personal experiences in his videos, and discusses how online trends may be harmful, such as when he examines dangerous videos on YouTube aimed at children. Gooden was criticized by Kaitlyn Tiffany of ''The Atlantic'' for an advertisement in the middle of one of his videos, but he has said that he is careful not to be

hypocritical Hypocrisy is the practice of feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. The word "hypocrisy" entered the English language ''c.'' 1200 with the meaning "the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness". Today, "hypocrisy" ofte ...

as he has criticized celebrities for excessive advertising.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

Primary sources

External links

* at

* *
@drewisgooden
at

(archived)
Interview
with ''WIRED'' – via YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gooden, Drew 1993 births 21st-century American comedians American male comedians American Vine (service) celebrities Comedians from North Carolina Comedians from Orlando, Florida American comedy YouTubers Commentary YouTubers Living people YouTubers from North Carolina YouTubers from Orlando, Florida