Andrew Gunadie (better known as gunnarolla on
YouTube; born February 7, 1986) is a Canadian
internet personality,
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
, and
video producer
Video production is the process of producing video content for video. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard dri ...
. 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.
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",
a song and music video that he co-produced with Julia Bentley, and released just before
Canada Day
Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...
in 2009.
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
Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents).
Viral may also refer to:
Viral behavior, or virality
Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example:
* Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...
soon after its release, and has surpassed 5 million views. On December 20, 2009, Gunadie and Bentley performed the song live at the
Olympic Torch Relay in
Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Gunadie received many
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
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.
As a response to the criticism, Gunadie produced a video entitled "He'll Never Be a Real Canadian".
Issues of
race and
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
s 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
''Connect with Mark Kelley'' was a Canadian news talk show, which aired from 2009 to 2012 on CBC News Network. Hosted by Mark Kelley, the show originally aired lived from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. eastern time on weeknights, and then was shortened to an 8 ...
.
"Canadian, Please" was later featured in the YouTube video "Canadian Dances Moves" which also went viral.
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
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, 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
Comic Sans MS is a sans-serif typeface designed by Vincent Connare and released in 1994 by Microsoft Corporation. It is a non-connecting script inspired by comic book lettering, intended for use in cartoon speech bubbles, as well as in other cas ...
Song"
which is part of Gunadie's #22songs series and features a rap by Huang. The majority of the video is set in
Hosier Lane
Hosier Lane is a laneway in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located on the CBD's southern edge, it extends between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, and opens opposite the Atrium at Federation Square. Sinc ...
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
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
,
Clients from Hell,
MTV Buzzworthy Blog,
Mashable
Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...
,
and even Ban Comic Sans.
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
Here and Now may refer to:
Music
* Here & Now (band), an English progressive/space rock band
* Here and Now Tour, a series of concert tours
Albums
* ''Here and Now'' (The Jazztet album) (1962)
* ''Here and Now'' (Hampton Hawes album) (1965)
* ...
's Song of the Week on March 11, 2013, and was played on
CBC Radio One all that week.
They made it as far as the Top 16 of CBC Music's Searchlight contest, representing Toronto.
''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.
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."
They premiered the show on Saturday, September 29, 2012 from 7pm to 7am at
TIFF Bell Lightbox during
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2012.
Their hashtag #YTTO trended on Twitter that night.
They later presented the show at PHI Centre on Saturday, March 2, 2013 for
Montréal en lumière
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
2013
and presented a special edition of the show at the 2013
North by Northeast festival in Toronto.
Gunadie and Bravener also hosted the 2012 Digi Awards alongside French-Canadian host and producer
Anne-Marie Withenshaw
Anne-Marie Withenshaw is a Canadian television and radio personality, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Career
Withenshaw graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Arts & Science in Communications Studies.
She started working on MuchMu ...
, and YouTube personality
Harley Morenstein
Harley Morenstein (born July 20, 1985) is a Canadian actor, Internet personality, and vlogger. He co-created, produces, and hosts the YouTube show Epic Meal Time and its FYI television spin-off series Epic Meal Empire. He also runs a vlog chan ...
(of
Epic Meal Time
''Epic Meal Time'' is a Canadian YouTube cooking show known for creating extremely high-calorie meals, generally out of meat products (with particular emphasis on bacon) and including alcohol (especially Jack Daniel's). It debuted in Octobe ...
).
Along with Andrew Bravener, he presented "Cringeworthy!", a variation of the "Like/Comment/Subscribe" show, at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014.
Late 2013-present
Gunadie hosted various screenings and made appearances at Buffer Festival in Toronto.
He also served as YouTube correspondent for CBC's Searchlight competition, wherein he hosted a series called "Searchlight Spotlight".
In March 2014, his EP titled "S*X" peaked at #1 on the comedy chart of
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
Canada.
Discography
References
External links
gunnarolla's YouTube channel
{{Authority control
Canadian pop musicians
University of Western Ontario alumni
Canadian YouTubers
Music YouTubers
1986 births
Comedy YouTubers
Living people