Julie Marie Nolke is a Canadian comedian, actress, writer, and
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 ...
. She is best known for her comedic YouTube series ''Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self''.
Career
Nolke initially started her YouTube channel ''Feeling Peckish'' in May 2015 as a hobby with her boyfriend Sam where she uploaded cooking videos. She was then hired by
Tastemade
Tastemade, Inc. is a media company that offers food, travel, and home & design-related programming for online and streaming audiences.Spangler, TodYouTube Network Tastemade Raises $25 Million Led by Scripps, Liberty Media''Variety''. September 1 ...
to make videos, develop ideas for content, and to produce branded content. She has also starred in the Tastemade show ''One for the Road'' with Andrew Gunadie. She later changed her YouTube channel name to ''Julie Nolke'', where she now uploads
skits
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
,
parodies
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can als ...
and
vlog
A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...
s.
According to Nolke, the inspiration for her channel is: "I want to debunk this idea that women aren't funny. I think you can not only be a funny woman, but you can talk about things from a woman's perspective and have it be funny. That's the main mantra of the channel." Her YouTube video ''Are We Bad Feminists?'' won the "Excellence in Writing" award at the 2019 Buffer Festival. She also directed, wrote, and starred in a YouTube video ''When you buy ADULT TOYS online'', which was nominated for the 2020 Outstanding Comedy Short at the Toronto Sketchfest "Best of the Fest" award show.
In April 2020, Nolke uploaded the first episode of ''Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self'' to YouTube, a comedy sketch depicting her time-traveling to talk to her past self before the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
where she vaguely discusses various social and political issues that have arisen in the future with her past self, such as the pandemic, the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...
, and the
2020 Beirut explosion
On 4 August 2020, a major explosion occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, triggered by the ignition of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. The chemical, confiscated in 2014 from the cargo ship and stored at the Port of Beirut without adequate safety me ...
. The first several videos in the series collectively had more than 25 million views by October 2020. By January 2022, she had uploaded seven videos in the series. ''Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self'' was nominated for a 2021
Webby Award
The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...
in the Viral, General Video category. Nolke won 2021
Webby Awards
The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...
in Best Individual Performance and two Audience Choice Awards for best viral video and best writing.
In addition to her YouTube channel, she has had roles in movies, short films, and television shows, including ''Oil Men'', ''
What We Do in the Shadows
''What We Do in the Shadows'' is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary comedy horror film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the ''What We Do in the Shadows'' franchise. The film also stars Cleme ...
Workin' Moms
''Workin' Moms'' is a Canadian television comedy-drama sitcom series that premiered on CBC Television on January 10, 2017. The show stars Catherine Reitman, Jessalyn Wanlim, Dani Kind, Enuka Okuma, and Juno Rinaldi and ''
Run the Burbs
''Run the Burbs'' is a Canadian television sitcom, which premiered on CBC Television on January 5, 2022.Greg David"CBC announces winter premiere dates" ''TV, eh?'', November 23, 2021. The series stars Andrew Phung as Andrew Pham, a suburban stay ...
''. She starred in the comedy short ''Hashtag Apocalypse'', which received an award of distinction at the 2019 Canada Shorts Film Festival. Nolke had a small role in '' Secret Society of Second-Born Royals'', but has said her part was cut in the final version.
In September 2022, she founded
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 ...
comedy group Pulp Comedy which features six Canadian comedy actors and writers.
Personal life
Nolke was born in
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
Tastemade
Tastemade, Inc. is a media company that offers food, travel, and home & design-related programming for online and streaming audiences.Spangler, TodYouTube Network Tastemade Raises $25 Million Led by Scripps, Liberty Media''Variety''. September 1 ...