Fred Figglehorn

Fred Figglehorn is a fictional character who is the primary subject of a channel on the video-sharing website YouTube. The Fred channel is the Number 1 most subscribed channel in YouTube, with over one million subscribers. The videos are centered around a fictional 6-year-old, Fred Figglehorn, who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues". The character of Fred is played by Lucas Cruikshank, a teenager from Columbus, Nebraska, USA.

Cruikshank introduced the Fred Figglehorn character in videos on the JKL Productions channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie. He set up the Fred channel in April 2008. By April 2009, the channel had over 1,000,000 subscribers, making it the number one most popular and subscribed channel of all time. The "Fred Goes Swimming" episode was nominated for the "Favorite User Generated Video" award at the 35th People's Choice Awards, but it lost to Barack Roll. Cruikshank also guest-starred as Fred in an episode of iCarly, a sitcom on Nickelodeon. He also appeared on the Tyra Banks Show, to talk about the YouTube phenomenon. According to YouTube insight metrics, the largest age group of viewers is 13-17, though Cruikshank points out that this could skew lower because users must state they are at least 13 to create a YouTube account. Many YouTube users have created parodies of Fred, or other characters in his videos.

The Fred channel has received almost 23 million channel views and over 260 million video views since its launch. He has passed Nigahiga and Smosh, as well as many other famous channels. His channel was the first channel to hit one million subscribers. As of May 13, 2009 he had 1,125,000 subscribers

Cruikshank currently lives in Nebraska with his family, including two brothers and five sisters.

Content

Lucas Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids". The Fred channel was launched officially May 1 2008 and is the fastest-growing channel in YouTube's history. It now has over a one million subscribers, with the millionth on April 7, 2009 at around 3:45 pm.

The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between". The character posts his videos to his YouTube channel, even though he is not supposed to be using his mother's video camera, or posting videos, or even having a YouTube account. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice — making him sound more like a 6 year old and less like a 15 year old. According to Cruikshank, this effect and the hyperactive appearance of the character are achieved by speeding up the video. The song "Watch How I Do This" by Kev Blaze can often be heard in the videos.

The character lives with his recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic mother, whose voice is heard often in episodes. (Fred usually communicates with all characters off-screen unless it is an animal). But Fred's Mom has been seen in one episode, called "Fred on Halloween". It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (like being locked in a dog cage for three days), but he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after she was at rehab. He also has a crush on a girl in his Kindergarten class, named Judy. Judy has a very mean attitude, and is "so mean... yet so attractive." According to "Fred Gets Babysat," Fred's birthday is sometime around late October because in the video at one point he says "My birthday is in like a month" and this video was originally uploaded on September 29. Fred's grandmother is mentioned as briefly caring for Fred while his mother was in rehab, on account of alcoholism. In almost every epiosde, Fred sings a song he makes up. When his mother returns, in "Fred's Mom Returns", his grandmother leaves and his mother begins making him do chores such as picking up sticks. It is known that Fred has anger issues. In one episode, however, "Fred: A Star in his own Mind", other characters are seen such as people that work for him and fan girls (although this occurs in a dream sequence). Fred's favorite meal is a TV dinner. However, in one episode Fred's mom takes away his TV dinner privileges. Fred's father was mentioned in the episode "Fred on Father's Day", where we find out that Fred's father, who is supposedly a rock star, is on death row in the state penitentiary. In "Fred Goes Swimming", he thinks he has a letter from his dad, but it turns out to be from the original YouTube channel owner. He also mentions being threatened by the supposed former owner of the original [http://www.youtube.com/fred] who knows where Fred lives.

Characters

All of the characters are voiced and played by Lucas Cruikshank

Season 1

• Fred Figglehorn is a 6-year-old boy, who is said to have anger problems. He's the only character seen on screen in most episodes. He has a fast, high voice, and jolting eye movements. He usually sings a song in each episode, and usually starts an episode with "Hey, it's FREDDDDD!" First Appearance: Fred on Halloween
• Mrs. Figglehorn is Fred's alcoholic mother. In Fred's Mom is Missing, Fred mentioned that "a common place you could find [her] is, obviously, at a bar" and that "you can also find her standing on corners, wearing revealing outfits", and that "she's never really told [him] why she does that, but she says it somehow makes her money?" In another episode, Fred also mentioned that his mother was recently fired from a job at a fast food restaurant. First Appearance: Fred on Halloween
• Judy is the object of Fred's infatuation, who is also one of the most popular kindergartners. Judy dislikes Fred, often embarrassing him, and is instead dating Kevin. Judy also has a Zipit® like Fred who constantly sends messages to her, which she either replies with insults, or does not reply at all. On Fred Stalks Judy, he goes to visit her and, finding the door unlocked, enters the house and goes through her things. He is immediately discovered, and runs home, fearing arrest. First Appearance: Fred on Valentine's Day
• Kevin is Fred's arch-enemy. Kevin has been described as fat on many occasions, and has a severe dislike for Fred (in which his hatred for Fred is one of the reasons why Judy favors him over Fred). The cat with rabies bites him in Fred Gets Bullied and Fred on April Fool's Day. He ran against Fred in the kindergarten presidential election, but both lost to an unknown candidate named Cleopatra. First Appearance: Fred on May Day
• Mr. Figglehorn (mentioned) is Fred's dad who is on death-row in the state penitentiary. It's said by Fred's mother that he was once a rock star, and is never shown on screen. In YouTube Live, Fred mentions his dad is in Alcatraz. First Mention: Fred on Father's Day
• Bertha is Fred's only friend and a popular second grader at Fred's school. They met in Fred Meets Bertha when their mothers go to the bar together. First Appearance: Fred Meets Bertha
• Fred's pets — Early in the series, Fred befriended a stray cat which he calls "the cat with rabies". In Fred Gets Bullied and Fred on April Fools Day , the cat (called Dolly) bites Kevin, giving him rabies, and saving Fred from a beating. Fred has also befriended the neighborhood squirrels (really Cruikshank's two Pomeranian that he calls "squirrels") and Sparky the dog who often runs in a local park (although he is also seen in places besides the park in Fred on the 4th and Fred on Christmas.) Fred also has a more traditional pet, a Cockatiel (seen in several episodes). First Appearances: Fred on May Day (The Cat With Rabies), Fred Gets Bullied (The Neighborhood Squirrels)
• The Crazy Guy (mentioned) - Never actually appearing anywhere except through e-mails and letters to Fred, he claims to be the original owner of Fred's YouTube account, and that he knows where Fred lives. Every time Fred gets something from him, he gets worried that he'll make good on his threats to hurt him. The Crazy Guy might be Lucas Cruikshank, but no one is quite sure. However, one clue that does reveal that The Crazy Guy could actually be Lucas is shown in the video entitled "One Million Subscribers" where Lucas himself first thanks the YouTube nation for getting Fred to 1,000,000 subscribers, to which Fred appears right afterward thanking everyone as well. Fred says he has no idea who the weird, creepy guy who spoke before him was, but he did know that he was really weird. First Mention: Fred Loses His Meds
• Medical Specialists (mentioned) - In Fred goes to the Dentist and Fred goes to the Doctor, Fred sees a medical specialist for the first time. He describes both of them as really mean and being capable of hurting a little kid without batting an eyelash. Fred usually gets over what they do to him by the end of the episode and even sees the importance of seeing these doctors. First Mention: Fred Goes to the Dentist

Season 2

• Fred
• Mrs. Figglehorn
• Judy
• Kevin
• Bertha (mentioned)
• Fred's Pets
• The Crazy Guy (mentioned)
• Grandma Figglehorn is Fred's grandmother, and was first mentioned in Fred On Christmas, but fully introduced in Fred's Grandma Has a Secret as Fred's caretaker while his mother is in rehab. First Appearance: Fred's Grandma has a Secret
• Cleopatra (mentioned) appears only in one episode Fred on Election Day, where she beats both Fred and Kevin in the school class president election. First Mention: Fred on Election Day

Season 3

• Fred
• Mrs. Figglehorn
• Judy
• Kevin
• Fred's Pets
• Medical Specialists
• Grandma Figglehorn (mentioned)
• Kevin's Mom (mentioned)-Only gets a brief mention in Fred on April Fools' Day, when Fred says that when Kevin first got rabies Kevin's mom and Fred's mom were fighting and he was worried about what would happen the second time. First Mention: Fred on April Fools' Day

Lucas Cruikshank voices the off-screen characters.

Sponsorship and appearances

Cruikshank's "Fred" has been sponsored since its inception by the Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2), which has several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred Channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred now has a separate website promoting the Zipit and has starred in television ads for the device on Nickelodeon. Cruikshank has generated in excess of $100,000 from ad revenue and sponsorship, and has hired a licensing firm to market Fred merchandise. He made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly:"iMeet Fred", which originally aired on Monday, February 16, 2009, and will additionally be seen on the Disney Channel's The Suite Life on Deck on July 17, 2009 as a guest star. Walden Media also hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer. Cruikshank recently launched a website to promote the Fred series and sells Fred t-shirts and other merchandise, the merchandise is also available at Hot Topic and Five Below stores. Cruikshank also recently appeared on The Tyra Banks Show.

Fred has appeared on CNN and Fox 11 in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to appear on the Disney Channel show "Suite Life On Deck" on July 7, 2009.

Other channels

Lucas Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group made by the twins Jon and Katie as well as Lucas. Although Lucas formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in their name. Lucas also deleted all his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called Lucas, in which he appears as himself.

See also

YouTube

List of Fred Episodes

External links

• Fred's Official website
• Fred's YouTube Page
• Fred's Zipit page: http://www.fredonzipit.com
• Will's Website: http://willfigglehorn.ning.com