The Vlogger Interviews: Oliver6596 (Ollie)

I'm not a big fan of snarky comedy vlogs on YouTube - the mean-spirited channels that find humor through ridicule, almost as if they're inspired by the celebrity scandal sites.  If I'm looking for comedy, I tend to enjoy generally good-natured vloggers of the Charlieissocoollike variety.  I also like uninhibited comedy - off the wall, random and sometimes physical goofiness that is probably best created by teenagers who haven't acquired the layers of cynicism that restrain so many adults.




15 year-old Ollie (Oliver6596), who spoke with me from his home in Birmingham, UK, admits that he doesn't usually spend much time planning his vlogs, and maybe that's what I find entertaining about them - I don't think he knows any better than his audience where each vlog is going to end up, or when he'll throw himself into a random door.   His little brother is his sidekick  / antagonist, but you'll never take the brotherly name-calling seriously.

Ollie's vlogs are already working for him - he offered a few in his college (referring roughly to the UK equivalent of high school in the US)  application - and was well received (more in the interview).

Ollie's definition of vlogging is one of my favorites (or, in this case, favourites):

Vlogging is...being social awkward to a camera.