Comedian seeks fame through YouTube videos

FLORENCE - Matthew Brown is an improv comedian seeking fame.

Brown and his troupe of merrymen don't travel across the country performing sketch comedies in smoky clubs for tough-as-nails crowds.

Instead, he and his group produce videos - the latest one in Wilson Park in downtown Florence - and upload them on YouTube, the popular video sharing Web site.

Brown already has an audience comparable to the entire Shoals population.

His vlogs - or video logs - capture more than 110,000 views, which is more eyeballs than most comedians could hope for three years into their careers.

YouTube in many ways has transformed fame. Now, no longer do performers need agents, publicists and press to get an audience. Comedians can be all three.

Variety named comedian Brooke "Brookers" Brodack the first YouTube cross-over star. Producer Carson Daly signed her up in 2006 and her career, well, stalled.

On the other side, Andy Samberg jumped from an online comedy troupe, The Lonely Island, to late-night television, "Saturday Night Live," and now enjoys starring Hollywood roles.

On a recent Saturday, Brown and Chance McCullough met at Wilson Park to produce a video parody on swine flu.

Brown, also known as swiftkaratechop or Swiftie, holds a plastic bag with the shoot's only prop - a blond wig with curly locks and dark roots.

The skit unfolds: Brown and McCullough meet by the fountain. Both have bad news to tell each other; Brown says he has AIDS and gets the tearful support of the bewigged Hannah Man-tana. McCullough responds he has swine flu and Brown kicks blondie to the curb, walking away. "You always get all the diseases," Brown says as he walks off into the distance.

"It's a play on how people make swine flu so important," Brown says of the disease that has made headlines worldwide in recent weeks.

"It's like AIDS isn't a problem," McCullough says.

Other videos include split personalities, karate-chopping muggers, chocolate bar eating and fighting boredom.

Brown wears skinny jeans, a loose Western shirt and days-long facial scruff. His dark brown hair is expertly sculpted, spiking downwards to his jawline and upwards to a slight tilt. The getup is a contrast to McCullough's neon yellow T-shirt, shorts and clean-cut features.

During the melodramatic reveal, "I have AIDS," the duo get the giggles and require a half-dozen takes.

"We get nothing accomplished as you can see," Brown says.

"This is Hollywood in the making," McCullough responds.

McCullough tells Brown to think of a serious movie - he chooses "Philadelphia" in which characters played by Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas suffer from AIDS and where Hanks' character, Andrew Beckett, dies.

"I'm Antonio Banderas," McCullough says in a pitch to calm down Brown.

After a half-dozen takes, none all the way through, the duo move on.

Brown started making videos independently, but got support from Shellie Ballard, a business education instructor who teaches an interactive multimedia class at Colbert Heights High School.

"I never knew what I'd get from him when he was in my classes," Ballard stated in an e-mail. "He always went above and beyond what I expected. I have kept up with his videos. He never ceases to amaze me."

In 2008, Brown followed a girlfriend to Camarillo, Calif., which is about an hour from Hollywood, where many comedians go to make their fame in clubs or on the screen.

Brown visited home at Christmas, and because his grandfather became sick, the 20-year-old moved back home.

He said he may go to school next year at the University of North Alabama.

"It's a passion to make the videos, but there aren't a lot of opportunities here," Brown said.

His video, "Pig Headed Love," gets 46,171 hits, or online views, within a few days and more than a thousand comments from viewers.

"My first comment ... gets thumbs down becuz i'm NOT laughing at families dying and peoples suffering," writes one viewer.

Another writes, "haha classic. good twist what a romance thriller. i was on the edge of my seat/crying my eyes out. bravo bravo! *applause*"

After the hourlong shoot is over, the question remained: Was there anything the comedian wouldn't do?

"Always with clothing," was his reply.

Trevor Stokes may be reached at trevor.stokes@TimesDaily.com.