Charles Joseph McDonnell (born October 1, 1990), known by his alias charlieissocoollike, is an entertainer and vlogger on YouTube.
History
He first became interested in making content on YouTube when he and his friend Sam decided to make and upload a short film entitled "The Legend of Zelda: The Kazoo of Time". which they eventually gave up on. He still had the account so he decided he "might as well do something with it" so he started uploading short vlogs. He first came to prominence when a video entitled "How To Get Featured on YouTube" was indeed featured on YouTube's homepage. In a few days, his subscriber count went from fewer than 150 to more than 4,000. He recieved another surge of popularity in September with a video entitled "How to be English.", in which he instructed his viewers in a deliberately terrible English accent how to make the perfect cup of tea. The following month, he was interviewed by BBC News and a selection of clips from this video were shown. Upon reaching 25,000 subscribers, he asked his subscribers to submit challenges for completion in a series of 25 videos called "Challenge Charlie" (when he first unveiled this idea, he noted that it wasn't "extremely original", in reference to a near identical series called "Challenge Adam" by his fellow YouTuber whataboutadam).
After he had completed his 25th challenge in March 2013, he implied that he would happily proceed with the series despite his reaching the promised number of challenges. In 2008, he video blogged on another YouTube account along with four other YouTube personalities (fallofautumdistro, nerimon, toddly00 and johnnydurham19) The name given to this collaboration by McDonnell was "fiveawesomeguys", a spin-off of the American "fiveawesomegirls".
On 6 August 2008, Charlie showcased his musical talent with a song titled "Blink". Based upon the Doctor Who episode of the same name, the song inspired numerous bands to attack this newly-created genre, Time Lord Rock, or Trock, shortened by the same convention as the Harry Potter fandom's Wrock. However, it is noteworthy to mention that it was not Charlie, but his friend and fellow YouTuber Alex Day who invented the genre. Charlie simply wrote the first "Trock" song. Since it's conception, Time Lord Rock has been mentioned in Doctor Who Magazine and the band Charlie is in, Chameleon Circuit, has released their second album Still Got Legs, after the success of their first epononymous album.
On 30 September 2008, to celebrate his 18th birthday, Charlie and his friend Alex Day (known as 'Nerimon' on YouTube) shaved their heads whilst live on blogtv for a period of 7 and a half hours, in aid of Cancer Research UK. They managed to raise over £5000. The broadcast viewership peaked at 4,500. Another friend, Jazza John McMillan-Clenaghan (known as 'Rhymingwithoranges' on YouTube) promised to shave his head if they hit 4,000 and did so about a month later with the help from Kristina Horner (known as 'Italktosnakes' and Monday on the collab-channel 'fiveawesomegirls' on YouTube).
Videos
Charlie made several short videos from early 2007 onwards. The one that first got well-noticed was "How to get featured on YouTube". Charlie said he had got over 2000 emails, which was a mix of fanmail and hate messaging. While he said he found hatemail amusing, one YouTuber known as Blade376 made a video which was angry at him for being featured after only a couple of months on YouTube, causing Charlie to remove all of his videos. In response, numerous video blogs were made saying that it made no difference whether YouTube featured content from new users or older ones, it was the quality that mattered. On 27 June, Charlie uploaded the removed videos again, this time without objection. The two have since become friends and forgotten the incident. Blade376 has removed his video about Charlie, but the video responses have not.
Charlie's most popular videos (excluding music videos):
- My American Accent
- Duet with Myself
- How to Speak English
- Justin Bieber Fever
- Cooking with Charlie
Fiveawesomeguys
Charlie was responsible for the creation of "fiveawesomeguys" which is a well-known YouTube channel. It featured him, Fallofautumndistro, JohnnyDurham19, Nerimon and Toddly00. It was here his fanbase particularly grew. The project started in late January, and started as a copy of the "Fiveawesomegirls".
The project had most of the themes the girls had, including challenges (sometimes known as "diplomas"- Toddology and Coollikeology respectively), punishments for failing to make a video or do a challenge (although Charlie was punished for losing a "nerdfighter card" the group were meant to complete by doing a video for each weekday in the style of each of the five YouTubers. Also, Alan was meant to do a similar punishment for failing to do a 30 second song, but due to the project's end, it is unlikely he will do it) and five personalities of YouTube (hence the name).
Ultimately, the project was finished on New Years Eve due to the project being a copy of fiveawesomegirls, who planned to end on New Years Eve. However, the girls recently decided they would continue making videos as they did, leaving YouTube to wonder if the guys will reassemble and continue.
ChartJackers
Alex Day, Charlie McDonnell, James Hill and Johnny Durham kicked off their
ChartJackers Project on September 5, 2009. The YouTubers posted a video each on their channel to announce it. The group wanted to make a single for charity, with the help of the internet. The community had to submit lyrics, audition for the band, etc. The group picked the lyrics, band, producer, etc.
Personal life
Charlie was born and raised in Bath, Somerset with his siblings: his brother, William, and his sister, Bridie. He was educated at Beechen Cliff School, a state comprehensive foundation school in Bath. He is an atheist and he lives in London, England.