The evil clown, also known as the creepy clown, scary clown or killer clown, is a subversion of the traditional comic clown character, in which the playful trope is instead depicted in a more disturbing nature through the use of horror elements and dark humor. The modern archetype of the evil clown was popularized by the DC Comics supervillain Joker starting in 1940, and again by Pennywise in Stephen King's It. The character can be seen as playing on the sense of unease felt by sufferers of coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.
Scare Tactics is an American comedy horror hidden camera television show created by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey and aired on Syfy from April 4, 2003, to October 28, 2013. The first season of the show was hosted by Shannen Doherty and then Stephen Baldwin took her place in the middle of the second season. At the beginning of the third season, the show was hosted by Tracy Morgan.
Improv Everywhere is a comedic performance art group based in New York City, formed in 2001 by Charlie Todd. Its slogan is "We Cause Scenes".
YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second-most visited website in the world, after Google Search. As of January 2024, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2021, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total.
Michael Wong, better known by his stage name Mike Relm, is an American disc jockey, turntablist, director, and VJ from San Francisco, California.
PrankvsPrank, also known as PvP, is a YouTube channel created by Jesse Michael Wellens and his then-girlfriend Jennifer "Jeana" Smith. In 2007, the two began to play pranks on each other and post videos of the pranks on websites, eventually forming a channel on YouTube. They became one of the most-watched channels. The channel has more than 1.8 billion video views and more than 10.2 million subscribers as of February 2017. After Wellens and Smith split in May 2016, Wellens became the sole user of the channel.
Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, better known by his YouTube username VitalyzdTv, is a Russian-American YouTube personality, content creator, online streamer and website owner. His YouTube videos, as of November 2021, have reached over 1.8 billion views and over 10 million subscribers, while his video blog channel has more than 270 million views and 1.93 million subscribers.
Alex Goyette is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, and YouTube personality. He is the writer/director of Expelled, a comedy which ranked #1 worldwide on iTunes during its December 2014 release. Goyette studied film at Cal State Northridge, and created his sketch comedy YouTube channel on April 17, 2011. The channel's videos have been viewed 13 million times.
Thomas George Cassell, known online as Syndicate, is an English YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Regarded as one of the earlier known gaming personalities, his videography consists of Let's Play videos on Call of Duty and Minecraft. Born in Manchester, Cassell had passion for a career in the gaming industry, which he started by purchasing gaming equipment using his money from McDonald's. On 3 September 2010, Cassell registered his gaming channel "TheSyndicateProject", where he found success and an online community. His prominence online was recognized by Call of Duty publisher Activision and multi-channel network (MCN) Machinima, where he signed to the network to monetize his content. Cassell's channel achieved substantial growth, passing one million subscribers in June 2012 and one billion views in late 2013. He further expanded his career into livestreaming on Twitch, hosting the same commentary over his gameplays. His Twitch channel became the first to reach one million followers in August 2014.
Pepsi Max & Jeff Gordon Present: Test Drive is a 2013 short film produced by Gifted Youth, the commercial division of Funny or Die. The film was directed by Peter Atencio and stars NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. The film served as part of a viral marketing advertising campaign to promote Pepsi Max. The film was released through Pepsi's YouTube channel on March 12, 2013. It quickly became a viral video, and earned more than 45 million views on YouTube as of March 2016. The film was shortened into a television advertisement which aired in North America during the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Roman Bernard Atwood is an American YouTube personality and prankster. He is best known for his vlogs, where he posts updates about his life. His vlogging channel, "RomanAtwoodVlogs", has a total of 5 billion views and 15 million subscribers. He also has another YouTube channel called "RomanAtwood", where he used to post prank videos. The channel has been inactive since 2016. His pranks have gained over 1.4 billion views and 10.4 million subscribers. He became the second YouTuber after Germán Garmendia to receive two Diamond Play Buttons for his first two channels.
A jump scare is a scaring technique used in media, particularly in films such as horror films and video games such as horror games, intended to scare the viewer by surprising them with an abrupt change in image or event, usually co-occurring with a loud, jarring sound. The jump scare has been described as "one of the most basic building blocks of horror movies". Jump scares can startle the viewer by appearing at a point in the film where the soundtrack is quiet and the viewer is not expecting anything alarming to happen, or can be the sudden payoff to a long period of suspense.
Trollstation is a YouTube channel consisting of, as well as collaborating with, numerous British pranksters who perform pranks and social experiments, more recently focusing on the latter. The pranks carried out by members of Trollstation are filmed covertly, often without the permission of those involved; however, they are revealed to be pranks soon after. Some of the group's stunts have led to criminal convictions.
Scare PewDiePie is an American comedy horror reality web series that stars Swedish YouTube personality Felix Kjellberg, known professionally as PewDiePie. The series was produced by Maker Studios and Skybound Entertainment, with Robert Kirkman serving as executive producer, and premiered on February 10, 2016 exclusively for YouTube Red, the paid subscription arm of YouTube. Episodes feature Kjellberg exploring sets designed and based on horror video games that he played and commented over on his YouTube channel.
Samuel Nicholas Pepper is an English internet personality and reality TV contestant. Pepper appeared as a contestant on the 11th season of Big Brother in 2010. Later that same year, he started a YouTube channel, where he initially posted extreme pranks. These pranks often received backlash for featuring assault and cruelty. In 2016 Pepper shifted to vlogging and then again in 2019 shifted to comedy videos, starting a TikTok channel in 2020. In 2021, Pepper worked with FaZe Clan to promote the Save the Kids token pump-and-dump scheme as an independent contractor. Pepper also began streaming from Kick in 2023.
The 2016 clown sightings were reports of people disguised as evil clowns in incongruous settings, such as near forests and schools. The incidents were reported in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and subsequently in other countries and territories starting during August 2016. The sightings were first reported in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in what turned out to be a marketing stunt for a horror film. The phenomenon later spread to many other cities in the U.S. By mid-October 2016, clown sightings and attacks had been reported in nearly all U.S. states, nine out of 13 provinces and territories of Canada, and 18 other countries.
DaddyOFive, briefly known as FamilyOFive, was a controversial YouTube channel and online alias of Michael Christopher "Mike" Martin, which focused on daily vlogging and "prank" videos. At its peak, the channel's videos featured Martin, his wife Heather Martin—also known by her online alias MommyOFive—and their children. In 2017, following a series of "prank" videos showing the parents physically and emotionally abusing their children, the channel became the center of a public controversy, as outrage grew over their abuse of their children.
Nelk, also referred to as the Nelk Boys, is a Canadian-American YouTube channel and entertainment company. Originally known for their prank videos, vlogs, and their brand Full Send Entertainment, they have since shifted to promoting right-wing political causes. The group's founders, Kyle Forgeard, and Jesse Sebastiani, have been referred to as "two of the most recognizable personalities for young people in North America".
Joshua Pieters is a South African YouTuber known for pranks on celebrities. Originally from Knysna, he is currently based in London.
Brian Rafat Awadis, better known as FaZe Rug, is an American YouTuber who produces vlogs, challenges, gaming videos, and pranks on YouTube. He is a co-owner of FaZe Clan. He also is the most subscribed gamer in FaZe Clan on YouTube, with over 25 million subscribers.
