Ken Doe (born: 1995 [age 29–30]),[1] better known online as Computer Clan (formerly Hildron101010 and ReelDeal Productions) and his alter-ego Krazy Ken, is an American comedic tech YouTuber best known for their Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures and Krazy Ken's Tech Talk series.
Computer Clan[]
Computer Clan (also known as its abbreviation "CC") was a group founded by Ken Doe (Hildron101010), Totalmandude and CoolTechAB on the 30th of March 2009. It was disbanded in 2018, with its name continuing to be used for its official YouTube channel.
History[]
In late 2007, Ken created a YouTube channel that would eventually become the Computer Clan channel on the 16th of September 2007 under the name "Hildron101010". It initially consisted of music videos, comedy skits, vlogs, and the like, all made by Ken himself in his spare time with some of his friends at the time being featured in several of his videos. As time went on, the first few tech-related videos started to appear on the channel, which includes the "Computer Showdown" series as well as videos focusing on vintage Apple Macintosh computers and other topics in the tech world.
By the time the Computer Clan group and name was established in early 2009, the three co-founders had proposed to change the name of Ken's current channel at the time from "Hildron101010" to "Computer Clan" to reflect the then-newly formed group. Unfortunately, YouTube at the time did not allow for any channels to change their screen names; the names would be permanently set after the user specifies a name of the channel and cannot be changed. To get around this limitation, they had suggested creating a separate channel to upload the Computer Clan videos. Ultimately, this initial plan did not work out, however, and all Computer Clan videos would be uploaded onto Ken's channel instead. Only when YouTube later allowed all channels to change their screen names did gave the group the opportunity to finally change the name of Ken's channel to reflect the group even more. In mid 2009, the official website of the Computer Clan was launched, initially under the URL name "computingclan.com" (as "computerclan.com" was already taken at the time) before changing into its current "thecomputerclan.com" URL name.
Taking advantage of finally having the option to change screen names on YouTube, the channel was given the name "ReelDeel Productions" in 2012. The previous channel name, Hildron101010, continued to be used on Ken's social media accounts for a while until the Computer Clan name had been set in stone later on. At the same time, the channel was then restructured as a variety channel featuring videos of various genres, not just tech. ReelDeel Productions acted as a video production division of the all-encompassing Computer Clan group at the time, which was expanding to include various other ventures inside and outside of the tech industry. Overtime, more and more members have joined the clan, and at its peak in 2013 had around ~25-30 members in different "Divisions".
After the failed attempt at the ReelDeel Productions rebrand, the channel was then renamed as "Computer Clan" in 2014 to better refocus its roots as a tech-oriented channel, which was something the group had previously planned to do when the group was founded in 2009. In an effort to make the channel look more professional as time went on, most of the older videos and playlists made from 2007–2009 and 2009–2013 (which featured most of the members as teenagers and the quality of the videos made at that time were low compared to the ones being made on the channel at the time) were privated and/or unlisted in 2015. In 2016, almost 75% of members had left the Computer Clan due to most of these members not having the time to be in the clan; the group then consisted of Ken (Hildron101010), Brent (Penrose Films) and Marin (Rain/Rainulous) as of early 2017, with both Brent and Marin joining the channel in the early 2010s. Marin stepped down as a member sometime in mid-to-late 2017, leaving only Ken and Brent.
In 2018, the Computer Clan group was dissolved after nearly nine years of its existence, with the traditional membership system of the clan used since its inception being retired in favor of a more open-ended approach that allowed for outside collaborations, as well as changing all the graphics and trailers to not be about the clan. At this time, the Computer Clan's meaning shifted away from being a member-based group to being more focused on the viewing audience. The website was also updated in late 2020 to reflect the new changes made to the clan, which was later given a major overhaul in 2023. As of 2024, Brent still works with the Computer Clan behind-the-scenes, and occasionally appears on several Computer Clan videos, notably within the Krazy Ken Tech Misadventures/Tech Talk series.
List of projects and series (2007–2009/2009–2015)[]
The following is a list of projects and some of the series made by the Computer Clan prior to its formation in 2009 from 2007–2009 and after its formation from 2009–2015:
- Computer Showdown (A series involving computers and operating systems battling against each other, noted for being one of the first tech-related content on the channel overall, started in 2007 and abruptly ended in 2015 due to the CC not having enough time to make Season 7)
- Marble Blast / All the Marbles (A series involving CC Members playing levels in the Marble Blast series of games, started in 2007 and originally ended in 2011, later revived as "All the Marbles" in 2015, ended in 2016)
- Windows Crap Edition (A series of parody operating systems based on Microsoft Windows, started in 2008 and later acquired under the Spoof OS name in 2012)
- SpecTech (A show about the latest tech news, e.g: the release of iOS 5, Final Cut Pro X and OS X Mountain Lion, ended in 2012)
- TriTech Weekly (A roundup of the week's tech news, replacing SpecTech; ended in 2013)
- GoSlo (A series on slow motion videos similar to that of The Slow Mo Guys, ended in 2015)
- Mac Tips n' Tricks (A series showing Ken providing some tips and tricks for Macs, ended in 2012)
- CC Minecraft (Minecraft series featuring CC members, which became a CC project known as White House, a Portal recreation in Minecraft, ended in 2015)
- Ken's Cinema of Shenanigans (A movie/television comedy-riffing series, created as a tribute show for Mystery Science Theater 3000, ended in 2017)
- Music (A collection of music done by CC members, mostly for the Computer Showdown and Ghost Murderer projects (as well as others). These albums came under the names "Computer Clan Music", "Revive", "Slide to Self-Destruct - 2012 version", "Slide to Self-Destruct - 2016" ("STSD-2016"), "ReVision" and "Ghost Murderer", with several others as well. Most of them were removed from the CC website in 2014 except for "STSD-2016" and "Ghost Murderer" (although these were cutdown from the original albums that were released in 2012), which were later removed from the CC website altogether after it was redesigned in late 2020.)
Series[]
Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures[]
Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures is an unscripted and raw "tech video log" series that takes place in the "Krazy Ken universe", named after the main character of the series known as Krazy Ken, the alter-ego of Ken himself who has been trapped 10-stories underground in his own lair. In this series, Krazy Ken does some troubleshooting and tinkering with various tech products, with many episodes involved him doing some off-the-cuff experiments and exploration with tech products and occasionally tends to have bad luck in several episodes (also known as the Krazy Ken Curse). Brent has also appeared on the series as his alter-ego Braniac Brent, who appears on occasion in a number of episodes.
According to Ken himself, the "Krazy Ken" name originates from a saying that he made on Computer Clan Live sometime in 2011 or 2012, which involves a minor mishap on his part that had occurred 10 minutes before the start of the stream. The Krazy Ken name and character was then used in two short-lived video gaming series that only ran a few episodes before they were cancelled, with the first one in 2013 that ran with four episodes and a second one in 2014 that ran with only two episodes.
Debuting on the 15th of December 2015, it became one of the most successful series of the Computer Clan channel over time and was also one of the most popular series on the channel overall. It is also one of the longest-running series in production, with new episodes being released over a span of seven years as of 2022. On some occasions, the series is done live; the first stream of the series was aired on the 22nd of October 2019.
Ken has halted production of this series as of late 2022 due to him switching focus from both unscripted and scripted episodes to just solely scripted episodes as time went on, especially after its spinoff, Krazy Ken's Tech Talk, performed very well over the unscripted, off-the-cuff episodes made for the Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures series. The latest episode of this series was published on the 6th of October 2022.
Krazy Ken's Tech Talk[]
Krazy Ken's Tech Talk is a series that is a spinoff of Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures in a more scripted and professionally-produced format, also set in the "Krazy Ken universe". In this series, Ken (as Krazy Ken) talks about tech history, updates about software, debunking scam products, investigating tech flops and failures as well as other tech stuff. In most episodes, several skits are shown occasionally within the episodes for entertainment and also providing plot points. Brent reprises his role as his alter-ego Braniac Brent in this series as well. Characters introduced during this series include Pixel Peeper 3000, played by Ellie (Mirrations), and Delicious Damian, played by guest star Damian (FarrOffMan) himself.
Debuting on the 23rd of January 2020, it is currently one of the most popular series on the Computer Clan channel as of late 2022, with its episodes performing very well over those made for the original Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures series. It is still in ongoing production as of 2024.
Vintage Apple Vault[]
Vintage Apple Vault was a series talking about vintage Apple products, with most episodes having collabs with other vintage Apple YouTubers. It was the spiritual successor to the earlier Vintage Apple Tours, which was a series that also talked about vintage Apple products. It began on the 30th of August 2018, with the last episode published on the 18th of July 2019.
This series is one of the short-lived series on the Computer Clan channel, which had only 7 episodes before being cancelled in favor of putting more focus on the channel's signature Krazy Ken series (Tech Misadventures and Tech Talk).
TidBytes[]
TidBytes was a series that talks about tech stuff as well as tutorials. It originated sometime in the mid-2010's as a tech training and tutorial site made by the Computer Clan, with the earliest episode using the TidBytes branding being published on the 18th of July 2016. The last episode was published on the 19th of October 2019. A spiritual successor to TidBytes was Krazy Ken's Tech Talk, which launched on January of 2020.
Vintage Apple Tours[]
Vintage Apple Tours was a series that talks about vintage Apple products. This series was noteworthy for being one of the first production-value focused series on the Computer Clan channel, with each shot specifically utilizing multiple camera angles to get the best presentation possible. It also utilized some on-screen graphics. It was started in the 25th of June 2012. The last episode was published on the 12 of April 2016. A spiritual successor to Vintage Apple Tours, Vintage Apple Vault, launched in August of 2018.
Software Showcase[]
Software Showcase was a series talking about various popular and obscure operating systems that were released, mostly on older and historical operating systems as well as beta versions of the respective operating systems. The series started in the 4th of September 2012. The series was discontinued for unknown reasons, presumably because they were running out of any available operating systems to talk about. The last episode was published on the 25th of July 2017.
Spoof OS[]
Spoof OS was a series that parodies popular tech, featuring Ken as Mike Rosoft, the CEO of Spoof OS. It began as a series of videos known as the Windows Crap Edition series in mid 2008, which is a parody of the popular Microsoft Windows line of operating systems that Spoof OS would be well-known for. The Spoof OS name and "company" as a whole was introduced in 2012, and acquired the Windows Crap Edition series of videos along with introducing other parodies of tech products and operating systems such as the Xbox Two, Hack OS X, the eyePhone, and the (never demonstrated) Panes parody operating system. It is the second oldest series on the Computer Clan channel (behind the Computer Showdown and Marble Blast series) and was one of the most popular series on the channel overall. Ken stopped doing this series for unknown reasons, with the last episode published on the 28th of March 2018.
A homage to the Spoof OS series was featured in the Quibi tech fail episode of Krazy Ken's Tech Talk on the 10th of December 2020, during the "bad timing" section of the video (at approximately 7:15). The section opened up with a joke company apparently owned by Spoof OS (as evident by the phrase "a SPOOF OS CONGLOMERATE subsidiary" shown underneath its logo on the TV screen) under the name of "Pandemic Incorporated" (or "Pandemic Inc") setting to launch version 19 of COVID known as "coviDOS 19.0", which was a parody of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in late 2019 and happened throughout 2020. coviDOS 19.0 (which is the COVID-19 parody in this segment) incorporates the naming scheme of iOS, tvOS and macOS (e.g. "coviDOS") while also referencing both the aforementioned COVID-19 pandemic and the DOS operating systems in its name. Past jokes from the Spoof OS videos were also referenced during this segment, which includes the mention Internet Exploder being included with coviDOS 19.0, which itself was a parody of Internet Explorer that was prominently featured within the Windows Crap Edition series.
Computer Clan Live[]
Computer Clan Live (originally "Computer Clan Broadcast") was a live show and video podcast that ran from mid 2009 to early 2018. It was streamed every Friday and revolved around tech and gaming.
The first stream aired on the 23rd of August 2009. The 100th episode was aired on the 22nd of July 2011. On the 23rd of August 2016 (Episode #356), a 4-hour 7th anniversary stream of the show was held, featuring CC Trivia, Marble Blast and many other old segments from the past. The last stream using the original format was aired sometime in early 2018.
Originally, CCL was streamed on Ustream (ustream.tv). It temporarily switched to Livestream.com in 2010 before moving back to Ustream in 2011. Starting with CCL #207 (CCL Podcast #162) on the 30th of August 2013, it switched over to YouTube Live.
From March 2010 through to December 2013, a podcast version of CCL known as "Computer Clan Live Podcast" (or CCLP for short) was introduced. It initially started off as an audio-only podcast (taking the audio from the live broadcast) before transitioning into a prerecorded (video) version of the CCL streams, which started with the New Years 2014 stream (CCL #227) that aired on the 31st of December 2013 to the 1st of January 2014. Around that same time, CCL transitioned from 360p to 720p HD, which remained for the entirety of the original CCL's lifespan.
After the last stream of the original CCL aired in 2018, the Computer Clan Live name continued to be used for a few other livestreams on the Computer Clan channel before officially returning in April 2020 after about two years of absence. The relaunched CCL introduced a brand-new format that retired many segments of the original CCL with a strong focus on interviews. However, this new format was short-lived, and only three CCL livestreams were aired that used this format. The last stream to use the interview format was aired on the 14th of May 2020.
A few days later on the 29th of May 2020, a new CCL livestream replaced the previous interview format in favor of a new format that focuses on special events such as Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), Apple Events, Vintage Computer Festival Midwest (VCFMW), among other things, as well as general tech talk and Q&A. Since then, Computer Clan Live continues to be done on the channel on sporadic occasions.
Personal life[]
Health[]
In January 2023, Ken started to suffer from a pain in his arm as well as the inability to receive quality sleep, where he experienced tingling and burning in his elbows, lower arms and knuckles while he also found himself difficult to sleep normally. He went to physical therapy to get an electromyography (EMG) test as well as a sleep study to test for sleep apnea. These issues persisted to such a degree where it became hard for him to stay awake and work on video productions; whenever he had the energy, it was difficult for Ken to use the computer to edit videos because of the constant arm pain; simply pressing keys on a keyboard or scrolling on a mouse caused him immense pain. He also revealed that his family also had a history of sleep apnea. He started a fundraising campaign with a goal of $4,300, which met its goal on the 21st of October 2023.[2]
Quotes[]
- "Catch the crazy, and pass it on." - Ken's closing catchphrase on the Krazy Ken's Tech Misadventures & Krazy Ken's Tech Talk series
- "Oh yeah, I went ahead and bought one." - Ken's phrase in most scam-busting videos where he bought an item he tries to investigate
- "More inconsistencies equal more red flags." - One of Ken's advices to avoid scams
- Note that whenever Ken says the phrase "red flag", a flashing red beacon along with the words "RED FLAG" on top of it would often be shown.
References[]
- ↑ Computer Clan (2017-01-24). My Computer History (1996-2017).
- ↑ Fundraiser by Ken Doe - Ken's Neurological and Sleep Study Bills.