| “ | Hey, it's Fred!
|
” |
―Fred's intro | ||
Fred Figglehorn was the titular character of the FRED YouTube channel and series (stylized as FЯED), portrayed by Lucas Alan Cruikshank (born: August 29, 1993), is an American YouTuber, comedian, and actor. He was an incredibly hyperactive, lanky, medication-taking 6-year-old boy who posted videos online. He was one of the most popular icons on YouTube, and the first person to reach 1 million subscribers.
About[]
Lucas claimed that he initially created Fred out of boredom over his summer vacation. He later revealed he also did it to subtly vent his actual frustrations about the kids in his school and his interactions with him. He regularly posted videos. Cruikshank also appeared on ABC News for an interview about his videos, performed with Kev Blaze in a music video for "Watch How I Do This", a favorite song of Fred's, which appears in several episodes of Fred, and appeared with the creators of the new motion picture, City of Ember to create one of his videos. He was also in an episode of iCarly on Nickelodeon. This publicity he created had caught even more attention to his videos, with views soaring in the millions.
Fred tended to scream often in his episodes, most likely due to the mentioned fact that he took medications (which also might explain his voice).
Fred was also notable for seeking revenge on people who bully him. However, his schemes didn't work out as planned sometimes.
His catchphrases were "Hey, it's FREEEDD!!!", "Aaaahhh!", and "Oh, my gammit!".
Fred's shirt changed to red in Season 2 because of his grandmother's screw-up in the washing machine.
From October 6, 2008 to August 20, 2009, he was ranked as YouTube's most-subscribed user, the youngest to do so, by surpassing and being surpassed by nigahiga. During his reign, his channel was the first to hit 600,000 to 1.3 million subscribers.
The most notable milestone he achieved during his reign, 1,000,000, was reached on April 7, 2009. His channel became the third to reach 2,000,000 subscribers in late September 2010, half a year after nigahiga did, and a few days after Ray William Johnson had done so. The channel has gained over 800,000 subscribers since then.
Fred was also one of the few YouTube celebrities that allowed comments. Because of this, he got over 30 comments a minute. He had over a million comments, one of the first YouTube users to reach that goal, also.
It is unknown how Fred obtained the name "Fred" (most YouTubers with "rare" name such as blue, car, computer, etc. are placeholder accounts), but one of the reasons may be his account was made on October 1, 2005. A pilot episode called "Fred on Halloween" was originally uploaded on another account on Halloween 2006, and then re-uploaded as the current account's first video in April 2008.
Appearances[]
Fred[]
In the TV series on Nickelodeon, Fred was the protagonist and had a crush on Judy, his next-door neighbor. However, she was not very fond of him and was instead dating Kevin, Fred's overweight (mentioned) bully at school. Fred also had an alcoholic mother, a friend named Bertha, pet "squirrels" (in reality, Pomeranians), and a father who was in jail.
Fred: The Movie[]
In the 2010 feature film with WWE fighter John Cena, Fred was once again the star and played by Lucas and was by-then a teenager in high school (along with Judy, Kevin, and Bertha). Fred was still in love with Judy at the time, who was also a teenager and somewhat his friend (unlike the series, in which she does not like him). He tried to go to Judy's house so they can sing together but failed each time. Kevin lived across the street from Fred's house and thwarted each attempt Fred made to see Judy. When Fred finally succeeded in making it to Judy's, he was informed by his mother that Judy and her parents moved. Frustrated, Fred snapped and started destroying various objects in his house while his mother went out. Fred was then forced to go search for her.
While on the number 6 bus, he met Derf, a god-like teen whose personality was in contrast to Fred's hyperactive behavior. Derf was actually Fred's imaginary friend.
Fred's journey took him all over town until he found out Judy has moved mere minutes away. Fred's ego was hit when he discovered that Judy was having a party he wasn't invited to, so he fueled a scheme that he believes will make him cooler than his classmates could ever imagine.
Fred invited Bertha to the party (but refuses to invite anyone who attended Judy's party or found the video funny), and filmed the entire party, doing crazy things like dressing up, dancing around and puking cupcakes. He then forwarded the video to everyone, and despite it not giving him instant popularity, Judy showed up at Fred's house to sing with him.
Near the end, Fred found out that his mom dated the previous owner of Judy's new house, Danny Janetti, 15 years ago. Fred said he's 15 indicating that Janetti could, in fact, be his real dad. This is not confirmed but there is evidence to back this up. First, if you look closely, Danny Janetti drew a resemblance to Fred and the fact that Fred's mom dated Janetti exactly around the time of Fred's birth.
Characters[]
Claudio Gregory[]
Claudio (portrayed by Lucas Cruikshank) appears as a minor character in the FRED series, usually appearing as a supporting character or an antagonist. He first appeared in "Fred Gets Kidnapped by Claudio", where he intrudes Fred's house, locked him in the cage, and decided to take Fred's role in the entire video. He claimed that he was supposed to be Fred, and was the original YouTube.com/Fred owner, and was jealous of Fred's success, and was always lonely because of it. However, in the end, Lucas and Fred have befriended Claudio.
The Evil Dentist[]
The evil dentist was one of the main antagonists in Fred's music video, Don't Forget to Brush. The evil dentist is always seen in the music video sporting a very evil wide smile. The dentist along with the nurse have pulled out both of Fred's two front teeth by "mistake" in his dentist appointment. His dialogue in the entire music video were also featured as a backup vocal, either it is high-pitched or just his normal voice, as well as himself being featured as a cutout of him as a puppet appears in the first chorus of the music video saying "D-D-D-Dentist!".
- At the final chorus, in the initial montage of the evil dentist and the evil nurse chasing Fred in circles in the dentist room, the dentist makes a quick pose where he lightly jumps, opens his mouth wide smiling and stares at the camera; this moment is likely used for comedic purposes.
- At the second montage of the evil dentist and the evil nurse chasing Fred in circles in the dentist room, the evil dentist takes a little break of chasing Fred by breathing to a laughing gas airway pressure.
Annoying Orange[]
Annoying Orange was a crossover character based on the YouTube character of the same name. In Fred's grocery shopping video, Fred considered getting something healthy, and walks to the fruit aisle, only to get interrupted by Orange, by greeting him, followed by saying "Knock knock". A confused Fred tries to play along by replying "Who's there", to which Orange repeatedly keep saying "Knock knock", causing Fred to become more impatient. After multiple times asking "who's there", Fred threatens Orange that he will squeeze him in destiny if he doesn't tell him "who's there". However, Orange said one more "knock knock", prompting Fred to shout on top of his lungs asking "who's there".
After Fred's small breakdown, Orange finally replies by simply saying "Orange", to Fred, who's now calm, replied "Orange who?", and Orange replies with "Orange you glad I didn't say apple again", and laughs, then Fred laughs too, awkwardly. Fred then leaves, remarking that the occasion was weird, and Orange as well remarks that Fred is a weirdo.
Fred's voice[]
Fred's type of voice in his video can be easily made for any other voice by simply submitting an audio file in software called Audacity and changing its pitch to be higher. When Fred used this feature years ago, it wasn't very known and that helped him getting famous for using something original like this at the time.
In Season 4, Fred's voice got a little deeper, but in "Fred Goes Grocery Shopping Feat. Annoying Orange", his voice was somewhat higher than in the other Season 4 episodes.
Pranks[]
Fred has also been the victim of a "prank" for everyone to unsubscribe to him by June 1. Unfortunately, many subscribers forgot to unsubscribe, which pushed Fred into the second highest subscribed on YouTube. Recently, the account was hacked by an unidentified user, leaving all of the videos with a different title.
NEW "FRED"[]
After a year of no new Fred videos being uploaded onto the Fred channel due to the actual character having a TV show, a video title "FRED IS BACK" was uploaded meaning that more Fred videos were being planned. However, instead of the actual Fred, it was a young Korean boy who was dressed up as Fred who was trying to re-create some old videos like "FRED goes swimming" and "FRED loses his meds" and sponsoring a cereal brand from Yuksung Corporation. It was later announced in "A message from Yuksung Corporation" that the Fred channel was now owned by the corporation. However, Fred was kidnapped and held hostage but Lucas travels to Korea and rescues Fred. In August 27, 2014, FRED uploads its final episode called "Lucas Defeats Yuksung" where Lucas rescues Fred and finally defeats Yuksung but at the very end of the episode Lucas said to Fred that he doesn't want to make any more FRED videos and just move on.
The new Fred channel[]
In 2014, Lucas, the creator of Fred, decided to open the channel to anyone who wants to post family-friendly videos, including sketches, music videos and animations. However, this idea wasn't successful as fans didn't support the channel for the way it was going. The channel stopped uploading videos after the 6th episode of "Questions my parents won't answer" on July 16, 2015.
Trivia[]
- Fred surpassed Nigahiga in October 2008, to become the most-subscribed channel. Nigahiga would then repass him in August 2009.
- The Fred character first made his appearance on the YouTube channel jklproduction. Lucas wanted Fred to have his own channel and once he got it, all of Fred videos that were on jklproduction were taken down.
- He started posting videos of Fred in April 2008 with nearly no subscribers. By the end of the year, his channel was the most subscribed on YouTube with over 700,000 subscribers.
- Fred wore a T-shirt with the letters "FЯED" on it (usually red or blue), along with black pants (however, in Season 4, he was seen wearing blue jeans). In the 2010 movie, he wears a different shirt with suspenders. Both were regarded as "Fred" merch for a time.
- At the end of Fred: The Movie, he revealed that he is now 15 years old.
- In the 2010 episodes, Fred is a little taller than other people.
- Fred was one of the first YouTube channels to have a TV program.
- Fred was the first-ever Youtuber to receive the Golden play button for passing 1 million subscribers.
- Fred was featured in the Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly episode iMeetFred.
- The plot of the Fred movies is that Fred wants the affections of a girl, Judy. This is ironic as his actor is gay.
- Fred made a Reference in the Nickelodeon show Marvin Marvin episode, Big Time Marvin. Ironic for since Lucas is playing the main character and referencing Fred.
Subscriber milestones[]
Note: All dates from 100K-1 million subscribers are rough estimates based on existing data.
- 100,000 subscribers: May 25, 2008
- 200,000 subscribers: June 19, 2008
- 300,000 subscribers: July 16, 2008
- 400,000 subscribers: August 15, 2008
- 500,000 subscribers: September 14, 2008
- 600,000 subscribers: October 26, 2008
- 700,000 subscribers: December 10, 2008
- 800,000 subscribers: February 8, 2009
- 900,000 subscribers: March 4, 2009
- 1 million subscribers: April 7, 2009
- 2 million subscribers: September 25, 2010
- 3 million subscribers: April 21, 2023
