| “ | SPEEN! | ” |
― Vinny | ||
Vincent "Vinny" (born: May 12, 1985) is an American YouTuber, gamer, Twitch streamer, and musician who is the founder of the Twitch gaming group Vinesauce, which formed in 2010. He is the first streamer in the group where other members would later join Vinesauce. He's known for his gaming streams and his made-up characters such as Sponge, Meat, and Ralph Bluetawn.
History
The Vinesauce YouTube channel, launched on February 20, 2010, was first used by Vinny to publish small gameplay recordings and amateur videos. During this, he became a fan of live streams involving video games, which were only just developing at the time. When these streams began to collapse, Vinny decided to start streaming himself. This happened before the streaming website which all Vinesauce streamers use now, Twitch, was created, so streaming was a new concept.
In a Q&A, Vinny explained the origin of the name and of Vinesauce:
"It all started in a basement a number of years ago. A group of friends were gathered around a television playing one of the GameCube Mario Party games. The mini game in which vines grow out of the ground and into the sky appeared on screen. A random member of the committee was said to have uttered "Doesn't it look like those vines are growing out of an asshole?" Many jokes and laughs later, "Vinny" became "Vine." At least, that's how the rumor goes. Oh, and for the record, sauce is just a fun word.”
On May 11, 2011, Vinny launched the Vinesauce website and started his own stream. That year, he began to recruit more streamers and sometimes invited guests to stream with him. This was when Vinesauce began to become more of a group, as more streamers began to join Vinny.
YouTube Content
Corruption Stockpile
Corruption Stockpile are streams that happen every Saturday in which Vinny will corrupt and break certain games where strange and hilarious moments can ensue. The earliest stream of Corruption Stockpile occurred in 2015 where he corrupted Super Mario Bros on the NES. Sometimes he will have a device to intensify the corruption or download mods. There are currently 86 videos uploaded for the Corruption Stockpile.
Tomodachi Life
Tomodachi Life is a life-simulation video game released in 2013 by Nintendo. Vinny began playing the game in 2014 where he added several Vinesauce characters and new characters, such as Two-Faced, Witch, Waluigi, Cling On, etc. Many strange and funny moments would occur in the game became hugely popular on Vinny's Twitch and YouTube. The series would make its conclusion in 2015 when eliminations and the Jahn invasion occurred. There are 55 streams of Tomodachi Life, with two specials streamed afterward.
Vinesauce is Hope
Vinesauce is Hope is an annual charity stream that originally started in 2014. Viewers can donate money which is sent to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF). All the members of Vinesauce would livestream for 24 hours to raise enough money. Vinesauce is Hope has become hugely successful raising enough money for PCRF.
Streamers
Vinny was the first of all the Vinesauce streamers to begin streaming in 2010. Most of the streamers who joined later on were originally viewers.
List of Streamers
- Vinny
- Vargskelethor (Joel Johansson)
- ReverendScarecrow/Rev (Colin Mullin)
- Fred
- MentalJen/umjammerjenny
- Potato (Darren)
- DireBoar (Jonathan Morrow)
- Limealicious/Limes
- Imakuni/Pelkuni
Associated Streamers/Channels
These streamers/channels are either unofficial/ex-Vinesauce streamers, have streamed alongside another streamer before but are not a full-time streamers, was a guest streamer, or have some major association with one of the official streamers.
- Jabroni Mike
- GPM
- Criken2
- Penguinz0
- Huggbees
- StupidFace
- Jerma985
- RubberRoss
- Vappyvap88
- FearGingers
- LiveByFoma (KY)
- Hootey
- Shesez
- Cinemassacre
- Ranboo
- Failboat
- Liam Triforce
- Zamsire
- CONEY
- A Jolly Wangcore
Characters
- Sponge: A brother of Mario and Luigi. He is always depressed and miserable since he uses his mustache to soak up the sadness, which is why the Mario games are so colorful. Vinny originally came up with him during a Super Mario 3D World livestream where he proposed another Mario brother. Sponge would later be featured in Tomodachi Life with a large moustache and orange attire.
- Meat: A worm and running gag in live streams. He was originally created by Kevin Yagher in a 1991 commercial for MSN. Vinny later found an image of him during a Bloodborne livestream calling him Meat. Meat will occasionally make gross noises.
- Ralph Bluetawn: A blue troll and Vinny's avatar for Second Life. Ralph attempts to socialize with other players and likes to eat Pizza. He also tries to reach a heavenly place called the Buvvins, which Vinny confirmed he did during a live stream of the fan game, Vinerooms. He also makes an appearance on Tomodachi Life.
- Two Faced: A resident of Tomodachi Life who has two faces on her head. Vinny wanted them to be together, but another resident named Walrus dated her and they became close, which left Vinny heart broken. However, Two Faced backstabbed Walrus and became a girlfriend of Donkey Kong. Due to popular demand, she was deleted from Tomodachi Life. She also appears in Miitopia.
- Hitomi Fujiko: A supposed NPC and character who is seen the game Active Worlds. Vinny originally thought they were an NPC due to it's scripted dialogue, but Hitomi soon became sentient and thought they were real. After the stream, Vinny said he didn't plan for the events that occurred, which left many fans theorizing. But a person named Pocketomi revealed on the Vinesauce reddit page that she was Hitomi and she decided to prank Vinny when he was streaming.
Trivia
- Vinny is of Italian descent.
- Vinny's favorite food is pizza.
- The first game that Vinny streamed was Chrono Trigger.
- Vinny is part of a band called Red Vox, who he released his first album with in 2016.
- One of his fellow band members in Red Vox, Mike, occasionally stream some games with Vinny.
- Once, Vinny received two red dildos in the mail from one of his stream moderators, Gearomatic. He joked about raffling them in a Minecraft stream.
- Later, Vinny used the same two dildos in a plug-and-play stream, where he used them to perform actions in the game.
- Also, in a Super Mario Maker stream, he told a story that one of the members of his band used two red dildos to drum, stating that they made a very interesting sound against the drums and showing two videos of it on stream.
- Vinny used to have a job at a television station as editing, which he quit in early 2014.
- After quitting, Vinny set up a Patreon to help his financial situation, but then he felt bad since he did not need it, so he cancelled it after his first payment. He then donated the money to charity in the first charity stream.
- Vinny was featured on CNN to discuss the game, Trombone Champ.[1]
- Vinny voiced a frog character in the 2024 video game, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.[2]