Free Gum!

Web video might be all the rage now, but I’ve been doing it for TEN YEARS. I know – I’m as amazed as you! I first hit the streets in January in the year 2000, and my very first bit was asking people what an mp3 was. AND MOST PEOPLE DIDN’T KNOW. I did it for a company I was working for at the time, and after I did it I just knew that I had found the thing I wanted to do for my career.

So, to commemorate this anniversary, this decade-long career I’ve had now that’s put me on TV and across the web and into lots and lots of awesome fun situations, I thought I’d release one of my very-old classics. This one is entitled, “Free Gum,” and it showcases how my first pieces were all about cleaning up New York City.

It also showcases a really awesome hairdo that I sported at the time. For about 2 or 3 years, I put my hair through the wringer, coloring it every shade in the Benjamin Moore iPhone App. To accomplish this, I had to bleach the crap out of my hair first, then put on some Manic Panic. It was a an arduous, stinky process, and one that I’m lucky to have had some hairs survive. I should be bald for all I put my hair through!

Aside from the funky hairdos, the best thing about looking through some of my older stuff for the anniversary episode has been seeing what I chose to cover on my own, before I had clients to answer to, before I was interested in what was going on in the world, in politics, or in pop culture. I just wanted to cover what annoyed me on a day-to-day basis.

It was extremely cathartic. And I think it’s good for me to remember why I started doing this in the first place: to poke fun at stuff that pisses me off. That’s what I’m good at, that’s why I started doing this weird job, and that’s something I should remember whenever it’s time to decide what to cover. It’s also good for me to remember to never, ever put my poor hair through all that chemical processing again.

Thanks for tuning in all these years, you guys! And Happy Anniversary to meeeeeeee.