I Did a Thing

Alex Apollonov is an Australian YouTube personality and comedian, better known for his online persona I Did a Thing,[1] and his YouTube channel of the same name. He is also the co-star of Boy Boy which he created with fellow comedian Aleksa Vulovic who also stars in his videos.[2] Much of his content involves himself creating home-made devices to comedic effect, including recreating the Utah monolith in Australia, simulating the Aurora Borealis in his kitchen to parody The Simpsons, making steel-toed crocs, alongside a number of projectile weapons firing tampons and napalm. Often his videos will contain commentary on politics and global events, including climate change in Australia, the lethality of rubber bullets, Australia's colonial legacy and recently the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alex Apollonov
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
YouTube information
Channel
LocationAustralia
Years active(current channel) 2018 - present
Genrecomedy
Subscribers1.44 million
(December 2020)
Total views108,600,000
(December 2020)
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers

Many of Apollonov's projects have gained widespread media attention in Australia, including his trip to North Korea to get a haircut, his successful attempt to enter Australia's second-largest casino with overt COVID-19 symptoms, and for recreating the Utah monolith in Australia. His content is often uploaded by the comedy group The Chaser, and has collaborated with a wide variety of YouTubers including Boyinaband, maxmoefoe, William Osman, IDubbbz, and the comedy group Aunty Donna.[3] Most of Apollonov's videos also star fellow comedian Aleksa Vulovic, as the two are very close friends and often work on their individual projects with help from one another.

Boy Boy (2016-present)

In 2016, Alex Apollonov and fellow comedian Aleksa Vulovic founded the YouTube channel Boy Boy. Much of the content centered around myth-busting sensationalist claims in Australian media, while also using comedy to bring light to issues of such as climate change, colonialism, police violence, and racism. One video produced by this channel included Apollonov calling an Australian anti-terrorist hotline and reporting Vulovic for wanting to join a violent militaristic organisation with ties to violence in the middle-east, which at the end of the video was revealed to be the Australian military.[4] Due to the low traffic of the Boy Boy channel, Alex Apollonov created a new channel in 2018 called I Did a Thing, although he still uploads videos to Boy Boy on a less frequent basis.

The Haircut (2017)

The short documentary-style movie titled The Haircut (2017)[5] was the most successful comedic project produced by the Boy Boy channel and would gain widespread coverage from Australian media which would help launch Alex Apollonov's comedy career. In the movie, Alex Apollonov and Aleksa Vulovic both travelled to North Korea to investigate dubious claims in Australian media that North Koreans were either forced to cut their hair like Kim Jong-un or that their government orders which hairstyles their citizens are allowed to have.[6] During their investigation, neither Alex nor Aleksa could find any evidence to support the claims of government-mandated hairstyles and came to the conclusion that these stories were most likely fake.[7] "When we started to look into some of those media stories we found out that a lot of them weren't true."[8] Apollonov further described his opinions on Australian/USA relations with the DPRK, saying that “North Korea has tested four [nukes], and that is very scary… but imagine how scary it is for them to think that the US alone has tested 1,032 nukes? … We’ve used ours… against real people.”[9] Vulovik shared Apollonov's opinions, saying that "What the haircut law and all these other ‘amazing’ stories share in common is at the very centre of this media whirlwind, they are based on absolutely nothing."[10]

The Hooligans (2018)

To investigate news of violence among Russian football hooligans, Alex Apollonov and Aleksa Vulovic travelled to Russia together to interview fans of various Russian football clubs and embedded themselves within groups accused of hooligan violence. Apollonov said that his reasoning for creating this short documentary was that "As a film maker I'd never miss the opportunity to film my mate (Aleksa Vulovic) getting beaten up overseas."[11]

Covid Casino stunt (2020)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex Apollonov and Aleksa Vulovic partnered with The Chaser to create a comedic investigation where they attempted to enter Australia's second-largest casino, The Star (Sydney) while displaying as many symptoms of Covid as possible to see whether they would be allowed inside during the pandemic.[12] In one attempt, Aleksa tried entering the casino while dressed in hospital surgical garbs, dragging an IV drip stand on wheels, with a high forehead temperature. Despite telling the casino staff that he had come straight from a nearby hospital, he was allowed to enter The Star casino where he spent his time using the gaming machines while wearing a white shirt saying "I have covid" in bold black letters.[13] “When I rocked up with my hospital gown and drip, the first thing they asked me was whether I had a Star Casino gold membership card.” Alex Apollonov followed Aleksa into the casino with a forehead temperature of 48 degrees (achieved using heat packs), which the staff detected with a temperature gun and was still allowed entry to the casino. “My head was still really hot after I got inside,” said Apollonov. “I must have drunk 3 or 4 of their complimentary water bottles. They’re obviously very used to catering for sick customers.” When asked about possible legal repercussions over their comedic stunt, Vulovic replied: “There’s no point suing us, we already lost all our savings on big wheel during our filming breaks.”[14]

I did a thing (2018-present)

In 2018 Alex Apollonov's new channel "I Did a Thing" would become far more popular than any of his previous comedic projects and would become the channel he is most famous for. Although this channel belongs to Apollonov, most of his content still features and includes Aleksa Vulovic, with whom he created the Boy Boy channel together with. This new channel featured himself creating home-made devises for comedic results, and often investigating current issues such as climate change and police brutality. In 2020 I Did a Thing reached one million subscribers, awarding him the Gold Play Button award.[15]

2020 Monolith project (2020)

In 2020, a mysterious metal monolith of unknown origin appeared in Utah, dubbed the Utah monolith. As more of these monoliths appeared across the globe in England, Romania and the Netherlands, Apollonov teamed up with Australian comedy group Aunty Donna to create their own metal monolith which they planted in Australia.[16] The monolith was planted outside Melbourne, Australia.[17] Aunty Donna jokingly said that their monolith and the collaboration with 'I Did a Thing' was to promote their upcoming Netflix show.[18][19]

References
  1. I, Did a Thing (15 December 2020). "I Did a Thing - YouTube Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. Boy, Boy (15 December 2020). "Boy Boy Youtube Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. Allen, Joseph (9 December 2020). "Australian Comedians Aunty Donna Take Credit for One of Those Monoliths". Distractify. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. Boy, Boy (9 September 2017). "Reporting my friend to the National Security Hotline". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. Apollonov, Alex; Vulovic, Aleksa (22 April 2017). "The Haircut (2017) - "We Went To North Korea To Get A Haircut"". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  6. "Sydney Blokes Trek To North Korea To Test Their Insane Haircut Regulations". Pedestrian TV. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. Jeuniewic, Lexie (3 May 2017). "Why two Sydney students travelled to North Korea for a haircut". 9 News Australia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  8. Ristic, Biljana (9 June 2017). "Would you travel to North Korea for a haircut? These two Aussie students did". SBS Serbian. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  9. Wang, Jessica (4 May 2017). "These Sydney Students Went To North Korea For A Haircut And Made A Documentary About It". Complex Australia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  10. "Two Sydney University students made documentary to debunk 'media-spectre' surrounding North Korea". news.com.au. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  11. News, Sky (14 June 2018). "Australian filmmakers investigate Russian hooligan violence". Sky News. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  12. Week, Media (23 September 2020). "Chaser stunt takes the piss out of Star Casino Covid safety". Media Week. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  13. Chaser, The (20 September 2020). "Trying to get into Star Casino with COVID-19". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  14. Lynch, Jessica (21 September 2020). "The Chaser takes the piss out of The Star casino's dodgy COVID-19 safety handling". The Brag Media. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. Blade, Social (15 December 2020). "I Did a Thing - Social Blade statistics". Social Blade. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  16. News, Yahoo (11 December 2020). "Monolith with cryptic engravings appears in Australia". Yahoo News. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  17. "Another monolith found in Adelaide". 9 News. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  18. Carter, Reid (9 December 2020). "Aunty Donna and some YouTubers take credit for one (1) of those monoliths". AV Club. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  19. Jones, Tegan (11 December 2020). "Grab a Cup of Morning Brown and Watch Aunty Donna Erect an Australian Monolith". Gizmodo AU. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
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