I did a thing
Alex Apollonov is an Australian YouTube personality and comedian, better known for his online presence as I did a thing,[2] and his YouTube channel of the same name. He is also the co-star of Boy Boy which he created with fellow comedian Aleksa Vulović who also stars in his videos.[3] Much of his content involves using his engineering and fabrication skills to design and build a variety of projects, including recreating the Utah monolith in Australia, simulating the Aurora Borealis in his kitchen with a high voltage transformer to parody The Simpsons and making a scaled-up Beyblade with a giant circular blade that is spun by a lawnmower motor. Other projects have included building a laser guided drone that drops steel darts[4] and creating a hammer that uses .22 caliber blank rounds to drive nails.[5] Often his videos will contain commentary on politics and global events, including climate change, gun violence, Australia's colonial legacy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alex Apollonov | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Apollonov in January 2021 | ||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Location | Australia | |||||||||
Years active | 2016 – present | |||||||||
Genre | Comedy | |||||||||
Subscribers | 4.25 million[1] | |||||||||
Total views | 419 million[1] | |||||||||
Associated acts |
| |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: 12 April 2023 |
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 Star casino in Sydney 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 other YouTubers including Boyinaband, maxmoefoe, William Osman, IDubbbz, and the comedy group Aunty Donna.[6] Many of Apollonov's videos also star fellow comedian Aleksa Vulović, as the two are very close friends and often work on their individual projects with help from one another. Apollonov also has an active twitter following of 101,000 followers.[7]
In May 2022, Apollonov participated in the Creator Clash event set up by fellow YouTuber Ian Carter (iDubbbz) alongside many other YouTube personalities. He fought against Robert James Rallison (TheOdd1sOut) and won.
Early life
In the January 2021 episode of the 'Cold Ones' podcast, Apollonov stated his family arrived in Australia from Siberia. [8]
Boy Boy (2016-present)
In 2016, Apollonov and fellow comedian Vulović 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 Vulović 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.[9] Due to the low traffic of the Boy Boy channel, Apollonov created a new channel in 2018 titled "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)[10] 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, Apollonov and Vulović 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.[11] During their investigation, neither Apollonov and Vulović could find any evidence to support the claims of government-mandated hairstyles and came to the conclusion that these stories were most likely fake.[12] "When we started to look into some of those media stories we found out that a lot of them weren't true."[13] 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.”[14] Vulovic 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."[15]
The Hooligans (2018)
To investigate news of violence among Russian football hooligans, Apollonov and Vulović 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 (Vulović) getting beaten up overseas."[16]
Covid casino stunt (2020)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Apollonov and Vulović partnered with The Chaser to create a comedic investigation where they attempted to enter The Star Casino in Sydney while displaying as many symptoms as possible to see whether they would be allowed inside during the pandemic.[17] In one attempt, Vulović 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 casino where he spent his time using the gaming machines while wearing a white shirt saying "I have covid" in bold black letters.[18] "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 Vulović into the casino with a forehead temperature of 48°C, or 118.4°F) (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, Vulović replied: "There's no point suing us, we already lost all our savings on big wheel during our filming breaks".[19] Vulović and Apollonov were subsequently given life bans from entering casinos operated by Star Entertainment Group.[20]
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 Vulović, with whom he created the Boy Boy channel. This new channel features Apollonov using his engineering and fabrication skills to complete a variety of home-designed projects. Some of Apollonov's projects investigate political current issues, such as creating a homemade air quality test to investigate the pollution in Sydney and using a compressed air cannon to test less-than-lethal ammunition. In 2020 I did a thing reached one million subscribers, awarding Apollonov the Gold Play Button award.[21]
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.[22] The monolith was planted outside Melbourne, Australia.[23] Aunty Donna jokingly said that their monolith and the collaboration with 'I did a thing' was to promote their upcoming Netflix show.[24][25]
Trademark clashes with Jeremy Clarkson (2022)
In early 2022, Apollonov got involved in a clash with the former host of Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson over the latter's attempt to trademark the phrase "I did a thing".[26]
Curdle Hill Farm Ltd, a company which Jeremy Clarkson' co-directs alongside his wife, attempted to trademark the phrase "I did a thing", a catchphrase that Clarkson often uses on his show Clarkson's Farm. Clarkson intended to use this trademark to sell merchandise containing the phrase such as hats and cups. Concerned that this would affect the I Did a Thing YouTube channel, Apollonov threatened legal action against Clarkson for the attempt to trademark his channel's name.[26] Using the I Did a Thing twitter account, Apollonov told Clarkson to "GET FUCKED", and threatened Clarkson with legal action:
"My Cousin's girlfriend's Sister is a lawyer and she is pretty good. You better watch out."[26]
Jeremy Clarkson responded to Apollonov by claiming that he was not aware of the attempt to trademark the phrase "I did a thing". Apollonov then jokingly threatened to trademark the phrase "Jeremy Clarkson" in Australia and put Clarkson's face on merchandise.[26] Apollonov then went onto a podcast published on the comedy/satire website for The Chaser to jokingly say that he would use his home-made DIY laser guided dart firing drone[4] to fire at one of Clarkson's very fast cars.[27]
Creator Clash boxing tournament (2022)
After the match, Apollonov said of Rallison:
"To get in the ring with someone and actually have them hit you in the face and have you hit them in the face is a terrifying thing to do," "He fought well, and good work for having the balls to get in the ring with me."[28]
He revealed in a later video that he had built a vibrating cheating device to put in the pants of a chess player (originally intended for Aleksa Vulovic, then later used by Myth) as a parody of the Carlsen–Niemann controversy (This was used in Ludwig Ahgren's Mogul Chess-boxing event).[29]
Boxing record
1 fight | 1 win | 0 losses |
---|---|---|
By knockout | 1 | 0 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Win | 1–0 | TheOdd1sOut | TKO | 1 (5), 1:24 | May 14, 2022 | Yuengling Center, Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
References
- "About I did a thing". YouTube.
- I, Did a Thing (15 December 2020). "I Did a Thing - YouTube Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Boy, Boy (15 December 2020). "Boy Boy Youtube Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Ozdemir, Derya (1 December 2021). "A New DIY Laser-Guided Drone System Can Drop Metal Darts for $1,000". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- Ozdemir, Derya (25 October 2021). "A DIY Man Has Built 'The World's Most Powerful' .22-Caliber Hammer". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- Allen, Joseph (9 December 2020). "Australian Comedians Aunty Donna Take Credit for One of Those Monoliths". Distractify. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "@ididathing1". June 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - I Did a Thing Does a Thing | Cold Ones, retrieved 24 April 2023
- Boy, Boy (9 September 2017). "Reporting my friend to the National Security Hotline". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Apollonov, Alex; Vulović, Aleksa (22 April 2017). "The Haircut (2017) - "We Went To North Korea To Get A Haircut"". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "Sydney Blokes Trek To North Korea To Test Their Insane Haircut Regulations". Pedestrian TV. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Jeuniewic, Lexie (3 May 2017). "Why two Sydney students travelled to North Korea for a haircut". 9 News Australia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- 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.
- 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.
- "Two Sydney University students made documentary to debunk 'media-spectre' surrounding North Korea". news.com.au. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "Australian filmmakers investigate Russian hooligan violence". Sky News. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Week, Media (23 September 2020). "Chaser stunt takes the piss out of Star Casino Covid safety". Media Week. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "Trying to get into Star Casino with Covid-19". YouTube. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- 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.
- Kat Wong (4 March 2023). "YouTube firebrands reveal why they make and break stuff". Canberra Times. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- Blade, Social (15 December 2020). "I Did a Thing - Social Blade statistics". Social Blade. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "Monolith with cryptic engravings appears in Australia". Yahoo News. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- "Another monolith found in Adelaide". 9 News. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- Carter, Reid (9 December 2020). "Aunty Donna and some YouTubers take credit for one (1) of those monoliths". AV Club. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- 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.
- Barr, Sabrina (29 January 2022). "Jeremy Clarkson denies knowledge of 'I did a thing' trademark as disgruntled YouTuber claims it could affect channel". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- "Arvo Chat: I Did A Thing is suing Jeremy Clarkson". The Chaser. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- Corby, Donagh (15 May 2022). "YouTube boxer pleads with ref to stop fight after pummelling rival in ring". Mirror. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
- Cheating at boxing in front of millions of people, retrieved 22 December 2022