On this date in 1990, Charlie McDonnell was born in Bath, England, where he grew up. In 2007, while bored studying for exams, he started making videos for his YouTube channel, “charlieissocoollike.” The channel became incredibly popular and in 2013 reached 2 million subscribers.
As a musician he was a member of the Doctor Who-themed rock band Chameleon Circuit and of the short-lived project Sons of Admirals. He directed a series of short films in 2013-14 and co-hosted the YouTube breakfast show “Cereal Time” with fellow vlogger Jimmy Hill in 2015-16. In 2016 he published his first book, Fun Science.
McDonnell occasionally performs humorous songs, usually accompanying himself on the ukulele. He addresses scientific themes in songs like “A Song About Monkeys,” about evolution, and “Chemical Love,” on the physical origins of human emotion. In “A Song About Monkeys” he tells a gorilla: “You’re my favorite animal, but I’m biased I guess, because you look quite a bit like me. … You’re just like me, ’cause I’m an animal. We’re of the same biology.”
McDonnell often addresses scientific ideas from a rational perspective in his videos and calls himself an atheist. In 2017 he moved to Canada, his girlfriend’s homeland. He announced on Twitter in March 2019 that he was quitting YouTube posting to pursue screenwriting.
PHOTO: By Gage Skidmore under CC 3.0.
