Fred Figglehorn

Fred Figglehorn (stylized on webpages as FЯED) is the central character in an Internet video series created by Lucas Cruikshank in 2006. Cruikshank, a teenager, created the Fred video series for his channel on the video-sharing website YouTube, to center on the Fred character.[3] Although Cruikshank voiced Fred, the audio was digitally altered to sound higher-pitched than Cruikshank's true voice.

Fred Figglehorn
FЯED character
Fred Figglehorn in (from top left) Classic FRED, 2010, Fred: The Movie, and It's Fred!
First appearanceFred on Halloween (2006)
Last appearanceLucas Defeats Yuksung (2014)
Created byLucas Cruikshank
CatchphraseHey, it's Fred!
In-universe information
OccupationStudent
FamilyHilda (mother), unnamed father and grandmother
NationalityAmerican
Age6 years old[1]
15 years (film)[2]

History

Lucas Cruikshank introduced the Fred character in a video on JKL Productions, a channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie Smet. He and his cousins set up the JKL Productions channel on June 11, 2006, and Cruikshank uploaded several videos testing out different characters. His first Fred video was uploaded on October 30, 2006, and when this character started to become popular, Cruikshank made more videos featuring Fred.[4] On April 30, 2008, these videos were removed from JKL Productions, and added to the Fred channel. On May 1 the first official video of the series, titled "Fred on May Day" was released, explaining that Cruikshank asked YouTube for the Fred channel. Someone else previously owned the channel, which was later turned into one of Fred's enemies in the Fred series. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and the most subscribed channel at the time.[5] However, in August 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa's and Sean Fujiyoshi's channel, Nigahiga, overtook Fred as the most subscribed channel. It was the third to reach 2 million, in September 2010, shortly after falling to third. As of February 2020, the videos have received over 1.3 billion views, and over 2.9 million are subscribed to the channel, although the channel has been inactive since July 16, 2015.[6]

In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010. Nickelodeon created a franchise surrounding the character,[7][8][9] with the sequel, Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred, airing on October 22, 2011. In 2012, Fred: The Show aired, consisting of 24 11-minute episodes; a third movie, Fred 3: Camp Fred, premiered the same year.

Content
Fred
The Fred title card
GenreChildren's, Comedy
Created byLucas Cruikshank
Written byLucas Cruikshank
StarringLucas Cruikshank
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4 (plus two unofficial)
No. of episodes48 (plus numerous unofficial)
Production
Production locationsColumbus, Nebraska
EditorLucas Cruikshank
Production companiesThe Collective
Varsity Pictures (2007-2011)
Release
Original networkJKL Productions (pre-series)
Fred (seasons 1-5)
Original releaseOctober 30, 2006 (2006-10-30) –
February 23, 2011 (2011-02-23)
Chronology
Followed byFiggle Chat
It's Fred
Related showsFred: The Movie
Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred
Fred: The Show
Fred 3: Camp Fred
External links
Website
Production website

Fred lives with his grandmother and his mother who is a recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic stripper. The mother's deep voice is often heard. It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (for example being locked in a dog cage for three days), however he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after her stay at rehab. Fred's father is mentioned several times as being a former rock musician, and currently on death row in the state penitentiary. Fred has not met his father, as he left Mrs. Figglehorn while she was still pregnant with Fred. In seasons one through three, Fred communicates with all characters off-screen.

On screen characters are seen for the first time in a dream sequence, in "Fred: A Star In His Own Mind", Fred dreams of being a famous actor, meeting fan girls and other famous actors. Season four, as it was filmed after Fred: The Movie, marked a change in production style, it is filmed in a higher video quality, and shows other on-screen characters. The original production style was revived for a few episodes in 2010, introducing the Claudio character, after the movie was released in the UK, and ended when Cruikshank returned to movie filming. Leading up to the second movie's release, a new series, called Figgle Chat was produced and features Internet and television stars. Following that, an animated series, It's Fred!, named after Fred's catchphrase, began being uploaded to the channel.

Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids".[3] The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between".[10] The videos primarily consist of the character speaking to the audience about what is happening in his life. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice, making him sound more like a 6-year-old. According to Cruikshank, this effect, and the hyperactive appearance of the character, are achieved by speeding up the audio.[4]

The first season follows Fred attempting to perform a number of activities during the summer, until his mother attends rehab for cocaine abuse. "Fred Goes Swimming" is the second most watched video on the Fred channel, with over 68 million views.[11] The second season explores Fred's infatuation with Judy, a girl in his class, and attending school. There Fred decides to run against class bully Kevin Cen, for class president. The song "Watch How I Do This", by Kev Blaze, is featured in a number of the season 2 videos. Season three again follows the daily adventures of Fred, in school, and with classmates, and shows Fred's interest in singing. The fourth season, now with on-screen characters, shows Fred traveling around town trying out different occupations. Following this, Fred holds contests surrounding his first two movies, gets a visit from a creeping character named Claudio, gets invited to host a talk show, dispels rumours of being owned by Nickelodeon, becomes animated, and is kidnapped by a Korean corporation. In the few Fred videos on Lucas' personal channel, Fred lives in the house of a middle aged man named Jeffrey, who lets Fred live there for free as long has he cleans the house once a week in nothing but his underwear. His mom currently is watching over various children, none of which are related to her, that she has tried to leave to be kidnapped multiple times. However, nobody will kidnap them.

The series uses a floating timeline, meaning it is always taking place in the current year, and Fred is perpetually six years old and in kindergarten.

In 2020 Lucas Cruikshank (FRED)'s creator created a TikTok based on Fred named HeyItsFred.

Filmography

This is a list of videos uploaded to the Fred channel.[12] 60 videos are considered part of the original Fred series, however no official list exists. The YouTube show feature lists 49 episodes, split into four seasons,[13] while a playlist, linked to from the Fred channel, named The Best of Fred, contains 18 videos ranging from 2007 to 2010.[14] Since the end of the Fred series in early 2011, three series have been produced and uploaded, a six episode arc titled Figgle Chat, where Fred interviews Internet and television stars,[15] a nine episode animated series titled It's FRED!, which shows Fred attend school, and the previously off-screen characters,[16] and the nine episode "New Fred Saga", which sees the Fred channel taken over by a Korean corporation.[17] Nine music videos are also listed here.

Discography

Albums
List of albums, with details and chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
Comedy
[18]		 US
Heat
[18]
Who's Ready to Party?
  • Released: September 17, 2010 (United States)[19]
  • Labels: Collective Records
  • Formats: Digital download
 1 29

Extended plays
List of albums, with details and chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
Comedy
[18]		 US
Heat
[18]		 US
Holiday
[18]
It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred 8 24 13

Charted songs
List of charted songs, with peak positions
Title Year Peak positions Album
US
Comedy
[21]		 US
Holiday
[22]
"Christmas Cash" 2009 22 5 It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred
"Christmas is Creepy" 9 1
"Fred's 12 Days of Christmas" – 28
"I Wanna Be a Celebrity" 2008 11 – Who's Ready to Party
"—" denotes the song did not chart.

Films
Main article: Fred (film series)

Fred: The Movie
Main article: Fred: The Movie

Fred: The Movie is a 2010 film based on the YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn. It features Lucas Cruikshank as Fred, Pixie Lott as Judy, Jennette McCurdy as Bertha, Jake Weary as Kevin Cen, John Cena as Fred's imaginary dad, and Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Fred's mom. It follows the character as he tries to track down his crush, Judy (after she moves away). It is written by David A. Goodman, directed by Clay Weiner, and produced by Brian Robbins.[23] Filming began November 9, 2009, and wrapped up December 20, 2009.[24] The movie premiered on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010, and the DVD was released October 5, 2010[7] as well as streaming media such as Netflix.

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred
Main article: Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred

Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred is a 2011 Halloween-themed sequel to Fred: The Movie. It first aired on October 22, 2011. After Fred has broken up with Judy, he meets Kevin Cen's sister Talia, and becomes convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire. The Judy character does not appear, and Jennette McCurdy was replaced by Daniella Monet in the role of Bertha.

Fred 3: Camp Fred
Main article: Fred 3: Camp Fred

In late 2011, a third Fred movie was announced. Fred 3: Camp Fred premiered July 28, 2012, on Nickelodeon,[25] which also aired Fred: The Show, a series of 24 11-minute-long episodes,[26] in 2012. For summer, Fred attends Camp Iwannapeepee, where he meets several different characters, and must compete against Kevin Cen's camp.

TV series

Fred: The Show
Main article: Fred: The Show

In 2012, Fred became the protagonist in his own TV series, which ran between January and August 2012. The series received dismal reviews, particularly for Fred's childish and annoying attitude, and grating voice, and ratings continued to slip until the show was axed, after which Cruikshank severed ties with Nickelodeon, and Fred was retired.

Sponsorship and appearances

Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2) sponsored the first season of "Fred", which had several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred has a separate website promoting the Zipit.[27] Walden Media hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer.[28]

Cruikshank made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which originally aired on February 16, 2009.[29] The episode has iCarly facing a huge loss of popularity after Freddie Benson criticizes Fred while on-air, resulting in Cruikshank pretending to cancel his own show (obviously a marketing operation), it ends up with the characters organizing a crossover episode between the two web shows in order to regain popularity. Also in 2009, in the episode "Fred Gets Dissed at Bible School", the comedy film Year One is quoted several times.

Cruikshank has launched a website to promote the Fred series, and sell Fred T-shirts and other merchandise. The merchandise is also available at Hot Topic, Justice, and Five Below stores. Fred has appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage.

In October and November 2011, videos were uploaded to the Fred channel, as well as Cruikshank's personal channel, with Ari Gold as his character Power, from the film Adventures of Power.[30]

Other channels

Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Although Cruikshank formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in its name. Cruikshank deleted all of his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few of their videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called "lucas", in which he appears as himself. In the June 25, 2010, Annoying Orange episode, Cruikshank made a cameo as Fred, the first time Fred has officially appeared on a different YouTube channel. In a video released August 29, 2013, on "lucas", Cruikshank reprised the Fred role, while his friend Jennifer Veal played Judy,[31] and on August 19, 2014, a video was uploaded as part of the New Fred Saga.[32] Since then Cruikshank has reprised the role of Fred a number of times on his personal channel.[33][34][35]

References
  1. Fred on May Day (Video). United States: YouTube. May 1, 2008. Event occurs at 0:34. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2014. If I would've joined two years ago, I would've only been four years old.
  2. Fred: The Movie (Motion picture). United States: Varsity Pictures. September 18, 2010. Event occurs at 1:17:16. But I'm 15.
  3. Andrew Keen (July 28, 2008). "Andrew Keen on New Media: Kids with cameras lead the way in giving web users their daily Fred". London: The Independent. Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  4. partnersproject (April 21, 2011). "Lucas Cruikshank aka Fred Exclusive Interview: The Partners Project Episode 19". YouTube. Archived from the original on July 12, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  5. Editorial Team (November 13, 2008). "BB Suggests: The Best of Web TV". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  6. "Fred". YouTube. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  7. Barnes, Brooks (March 24, 2010). "'Fred: The Movie' Lands on Nickelodeon - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
  8. Cruikshank, Lucas (February 22, 2011). "Tweet 40139239941210112". Twitter. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  9. Cruikshank, Lucas (March 3, 2011). "Tweet 43282065155829760". Twitter. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  10. Brook, Anderson. "The Teen Behind Fred". YouTube. CNN. Archived from the original on September 12, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  11. Fred (June 19, 2008). "Fred Goes Swimming". YouTube. Archived from the original on September 12, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  12. Fred. "Fred Uploaded Videos". YouTube. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  13. Fred (September 12, 2010). "FRED - show". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  14. Fred (2011). "Best of Fred!!!". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  15. Fred. "Figgle Chat - Season 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  16. Fred. "It's Fred! - Season 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  17. Fred. "The NEW FRED Saga". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  18. "Fred Figglehorn Awards". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  19. "Who's Ready to Party? by Fred Figglehorn - Download Who's Ready to Party? on iTunes". Archived from the original on September 24, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  20. "YouTube Sensation Fred Releases Christmas Album and Premiers Music Video « Pynk Celebrity". Archived from the original on November 13, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
  22. "Holiday Digital Songs: Oct 09, 2012". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  23. Barnes, Brooks (December 7, 2009). "A High-Pitched Whine Brings to the Movies: Bigger Screen for a High-Pitched Whine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  24. Sanchez, Adrian (December 28, 2009). "Cruikshank's YouTube character to hit silver screen". Columbus Telegram. Archived from the original on March 27, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  25. ""Fred 3: Camp Fred," Premieres". The Futon Critic. July 12, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  26. Andreeva, Nellie (December 1, 2011). "Nickelodeon Greenlights Third 'Fred' Movie, Picks Up 20-Episode 'Fred' Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  27. "ROFL w/ Fred". Zipit. Archived from the original on July 28, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  28. Sanders, Pete (September 18, 2008). "Studios Hope YouTube Tie Sells Movie". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
  29. Albrecht, Chris (November 18, 2008). "'Fred' Cranks Up the YouTube Views and Ad Dollars". Business Week. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
  30. lucas (October 27, 2011). "Lucas Gets Kidnapped!". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 23, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  31. Cruikshank, Lucas (August 29, 2013). "Lucas Is Back". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  32. Cruikshank, Lucas (August 19, 2014). "Lucas Goes To Korea". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  33. Cruikshank, Lucas (December 27, 2015). "Where is FRED Now?!". YouTube. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  34. Cruikshank, Lucas (February 14, 2016). "Fred Tries Online Dating". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  35. Cruikshank, Lucas (September 6, 2016). "Reacting to Fred Fanfiction". YouTube. Retrieved September 6, 2016.

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