Gustav Emil Johnson (born June 20, 1995) is an American comedian, filmmaker, musician, and podcaster.

Early life

Gustav Emil Johnson was born in

Grantsburg, Wisconsin Grantsburg is a village in Burnett County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,341 at the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Grantsburg. It was established by Canute Anderson. Geography Grantsburg is located a ...

, on June 20, 1995, the son of volleyball coach Debra (née Allaman) and electric utility company employee Pete Johnson. He is of Norwegian and Swedish descent. He has a younger sister named Hanne and two younger brothers named Sven and Thor, all of whom have collaborated with him. In middle school, he filmed what he called "stupid sketches that kids would think are funny". He was elected governor of

Badger Boys State The American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State are summer leadership and citizenship programs for high school juniors, which focus on exploring the mechanics of American government and politics. The programs are sponsor ...

in 2013, and graduated from Grantsburg High School in 2014. He then enrolled at the

University of Wisconsin–Stout The University of Wisconsin–Stout (UW–Stout or Stout) is a public university in Menomonie, Wisconsin. A member of the University of Wisconsin System, it enrolls more than 9,600 students. The school was founded in 1891 and named in honor of it ...

, where he earned a degree in entertainment design with a focus on digital cinema.

Career

Johnson started his YouTube channel in 2010 with his first video, "Ian's Song". He then went on to create meme videos starring himself and friends, which gradually became more popular. His first viral video was "How To Get Free Food From Subway", which has 2.4 million views as of January 2021. Johnson has also released music on YouTube since the beginning of his career. He released the album ''Lighting Rods and Leaky Roofs'' with hometown friend Joe Dumas in 2015, and the album ''Champagne Seats'' in 2016. In 2017, Johnson made a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

with his friend and fellow YouTuber Eddy Burback titled ''OK I'll Talk''. The two later moved from the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

to Los Angeles and created a new show, ''The Gus & Eddy Podcast''; This podcast is similar to ''OK I'll Talk'', and occasionally features guests. In late 2017, Johnson also branched into longform comedy, using

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to raise funds for a comedy series on a run-down golf course called "Par 9". In January 2019, Johnson received a nomination at the 11th Shorty Awards for Best YouTube Comedian. On April 10, 2019, Johnson's channel hit 1 million subscribers on YouTube during his appearance on the ''

H3 Podcast h3h3Productions is a YouTube channel hosted by Ethan Klein and Hila Klein, an Israeli-American husband-and-wife duo. The majority of their content consists of reaction videos and sketch comedy in which they satirize internet culture. The ''H3 ...

''. He celebrated with a video titled "Thank you for 1 million", in which he thanked everyone who had helped him along the way. In 2019, he signed a talent deal with

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

to create content for

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

Personal life

Johnson resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Gus 1995 births American YouTubers Comedy YouTubers Living people YouTube channels launched in 2010 Music YouTubers People from Grantsburg, Wisconsin People from Los Angeles University of Wisconsin–Stout alumni YouTube filmmakers YouTube podcasters American podcasters American people of Swedish descent American people of Norwegian descent