Christine Gambito (born August 16, 1976 in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

, United States), better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American

Internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

, actress, and comedian. She maintained one of the most-subscribed-to channels on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, a popular

video sharing website An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

. On January 25, 2008, Gambito, who is of

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

ancestry, was appointed ambassador for

Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

tourism by the Department of Tourism. In March 2007, Gambito's video ''Mixed Nuts'' was nominated for the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy, resulting in second place. In May of the same year, she became one of the first users accepted into YouTube's revenue sharing program. Gambito's performances typically included comedy sketches in which she impersonates members of her family. She also sings and plays the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

. As Gambito has stated repeatedly in her videos, she is notably one of the very few top users who are acting, filming, editing and producing her shorts completely on her own.

Before YouTube

Born of

ancestry and raised in the United States, she was involved in

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s and small parts of television commercials, movies, and

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and

training film A training film is a form of educational film – a short subject documentary movie, that provides an introduction to a topic. Both narrative documentary and dramatisation styles may be used, sometimes both in the same production. While most ...

Origin of "HappySlip"

Gambito attributes her nickname "HappySlip" to her Filipino mother's mispronunciation of "

half slip A slip is a woman's undergarment worn beneath a dress or skirt. A full slip hangs from the shoulders, usually by means of narrow straps, and extends from the breast to the fashionable skirt length. A half slip (or ''waist slip'') hangs from the ...

": At her personal site, she explains that the phrase is not only a funny phrase from the past, but it also reflects what she would like people to feel when they watch her videos, hoping they will "slip into happiness" while watching.

Videos

Her first sketch, ''Instant vlogging'', was originally broadcast on September 6, 2006 and featured Gambito impersonating four different characters, each representing a different video blogging style. Due to the positive response she received from the YouTube community, two of those characters (the teenager and the girl in the "soap opera" style) were explored further in the following videos, the latter becoming the first episode of a

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

spoof featuring two twin sisters both interpreted by Gambito. Her second video introduced many of the recurring themes in her following sketches, such as her parents' attitude towards her growing popularity over the Internet and her family's ethnic habits seen through the mind of an American. Other notable sketches include ''Mixed Nuts'' — a video depicting what she would call "a typical family discussion" which was later awarded with the second place in the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy — and ''Mac Beautiful'', her first musical video, an ironic cover of the song "

You're Beautiful "You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, ''Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005. In th ...

" by

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

praising the beauty and efficiency of the Apple MacPro. Gambito later broadcast two videos containing original songs. Gambito has collaborated with fellow YouTube comedian Kevin Wu (

KevJumba Kevin Wu (born June 12, 1990) is an American former YouTuber best known under the username KevJumba. The ''San Francisco Chronicles Jeff Yang has noted that Wu is not a comedian in the conventional sense but that by "just talking eis, well, ...

) and has made five videos with him.

Characters

Gambito is known for playing many characters within her videos. Her characters are easily recognized in her videos for their hair, attire, and personality. When portraying a character, Gambito uses wigs and notable accessories to differentiate each character when necessary.

Major characters

The following characters are still portrayed today in Gambito's videos and are all portrayed by her: * Christine – Known as the main character in Gambito's videos seen to deal with her family's comedic traditions. * Dad – Christine's father who is commonly seen in Gambito's videos constantly eating

pork rinds Pork rind is the culinary term for the skin of a pig. It can be used in many different ways. It can be rendered, fried in fat, baked, or roasted to produce a kind of pork cracklings (US) or scratchings (UK); these are served in small piece ...

. "Disaster!" is his commonly known catch phrase. The upper half of his face is not seen in any of Gambito's videos possibly to conceal Gambito's face and/or for easy recognition. * Mom – Christine's mother known for her traditional antics with her family. * Auntie Babie Cruz – Christine's aunt known in Gambito's videos for her comedic antics and, at times, snobby remarks. * Minnie Cruz – Auntie Babie's shy daughter and Christine's cousin who is constantly embarrassed by her mother. * Lola – Christine's grandmother known for her comedic confusion. * Teenie – A teenager known for her talkative and self-absorbed attitude. Teenie is a parody of a modern, American teenager.

Minor characters

The following characters are known for their role in affecting the HappySlip universe: * Kevin – Minnie's boyfriend whom Minnie met online. Portrayed by Kevin Wu (

). * Fred G (not to be confused with the other

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

) – Known for his love interest in Minnie. Also known for being an opponent to Kevin in a dance battle for Minnie's love. Gambito left the judging to viewers by holding a poll on her official website with Fred losing with 12% of votes. * Christian – Minnie's cousin sent out by Auntie Babie to watch over Minnie as she attends college. Portrayed by ninjadrops. * Sheila & Sally Smoot – Known for their roles in 'Plop & Shop!' imitating infomercial hosts. Both portrayed by Gambito. * Claire & Audrey – Twin sisters known for their

acts. The characters became inactive after both allegedly shot each other to death. Both were portrayed by Gambito. After a recent skit they were alive and it has been the most recent of her soap operas.

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gambito, Christine Living people American women comedians American actresses of Filipino descent People from Virginia Beach, Virginia 21st-century American actresses 1976 births Actresses from Virginia American YouTubers 21st-century American comedians Comedy YouTubers