Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.
On YouTube, Drew Lynch seems to have found a certain type of animal magnetism. Lynch, a comedian who is currently based in Los Angeles, is known on the internet for his Dog Vlog, in which he stages conversations with his pooch Stella. Stella is no ordinary pop; she’s a service animal for Lynch, who speaks with a stutter.
Lynch’s top-notch cracks led him to a second-place finish on the 10th season of America’s Got Talent. After those appearances, his YouTube channel took off, and it now has more than one million subscribers. Here’s our chat with Lynch, who is partnered with Studio71, The Gersh Agency and Alligned Entertainment, about his career:
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Tubefilter: How does it feel to have more than one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?
Drew Lynch: We honestly couldn’t be more grateful for how supportive and responsive our fans have been, even from the beginning. I sometimes see people commenting that they’ve watched since 30k or even 10k subs. I guess to go from a “K” to an “M” gives us some form of validation. Even though “L” must feel pretty left out…
TF: How did you develop the idea to do a fan contest as part of your million subscriber celebration?
DL: Our channel wouldn’t even be where it’s at if it weren’t for the fans tuning in every week. Doing a contest feels more like me getting to meet one of them rather than the other way around.
TF: Your channel has grown quite rapidly since you launched it. Why do you think you’ve been able to rise up so quickly on YouTube?
DL: I have no idea! My dog would say it’s because she’s there that we even get views. I try to give every video my all, but it’s really the team that surrounds me, including Stella, that makes Dog Vlog look good. We’ve been doing videos for about two and a half years, which is about 18 years in dog time. So according to her, she’s put in WORK.
TF: How is YouTube viewed in the stand-up community, and how do your fellow comedians react when they learn how active you are on YouTube?
DL: YouTube is a great platform for getting yourself out there, but has always been fairly controversial in the stand-up community. On one hand, there are so many respected comedians who spend every night crafting jokes and delivering them to live audiences. On another hand, there are comedians that use their online presence to reach an audience. I’ve always wanted to be seen as a stand-up comic that HAPPENS to have a YouTube channel, and deliver jokes in a more unconventional format for my online viewers, but deliver a traditional stand-up show for my live audiences.
TF: What role would you say your stutter plays in your career as a comedian and creator?
DL: Earlier in my career I emphasized a lot of my writing on my stutter and talked about the struggle of having it. I think it helped me and my point of view stand out. Nowadays I talk very little about my stutter, other than addressing it, on and offstage. I think it serves as a statement to what I can do, despite having it.
TF: What do you think is a common misconception people have about stutterers?
DL: I think a common misconception for people who stutter is that we all sound the same. I’ve met hundreds of people from severe to mild speech impediments, and I can honestly say no one stutter sounds like another. Also big penises.
TF: How much planning goes into the typical “dog vlog”?
DL: I’m ashamed to say we don’t do a ton of planning. I know that makes me sound like a slacker, but honestly it has a lot to do with my schedule. We sort of film on the go and if something interesting happens in our travels, we’re lucky if we can document it. The whole point of the Vlog is to make fun of myself and our experiences, so as to sharpen my joke writing skills while engaging with an audience.
TF: What do you think was the most important thing you learned during your time on America’s Got Talent?
DL: To not lose a million dollars. More seriously, I learned that you have to keep working hard even when you think you’ve “made it”. I was lucky to get to do AGT, and happy that it served as a springboard for my career. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I just get complacent with myself as a creator or as an artist. Always persevere when things are bad, and never gloat when things are good.
TF: What’s next for your channel? Any fun plans?
DL: I think Stella’s gonna fire me. If not, we plan on traveling internationally next year and sharing our amazing experiences in a fun way!
