Our Very Own YouTube Star, Sidney Raskind

Sidney Raskind is rapidly becoming a well known Youtuber; after his noted  prank in Times Square where he tricked people into believing he was Andy Samburg, he began to gain attention across the internet. If you haven’t seen his videos yet, more than likely you have seen him on the compass or around campus as a dancing turkey, a model, and most recently a T-Rex. Hands down, Sidney is one of the funniest people at VCU! Not to mention, he’s probably one of the busiests too.  I had the pleasure of catching up with Sid last Sunday evening to discuss his newly found fame on the web, and grabbed his interview too!
 

• When did you start making videos? 

I started making videos with my camera on my Macbook in 2007. I started making them because I just looked at this website called Youtube –– actually it was 2006 when I first saw Youtube –– and I noticed that people were doing this thing called “vlogging” and I thought I wanted to too.  I started to post a few response videos and then made little videos here and there.  I have been making them ever since.
 

• Why did you start making videos? Other than the fact that you thought it was interesting, what made you feel like you would be able to catch people’s interest?

Honestly, until recently no one has really cared about my videos besides the Andy Samburg prank; but that was, you know, pimped out by a lot of other bigger Youtubers. I just figured that I could be entertaining. When I first started I was just talking about my life. I figured that I could make people laugh with my anecdotes.
 

• You said that nobody really started caring until now, but what do you think made people start to care about your videos?

Well I don’t say much in my videos, but at least with these “I am a…” videos, I think that when I figure out a message, and when I figure out something to preach (for lack of a better term), then people start caring because I start to care more.
 

• Were you excited when people started caring about your videos? Or were you more interested in doing it for yourself?

No! I’m ecstatic! I’ve had four different people interview me in the past week.

When that GIF got big and when it was posted on tumblr and it got 5,000 notes I was like: “this is crazy!” Then it was posted on Reddit a couple of days ago, and it received around 1,000 uploads. Now people are like “you’re that scarecrow guy, or you’re the whatever guy,” and I like it.
 

• Are there any “youtube famous” people that you look up to or that you think are interesting, someone’s style that you like?

Charles Trippy, Tobuscus, Julian Smith tv, Wheezy Waiter, and I like Charlie McDonnell — I met him a few times. 

• How did you manage to meet Charlie?

I go to Youtube meet ups and I meet these people.
 

• Were you sort of star struck when you met him?

No. If a lot of people saw Kingsley walking down the street they’d be like “omg, it’s Kingsley!” But for me, it’s like “ oh, there’s Kingsley.” If you really want to get to know these people, you’ve got to transcend that and say “hey, you’re a person sitting in your living room making videos even if you have millions of views on your videos.”

• What is this message you are trying to get across?

It’s funny because the message is kind of lost in translation. It’s the fact that a person can be whatever they want — like a rake, cat, a model (my favorite idea), or anything!  
 
You can check out more awesome stuff by Sidney on his Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr!
 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sidneyraz
Facebook: http://facebookcom/sidneyraz
Tumblr: http://sidneyraz.tumblr.com