(The Verge)- It’s the end of the world as we know it! Upcoming internet sensation, Matthew Steele, decided to document the 365 days leading up the Mayan Apocalypse with his comical YouTube channel, “The Doomsday Diaries.”
“I’d rather be safe than sorry and have a mega countdown to [the Mayan Apocalypse]. If it doesn’t happen, oh well; but if I does happen, I’m happy that I got to count down with a bunch of people,” says Steele.
Each day, he creates a new video to document that day in history before the world supposedly ends. The inspiration for every vlog topic comes from literally anything and everything, and has a huge spectrum of material ranging from how to get out of work to being a human Christmas tree. After 300+ videos, Steele now has the ability to even make a carpet seem entertaining. He often chooses topics about obscure holidays, current events and the seven characters he has developed in his web series.
“The one character I do is always cooking, another character always wants to go on dates with girls and touch their boobies, and the other character… is a travel character I do and he’s always packing random sh*t in his suitcase.”
Researching, editing and cleaning his room after the devastation he creates while recording each video, takes Steele anywhere from 2 ½ hours to 2 ½ days. Spending countless amounts of time and energy on this vlog is exhausting, but worth the payout. Steele has been tweeted and shared by celebrities such as Broadway actress Lea Salonga, Oscar winner Melissa Leo, “True Blood” star Anna Paquin, Jessica Lange from the popular FX series, “American Horror Story,” and plenty of others.
Steele actually had a conversation via Twitter with Mary Steenburgen about his impression of her in his webisode, “75 Best Supporting
Actresses,” in which he pays tribute to all the winners in this category since 1936…in less than six minutes. “…The most meaningful was when she told me, for the year she won, she said, ‘You actually did my favorite line from the movie’,” says Steele. “Something about that made me so happy; that I picked her personal favorite line from the movie that won her an Academy Award.”
You might have seen this young actor in the “Lifetime” movie entitled, “Dark Desires,” which just premiered two weeks ago. If you missed it, don’t fret! The movie will be aired again on Tues, Dec 11 at 8 p.m.
Steele is currently playing the part of Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” right in the heart of Hollywood. He moved to LA after ending a tour with a show in New York, once realizing that the characters in the highly theater based city of NY are cast more for older actors. Prior to this tour, Steele graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a major in Drama and a concentration in Musical Theater, as well as a minor in African American studies.
For current and future vloggerss, Steele leaves you this piece of advice:
“First of all, people, especially young people, have zero attention span nowadays, so try to definitely keep your viewers’ attention. Whether it be by having lots of energy like I do, or incorporating something that will catch their eye right away. Also, vlog about what you are passionate about because people will see your passion and take notice of it, it doesn’t matter what it is.”
If you like to laugh and like the internet, make sure you watch “The Doomsday Diaries,”here, or follow him on Twitter, @DIARIESOFDOOM! Now in the words of Matthew Steele himself, “Have a happy 17 days!!”
