While waiting for his big break, Danny Grozdich is posting every day of his 29th year online. He’s making some money out of it, too.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
In a constantly connected world, where the nation’s elected representatives Twitter constituents during committee hearings and presidential press briefings, a daily online video diary about an ordinary citizen engaged in unextraordinary activity can be, well, unextraordinary.
Except Malibuite Danny Grozdich’s YouTube serial is pretty funny. At least according to the commentary posted by 27,000-plus subscribers to his online comedy news show, “The Gradual Report.”
Grozdich, who encourages sniggering at his last name, is featured on one of YouTube’s paid partner channels, with his expanding viewership (more than six million viewers already) spreading through that most effective of marketing strategies: word of mouth. Subscribers sign up to be advised of news postings on the channel, where Grozdich posts the “The Gradual Report” four to five times per week (YouTube shares profits from advertisers with those who post their videos on the partner channels). Following the success of the report, Grozdich decided to do a yearlong daily diary of his 29th year of life (his birthday is in August) for anyone to watch.
The self-styled comedian shoots and edits short videos every day of such prosaic subjects as the pot-bellied pigs living at the home he is currently house sitting or of coworkers at his unnamed marketing firm loading the dishwasher. All are recorded with droll commentary.
But do people watch?
“Gee, I hope so,” Grozdich said. “I have a one dollar subscriber donation site and I’ve raised $385 for the project so far. I guess it’s not the best business model. But if all 27,000 subscribers bought in for a dollar a month, think of how I could live!”
Grozdich is a firm believer in the power of Internet marketing. He regularly sells his autograph on e-Bay, with the last one going for $17. He sold a notebook full of jokes for $80 and once drew a friend’s “aura” on a tablecloth with the crayons offered by the restaurant where they were dining.
“That one sold for $27,” Grozdich said. “It paid for the breakfast.”
In “real” life, Grozdich works as a receptionist while he hones his comedic skills and waits to break into the big time. His parents aren’t thrilled. He studied history at UCLA and attended Southwestern Law School before realizing that he “wasn’t real interested in being a lawyer.”
“Everyone hates lawyers till they need one,” Grozdich said. “You’d have to be locked in an elevator [with me] for about 12 hours to hate me.”
Apparently his fans think so as well.
Subscriber Chiyer Ano wrote in an e-mail, “What I like about his humor is that it is usually genuine, natural and not too contrived. The future [of entertainment] is where people are willing to expand and reinvent their views, ideas and visions of comedy. He’s fresh.”
Subscriber Jason Sampson wrote, “He’s crazy and zany, and tries so hard to include his fan base within his show that those fans and their suggestions for the show keep the variety of the show forever evolving in originality. Danny would have to remain true to himself and his craft … or we would leave.”
To the question of whether he takes the time to view Grozdich’s daily diary, Sampson wrote, “Haven’t missed a day yet, and don’t plan to… to tell you the truth, my whole family watches them with me because looking into Danny’s life is interesting to all of us.”
Grozdich’s parents’ concerns for their son’s path might be assuaged by some of the perks he is amassing in his constantly connecting excellent adventure. As part of the American launch of its European-model Fiesta, Ford Motor Company selected about 100 citizens noted for their “social connectivity” and gave them a car to drive for six months.
“Ford pays for the insurance and gas, and I drive the Fiesta around on specific missions, recording my experiences that will be part of a YouTube program,” Grozdich said.
Such “missions” include driving to meet a famous chef to bake a cake; other missions can’t be stated in this local paper.
In his online postings Grozdich tries to steer clear of mean-spirited commentary: “If you can’t tell a joke to the person you’re making fun of, you shouldn’t say it to anyone. I do jokes about using too much shampoo in the shower.”
While ventures such as Grozdich’s are attracting the attention of social anthropologists, who struggle to explain the cultural significance of such performance art, he isn’t concerned with higher implications of his diary.
“I just want to make people laugh,” he said. “Not a lot. Just enough to get through the day.”
Grozdich’s daily online diary can be viewed at YouTube.com under “ddiary09” and “The Gradual Report.”