In mid-2006, a struggling actress named Christine Gambito got fed up with the commercial audition circuit and decided to master her own creative destiny. The result was HappySlip, a one-woman comedy show, production company and YouTube channel that, by May 2007, had made Gambito one of the first creators tapped for YouTube’s revenue-sharing program.
Right from the start, seeds of greatness were apparent. Three of Gambito’s most popular characters -– gum-smacking teen vlogger Teenie and soap opera twins Audrey and Claire –- debuted in her very first video, Instant Vlogging, making drama out of…wait for it…spearmint gum. Gambito also gets great comic mileage out of her Filipino family; she first portrayed her technology-challenged mother and snack-chomping father in YouChoob and rode their popularity all the way to Mixed Nuts, second-place finisher for YouTube’s 2006 Best Comedy Award. The name HappySlip comes from her mother’s heavily accented pronunciation of “half slip” as “hap-e slip,” which caused a young Gambito to misunderstand what the item was called… until her school friends asked her if she had a “sad slip,” too.
Gambito’s not just a performer; she’s a production team –- scripting, directing, editing and performing the music for her videos almost exclusively on her own, though she admits to occasionally having a family member hold the camera. She may sometimes collaborate with other YouTube folks like KevJumba, but HappySlip remains mostly a one-woman gig. She’s also business-savvy, expanding to a web site, podcasts -– and she even managed to get herself appointed ambassador for Philippine tourism. And as we reported last year, it’s likely that Gambito and other creators like her pushed YouTube into the revenue-sharing age when they started putting in extra face time on (moolah-generating) competitors like Revver.
She loves her fans, too, welcoming them via live chats and even commenting on and favoriting some of the more intriguing tributes made to her. Like, say, a full-on impersonation, or a fireworks-filled music video. Yes, tributes, money, honors –- they’re great. But how do you really know when you’re an Internet sensation?
Why, when Nalts breaks into your apartment, of course.
