Hotdiggedydemon

Max Gilardi (born ), better known online as hotdiggedydemon or Max G, is an American YouTuber, animator, artist, comedian, writer, and voice actor. He is best known for his animated parodies and episodic series, blending the mediums of 2D and 3D animation. Narrative-driven web series he has created include Spookyville USA, Jerry, Wacky Game Jokez 4 Kidz!, PONY.MOV and Brain Dump.
== Early Life ==
Max Gilardi was born on January 28, 1988, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the United States. He grew up with an older sister and started experimenting with animation when he was eight years old. Max loved television cartoons and shows, enamored with the idea of a long-running series, and characters the viewer formed relationships with, gradually learning more about them. The Simpsons, The Powerpuff Girls, Invader Zim, and The Ren and Stimpy Show were among his favorites, including live-action sitcoms such as Everybody Loves Raymond.
Max uploaded his first online cartoons to Newgrounds in 2003, starting with The Story of Skunk Head. Max attended The Art Institute of Boston in around 2006 or 2007, dropping out after one of four years in an animation course due to not receiving the education he wanted, and finding his animation assignments too rudimentary. However, during his course he created a short student film using traditional animation techniques titled Spaceman Adventures, uploaded to YouTube on May 6, 2007.
=== Career highlights ===
===== Wisenheimers podcast =====
From 2010 to 2012, Max co-hosted the Wisenheimers podcast, alongside fellow popular animator Yotam Perel, also known as "LazyPillow" or "LazyMuffin". Topics ranged from then-current events, animation, media, with coarse language and ironic humor. A recurring segment included emails sent in by fans.
===== Nickelodeon partnership =====
In 2011, sparked from his online works on YouTube and Newgrounds, Max was contacted by Nickelodeon asking if he would be interested in selling an animated series to the television network. Gilardi traveled to the Nickelodeon Animation Studio located in Burbank, California to pitch a cartoon featuring his anthropomorphic character "Fishworth", a melancholic fish who is in love with a librarian named Laura the Ladybug. After some time, Max conceptualized further ideas before the Nickelodeon partnership fell through. Details of this experience, pitch, and travel were discussed in the Wisenheimers podcast episode "Max's Trip!".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEiuq026kHk
==History, animations and series==
=== Adam Android ===
Inspired by FLCL and My Life as a Teenage Robot, Adam Android was a short series of animations that Max produced as a young teenager, focused on a humanoid robot similar to Astro Boy. The first episode was released December 29, 2003, while the second was released March 27, 2005. Max illustrated, wrote and adapted The Amazing Adam Android as a short story when he was 19 years old, the book is still available for purchase.
=== Spookyville USA ===
Spookyville USA was a Halloween-themed cartoon starring a red demon named Sal J. Beauregarde, an anthropomorphic cat named Wendy Murphy, and a living pumpkin named Jake O'Brien. The first episode uploaded February 20, 2006, involves Sal and Jake attempting to dunk a basketball. The second episode uploaded August 17, 2008, is presented as a surreal clip show detailing Spookyville USA's extensive history, despite the series only lasting two episodes. The characters die at the end of the second episode.
===Jerry===
Some of Max's first popular videos on YouTube consisted of the Jerry series, with 5 episodes in total, including an April Fools upload.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB94BDB660AE73331 The series follows the tedious and difficult life of a working man named Jerry, and the few people he has contact with in his mundane existence.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R7HCAXFBQY
==== Plot ====
Jerry is introduced as an adult bachelor who lives by himself and works as a bagger/cashier in a supermarket. He has a few small successes in meeting women, but experiences failure such as losing his license while drunk, and having his income stolen directly from his wallet. In episodes centered around his childhood, Jerry's mother is struck by lightning and dies, and he is shown to have a cruel relationship with his father, who regards Jerry as a failure of a son for not meeting his expectations.
Jerry's life is explored through events as a child and adult, leading up to his suicide at the hands of his own misfortune and stagnation. Several episodes also follow the perspectives of other characters, such as Jerry's lover named Jackiehttps://youtu.be/FJMazAXyV8w and his illegitimate son named Junior.https://youtu.be/8wNbEYNVakM The first episode was uploaded on Newgrounds on June 21, 2007, later to YouTube on July 10, 2009.
=== Wacky Game Jokez, 4 Kidz! ===
Wacky Game Jokez 4 Kidz!, often abbreviated as WGJ4K, is a season-long series following the story of a disgruntled and cynical man named Mickey the Dick, who hates video games.https://www.newgrounds.com/collection/wackygamejokez4kidz A small-time criminal from the streets of New York City, Mickey is kidnapped by a corporation named "Video Game Videos" that produces video game parody content for the internet, usually consisting of comedy sketches, Top 10 lists, and game reviews. Mickey is forced by VGV's Boss to partake in creating this content, assisted by two dimwitted video-game fanatics named June, a ditzy blue-haired woman, and Eric, a short and stereotypical nerd.
==== Episode format ====
The show debuted on Newgrounds and YouTube on February 16, 2010, and ended on October 19, 2010. Throughout its run, the series satirized then-current "gaming parody culture" and "fan culture", which spanned from the late 2000s to the early 2010s. In an effort similar to popular online hubs for video game-based humor such as Machinima, CollegeHumor, and other YouTube networks, Mickey, June and Eric are actors in a variety of different comedic skits, much to the annoyance of Mickey who wants to escape the VGV building and his forced employment.
==== Cameo appearences ====
Several episodes contained cameos from popular Newgrounds creators such as Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson and "Happy" Harry Partridge, including Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp.https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/530913 All episodes of WGJ4K have since been privatized on YouTube apart from promos for the season finale, and a video in which Mickey and Yotam Perel "LazyMuffin" read fan mail (in an excerpt taken from the Wisenheimers podcast).https://youtu.be/k_AJ6rtZL5E Though it is still available to watch on Newgrounds.
===PONY.MOV===
PONY.MOV is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic parody series, created when the show became popular with an older demographic, and during the height of "brony" phenomena in the early 2010s.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94A83DC128CC6B4B Involving black comedy and a surreal animation style, it follows exaggerated versions of the "Mane Six" trying to stop the antagonist, Discord, from destroying their town by collecting and using the Elements of Harmony, which fails miserably for Twilight Sparkle. While the show follows a central plot, it is satirical in nature. The show began with APPLE.MOV,https://youtu.be/xxAJqvslV7M uploaded on October 11, 2011, and concluded with SWAG.MOV, uploaded on February 21, 2013. Nine episodes were produced, including two convention-exclusive "broadcasts" premiering at Trotcon and Everfree Northwest. It has been described as "If My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was created by Ren and Stimpy studio, Spümcø."
==== Popularity ====
The PONY.MOV series for its time was Max's most popular and recognizable work. Originally intended to be another one-off parody, APPLE.MOV net Max with his first video to reach one million views in a short span of time. APPLE.MOV was featured on the news website Equestria Daily where it gained overwhelming attention from both the brony community and non-bronies. Max conceptualized the idea for more episodes, one centering around each character, shortly after. In an episode of the Wisenheimers podcast, Max and Yotam Perel discuss their surprise on the success of APPLE.MOV.
==== Jappleack Tumblr ====
Alongside animations, Max created and managed a "character ask blog" on Tumblr named Ask Jappleack. Featuring Max's parody of Applejack answering submitted questions in an unhinged and vulgar manner, it soon developed an intricate webcomic storyline in which she saves the multiverse, tying into the animated series on YouTube.https://ask-jappleack.tumblr.com/post/36048540089
==== Convention appearences ====
With each new PONY.MOV episode garnering hype and millions of views upon release particularly throughout 2012, these uploads were popular enough for Max to be invited to host Q&A panels at several conventions across the United States as a guest, where he would also sell exclusive posters and prints at artist alleys.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC3bEB4jc6Y
==== Voice acting ====
The PONY.MOV series contained a handful of guest voice actors such as Esther Nho, Bernard Duke, Garrett Hunter from Mega64, Jon Etheridge, and Arin Hanson of Egoraptor and Game Grumps. Professional voice actresses Kimlinh Tran "Hnilmik", and Kira Buckland "Rina-chan", had voiced My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters in a multitude of fanmade projects, Kimlinh Tran cameoing in SWAG.MOV as Scootaloo, and Kira Buckland voicing Twilight Sparkle throughout the series' entire run.
==== Response and reception ====
Applejack and Rainbow Dash's voice actress in the original show, Ashleigh Ball, called the PONY.MOV series "really twisted and pretty cool" near the end of an interview with Everfree Radio uploaded on May 3, 2012.
===Miscellaneous one-off parodies===
Max is perhaps best known for creating animated parodies of popular properties, satirizing Super Mario Bros.https://youtu.be/4Ma3wcaYV8k, Five Nights at Freddy'shttps://youtu.be/uIUbLF5cJrU, Sonic the Hedgehoghttps://youtu.be/zIeSg1GU8nw, Animal Crossinghttps://youtu.be/4Ma3wcaYV8k, and Undertalehttps://youtu.be/DYFHeab053w. The appearance and mannerisms of characters involved are different from their source material, storylines centering around ridiculous, subversive or dark themes. A majority of these short films were produced throughout the 2010s.
===Brain Dump===
Brain Dump is a media review show hosted by Max himself, a cartoon ghost named Goofball, and an AI computer embedded into a television named Burnbot.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRYWGm96Zf-QFHGsEWoRHRG52H_D9WiQY The series originally consisted of Max, assisted by the insult-generating Burnbot, reviewing movies, TV shows, analyzing other subject matter, and Max discussing his thoughts on topical decisions in current media. Brain Dump uses mixed media, particularly combining 2D and 3D animated characters.
==== Development ====
Over the course of the series, the show would purposefully subvert viewers with clickbait thumbnails and titles. Max and Goofball would go off-topic, bickering and arguing, culminating in Burnbot leaving the show for a short period. Eventually, Brain Dump strayed from critical analysis as it delved into exploring Max's fixation on his YouTube career, mental state and phobias, and place in life as an independent internet animator.https://youtu.be/H285s4HYv3c
==== Swooden and hiatus ====
One notable episode has Max's show interrupted by a "Swoodish" parody of PewDiePie in the middle of his search for his true calling. Brain Dump was announced as being on indefinite hiatus in May 2024. It premiered on September 2, 2016, with an analysis of Zootopia's messaging.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii7q2IZXM2Q
== Relax With Max ==
Relax With Max is a series of livestreams hosted by Max on the HotDiggedyDemon YouTube channel beginning November 7, 2023, previously through Twitch. Here, he plays games and interacts with his audience, with visual flair and animated effects, such as an emotive avatar. Other events have included watching police bodycam footage, and praying to Relaxus, the god of relaxation. Streams take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
== Personal life ==
=== Health ===
On May 3, 2024, Max revealed that he had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia during a Relax With Max stream, leading to major fatigue, constant pains, and other issues, which in turn had affected the scope of his work on lengthy animated projects. During this, he also clarified that his series Brain Dump would recieve no further episodes. Since this announcement, he has continued to focus on his livestreams for the time being.
==Controversy==
On May 1, 2015, Max uploaded a satirical drawing to his Tumblr of Steven Universe with stereotypical Jewish attributes, dubbing the parodic art "Steven Jewniverse" in reference to a YouTube Poop video created by KroboProductions in early April.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H98Q9VU6IEM The joke received mixed reactions from his audience and the wider fandom of Steven Universe at the time. While some praised the art, some deemed it offensive and anti-semitic. In response to the criticism, Max made a Twitter post on May 3, saying he did respect other people's opinions only if they weren't toxic.
Max has referenced past points of contention over edgy jokes in episodes of his Brain Dump series, "WOW, world's BIGGEST house of cards!! (2021 world record)"https://youtu.be/Y5TIAJnqGbA and "What Is Fash Ism?"https://youtu.be/We2MsKE5e3c describing his unfiltered sense of humor as times where he was an "irreverent shock jock" making "needlessly vulgar parodies", now motivated to put time and effort towards more meaningful works.
==Quotes==
*"Hello, this is Max..." - Max
*"Don't go in that closet." - Jerry's dad
*"IT'S TOTALLY HARMLESS!" - Jerry's mom
*"MAKE ME A GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH!" - Junior
*"You're not a failure." - Jerry
* "Look! We're on TV!" - Bonnie the Bunny
*"You going to tell ma I was smoking!?" - Mario
*"Yay! I'm going to go on an adventure!" *trips* - Luigi
*"Say, we are always into making new friends!" - Freddy Fazbear
*"BOO!" - Jack Skellington
*"Wake me when it's over." - Foxy
*"Because of course I am the most evil kind of person that can possibly exist. A straight white man..." -Max
== Trivia==
*Max's 3D animation is created on Autodesk Maya, while 2D elements are drawn in Adobe Animate.
*Max created 100 caricatures of celebrities and posted them to Twitter hoping those depicted would respond. Only three responded to their pieces, those being Tom Arnold, Fred Durst, and David Wain.
*Max has voice cameos in Edd Gould's Eddsworld and the NiN10Doh! collabs on Newgrounds.
*Max is a huge fan of the YouTube channel Mega64, who produce satirical sketch comedy.
*Max's favorite Powerpuff girl is Blossom.
*Max's favorite holiday is Halloween.
*Max owns a cat named Wolfo, previously owning cats named Adolf and Toilet.
*In December 2022, Max made a tweet coming out as bisexual.
==References==
Category:Animation YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2007
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Art YouTubers
Category:Comedy YouTubers
Category:One million subscribers
Category:LGBT YouTubers
Category:Two million subscribers