screen. “When I was in middle
school, specifically,” Mac re-
calls, “they were like everything
I couldn’t [be]. I never hung out
with friends after school; I would
just come home and watch [You-
Tube] videos... I’ve always just
seen their lives and seen how they
just do whatever they want, and I
thought that was really cool.”
“I also did theater for years, and
all that stuff,” Mac explains. “The
idea of like creating something
of my own has always been in the
back of my head.”
It wasn’t long before that vague
desire manifested as something
more tangible. “One random day,
me and a friend of mine were talk-
ing, and we set up this plan of how
we were going to dominate the
internet together.”
Mac laughs as he recalls the
scheme. “We were going to both
make channels and then they
would grow, and then we would
have like a combined channel and,
like, take over YouTube.”
While it may have started off as
a fantasy, Mac soon made You-
Tube stardom his goal. “I was like,
‘Yeah, you know what: Why don’t
we try becoming YouTubers?’ And
so I made my first video and she
never made hers. And here I am
today, eight years later.”
MacDoesIt began with a review of
the 2012 Olympics—sadly no longer
available—a format even his new
fans will be familiar with. “My re-
views have been a thing on my chan-
nel from the very beginning. I don’t
know why I gravitate towards that
idea — it gives me a reason to talk.”WHAT MACDOESIT DOES
Mac draws you in with his relatable, self-deprecating
humor, regardless of your personal identity. However,
this comedian is not afraid to tackle tough subjects
that others might avoid. Being black and gay himself,
he is able to provide an authentic voice for this inter-
sectional experience.
“I’m born and raised in Los Angeles. These topics
are like the normal conversation you have in the big
city. For the longest time, I’ve been in such a bubble.
And while doing YouTube ... that’s when I started
noticing people in different parts of the world — this
country alone — have completely different lives and
can’t really live their lives fully. And so I was like, you
know what, let’s talk about that on my channel —
that’s when it kinda switched.”
Once he realized what he had to offer, Mac start-
ing shifting the content on MacDoesIt in that direc-
tion. Mac remembers thinking, “Yeah, I can talk
about this; this is so easy. A lot of people can’t, andMACDOESIT
HOW MACDOESIT USES COMEDY TO BREAK OPEN REAL CONVERSATIONS ON YOUTUBE