Brothers creating unique content on YouTube channel
By Maurice Garvey
YOUTUBE is as popular a form of entertainment today than television for huge swathes of the demographic - with millions of independent channels worldwide on the platform.
Whilst some of it’s biggest stars earn a fortune, the vast majority are happy to create niche content they have an interest in.
In Clondalkin, brothers Philip and Paul Galvin, are behind the YouTube channel 2FMradioInIreland4 – created in 2008, it has amassed over 665,000 views since and over 1,000 subscribers.
Among their catalogue of some 300 videos, is a selection of ‘Funny Fair City Voices’ - a satirical, if somewhat foul mouthed, twist on the RTE show.
Taking the mickey out of Fair City is no problem for Philip, despite the fact that he has appeared on the show, along with other small parts in Love / Hate, Red Rock and Mrs Brown’s Boys.
“A number of the Fair City actors are friends on Facebook, including Amelia Stewart who plays Katie in the long running storyline of being held against her will by Ciaran,” said Philip.
“In our voice overs, we turned Katie into Penny from Inspector Gadget. Amelia noticed this and said it was brilliant, she also told us that a number of the other Fair City actors loved it.”
The pair have a background in acting, radio and developed a love of voiceover skits from an early age.
Paul says they first tinkered around with voiceovers by lowering down the sound of their television in the late 90s.
“Philip dug out his old Panasonic camera which allowed us to record from tv, and then play it back and record just the audio (our voices) over the video,” said Paul.
“It was pretty much trial and error at the start, but so funny at the same time.”
Philip continued: “We are known for our Fair City voice overs but we have also voiced over Judge Judy, the Weakest Link, and Eastenders, among others.
“We also have a channel on French website Dailymotion and have a huge following there with over 123,000 views. We take characters and turn them into something like never before, no boundaries. We don’t hold back with bad language. I do say to Paul before we do one ‘let’s go mad’ and it works everytime.”
The brothers didn’t anticipate anything near the amount of views and followers they have now.
“We were aware there was a strong demand as we were constantly receiving messages asking for more, and people telling us their favourite parts,” said Philip.
Paul continued: “Most people like what we do, but you are always going to get a troll now and again. We find it extremely funny if someone hates our work. We make these videos for those who like them, and for those who don’t.”
The pair create their content on a Yamaha Synthesizer.
“Most of it is improvised, but it’s not rushed, we’d rather do it right or not at all,” said Philip.
Whilst the channel hasn’t made serious money, the brothers insist they are in it to make other people laugh, and recommend other local creators start up their own channels.
“YouTube is a great place for seeing unique content that you’d never see on tv and allows you to be part of it, so why not take advantage of it,” said Philip.
The pair’s latest videos were posted last month, and they have a number of new productions in the pipeline for January.
