Most mothers wouldn't take too kindly to their children making fun of them on the internet, but Cian Twomey hasn't given his much of a choice. The 20-year-old from Cork makes short sketch videos parodying everyone from his mam to his girlfriend, on his Facebook page, Mr Cian Twomey.
In April this year, the page had 211,000 likes and as of today he has over 1.3 million, as many of his recent videos impersonating his girlfriend, Emily, have gone viral. Recently Twomey and his fans have been making the hashtag #GoFuckYourself trend in Ireland, in a nod to his catchphrase “go fuck yourself” which ends every video.
He had been working in a factory in Cork but recently quit his job to run his Facebook page and make videos full time. We spoke to him by email about the fast growth of the page, and what his mother thinks of it all.
What made you start making videos? It was pretty much all because of my father. He passed away in 2011 and he always told me that I'd do well in the entertainment business. I never really took notice of him but when he passed I figured I'd give it a go, so I have my father to thank for all of this.
Why do you think it has suddenly grown so quickly? It grew so fast because I introduced a new character Emily, my crazy psycho girlfriend. She's not that bad though. She's actually fantastic as a person! I just over exaggerate our everyday scenarios.
I kind of made my page strategically, I started with Irish videos to get the country behind me, then I expanded out and went international, and it worked. My followers are from all over the world now.
Where does the inspiration for your videos come from? The inspiration comes from either my family, or my girlfriend, or just things I do. But I usually just sit down and think about crazy situations that people can relate to!
Tell us about your first video. My first video ever was pretty embarrassing. But then again, I'm not exactly a guy with shame! But it was myself wearing full make up and a wig, miming to Call Me Maybe.
How long does it take to make a video? It's pretty much a simple process. I think of an idea, video it while improvising a script and upload it. It takes five minutes to create it all and have it on the page.
Why have you decided to introduce new characters? I pretty much realised that I was absolutely milking the Emily character. The last thing I want to do is annoy people and it's such a shame because I had so many more ideas for Emily!
You've already targeted your mam, your granny and your girlfriend. Are your friends afraid they'll be next? Nah, my friends are all pretty normal and I'm nice enough not to target them! They help me out with ideas though so they're on the safe side. Has running the Facebook page become your full time job? Yes, it has. When it comes to messages and emails it could definitely be a 9-5 job. Basically I'm working with business promoting them. But plan to move on to bigger names such as Spotify, Ford and Motorola.
You tweeted the other night about how you get "too much hate". How do you deal with that? People have very low attention spans so they seem to get sick of something very quick, which is why I had to introduce new characters. I just ignore the hate now because why bother ruining my mood with someone's opinion.
You had a campaign to get a support slot at a Des Bishop show around Christmas. Is stand-up something you hope to get into? Myself and Des actually got talking and it was going to happen. I backed out near to the show because I didn't think I was one bit ready. He said I'm more than welcome to open up the next time.
What do your mam and Emily think of it? My mam couldn't be more supportive, if somehow I make it big the first thing I'm doing is paying off the mortgage! She's the strongest woman I know and she's been through a lot, so the only thing I'd wish is to see her being happy. With Emily, she's my rock. She helps me out more than anything! If it's thinking of video ideas or giving me advice, she's always the one to help me and I can't thank her enough for that.
What's next for the page? For the future I have a big name who is wanting to manage me. My own TV show in the UK is what the plan is.
