A new haircut brings fame

The Cynic interviewed Brett Tietjen, the YouTube star of My New Haircut, to talk about touring, the skit and his newfound YouTube fame

Interview by LAURA PEDRO Senior Staff Writer

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Life and Style

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of The Academy Agency

Brett Tietjen in costume as seen in his YouTube, video "My New Haircut." The 27 year-old, currently on tour in Virigia, is learning what life is like as a YouTube star.

Vermont Cynic: So where did you get the inspiration to make the "My New Haircut" video.

Brett Tietjen: I was just finishing getting my masters degree [in film production] and we were doing a lot of comedy sketches and producing short films. And growing up in Long Island you find characters like that that at the gym or the club that are easy to make fun of.

VC: Why do you think the video became so big? Did you advertise it?

BT: I was just writing some [videos] and this was one of the first ones. We filmed it in June; it took like two days to shoot and a couple of days to edit. I put it on YouTube and emailed it to my friends who I thought would find it funny. That's it.

VC: So, do you consider yourself famous because the video has been viewed over 10 million times?

BT: It's kind of weird. I'm touring right now to make money and when I'm not touring I'm working on producing a full feature film and working on a reality show. But I'm kind of over it, the video, but touring pays the bills.

VC: Do you get recognized a lot now?

BT: Not usually unless I'm promoting it. I don't dress like that and I have blond hair.

VC: I saw a bunch of people at UVM dressed up like you on Halloween, how does that make you feel?

BT: It's crazy. You don't think about it on a daily basis then you go online and see all these remixes. Actually tomorrow we're heading up to Duke to meet the guys from the Asian remake.

VC: So you are OK with the remakes?

BT: Yeah, I love it.

VC: You're on the road right now, what does that entail?

BT: Bars contact us and then I just go and get my get-up on. Sometimes I do a live performance, and we do contests like Heineken or muscle milk chugging contests. We also give out t-shirts, and some Jager bomb girls are usually with us. I try to be really interactive. People tell me the "Real World" cast comes and just sits there.

VC: So, who is we, do you have an entourage?

BT: [laughs] It's between three and four people with me. My partner [in L2X productions] who edited the video, he comes to the bars and films. My manager is there and my buddy Chuck also dresses up and works out the merchandise booth.

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