Daniel-Ryan Spaulding

Daniel-Ryan Spaulding is a Canadian comedian.^[1]

Early life and education

Spaulding was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, and grew up in a suburb of Vancouver attending public schools that emphasized anti-bullying. He majored in theater at Queen's University at Kingston,^[2] and first performed standup comedy at age 23 at a gay bar in Vancouver.^[3]

Career

Spaulding's 2014 video "If Gay Guys Said the Stuff Straight People Say..." gained over 2 million views on YouTube, exposing microaggressions and straight privilege.^[3] The HuffPost praised the video's "brilliant" lines including "Ugh! That's so straight!"^[4] and ran a second piece when Spaulding released a followup video.^[5] While living in Amsterdam, Spaulding created over 130 episodes of a video series called "It's Berlin" in which he delved into the psychology of Berliners.^[6] Lola magazine described Spaulding as "one of Berlin's iconic personalities".^[7]

Spaulding's 2023 video "Birthday & New Beginnings After Gastric Sleeve Surgery!" marked his foray into working as a health and wellness content creator.^[6]

Spaulding performed his one-man show "Power Gay" at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe's Just the Tonic at the Caves,^[8] in Europe and Tel Aviv,^[9] and at New York City's Redeye.^[10]

Politics

In late 2023, Spaulding gained attention for his pro-Israel activism,^[11][12][13] when his video about the October 7 attacks gained over 9 million views on social media.^[14][15]

Personal life

Spaulding lost over 200 pounds (91 kilograms) after achieving sobriety and having gastric sleeve surgery in 2022. He also underwent a hair transplant in Turkey.^[6]