Greg Miller (Internet celebrity)
Gregory James Miller[1] (born April 27, 1983) is an American Internet personality and former editor and video host of the entertainment website IGN. He currently manages Kinda Funny, a YouTube channel along with Nick Scarpino and Tim Gettys. Miller was a frequent cast member and host on the IGN audio-video podcasts Game Scoop and Podcast Beyond..[2] He and fellow former-IGN editors Colin Moriarty, Nick Scarpino, and Tim Gettys left IGN on January 5, 2015 to found Kinda Funny.
Greg Miller | |
---|---|
Miller at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con | |
Born | Gregory James Miller April 27, 1983 |
Occupation | Internet personality, media presenter, former editor at IGN |
Years active | 2007–present |
Internet information | |
Web alias(es) | GameOverGreggy |
Awards
In March 2016 Miller won the South by South West (SXSW) "Most Entertaining Online Personality" award.[3]
In December 2015 he won an award at The Game Awards in the category Trending Gamer.[4]
Personal life
In 2001, Miller moved to Columbia, Missouri and attended the University of Missouri, where he gained a degree in magazine journalism. He was later employed at the Columbia Tribune, where he created the "Game Over" column in 2006. As of 2009, the column is now defunct. At Missouri, Miller was a member of The Antlers (University of Missouri), and served as the Grand Poobah of the group for the 2003-2004 school year. In August 2012, Greg announced he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma,[5] a form of cancer, but after chemotherapy, he announced in December 2012 that his cancer was in remission. Greg Miller had lost an estimated 20 pounds as of September 19, 2014, reportedly caused by his change in diet. On May 1, 2017, Miller married Canadian Geneviève St-Onge.[6] St-Onge is also a part of the video game industry as co-founder of Popagenda, a video game centred public relations and marketing company, and previously as a brand manager at Square Enix Montreal.[7]
Career
IGN
In early 2007, Miller relocated to San Francisco, California, as he accepted a position at entertainment website IGN as a PlayStation editor. Miller claims that he sent in numerous applications to various gaming websites including IGN, and finally received a response on his thirteenth application. He was contacted via email, interviewed via telephone and hired within the time frame of 24 hours. Miller attributes the success of the application to experience gained through his "Game Over" column in his previous job. One of his first reviews, and most notable, was his review for the video game, Lair. Miller then became a regular cast member in popular IGN podcasts such as Game Scoop and Knockin' Boots. In June 2007, he co-founded and became a co-host on Podcast Beyond, a podcast with PlayStation news/content at its center which went on to become the number 1 PlayStation podcast in the world. At the time, his co-hosts were Jeremy Dunham, Chris Roper and Jeff Haynes. Later, Miller would host Podcast Beyond with fellow IGN editor Colin Moriarty. The two established the podcast as their own during their time with IGN and regularly had a weekly guest, usually an IGN staff member, referred to as "the ever-rotating third chair" after Andrew Goldfarb left the company. Miller was later promoted to Senior editor of the PlayStation section of IGN. In early 2013, when IGN was sold to Ziff Davis and went under restructuring, Miller was promoted to video content host for IGN, with Colin Moriarty being promoted to Miller's former position. Miller used to host the "Up at Noon" video series for IGN. Miller announced via his Kinda Funny YouTube channel on January 5, 2015, that he had left his job at IGN to focus on Kinda Funny and its new sister channel, Kinda Funny Games.[8]
YouTube
On January 22, 2012, Miller created a YouTube channel, titled GameOverGreggy. His channel (later rebranded as Kinda Funny) currently has over 246,000 subscribers and over 98,000,000[9] views over all of his videos. Miller was inspired to produce regular content after attending VidCon 2012. The content of his videos initially consisted of discussing fan-requested topics.
When the channel began, Miller uploaded new episodes of A Conversation with Colin every Tuesday and Thursday. A Conversation with Colin follows Miller and former IGN editor, friend, and roommate, Colin Moriarty, discussing fan-requested topics, e.g. why Seinfeld is the best TV show, Colin's obsession with mayonnaise, the demise of rap rock, worst restaurant experiences, etc. The show ran three seasons through February 2014.[10] A Conversation with Colin was replaced by individual topics of The GameOverGreggy Show. Due to popular demand, A Conversation with Colin ran for a "final" fourth season consisting of twelve weekly episodes starting from January 2015.
In 2012, Miller uploaded episodes of ‘‘Oreo Oration’‘ every Wednesday and Friday. Oreo Oration consists of Miller reviewing many varieties of the Oreo cookie. Miller would judge the Oreo by eating one, judging how well it tastes with milk and how clean it twists apart. The show initially ran for one season, however Miller announced in December 2013, Oreo Oration would return for a five-episode limited run due to popular demand.[11] In January 2014, Miller started airing the second season of Oreo Oration, suggesting Miller may continue the show sporadically as new cookies are released.[12]
In 2013, Miller debuted a new series, called ‘‘Gregway’‘, in which Miller would answer and elaborate upon a fan-submitted question usually via Twitter. Previous examples include why Miller is obsessed with chicken wings, who has the best hair at IGN, Miller's love for Superman, top 5 IGN memories, etc. Through the Gregway series, Miller has collaborated with other notable personalities, including Gavin Free and Barbara Dunkelman of Rooster Teeth, voice actor Dave Fennoy and iJustine. The show aired through its first season in place of Oreo Oration.[11]
In December 2013, Miller debuted a new series, titled The GameOverGreggy Show. The show consisted of Miller, Colin Moriarty ("The Pride of Long Island" or "He Only Does Everything"), Nick Scarpino ("The Producer/Seducer") and Tim Gettys ("The Pure One") sitting around a table discussing topics that each person has prepared. The show originally came in the form of a one-dollar audio podcast through Bandcamp every Friday, and a free video podcast on YouTube every Monday. The GameOverGreggy Show occasionally included famous guests, such as Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville's Lex Luthor) and Kevin Smith (Clerks, SModcast). In March 2014, Miller began experimenting with his upload schedule, mostly in regards to The GameOverGreggy Show. He began uploading each person's segment from the weeks episode each day from Monday to Thursday with the full show uploaded on a Friday, however if a guest is present for that podcast, their segment would also be uploaded on Friday. The reason for the schedule change was due to Miller coming to the conclusion that running three shows at once (The GameOverGreggy Show, A Conversation with Colin and Oreo Oration/Gregway) and having them edited and uploaded for each weekday proved to be tiresome. It also stemmed from fan criticism from earlier episodes of The GameOverGreggy Show, in which many found it difficult to skip to a specific topic due to a lack of navigation as to where each topic began and concluded throughout the video. Separating the topics into individual videos decisively allowed for clearer direction to any one specific topic.
Kinda Funny
On September 15, 2014, Miller retired the GameOverGreggy YouTube name and rebranded it as ‘‘Kinda Funny’‘. The first video released by Kinda Funny was a parody rap video by Tim Gettys and IGN Production Coordinator Alexis Cozombolidis featuring San Francisco Giants outfielder and Cozombolidis' boyfriend Hunter Pence. As a part of the rebranding, a new series debuted in November 2014 called Follow the Liter, in which Miller, Moriarty, Scarpino or Gettys and bartender Erick Castro offer tutorials on how to make various cocktails and alcoholic beverages. On January 5, 2015, it was announced that Miller, alongside Moriarty, Scarpino and Gettys, resigned from their positions at IGN and started a new channel, Kinda Funny Games. They have since held three annual live events, each called Kinda Funny Live.
Other media
Miller was a recurring panel member of IGN podcasts such as Game Scoop and Knockin' Boots. Game Scoop is a podcast hosted by Daemon Hatfield in which Hatfield and three panel members (IGN staff) discuss a fan-submitted question related to gaming. Knockin' Boots was a podcast also hosted by Hatfield in which fans submit question related to dating/relationship issues and sexuality questions. As of 2013, IGN no longer funds the podcast and is now independent, therefore payment is required for each episode, which is now much longer in length (2 hours plus) and under the name "Super Knockin' Boots".[13] Episodes of "Super Knockin' Boots" are released sporadically.
At PlayStation Experience 2015, during a live episode of PS I Love You XOXO, it was announced by Arthur Parsons (game director) that Miller would have a voice role in the upcoming video game Lego Marvel's Avengers as Aldrich Killian, with references to Kinda Funny, Podcast Beyond, and Hot Pepper Gaming present in his dialogue.[14] Miller also voices Superboy as of a recent DC Universe Online update.[15] Miller was also cast as the starring voice role in Island Time VR, announced on the PlayStation Blog on March 24, 2018.[16]
References
- IGN (July 18, 2013). "WWE Legends of WrestleMania Roster Report - IGN". IGN. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- iTunes (July 18, 2013). "iTunes - Podcasts - Podcast Beyond". Apple. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- "2016 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners Announced!". South by Southwest 2016 Music, Film and Interactive Festivals - Austin Texas. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
- "Witcher 3 Wins Overall Game of the Year at 2015 Game Awards". gamespot.com. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120812022546/http://www.ign.com/blogs/greggy-ign/2012/08/09/so-i-have-cancer-who-wants-to-cook-meth/
- Greg Miller (May 1, 2017). ""Today, I married @Gankstrr"". Twitter. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- Popagenda. "Popagenda". Retrieved April 11, 2019.
- Greg and Colin Leave IGN to Form Kinda Funny Games. YouTube. 5 January 2015.
- Kinda Funny. YouTube.
- YouTube (July 18, 2013). "A Conversation with Colin - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- YouTube (July 18, 2013). "Oreo Oration: Oreo Cookie Reviews - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- YouTube (July 18, 2013). "Oreo Oration: Oreo Cookie Reviews - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
- iTunes (July 18, 2013). "iTunes - Music - Super Knockin' Boots". Apple. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- YouTube (December 7, 2015). "PS I Love You XOXO Live at PSX 2015 - PS I Love You XOXO Ep. 12". Google. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
- Greg Miller [@GameOverGreggy] (January 11, 2016). "It's literally a dream come true to tell you that I've been cast as Superboy in @DCUO. 😁" (Tweet). Retrieved November 21, 2016 – via Twitter.
- YouTube (March 24, 2018). "Island Time VR Out Today: Meet Carl the Crab". Sony PlayStation. Retrieved November 12, 2019.