| Max Gilardi | ||||||||||
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 Gilardi in 2014 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Max John Gilardi (1988-01-28)January 28, 1988 (age 37) Massachusetts, U.S. | |||||||||
| Other names |
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| Website | hotdiggedydemon | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2003–present | |||||||||
| Genre | Comedy | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 2 million[1] | |||||||||
| Views | 436 million[1] | |||||||||
| Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: 28 Feb 2025 | ||||||||||
Max John Gilardi[2] (/dʒɪˈlɑːrdi/jil-AR-dee; born January 28, 1988),[3][4] also known asMax G or his Internet pseudonymHotDiggedyDemon, is an Americaninternet personality,YouTuber, cartoonist, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for hisPONY.MOV web series, a parody of the popular children's animatedtelevision seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, other viral videos, and his media analysis series known asBrain Dump.
Gilardi was born inMassachusetts in 1988.[4][5] He is ofItalian descent and has an older sister. He attended theArt Institute of Boston briefly before dropping out after one of four years in an animation major.[6]
Gilardi, under the name "HotDiggedyDemon", first started creatingFlash animations in the mid 2000s onNewgrounds as a teenager. Among shorts, he would experiment in launching his own original cartoon. These early efforts includedAdam Android, about a superpowered robot boy, andSpookyville USA, about a town of monsters.[5] In 2007, he began uploading his work to hisYouTube channel. That year, he created theJerry series, a collection of web animations detailing the terrible and mundane life of a man named Jerry, and people related to him.[4]
In 2010, he created theWacky Game Jokez, 4 Kidz! series, also known asWGJ4K, starring a fictional criminal named Mickey the Dick who is kidnapped by a corporation specializing in video-game parody content. In addition to creating animations, he co-hosted theWisenheimers podcast with fellow animator Yotam Perel, also known as LazyPillow or LazyMuffin, from 2010 to 2012.[7][better source needed]
In 2011, Gilardi was contacted byNickelodeon asking if he would be interested in pitching an animated series to the television network. Gilardi traveled to theNickelodeon Animation Studio inBurbank, California to pitch a cartoon featuring his original character "Fishworth." However, plans for this and other concepts ultimately fell through and a show would not be picked up. He would return to Nickelodeon for a short period of freelance work onSpongeBob SquarePants. In an interview with YouTuber Dovendraw in August 2023, Gilardi stated that in retrospect, having a TV show was a "crazy upheaval" he wasn't sure he was capable of.[8]
From 2011 to 2013, he gained notoriety for releasing his six-part video parody ofMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,PONY.MOV, anadult animateddark comedy web series in the art style ofJohn Kricfalusi andSpümcø'sThe Ren & Stimpy Show.[9][10] The series obtained a spin-off in the form of aTumblr webcomic,Ask Jappleack, and each video highlights a different character from the main cast of the television series.
He also gained notability for his comedic parodies of video games such asFive Nights at Freddy's,Cuphead, andAnimal Crossing, due to their dark nature and subversive themes. TheAnimal Crossing parody hasIsabelle, an innocent character in the game, worshippingKarl Marx.[11][12]
Gilardi has over two million subscribers on YouTube.[13] The majority of his videos are self-made: written, animated, and voiced[6] by himself. In his more recent projects, he has experimented with3D animation in conjuction with his 2D work.[6][14] On September 2, 2016, Gilardi launched a newYouTube series titledBrain Dump in which he reviews movies and other media, often satirically.[15] The series has since become the main focus of Gilardi's channel, with an overarching narrative exploring his career, and the show's three main characters.Brain Dump stars Gilardi himself, a ghost named Goofball, and a living television named Burnbot.[citation needed][needs update]
On November 6, 2023, Gilardi started a series of live streams calledRelax with Max through his YouTube channel, previously onTwitch, where he plays video games and interacts with his audience in real time.[16]
On May 3, 2024, Gilardi revealed that he had been diagnosed withfibromyalgia during one of his live streams, which had affected the scope of his animated work.[17] He also announced there are no current plans for future episodes ofBrain Dump, putting the series on indefinite hiatus while he continues his focus onRelax With Max.
Gilardi has citedCraig McCracken,Matt Groening,John Kricfalusi,Jhonen Vasquez,Danny Antonucci,Genndy Tartakovsky,United Productions of America,Hanna-Barbera,Junji Ito,Akira Toriyama,Bill Watterson, and earlyCharles Schulz as influences on his art and animation.[18][19]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | SpongeBob SquarePants | Storyboard Artist ("Boss for a Day") |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–2005 | Adam Android | Creator | |
| 2006–2008 | Spookyville USA | Sal J. Beauregarde, Jake O'Brien | Creator |
| 2007–2009 | Jerry | Jason, Junior | Creator |
| 2010 | Wacky Game Jokez, 4 Kidz! | Mickey the Dick, June, Eric, The Boss | Creator |
| Eddsworld | The Delivery Guy | Episode: Hammer & Fail (Part 1) | |
| NiN10Doh!: To the 64th Power! | Ness' Dad | Voice role | |
| 2010–2012 | Wisenheimers | Self | Podcast, co-host, 48 episodes |
| 2011 | The Northern Incident | Animator | |
| 2011–2013 | PONY.MOV | Spike,Applejack,Rainbow Dash,Fluttershy,Pinkie Pie, various | Creator |
| 2014 | Luigi's Day Out | Mario,Luigi,Waluigi | Animator |
| Skeff's Saturday | The Dog | Voice role | |
| 2015 | Fazbear & Friends | Freddy Fazbear,Foxy the Pirate | Animator |
| 2016 | Isabelle Ruins Everything | Mayor, various | Animator |
| 2016–2022 | Brain Dump | Max G (voice), Goofball, various | Creator |
| 2017 | A Cuphead Cartoon | Cuphead,Mugman | Animator |
Sourced from Gilardi's IMDb page and YouTube channel.[20]
