Imagine growing up with your father as a heavy drinker and smoker who worked a dead-end job at a coal mine, and your mother as abusive towards you on a regular basis to the point that you are officially diagnosed with PTSD. Imagine being a target for frequent bullying.
Does that sound like the backstory of a successful YouTuber to you?
Well, that happens to be the story of Stephen Williams (b. 1974), better known as boogie2988, who is a YouTube vlogger, comedian, armchair philosopher, and gamer who goes by the nickname "Boogie".
His most noticeable feature from first glance is his weight (526 lbs as of 2012), which has been Played for Laughs on a number of occasions (especially earlier in his career), but is also a very serious topic for him. The health issues induced by his weight have made Boogie diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and he is open about how he hates his body but at the same time is unashamed of it.
He's known for "Rambling" videos and videos where he gives his 2 cents on certain relevant topics in gaming/YouTube news, but is by far most famous due to his character Francis, an easily agitated hardcore gamer with a comical lisp who is often recorded by his sister (played by Boogie's wife Dez), who makes him rage for one reason or another. One of Francis' rage videos was featured on =3, which was Boogie's first claim to fame and set him on the road to success. In December of 2017, Boogie stated he was getting divorced from his wife. Not long thereafter he underwent life-saving weight-loss surgery and began blogging about his weight-loss surgery and the triumphs and tribulations from it. As of Fall 2019, Boogie had lost over 200 pounds.
Not too long after his divorce, Boogie's internet career went on a downward spiral, best represented by his declining subscriber count on YouTube. Peaking at around 5 million in 2018, Boogie's channel now sits at just over 4 million as of December 2023, with most of his videos struggling to crack even 25 thousand views. Much of his lost reputation is attributed to his behavior when he started streaming. The loss of the filter of edited content saw Boogie tank his own nice guy image by joking about inappropriate topics and saying genuinely mean-spirited things. During this era, most of his sponsors were motivated to drop Boogie because of such behavior, which lead to financial troubles and extended periods of little or no content at all due to a lack of motivation.
In November of 2023, Mike Clum posted an in-depth documentary on Boogie's current life on YouTube. Clum was given complete access to Boogie's life for a nine month period to make the documentary. The documentary revealed even more shocking facts about Boogie, including how he's now nearly bankrupt due to spending obscene amounts of money on sugar babies and prostitutes, and his romantic relationship with a 20-year-old girl at the age of 49. The documentary was responsible for a bit of a surge in popularity for Boogie, as he was able to make several videos about it that got far more views than his typical videos, even if a good deal of the new attention is negative.
You can find his channel here
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This channel provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Boogie's mother was physically and emotionally abusive towards him.
- Alter-Ego Acting: Francis acknowledges Boogie's existence; evidently they share income from their YouTube channel.
- Atomic F-Bomb: Francis will let one of these off when especially angry at dying in a video game.
- Auto-Tune: Once employed in a musical remix of a video in which Boogie was discussing vandalism triggered by YouTube's new comment section, which included the easily taken out of context "Swastikas and Penises" quote.
- Battle Strip: Francis does this in Francis Attempts to go Super Saiyan.
- Berserk Button: The beginning of every Francis Rages video follows someone pressing one of his buttons, including the following:
- Diablo III's network issues.
- Calling him fat.
- Saying he looks like Eric Cartman from South Park.
- Mentioning the "always online" requirement that was originally planned for the Xbox One.
- Any game that ships as broken, or whose servers crash on release day.
- Games and consoles that have conflicting exclusives.
- Digital Rights Management (DRM).
- A non-Francis related instance, but in the aftermath of John Bain's passing from cancer, a number of commentators and developers took the opportunity to publicly celebrate his death. Boogie, usually a peacemaking individual who just wants others to get along, went full Hulk on Twitter about the actions of these individuals.
- Corporate censorship, especially from Blizzard Entertainment.
- Drinking or messing with his Mountain Dew
- Big Eater: Boogie, and by extension, all of the characters he plays.
- After his weight loss surgery, Boogie has tossed this trope by the wayside for better habits. He's currently down 200 pounds with only 100 more to go!
- Big "NO!":
- In Francis plays QWOP Flash Game, Francis lets off an enraged variant of this.
- In Francis' Worst Nightmare, Francis lets out a genuinely horrified one after seeing that all of his Mountain Dew has been replaced with the diet type.
- In Francis plays QWOP Flash Game
- Bragging Theme Tune: The Jesse Weighs In series has an intro song which claims that "Jesse knows best".
- Catchphrase
- [when playing a pre-recorded video] "What's up, ladies and gentleman of YouTube, Boogie2988 coming at you live through the power of the internet."
- As Francis:
- "Sons of bitches."
- "WHY DON'T YOU GO THE FUCK TO BED DAVID?"
- [as Jessie, after listing something] "... and what have ya."
- [when Signing off] "Guys, I love you very much. And I'll see you again soon."
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Boogie (and Francis) will parody this, both characters are not ashamed to act bizarre on camera.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Francis, when playing a video game he is not as skilled at, such as Flappy Bird or QWOP.
- Comical Overreacting: Francis's reactions to losing in video games or hearing unsettling news.
- Crossover: Boogie joined the Yogscast for their charity livestreams in 2015.
- Although when he had a crossover with McJuggerNuggets, he had a very slight personality change in the The Boogie Series.
- Although when he had a crossover with McJuggerNuggets, he had a very slight personality change in the The Boogie Series
- Dark and Troubled Past: Boogie had one that is explored in detail in his "Draw My Life" video.
- Dysfunctional Family: Boogie had one of these as a child.
- Eye Scream: Boogie claims that his mother attempted to gouge his eyes out while they were sitting in a car together, and that Boogie had to jump out of a moving vehicle to escape.
- Everyone Has Standards: Francis cannot stand Karens.
- Fat Slob: Francis, as revealed in this P.O.V. video.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Francis will record himself flying off the handle for relatively minor news.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen:
- Francis' sister (usually played by his ex-wife), who is often behind the camera when Francis is not using his webcam for vlogs.
- Jesse Jr.
- Hot-Blooded: Francis will get very animated when discussing video games issues that he is passionate about.
- Idiot Ball: Francis once made a massive Creeper in Minecraft... but unwisely decided to make its insides entirely TNT, so as to make it more realistic (since Creepers are natural Action Bombs). Someone had the great (dis)pleasure of igniting one of the TNT blocks.
- Jerkass: Judging by Francis' interactions with his friends and family, he is difficult to please.
- Large Ham: Francis' over-the-top reactions to even the slightest dissatisfactions in gaming trends.
- Made of Explodium: Francis decided to fill a giant Creeper statue he made in Minecraft with TNT. You can probably guess what happened next.
- Manchild: Francis plays video games and collects consoles, memorabilia, and magic cards. Whose fury fueled foolery or bad temper can result in childish behavior.
- Mundane Made Awesome: "Dramatic Fat Guy Splash" (and its sequels), a video of Boogie falling backwards into a pool. The original video is so mundanely awesome that it's become his most popular upload of all time!
- No-Neck Chump: Boogie has jokingly stated that he doesn't have a neck.
- Thankfully, this trope is no longer true & is actually subverted or even averted after his weight-loss routine in 2018! Losing enough weight to show a neck.
- Offscreen Villainy:
- Francis's DM, Steve, who not only made off with his girlfriend Charlene, but cheated in their DND sessions.
- Whoever hacked Francis' World of Warcraft and League of Legends accounts.
- Parody:
- Francis Rages - Where's My Goddamned Mountain Dew? is a parody of Angry Grandpa can't find his Pecan Pinwheels! from The Angry Grandpa
- Francis Says Dont Call me FAT! STOP CALLING ME FAT! is an obvious parody of the Norms Bar Stool viral video in which he rages about children calling him fat online.
- Francis's Video For Briona parodies My Video for Briona
- Francis Attempts to go Super Saiyan is a parody of a YouTube video in which a kid attempts to go Super Saiyan.
- Francis Meal Time - Mountain Dew Stew (Epic Meal Time Parody)
- FRANCIS GETS PRANKED (GONE WRONG) (GONE SEXUAL) KILLING MY BEST FRIEND (IN THE HOOD) parodies various YouTube prank videos.
- Francis Rages - Where's My Goddamned Mountain Dew?
- Once an Episode: Expect Francis to knock the camera over at the end of his rage videos.
- Percussive Maintenance: Francis uses a dumbbell to try to fix a broken Nerf gun.
- Precious Puppy: Boogie got a dog, Sammy, in October of 2015, who stars in a Francis video as the new dog that David (Francis' roommate) gets for Francis to keep him company in FRANCIS MEETS SAMMY THE DOG.
- Precision F-Strike: Francis will reserve these for rant videos.
- Poe's Law: Lampshaded by Boogie. Viewers of Boogie's videos will occasionally mistake Francis' hammy rages as genuine outbursts, not realizing that Francis is a character that Boogie plays.
- P.O.V. Cam: A few Francis videos are shot from his point of view as he sits at his computer, shops at Walmart, goes to Planet Comicon 2013, goes to Vidcon 2014, or plays Flappy Bird.
- Rage Quit: Francis will not only do this when recorded playing video games, he will flip out and walk away from his own rage videos.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: After Boogie and Dez got a divorce, Boogie filmed a video of Francis coming home from "fat camp" (really, finishing the recovery from his weight loss surgery) only to realize his sister had quietly moved out in the meantime.
- Sad Clown: While he acts as Francis, his outrages can be comedic and while growing up he was regarded as funny and cool by his friends, but Boogie's past is arguably one of the most tragic due to systematic abuse from his mother and from others while growing up, multiple suicide attempts, serious health complications from his obesity, and body confidence issues. Due to his experiences, Boogie suffers from PTSD and various other disorders.
- Self-Deprecation: Too many examples to list; some of them funny, others not.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: Francis' sister discovers that Francis spent 380 dollars on Candy Crush Saga in this video.
- Sincerity Mode: Boogie will often follow up a "Francis Rages" video with a calm and collected appraisal of a game or an issue, in which he voices his honest opinion.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Francis, of course.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Francis' roommate, David. It doesn't help when David is dating Francis' sister.
- Speech Impediment: Francis suffers from a comically exaggerated lisp and an occasional stutter.
- Spell My Name With An S: Jessy's name is alternately spelled "Jesse".
- Suddenly Shouting: When you see a video in which Francis claims that he's "not going to get mad", you know this is coming.
- Sweet Tooth: Francis has one, especially for Mountain Dew.
- Trademark Favorite Food: More like "Trademark Favorite Drink" when it comes to the aforementioned Mountain Dew.
- Tranquil Fury: He took this approach when he found out Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) had a time lock on Arcade Mode that prevented him from earning any more credits until enough time had passed.Boogie: "More credits available in 3 hours?" More credits available in 3 hours... "We're sorry. You were enjoying Arcade Mode too much, so we had to stop giving you prizes. I'm sorry... I'm sorry, were you enjoying Arcade Mode? Because you have to wait THREE HOURS to earn more credits." Are you FUCKING SHITTING ME?
- Unseen Character:
- Steve, Francis's dungeon master.
- Francis' girlfriend (and later ex-girlfriend), Charlene.
- Jessy Junior, Jessy's son.
- The Voiceless: Francis has a somewhat catatonic brother who has appeared in several Francis videos such as Francis' Star Wars Christmas video and his Mario Maker rage video.
- Wham Episode: "Francis Gets Abandoned By His Sister" is probably the most heartbreaking Francis video, with Francis returning home from fat camp to learn that his sister left home while he was away (and forbade him from visiting or even talking talking to her again). It's a striking departure in tone from the majority of Francis videos, which usually have some humor in them.
