xkcdHatGuy

About

xkcdHatGuy, also known as HatGuy or thexkcdHatGuy, is a YouTuber most known for his 2010 viral video called "4th Dimension Explained By a High-School Student" in which he described the complex, scientific theory despite being a high schooler. Starting in 2013, xkcdHatGuy's YouTube channel went dormant, leading to mass speculation over whether he was missing or dead. In 2019, he fully returned to YouTube on a new channel, stating that he had forgotten his YouTube password and also struggled with autism and schizoaffective disorder. Additionally, his channel's name is a reference to the webcomic xkcd.

Online History

On January 5th, 2010, YouTuber^[1] xkcdHatGuy posted his first video^[2] titled "4th Dimension Explained By A High-School Student." The roughly nine-minute-long video showed xkcdHatGuy talking into his webcam, explaining the complexity of the 4th dimension in layman's terms. Over the course of 13 years, the video received roughly 33.9 million views and 1.5 million likes (shown below).

The video's virality led to a growing YouTube following for xkcdHatGuy who continued to post content going into 2013 with each of his videos gaining close to a million views. For instance, on October 11th, 2013, he uploaded a video^[3] titled "there has always been a cure for cancer," which received roughly 1.8 million views and 65,000 likes in 10 years (shown below, left). On December 30th, 2013, he uploaded a video^[4] titled "self-enforcing consequences of drug abuse" that earned roughly 2.8 million views and 82,000 likes in 10 years (shown below, right).

xkcdHatGuy's YouTube Hiatus and Return

After his December 2013 upload,^[4] xkcdHatGuy's YouTube channel went dormant. A few years later, on August 8th, 2019, a new YouTube^[5] channel called thexkcdHatGuy posted a video^[6] titled "Never Before Released Original xkcdHatGuy Video" (shown below, left). The channel was seemingly a new channel created by the actual xkcdHatGuy, however, it wasn't confirmed that it was the real xkcdHatGuy until a video^[7] the channel uploaded on September 4th, 2019, titled "My Return to YouTube and Why I Left." In the video, an older xkcdHatGuy is seen who explains his hiatus. Over the course of three years, the video received roughly 474,000 views and 24,000 likes (shown below, right).

Going into the early 2020s, interest in xkcdHatGuy's story returned to the internet. For instance, on January 14th, 2022, YouTuber wavywebsurf posted a video^[8] about xkcdHatGuy and his online history, earning roughly 3.7 million views and 117,000 likes in one year (shown below).

Following

By March 22nd, 2023, xkcdHatGuy's original YouTube^[1] channel had amassed roughly 449,000 subscribers, his second YouTube^[5] channel had amassed roughly 162,000 subscribers and his Twitter^[9] account had amassed roughly 2,000 followers.

Search Interest

External References