So you want to be a celebrity?
In a recent newsletter, Gurwinder Bhogal shares the story of Nicholas Perry, a violin-playing vegan who aspired to become YouTube famous. After a year of failed attempts, he left behind his violin and veganism and tried a new strategy: recording himself eating meals while holding a conversation with a camera. Nikocado Avocado (his YouTube handle) was a digital lunch buddy for the lonely. These new videos got traction, and Nikocado’s digital dinner mates began to ask him to try the more expansive fare. The bigger the meals, the bigger the view count. Before Nikocado knew it, he recorded himself devouring entire McDonald’s menus in a single video. Eventually, his audience grew to 6 million subscribers, but that wasn’t the only thing to expand. The transformation was complete. A soft-spoken, thin-framed vegan named Nicholas Perry had evolved into Nikocado, a brash, dangerously overweight, dauntless devourer of calories who requires breathing apparatus. Bhogal writes, “The rampant appetite...