Deprogramming his audience one viral video at a time, Greg Wycliffe is a fearless YouTube commentator, covering current events with his own unique flavour of political dissent.
Wycliffe first came to prominence first during the 2019 Canadian Federal election as a candidate for the People’s Party of Canada with his funny and inventive viral videos. He later cemented his reputation for telling truth to power in February 2022, as one of the most honest reporters on the ground during the Ottawa Freedom Rally protests.
Using music and comedy to expose corruption and highlight stupidity in an attempt to hold the incompetent accountable, this popular YouTuber continues to question censorship and the mainstream media narrative with regular videos including his new parody music video THEY LIE.
Get Woke Up! with Greg Wycliffe in a candid and unredacted Q and A
GWU: You first started making YouTube videos in support of raising awareness around your PPC candidacy in the 2019 Canadian Federal election. Those videos quickly morphed into funny debunking rebuttals against the negative press your party was receiving in the mainstream media. What made you keep making videos long after the election was over? We have a sneaking suspicion that there was something that happened around three years ago that kept the creative fires burning.
My initial goal in joining politics was to inspire other Canadians to actually care about politics in THEIR OWN COUNTRY. So after growing a modest YouTube audience after the 2019 campaign I thought continuing to make content was an opportunity to just do that – get more people interested in Canadian politics.
Typically events and news items that get me angry inspire my creativity and drive. The firing of Don Cherry on Remembrance Day happened soon after the election which inspired a few pieces of content: a poem called ““You People”, a parody song “Cancel Culture Game” and I also interviewed a bunch of people at the Protests against Don Cherry getting fired.
And come to think of it, that Don Cherry protest was the first time I interviewed protesters in my plaid onesie, an outfit I wore regularly during my interviews at the Trucker Convoy. And yes the lockdowns gave me lots to talk about and lots of time to do it.
GWU: How would you divide the blame for the current ideological state of Canada? Between the government, the institutions and the media there’s plenty of blame to go around. Is part of the problem that Canadians are just too ‘nice’ to push back on the ham fisted overreach of these three stooges?
Definitely the media. I got involved in politics because the bias of Canadian news media was becoming more and more obnoxious and socially destructive. After a certain point of whining about it on Reddit I had had enough and decided to get involved with the PPC in 2018.
The media carries the lionshare of the blame in my opinion because they hold a very important responsibility in a democratic country: holding the government and our other institutions accountable.
When the news media in a democratic country fails to hold these institutions accountable they are not doing their job and by definition our democracy is in jeopardy. I am sure I don’t have to list the countless examples of how mainstream media news misinformation has caused social and economic destruction in Canada… I could talk on this topic for hours so let’s keep it moving.
GWU: Born and raised in Kingston, Ontario as the son of a metallurgist and a school teacher, did you always know you wanted to entertain and inform?
How do you know that? CSIS is that you? Did I disclose this in an old video or interview? Lol.
GWU: Get Woke Up! can neither confirm, deny nor comment on this issue.
I was always a big fan of stand-up comedy growing up. I loved George Carlin, Mad TV, South Park, and obscure short-lived cartoons like The Oblongs and Mission Hill. On a certain level I think I knew I liked entertaining people but I was a very, very awkward kid throughout public school and my high school years. Aside from sketch videos, me and my friends made in drama class I was always a shadow artist never really brave enough to proclaim it was something I wanted to pursue.
GWU: How did your formal training in media studies and radio from Western University prepare you for what you do now?
I always make the joke that my education at Fanshawe College helped get me an interview for a job and my university education from Western University helps me get into deep abstract discussions at dinner parties.
The two most useful things I did that helped me develop my skills was the hands-on education I got at Fanshawe College for Radio Broadcasting and Door-to-Door sales.
The skills you learn in radio are very transferable to every other media format. It teaches you to write effectively, it teaches you to hold people’s attention, and it teaches you all sorts of other background stuff like building a talk show, making radio ads, branding a radio station effectively, and the importance of harnessing your voice as an announcer.
Doing Door-to-Door sales for two summers and a spring was a crash course on polishing my social skills and building confidence. I highly recommend sales jobs like this when you are young. It forces you out of your comfort zone, it forces you to deal with rejection, failures, and to confront profound truths about yourself, your character, and human nature. It’s challenging but very rewarding. Sales is also one of the most valuable skills you can have regardless of your professional or life trajectory. Sales teaches you useful life skills, period.
When it comes to how valuable my university education was. Well, aside from the diploma looking good on my resume, my studies at Western helped me understand the context of media in our society. It gave me a healthy sense of paranoia that pushed me into politics in the first place. Thanks to this education on media theory I was confident in my assertions that there are definitely major cracks in the foundation of Canadian democracy with such a flagrantly biased news media.
GWU: Your streeter interviews from Ottawa in February 2021 featured some of the most brutally honest and tear wrenching moments of video covering the protest. (Eat your heart out CBC! Wait, they would probably like that. Sickos.) It was a job that you did with diligence, compassion and humour. Was it difficult to transition from doing funny political commentary pre-pandemic to becoming a reporter seemingly overnight during the Freedom Rally?
Not at all. I am always traversing between funny to serious with my content as I do in conversations with friends and loved ones. A lot of the humour honestly comes from anxiety and nervousness when facing an unacceptable and completely inconceivable situation.
I have done street interviews in the past at Fanshawe College but there was something about the Trucker Convoy that made interviewing strangers easier than ever. Probably because practically everyone in attendance really wanted to be there, were brave for even showing up, and were ready to open up their hearts to someone willing to listen. I was honoured and feel very lucky to have been in the right place at the right time 🙂
GWU: How do you describe what the Freedom Rally was to normies who bought the ‘Occupation’ portrayal by the lame stream media?
I pray for them. If I do get into a conversation with someone like this I keep it brief and assure them that they’ve been lied to. I tell them that I interviewed over three hundred people at the Convoy and I wouldn’t characterize it as a “Right wing” protest. In the final days especially it was people who had lost their jobs because of mandates, freedom loving Hippie types and a lot of immigrants who have experienced living under authoritarianism before. If they’re actually open to listening I will tell them the story of Jeremy Mackenzie and Diagolon, but I’ve discovered indoctrinated people will not even consider things in their mind if they unconsciously know they can’t accept it.
GWU: What is it about the mainstream press in Canada and North America in general that has made so many people lose faith in it and turn to independent creators such as yourself to get their news?
If you look at what goes viral online on TikTok, instagram, wherever, typically there is a common denominator to the content: authenticity. People like to watch people and content that is REAL. They want to watch something that reflects real life with its highs, lows, struggles and imperfections. The mainstream media is becoming more and more fake, propagandized, and contrived. People, especially young people, are very sensitive to fake sh*t. We are living through the most sophisticated marketing propaganda campaign that the history of the world has ever seen. So anyone who has at least one foot firmly grounded in reality will start to ask questions if they don’t succumb to the propaganda. Alternative news media is growing right now in Canada and I am very excited to be a part of it.
GWU: Was your content banned on TikTok? What has online censorship been like since you first started making videos versus now?
My first TikTok account @gddub got banned at 50K subscribers with over one million likes. Internet censorship is a big topic that I could talk for hours on. But to answer your question briefly … I saw two major changes to YouTube policy which were alarmingly political over the past three years. 1 – Medical Misinformation – you’re not allowed to say negative things about the covid vaccine. 2 – Claims of Election Fraud – you’re not allowed to say or suggest there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 American Election.
There’s a lot to be said about Internet censorship on big tech platforms but in my opinion these two official community guidelines on YouTube are most disturbing as it confirms that big tech platforms objectively have a political bias. Elon Musk is revealing that Twitter had what basically could be considered an official bias, complete with FBI agents keeping tabs on the content. The censorship is getting worse but there is a lot of growing hope I have for alternative platforms being viable for wrong-thinkers out there. Elon is showing some promise but I only trust him about 80%. TikTok is a great way to reach people but it’s a total crap shoot when it comes to censorship especially when you’re dealing with comedy regarding any topic that isn’t 100% squeaky clean like dogs and bubble gum.
GWU: The ground breaking social observational comedian, George Carlin was one of your early inspirations, what is your favourite Carlin quote?
“Sometimes a little brain damage can help.”
GWU: Musical parodies are a highlight of your videos. They feel authentic and sincere but also sound and look like broadcast television (two things TV rarely are!). Aside from the infuriating politics of the day and global events, what and who (aside from Carlin) are your influences both musically and creatively?
Musically the biggest genres I enjoy are Classic Rock and 90s Hip Hop. I like a lot of The Beatles, Biggie Smalls, Big L, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Nas, Das EFX, Tribe Called Quest, ABBA. Musical Contemporaries I enjoy are Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Ye, Bo Burnham, Value Select, Lil Dicky, Ben Folds, Bryson Gray, An0maly, Greg Arcade. Greg is a very talented Musician and Producer in Canada who has helped me produce all of my professional releases. Check him out at GregArcade.com
I like any performance that can push the boundaries, entertain me, and also draw attention to things meaningful whether it’s about the nature of ourselves or the world we live in. Sam Hyde has made a lot of inspiring work and believe it or not there are a number of young creators on TikTok that I believe were producing the funniest content going during the pandemic. We live in a fascinating era where a random TikTok teenager armed with their creativity and a smartphone can create content infinitely more funny and relatable on no budget compared to Jimmy Fallon and his multimillion dollar late night show. Fallon and Kimmel don’t hold a candle to the wit of some of these kids on TikTok. frfr 100%
I’ll also add that PewDiePie’s diss track “Coco” that was banned from YouTube deserves way more credit and attention than it gets. Speaking again of Big Tech censorship, I made a video about how absurd it was for YouTube to ban Pewdiepie’s music video. It was as if his artistic license was not valid on YouTube despite being the largest independent creator on the platform … meanwhile musicians like 6ixNine Billie Ellish or Nicki Minaj can have all types degenerate imagery in their music videos and no one cares, presumably because they are represented on YouTube by a massive record label.
GWU: One of your sharpest videos showed viewers what government press conferences would be like if Public Health departments were honest. At one point in the video the Public Health official says: “We at Health Canada follow the science. And when we say follow the science we mean obey the directives of a back room full of unelected officials who determine what your freedoms will be week by week. And as Barbara Yaffee said, I just say what they write down for me.” What were you feeling when you wrote and performed that sketch? Did saying that and other heresy out loud feel like acts of rebellion at the time?
LOL what a question… I laugh because usually I get a similar feeling when I do a sketch like this. Whether it’s when I’m writing, filming or editing it. When the humour and message just clicks I get this satisfying feeling that can only be described as indignantly and righteously saying “f*ck these people.”
I hate liars and dishonest fake people and it upsets me when dishonest people take advantage of others and get away with it… These people who have lost their moral compass and are complicit in dishonesty and corruption are enabling evil in order to secure their pay cheque. So it feels good to be able to use my platform to call them out and hopefully humiliate them in the eyes of the Canadians who are paying attention. It’s also satisfying on another level of simply getting to see what was an idea in my head turn into reality. It’s like discovering fire for the first time over and over again!
GWU: The character (who you played in a stunning and brave blonde wig) goes on to explain to mostly sycophantic reporters how the government will encourage the vaccine hesitant to get jabbed. How much of your art was made easy by simply imitating reality?
I made a sketch with a nearly identical premise that went kinda viral in 2020. “If Liberal Health Ministers were Honest”. “If ____ were honest” became a handy writing prompt that I now come back to regularly. “It’s funny because it’s true” as many commenters say.
In my opinion, making people laugh is a very strange business these days. So many things happen now that are beyond parody. Like the Federal Government is now encouraging mentally ill people to kill themselves if they feel like it. How do you even poke holes in something that is already so insane?
Justin Trudeau told a veteran with one leg that “he’s asking for more than he’s able to give right now.” These situations have gone so far past the pale that you could make a political cartoon about these two scenarios as they happened and they would both already read like comic strips.
I never thought of myself as a comedian until so many people who watched my content insisted that I was. I’ve always thought of what I do as exposing corrupt people, highlighting stupidity, and trying to hold incompetent people accountable. The music and comedy are simply vehicles to make the message entertaining and engaging for people to take in.
I just try to summarize the absurdity of our reality and the hypocrisy of these people as quickly as possible. I sometimes think of my comedy videos as comic strips that attempt to expose the most flagrant and obnoxious examples of hypocrisy in the fewest amount of frames. Like any good meme. It’s byte sized. Or as Shakespeare said: brevity is the soul of wit.
GWU: Our final and most important question … Who would win in a pie eating contest – former CNN talking head Brian Stelter or the CBC’s Rosie Barton?
This question is racist.
