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Ze Frank
Ze Frank
from Wikipedia

Hosea Jan "Ze" Frank (/ˈz/; born March 31, 1971) is an American online performance artist, composer, humorist and public speaker based in Los Angeles.[2]

Key Information

Personal life

[edit]

Frank was born to German-American parents (his father is Chemistry Nobel Laureate Joachim Frank) and raised in a suburb of Albany, New York. He has a sister, who is a painter, as was indicated in his series the show with zefrank.[3]

Frank was educated at a Montessori school, known for its constructivist teaching methods, and graduated with a B.S. in neuroscience from Brown University in 1995.[2] At the university, he played guitar and sang lead vocals for a funk/jam band called Dowdy Smack, along with Blues Traveler bassist Tad Kinchla, until its dissolution in 1998.[citation needed]

In 2003, Frank married his longtime girlfriend Jody Brandt,[4] whom he had met at Brown University. Brandt is a licensed psychologist.[citation needed]

At the end of 2008, Frank and his wife Jody moved from Brooklyn Heights, in New York City, to Westwood, in Los Angeles.[citation needed]

Frank was listed as second author on a paper published in The Journal of Neuroscience,[5] which was featured briefly in episode 21 of a show, on May 25, 2012, called My Pupils, explaining that his study of neuroscience of vision was motivated by his harmless anisocoria condition.[6]

Career

[edit]
Frank at VidCon 2010

In 2001, Frank created an online birthday invitation and sent it to seventeen of his closest friends. Forwarded wildly, the invitation soon generated millions of hits and over 100 gigabytes of daily web traffic to Frank's personal website.[7] The site grew to include interactive group projects, short films, animations, and video games, many Flash-based, including children's educational videos featuring handy tips such as "Don't vacuum your face."

Frank won a 2002 Webby Award for Personal Website (People's Voice) and in 2005, he was featured in Time's "50 Coolest Websites."[8] Frank debuted onstage at Mark Hurst's first annual Gel conference in 2003. In 2006, his YouTube channel "zefrank1" was created, which hosts the popular True Facts series. He has spoken for many years at TED Conferences, with presentations in 2004, 2005,[9] 2008, 2010,[10] and 2014.[11]

Frank has served as an adjunct professor at ITP/NYU, Parsons School of Design, and SUNY Purchase.

Discussing his work in the digital medium, and the potential of new platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, Frank said, "For me, experimentation is not about the technology. In an ever-changing technological landscape, where today's platforms are not tomorrow's platforms, the key seems to be that any one of these spaces can use a dose of humanity and art and culture."[12]

Frank was formerly the president of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures,[13] and from January 2018 he served as the chief research and development officer for BuzzFeed.[14] As of April 2019 Frank has moved on from BuzzFeed to pursue other endeavors.[15]

As of December 4, 2024, Frank is a member of the Advisory Board of the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance, a Frankfurt-based project with a mission to revolutionize the description and naming of marine invertebrates. [16]

the show

[edit]
the show with zefrank
Presentation
Hosted byZe Frank
Genrecomedy, current events.
UpdatesWeekdays
Production
Picture format.flv, .mov, .mp4
Publication
Original releaseMarch 17, 2006 –
March 17, 2007

On March 17, 2006, Frank launched the daily video program the show with zefrank. The format of the program combined commentary on media and current events with viewer contributions and activities. Each tightly edited three-to-five-minute episode combined Daily Show-style commentary on world events with songs, observations, and occasional games or challenges for his viewers to participate in. Thousands of photos, videos, and music files were contributed by the audience, including over 1,000 photos in one 20-hour period.[17] The show appeared each weekday until its final episode on March 17, 2007, exactly one year after its start. Following the success of the show, Frank signed with the United Talent Agency of Beverly Hills, California for representation. The Show's style has influenced many popular video bloggers today, such as the Vlogbrothers.[18]

In October 2013, Frank posted the entire library of the show episodes on YouTube, having removed them several weeks earlier from previous host blip.tv. The entire catalog was also available for purchase from his web-store at zefrank.com.

a show

[edit]
a show with zefrank
Presentation
Hosted byZe Frank
Genrecomedy, current events
Publication
Original releaseApril 9, 2012 –
November 14, 2013

On February 27, 2012, Ze Frank announced that he was going to do a thrice-weekly show, that will be "same same but different" from the show. Similar to his other projects, Frank's new venture would be a collaboration between him and his audience.[19] The new show, titled "a show" was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $146,752 in eleven days.[19] It debuted on April 9, 2012, with an episode titled "An Invocation for Beginnings". Animated dreams (short animations built around audio submitted by viewers of 'a show') were a regular weekly feature.[20] Eight months later, with the release of the "Body Karaoke" episode on November 30, 2012, "a show" and its related collaborative efforts, including "projects" and "missions" went on unannounced hiatus. No official announcement has been made regarding the status of "a show" or whether series production would resume.

On January 12 and 13, 2013, Frank hosted a public participatory showcase event at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, California, entitled "Ze Frank Weekend", featuring hands-on workshops and activities, exhibits related to "a show", and the results of collaborative "projects" and "missions" developed between April and November of the previous year.

The show continued to run on the YouTube channel "zefrankenfriends" until November 2013.

True Facts

[edit]

In December 2012, Ze Frank released a video titled "True Facts About Baby Echidnas"[21] that featured footage of echidnas and a voiceover by Frank including facts and reactions to the video footage, which has been viewed over 10 million times. Frank later released other videos in the series focusing on animals including "True Facts About the Octopus"[22] which has been viewed over 13 million times, and one video which instead focused on actor Morgan Freeman titled "True Facts About Morgan Freeman"[23] which was viewed over 12 million times. After a hiatus spanning over 3 years, Ze Frank continued the "True Facts" series with an episode titled "True Facts about the Frogfish" on April 24, 2018, and has maintained regular uploads in the series since.

Other media appearances

[edit]
Frank at VidCon 2012
  • In February 2004 Frank appeared on the TED Conference with a talk titled "What's so funny about the Web?"
  • On May 18, 2007, Frank spoke at the Ruby on Rails conference in Portland, Oregon.[24]
  • Frank was a substitute host on the July 23, 2007, edition of the PRI public radio show Fair Game with Faith Salie.[25]
  • Frank spoke at Rochester Institute of Technology as part of the monthly Caroline Werner Gannett Lecture Series on October 3, 2007.[26]
  • In March 2008, Frank MCed the Graphex Gala Awards Ceremony in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[27]
  • Frank was a featured guest on The Sound of Young America on July 17, 2008.[28]
  • On April 11, 2011, Frank hosted an online streaming benefit concert with Imogen Heap to raise funds and inform viewers regarding the plight of the Japanese people following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Frank conducted interviews with experts such as James Kondo, adviser to the Japanese Prime Minister, and architect Mark Dytham, as well as an assortment of musicians including Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, Jamie Cullum, Imogen Heap, and KT Tunstall. The event was called Live 4 Sendai (part of the Live 4 X series) and it raised funds for UNICEF, The Red Cross, and Oxfam to further their restorative efforts in the region.
  • In 2012, Frank once again attended VidCon, performing briefly onstage.
  • Frank voices the popular Dear Kitten Friskies videos.[29]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Hosea Jan "Ze" Frank (born March 31, 1972) is an American internet personality, comedian, composer, and media executive renowned for pioneering interactive online video content and fostering audience participation in . Best known for his daily The Show with Ze Frank (2006–2007), which attracted millions of viewers through humorous, collaborative segments like "Fabuloso Friday," Frank has influenced the evolution of vlogging and short-form video comedy. His work spans viral experiments, such as the 2001 How to Dance Properly—and educational humor series like True Facts, which explore animal behaviors with millions of views. Born in a suburb of , Frank grew up in the area and developed an early interest in science and performance. He studied at , where he initially pursued , , and before shifting to a more empirical field, reflecting his blend of analytical and creative pursuits. After graduating, Frank launched zefrank.com in the early 2000s, creating interactive "web toys" and stunts like the global "earth sandwich" project, which coordinated participants worldwide to press sandwiches against opposite sides of the planet on , 2006. These efforts established him as a trailblazer in , predating mainstream platforms. Frank's breakthrough came with The Show with Ze Frank, a three-minute daily video blog that ran for over 200 episodes, blending monologue, music, and viewer submissions to critique and global events. The series ended in 2007 but inspired a resurgence via Kickstarter-funded A Show in 2012, which experimented with and community-driven narratives. In 2012, he joined as vice president of video, later rising to executive vice president and head of video research and development, where he scaled the company's short-form content strategy, producing viral hits that amassed billions of views and helped become a powerhouse. He departed in 2019 to focus on independent projects. Since leaving BuzzFeed, Frank has continued creating content through his YouTube channel (zefrank1), boasting over 4 million subscribers (as of November 2025), with ongoing series like True Facts—narrated in his signature deadpan style, including episodes released in 2025—and collaborative animations such as Dear Kitten and Sad Cat Diary. A TED speaker since 2006, he has delivered talks on digital play and human connection, including "Are You Human?" at TED2014, emphasizing the role of online mischief in building empathy. Based in Los Angeles, Frank remains active as a consultant, speaker, and composer, advocating for interactive media while maintaining a focus on humor as a tool for education and social commentary.

Early life and education

Family background

Hosea Jan Frank, professionally known as Ze Frank, was born on March 31, 1972, and raised in a suburb of . His father, , is a German-American biophysicist awarded the 2017 for developing cryo-electron microscopy techniques that enable high-resolution imaging of biomolecules. His mother, Carol Saginaw, whom Joachim married in 1983, supported the family's academic pursuits after their relocation to the in the mid-1970s. Ze has a younger sister, Mariel Beth Frank, born in 1985, whose artistic career as a painter contributed to his early exposure to creative expression. The family's emphasis on and intellect shaped Frank's upbringing, fostering interests that later aligned with during his education. In 2003, Frank married his longtime partner Jody Brandt, whom he met at ; Brandt is a licensed . The couple has two children, including a daughter named Rose. At the end of 2008, Frank and Brandt relocated from , New York, to Westwood in , , to pursue emerging professional opportunities in .

Academic background

Frank attended , where he initially pursued , , and before developing an interest in and , influenced by his father's career as a prominent scientist. He pursued a major in , reflecting this focus on the intersection of and cognitive processes. In 1995, Frank earned a (B.S.) in from . His undergraduate studies provided a rigorous scientific foundation, emphasizing empirical research and interdisciplinary approaches that later informed his creative endeavors in science communication. Following graduation, Frank did not pursue advanced degrees, instead transitioning from academia to creative fields such as music and . This shift marked the beginning of his exploration into , drawing on his scientific training to bridge complex concepts with accessible, humorous narratives.

Online career

Early viral projects

Ze Frank's entry into online content creation began in 2001 with the creation of "How to Dance Properly," a short animated video invitation to his birthday party featuring rudimentary clips of himself performing absurd dance moves. Intended initially for 17 close friends, the video rapidly spread via , marking one of the earliest examples of viral web content and establishing Frank's style of low-fi, humorous digital . This breakthrough garnered widespread attention, with the video viewed millions of times and propelling Frank into the nascent world of web-based entertainment. The success of the birthday invitation led to Frank receiving the 2002 Webby Award for Best Personal Website in the People's Voice category, recognizing his innovative use of the for humorous, shareable media. Building on this momentum, Frank launched zefrank.com as a platform for experimental interactive content, including Flash-based games, looped video clips, and absurd animations that encouraged user engagement through simple, playful mechanics. These early projects, such as collaborative tools and whimsical web toys, exemplified Frank's approach to blending with digital , fostering a around serendipitous online discovery. Another notable stunt was the 2006 "earth sandwich" project, where Frank coordinated participants worldwide to press sandwiches against opposite sides of the on , highlighting his talent for global audience participation. From 2001 to 2005, this period solidified Frank's foundational role in web humor, as zefrank.com evolved into a hub for sporadic viral hits that prioritized conceptual over polished production. The site's recognition in Time magazine's "50 Coolest Websites of 2005" in the "More Funny Stuff" category highlighted its impact, praising the grab bag of absurdist videos and interactive elements as a showcase for Frank's ability to elicit laughter using basic web tools.

The Show with Ze Frank

The Show with Ze Frank launched on , 2006, building on Ze Frank's earlier success, as a pioneering five-day-a-week hosted on zefrank.com that combined sketches with commentary on current events. Episodes typically lasted two to and featured Frank's signature blend of absurd humor, rapid-fire editing, and visual effects, often delivered in a conversational style directly to the camera. The format emphasized deep audience interaction, with Frank frequently incorporating viewer-submitted emails, comments, photos, and ideas into episodes, fostering a sense of communal participation that blurred the lines between creator and audience. He composed original music and sound effects for each installment, enhancing the whimsical tone while addressing diverse topics ranging from and to everyday absurdities and social experiments. This interactive approach turned the series into a daily ritual for fans, who actively contributed content like collaborative or themed challenges. The series ran consistently every weekday until its conclusion on March 17, 2007, marking exactly one year of production and resulting in over 250 episodes produced single-handedly by Frank in his Brooklyn apartment. At its peak, it drew tens of thousands of daily viewers to the site, captivating an online audience through its innovative use of web technologies for real-time engagement. The show's cultural impact positioned it as a milestone in Web 2.0-era performance, demonstrating how user-generated input could drive serialized digital content and inspiring early web video creators, including the , whose collaborative style echoed Frank's community-driven model. Its success highlighted the potential of independent web video to build loyal followings without traditional media infrastructure, influencing the trajectory of participatory media.

A Show

In February 2012, Ze Frank announced plans to revive his earlier format through a campaign titled "A Show with Ze Frank," which sought $50,000 to fund production but ultimately raised $146,752 from 3,900 backers over 11 days. The series premiered on April 9, 2012, with an opening episode titled "An Invocation for Beginnings," marking a shift from the daily rhythm of Frank's original 2006–2007 production to a more sustainable thrice-weekly schedule. Episodes typically lasted 5 to 10 minutes and blended Frank's signature humor with interactive elements, such as audience-submitted content and participatory challenges, often exploring themes like social experiments, personal growth, and collaborative storytelling to foster a . The show ran for approximately 18 months, concluding on November 14, 2013, after producing around 100 episodes that highlighted an experimental hybrid of web video and television-style narrative depth. Produced independently in with a small team, "A Show" emphasized direct viewer involvement through online submissions and live events, evolving Frank's earlier independent efforts into a crowdfunded model that integrated digital interactivity with polished episodic structure.

True Facts

True Facts is a created by Ze Frank, consisting of short educational videos that explore animal through a lens of humorous narration and visual effects. The series debuted in December 2012 with initial episodes such as "True Facts About Baby Echidnas," released as brief videos featuring Frank's deadpan, irreverent commentary on peculiar animal traits. These early installments, including "True Facts about the Angler Fish," quickly gained traction for their blend of factual and comedic delivery, drawing on enhanced by simple animations and original . After producing a handful of episodes through 2014, the series entered a hiatus lasting several years, during which Frank focused on other projects. It resumed fully on April 24, 2018, with the episode "True Facts: Frog Fish" on the zefrank1 YouTube channel, marking a return to regular production. The format typically features videos ranging from 3 to 12 minutes, narrated by Frank in a mock-serious tone accompanied by custom music, graphics, and edited wildlife footage to highlight bizarre adaptations. Notable examples include "True Facts About the Octopus" from 2014, which has amassed over 13 million views for its witty dissection of cephalopod intelligence and camouflage, and more recent 2025 installments like "True Facts: Bats, The Science of The Hunt" and "True Facts: How Crickets Became the Soundtrack to Everything," examining echolocation and insect acoustics, respectively. Thematically, True Facts delivers absurd yet scientifically grounded explanations of zoological phenomena, such as the mating habits of deep-sea or the evolutionary quirks of , seamlessly merging with to demystify complex . By 2025, the series has produced over 50 episodes, with production continuing irregularly but consistently, often sponsored by educational platforms to support its research-intensive approach. The series has achieved significant popularity, accumulating millions of views across its episodes and contributing to the zefrank1 channel's 4.24 million subscribers. It has been praised for making accessible and entertaining, with critics highlighting Frank's clever narration as a key factor in turning niche facts into engaging, laugh-out-loud content that appeals to broad audiences.

Professional roles and contributions

BuzzFeed positions

In 2012, Ze Frank joined as Executive Vice President of Video, tasked with building a West Coast team and studio to advance social video production. In August 2014, he was elevated to President of Motion Pictures, where he oversaw the creation and expansion of the company's video content across formats from short clips to longer-form projects. Under his leadership, Motion Pictures rapidly scaled its output, achieving 1 billion monthly video views by early 2015, a milestone that highlighted the effectiveness of shareable, humor-driven content optimized for social platforms. Frank's approach at BuzzFeed drew briefly on his prior experience with , emphasizing interactive and humorous elements to boost audience engagement and virality. By 2016, the video division had evolved further, with Frank assuming the role of President of the newly formed Entertainment Group, which encompassed non-news video efforts and contributed to cumulative views reaching billions across platforms. In January 2018, Frank transitioned to the newly created position of Chief Research and Development Officer, focusing on innovation in short-form video formats, talent development partnerships, and strategies to enhance user interaction in a shifting landscape. This role allowed him to experiment with emerging technologies and content models, building on BuzzFeed's established video success to explore future-oriented initiatives like reimagined creator deals. Frank's tenure at BuzzFeed concluded on March 29, 2019, when he stepped down after nearly seven years, having played a pivotal role in transforming the company's video operations into a major driver of digital engagement. CEO noted in an internal announcement that Frank had decided to move on to new challenges, acknowledging his foundational contributions to the organization's .

Teaching and advisory work

Ze Frank has served as an at the Interactive Program (ITP) at (NYU), , and the at Purchase (SUNY Purchase). Frank joined the Advisory Board of the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA), a Frankfurt-based initiative under the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum focused on discovering, describing, and conserving marine invertebrate species to combat . He advises on strategies for ocean biodiversity communication, particularly employing humor to boost public engagement and awareness of marine science.

Public speaking and other media

TED Talks

Ze Frank has delivered three notable TED talks, each showcasing his unique blend of humor, , and insight into digital culture and experience. His presentations have collectively garnered millions of views, highlighting his role in bridging creativity with broader philosophical questions. In February 2004, at TED2004, Frank presented "Nerdcore Comedy," a 19-minute that mixed stand-up humor with demonstrations of his early web experiments, emphasizing the potential for tools to foster genuine connections amid virtual anonymity. Drawing from his pioneering online projects like interactive animations, he illustrated how simple digital playrooms could encourage participation and reinvention in spaces. The talk, which has amassed over 7.5 million views, underscored themes of web-based and in the nascent era of . Six years later, in July 2010 at TEDGlobal, Frank delivered "My Web Playroom," a 4-minute medley of quirky experiments designed to provoke deeper engagement . He showcased tools like collaborative and emoticon-based narratives, arguing that true digital bonds require active involvement rather than passive consumption. With approximately 2.3 million views, this talk evolved his earlier ideas, focusing on artful to combat isolation in . Frank's most recent TED appearance came in March 2014 at TED2014 with "Are You Human?," a brief 4-minute interactive that playfully probed through audience participation. By posing quirky, honest questions about habits and vulnerabilities, he explored digital-era self-perception and the essence of humanity beyond online personas. Viewed more than 5.5 million times, it marked a shift toward themes of personal growth and authenticity. Across these talks, Frank's evolving focus—from web innovation in 2004 to human-digital interplay by 2014—has influenced public discussions on creativity and technology, inspiring digital creators to integrate humor and interactivity into educational formats like TED. No new TED presentations by Frank have been noted as of 2025.

Other appearances

In 2011, Ze Frank hosted "Live 4 ," an interactive online performance and event on aimed at supporting efforts following the Tōhoku and in . The event featured collaborations with artists like and raised funds for organizations including , the Red Cross, and through and audience participation. Starting in 2014, Frank provided voice narration for ' "Dear Kitten" video series, produced in partnership with , where he delivered humorous, advisory monologues from the perspective of an older interacting with a , covering topics like household rules and life. The series began with the inaugural video in June 2014, which amassed millions of views and exemplified Frank's signature whimsical style in . Frank made several radio guest appearances discussing web culture and in the early , including an interview on "The Sound of Young America" (later rebranded as Bullseye with ) in July 2008, where he explored his online projects and . He also served as a substitute host on the PRI program "Fair Game with " on July 23, 2007, engaging in conversations about creativity and . These pre-2015 spots highlighted his influence on emerging online communities. In September 2025, Frank appeared at the Jackson Wild Summit, a conference on wildlife filmmaking and conservation storytelling, where he discussed strategies for creating engaging educational content on platforms like . Beyond these, Frank has made miscellaneous cameos in podcasts and early vlogs, often contributing brief humorous segments or commentary on .

References

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