Andrew Callaghan begins his CHANNEL 5 LIVE tour in San Luis Obispo
Beloved investigative journalist and YouTuber Andrew Callaghan began his “CHANNEL 5 LIVE” tour at the Fremont Theater on Thursday, Nov. 3. The show featured never-before-seen clips of Callaghan’s upcoming a24-produced film, as well as performances from rappers and magicians.
Callaghan, who is known for his deadpan and wry journalism style, began his career back in 2019. With his first YouTube channel, “All Gas No Brakes,” Callaghan began to document what he often described as “America’s underbelly” while visiting flat earth conventions, Burning Man and the Talladega Superspeedway, to name a few. This content brought Callaghan and his team to seemingly every corner of the country.
Following a split with their old publisher, Callaghan and his team created a new channel called “Channel 5,” which keeps their trademark humor but also approaches more serious topics with a more grounded lens. As of today, the team has covered the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as the supreme court decision to overturn Roe V. Wade. With these, Callaghan still maintains his tendency to cover outlandish events such as “SatanCon” and a World’s Strongest Man weightlifting tournament.
Thursday’s show marked the first stop of Channel 5’s first-ever live tour. The crowd anxiously hummed before the show, not quite knowing what to expect. Finally, the lights darkened and Callaghan took the stage in the form of a video presentation. Dressed in his typically oversized formal wear, Callaghan announced the beginning of the show and then rewarded the audience with a series of new clips from the upcoming documentary.
Callaghan then took the stage in person, appearing in a vintage Cal Poly crewneck, and proceeded to introduce himself and some of his team, including Nic Mosher and Evan Gilbert-Katz. After this brief interlude, the audience was shown clips of an upcoming Channel 5 animation, and a full Channel 5 video that was deemed NSFW (not safe or suitable for work) for YouTube and even Patreon.
Interspersed between video clips were surprise live performances from memorable characters featured in Channel 5 videos. Namely, “The Hoff Twins” and “Uncle Pill” both took the stage to rap The show concluded with a Q&A session hosted by KCPR’s very own David Aronson. With the Q&A, the audience gained insight into Callaghan and his team’s process for filming and creating their videos. Questions were asked about interacting with the many eccentric subjects of Channel 5 videos and the process of creating their first documentary. The Channel 5 team seemed to be having just as much fun as the audience was.
Channel 5 is continuing to tour the country, making their next stop tonight in Bellingham, WA.
