Gavin McInnes
Encyclopedia
Gavin Miles McInnes is a Canadian
writer
, musician
, and comedian
. Referred to as "The Godfather of hipsterdom" and "the primary architect of hipsterdom" McInnes is often well known in the contemporary hipster
movement mostly via Vice Magazine’s “DOs & DON’Ts” column.
, England
and moved to Canada
when he was 4. His parents are Glaswegian.
and Shane Smith, McInnes founded Vice Magazine
in 1994. Originally a low-budget magazine entitled Voice of Montreal, Vice has since expanded itself into a glossy, mass-market magazine, a record label, a film company, and a clothing line — among other projects.
Gavin McInnes was the most public figure associated with Vice, due to the popularity of his contributions to the magazine, and his outspoken, occasionally controversial nature. He wrote hundreds of articles for the magazine, including The Vice Guide to Eating Pussy, and he was the author of the magazine's regular "DOs and DON'Ts" feature.
In 2006, he appeared on the Toronto-based Canadian comedy show Kenny vs Spenny as the judge of that episode's competition, Who is Cooler?
Prior to starting Vice magazine, McInnes published ten issues of a Montreal-based minicomic
called Pervert (1993–95) and played in a number of Ottawa-area punk bands (Anal Chinook and Leatherassbuttfuk, with Aidan Girt
, among others).
McInnes split from the other founders of Vice in 2007 due to "creative differences," a possible reference to their recent affiliation with Viacom via VBS.tv. After leaving Vice, McInness founded a company called Street Carnage with Derrick Beckles.
He is currently writing a book of memoirs for Simon & Schuster
entitled How to Piss in Public and developing shows for television. He is also currently in a 1980s hardcore
cover band
called 80s Hardcore, and a columnist for Taki's Magazine.
McInnes currently serves as the Creative Director for Rooster, an advertising agency
in New York City
and he is a regular on the Fox News show Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld.
’s Carleton University
and received a BA in English from Montreal’s Concordia University
in 1994. In 1999, he moved to New York City. In 2004, he married Emily Jendrisak, a Ho-Chunk
First Nations. In 2006, their daughter Sophie Whiterabbit McInnes was born and in 2008, their son Duncan Whitethunder McInnes was born.
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
. Referred to as "The Godfather of hipsterdom" and "the primary architect of hipsterdom" McInnes is often well known in the contemporary hipster
Hipster (contemporary subculture)
Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...
movement mostly via Vice Magazine’s “DOs & DON’Ts” column.
Early life
McInnes was born in HitchinHitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
when he was 4. His parents are Glaswegian.
Career
Along with Suroosh AlviSuroosh Alvi
Suroosh Alvi is a Pakistani Canadian journalist and film-maker who was among the co-founders of Montreal-based Vice magazine alongside Shane Smith and Gavin McInnes in 1994. As well as being a media critic, Alvi has also worked on creating documentaries about places deemed dangerous in the Middle...
and Shane Smith, McInnes founded Vice Magazine
Vice (magazine)
VICE is a free magazine and media conglomerate founded in Montreal, Quebec and currently based in New York City.Vice is available in 27 countries...
in 1994. Originally a low-budget magazine entitled Voice of Montreal, Vice has since expanded itself into a glossy, mass-market magazine, a record label, a film company, and a clothing line — among other projects.
Gavin McInnes was the most public figure associated with Vice, due to the popularity of his contributions to the magazine, and his outspoken, occasionally controversial nature. He wrote hundreds of articles for the magazine, including The Vice Guide to Eating Pussy, and he was the author of the magazine's regular "DOs and DON'Ts" feature.
In 2006, he appeared on the Toronto-based Canadian comedy show Kenny vs Spenny as the judge of that episode's competition, Who is Cooler?
Prior to starting Vice magazine, McInnes published ten issues of a Montreal-based minicomic
Minicomic
A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term "small press comic" is equivalent with minicomic reserved for those publications measuring A6 or less...
called Pervert (1993–95) and played in a number of Ottawa-area punk bands (Anal Chinook and Leatherassbuttfuk, with Aidan Girt
Aidan Girt
Aidan Girt is a Canadian drummer for the Montreal-based post-rock collectives, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Exhaust. He is also a solo electronic artist under the moniker 1-Speed Bike and occasionally Bottleskup Flenkenkenmike....
, among others).
McInnes split from the other founders of Vice in 2007 due to "creative differences," a possible reference to their recent affiliation with Viacom via VBS.tv. After leaving Vice, McInness founded a company called Street Carnage with Derrick Beckles.
He is currently writing a book of memoirs for Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
entitled How to Piss in Public and developing shows for television. He is also currently in a 1980s hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
called 80s Hardcore, and a columnist for Taki's Magazine.
McInnes currently serves as the Creative Director for Rooster, an advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and he is a regular on the Fox News show Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld.
Personal life
McInnes attended OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
’s Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
and received a BA in English from Montreal’s Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
in 1994. In 1999, he moved to New York City. In 2004, he married Emily Jendrisak, a Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
First Nations. In 2006, their daughter Sophie Whiterabbit McInnes was born and in 2008, their son Duncan Whitethunder McInnes was born.
Pranks
- In 1995, McInnes convinced a journalist from Quebec’s Le DevoirLe DevoirLe Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
that he and fellow co-founder Shane Smith were gay lovers. The resulting story featured the two embracing. - In 1999, McInnes convinced a journalist from Ottawa’s The CitizenOttawa CitizenThe Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
that Vice was merging with MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. The resulting article was three full pages. This prank later became somewhat true when MTV launched The Vice Guide to Everything in 2010. - In 2009, McInnes convinced a journalist at The Village VoiceThe Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
that he had been knocked out after losing a challenge to an MMAMixed martial artsMixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
fighter. The footage was actually an outtake from a failed TV pilot. - In 2010, McInnes convinced a journalist at Gawker.comGawker.comGawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
that he had eaten a bowl of urine-soaked corn flakesCorn flakesCorn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
after not winning their “Hipster of the Decade” competition. The footage was actually an outtake from a collection of comedy sketches called "Gavin McInnes is a Fucking Asshole".
Film & TV
McInnes also acts and stars in documentaries and usually plays himself. In 2009 a short film he produced and starred in, called Asshole, was included in the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
.
Film
- 2006 The Vice Guide to Travel — as himself
- 2008 Sophie Can Walk — as himself
- 2009 Asshole — as Vincent Allen
- 2010 A Million in the Morning — as host
- 2010 Gavin McInnes is a Fucking Asshole
TV
- 2006 Kenny Vs Spenny — as a Cool Judge
- 2006 Air Guitar Nation — as a judge
- 2008 Last Call With Carson Daly — as himself
- 2010 Last Call With Carson Daly — as himself
- 2011 Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld — as himself
Books
- 2003 The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (Warner Books)
- 2004 Vice Dos and Don'ts: 10 Years of VICE Magazine's Street Fashion Critiques (Grand Central)
- 2008 Dos & Don'ts 2: 13 Years of Vice Magazine's Street Fashion Critiques (Powerhouse)
- 2009 Street Boners: 1,764 Hipster Fashion Jokes (Grand Central)