About
Stuart Ashen known online as Ashens, is a British comedian, actor, animator and reviewer who started his career as an extra in British comedy and satirical series’ and eventually gained a large YouTube following in the years following 2009 for his reviews of generally poorly produced bootleg wares, tastings of poor or out of date consumables and various comedy sketches. He has since gained 900k subscribers to his YouTube Channel with 200 million overall views.
History
Stuart Clive Ashen was born on the 16th of December 1976 and has subsequently achieved a PhD in Psychology. Ashen’s started his acting career in 2003 appearing as extras in various satirical productions along with a minor presence on the web under the moniker Dr Ashen. Between 2007 to 2011, Ashen’s has appeared in various British comedy and satirical shows such as Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe and The Armstrong and Miller Show. He has also starred in a few online projects such as Ashens Techdump and Sci-Fi series The Proxy.
YouTube Career
Since 2006, Ashen started the YouTube page “Ashens” in which Ashen created reviews for old and poor quality electronic products, these reviews being interspersed with various comedy clips and animations. In 2010 given the good reaction and small following to his previous work, Ashen increased the production of his review series having at least an episode a week. Since then, the Ashens channel has grown into a satirical comedy review channel with many different series and projects being undertaken by Ashen.
Poundland Special
One of the most popular series Ashen produces is the Poundland Special series. Poundland is a chain of reduced item stores in the UK with a similar concept to American 99 cent stores. Due to the poor quality of consumer products on sale at these stores, Ashen’s reviews of these products with emphasis being placed on their over advertised quality against their proper quality has lead to a series of comedic videos showing the typical quality one can expect from such a store.
Bootleg and “Tat” Reviews
Similar to the Poundland Special reviews, Ashen has also received numerous bootleg and worthless products for him to review by his fan base. These products include fake iPhones, Tablets, Phones, Electronic devices, toys and other “tat” which are reviewed to the same standard as their genuine counterparts. Due to this, the juxtaposition between the strange characteristics of the bootleg material against the genuine material has lead to various comedic moments.
Food Special
Along side his videos of consumer products, Ashen also tastes and reviews various poor quality or out of date food. These foods have ranged from infamous food products such as the “Full chicken in a can”, “Sandwich in a can”, “Poundland all day breakfast” and various out of date foods such as 17 year old chocolate and 30 year old beer. Ashen’s subsequent reactions to the food’s appearance and taste have made this series become a fan favourite and caused the series to be occasional rather than stick to its original one off special.
Popular Creations
Sad Onions.
Sad Onions refers to Ashen’s term for the standard age restriction logo on toys and materials for children which Ashen describes as a Sad Onion. Due to the reoccurring gag on various Ashens videos, the phase Sad Onion has became a popular term among fans of the channel along with the description now being widely used to refer to the age restriction logo.
An Excellent Product
An Excellent Product refers to the Chef Excellence range of “Stay Fresh Resealable Bags” which were reviewed by Ashen during his Poundland Special 2 Review. Due to the poor quality of packaging and the amateur artwork used on the front of the packaging combined with a stock photo of a chef as a mascot, the product was lambasted as the definition of Poundland tat. The phase “An Excellent Product” subsequently became a joke referring to the poor quality of a product Ashen was currently reviewing with it being likened to the “Stay Fresh” bags.
The Brown Sofa
The Brown Couch refers to Ashen’s brown suede sofa which has became a staple of the channel. Due to it ubiquitous nature in most of Ashen’s video reviews, the sofa has became a popular symbol of the channel with it appearing in fan art and it being one of the Ashens trademarks.