Biography
Norman Jacky Cyril Thavaud (born 14 April 1987), better known by his channel name Norman fait des vidéos (Norman makes videos), is a French comedian and blogger famous for his short comedic YouTube clips. Several of his videos have garnered tens of millions of views.
Born in Arras, France, on 14 April 1987, Norman's mother was a history and geography teacher, while his father, Jackie Thavaud, worked as a culture promoter and led a local cinema school. During his childhood, Norman played the saxophone for seven years at a conservatory and created numerous videos using his father's camera. After earning his high school baccalaureate in 2005, he moved to Paris to study cinema. Before becoming a video editor, he held various jobs.
At college, Norman met Hugo Dessioux (aka Hugo tout seul), and together they formed the comedic group "Le Velcrou" in March 2008. The group regularly uploaded humorous videos to the Dailymotion platform. Four months later, university friend Marc Jarousseau (aka Kemar) joined them.
Through Le Velcrou, Norman connected with Cyprien Iov (aka Monsieur Dream), another video blogger who appeared in some of their videos. In December that year, Cyprien produced "Super Mega Noël," a short Christmas-themed comedy featuring several bloggers, including Hugo and Norman.
In July 2009, Norman earned a cinematography degree from University Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Le Velcrou disbanded in October 2010, after which its members pursued individual video projects.
Late in 2010, Norman began a new format featuring short, approximately four-minute videos where he portrayed "mister average," addressing everyday topics, starting with his first solo video titled "Table tennis club." His YouTube channel was created on January 3, 2011. Two months later, he released "The bilinguals," which became his most popular video at the time and launched his rise to fame. Later videos, including "Now, I have Google," surpassed it in views. As of March 2021, "Luigi Clash Mario" is his most-watched video, with over 86 million views. Norman films his videos in his Paris apartment, where he lives with a flatmate and two cats—Sergi, who frequently appears in videos, and Becassine.
His videos have accumulated billions of views, earning him revenue from YouTube and attracting national media attention. Media outlets have dubbed him a "web phenomenon." Reporter Eric Loret described Norman and his collaborators Cyprien and Hugo Dessioux (who have adopted a similar format) as young artists excelling in business and communication, adept at managing strategic decisions with great transparency.
