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Donovan Strain

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Donovan Strain
Strain at Maloof Money Cup in 2009
Born (1985-11-22) November 22, 1985 (age 38)
Camarillo, California, U.S.
MediumStand-up
Years active2013-present
Subject(s)Observational
WebsiteTwitter.com/DonovanStrain

Donovan Strain (born November 22, 1985) is a stand-up comedian and skateboarder living in Los Angeles, California.

Biography

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Skateboarding

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Strain started the skateboarding-based comedy segment titled "Buttery Ass Mondays" on The Berrics, where he was credited for inventing the skateboarding tricks Grape Flip,[1] and Double Grape Flip.[2] The series ran until 2010 when it was cancelled and removed from the archives.[3][4][third-party source needed] In October 2013, Strain's "Buttery Ass Mondays" returned to The Berrics' archive, suggesting new episodes of the series would be made for 2014.[3] On April 1, 2014, Donovan's series made a return to The Berrics with the newly titled series "The Donovan Strain Show".[5]

In 2008, Strain participated in his first professional skateboard contest for the original "Battle at the Berrics" where he won his first round match against Sean Malto,[6] only to be knocked out of the contest in the second round by Eric Koston.[7]

He received his first signature skateboard with the brand Sk8mafia in 2008[8][better source needed] before a split with the brand and receiving his next signature skateboard with City Skateboards in 2009.[9][better source needed]

Donovan Strain skating in City Skateboards advertisement featured in Thrasher Magazine's January 2010 issue for his 2nd signature board

In 2010[10] Donovan got involved with the Make-A-Wish foundation when he was able to help grant a wish for a kid from Florida named Alex that requested to meet him.[10]

In 2010,[11] he moved to New York City, where he hosted a video series on his own site MurkAvenue.com[12]

"It Was a Good Day"

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Ice Cube and Donovan Strain at the Goodyear Blimp Airport 2014 event

In 2012, Strain wrote a post on the website Tumblr breaking down the lyrics to Ice Cube's 1993 classic "It Was a Good Day" deducing that everything in the song actually happened on the date January 20, 1992.[13] This was picked up by news outlets[14][15] including CNN,[16] Daily News (New York),[17] and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where Ice Cube commented "It doesn't make any sense at all, but it's cool".[18][19] On January 20, 2014 Goodyear invited both Ice Cube and Donovan Strain to their Goodyear Blimp airport for a charity event to witness the blimp fly over south central Los Angeles reading "Ice Cube Says Today Was A Good Day".[19][20]

Stand-up comedy

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Donovan Strain performing stand-up at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, CA 2013

Strain started performing stand-up comedy in 2013 at Flappers Comedy Club[21][non-primary source needed] located in Burbank, CA.

Sources

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  1. ^ "World Grape Flip (Flat) Flip Tricks Skateboard Trick". Skater Evolution. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "World Double Grape Flip (Flat) Flip Tricks Skateboard Trick". Skater Evolution. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Buttery Ass Mondays Return to The Berrics". Junkie Monkeys. October 23, 2013. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  4. ^ "CURVEBALL « Hubba Wheels". Hubbawheels.com. March 23, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  5. ^ The Donovan Strain Show Archived April 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Battle At". The Berrics. November 30, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  7. ^ "Battle At". The Berrics. January 18, 2009. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  8. ^ "Skate Mafia Buttery Ass Board Skate Decks at Premier". Thepremierstore.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  9. ^ "City Donovan Buttery Ass Skateboard Deck < Skately Board Shop". Skately.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  10. ^ a b "Make-A-Wish So Fla on Twitter: "Alex wished to meet skateboarder Donovan Strain".
  11. ^ "Donovan Strain's Murk Avenue (2010)". NYSkateboarding.com. November 30, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  12. ^ "Thrasher Skateboard Magazine | Office Space". Thrashermagazine.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  13. ^ "Murk Avenue, I Found Ice Cubes 'Good Day'". Murkavenue.tumblr.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  14. ^ "Cali native Donovan Strain calculates exact day of Ice Cube's "Today Was a Good Day"". TheSource. January 21, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  15. ^ "Ice Cube Leaves Rap Fans Disappointed - FishbowlNY". Mediabistro.com. March 4, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  16. ^ "Apparently This Matters: 'Ice Cube's a pimp'". CNN.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  17. ^ "Ice Cube's 'Good Day' is revealed: Blogger cracks music mystery, says date is Jan. 20, 1992". NY Daily News. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  18. ^ Christine Friar (January 16, 2014). "Ice Cube Actually May End Up on a Blimp - Show Clips". Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  19. ^ a b "Donovan Strain Shares His Analysis of Figuring Out the Exact Day Ice Cube Was Talking About on "It Was a Good Day" | Complex". Complex Networks.
  20. ^ Trinh, Jean (January 20, 2014). "Photos, Video: Ice Cube Rides Goodyear Blimp That Says 'Today Is A Good Day'". LAist. Archived from the original on January 24, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  21. ^ "Flappers Comedy Club and Restaurant :: Burbank :: Claremont :: Comedy Workshops". Flapperscomedy.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.