Baby Boy Freberg

November 21, 2005 3:06 PM

Donavan Freberg (son of Stan) appeared in Encyclopædia Britannica's 1980s commercials and became something of a pop culture icon (and target). But before pitching reference books, he had a surprisingly eccentric childhood, not even getting a name until he was five. In the meantime, he has done other things and, of course, started blogging. Also, he likes the ladies (NSFW).
posted by tregoweth (21 comments total)

There's a bit of NSFW on his blog, for others who might be browsing at work. 'He likes the ladies' in this case seems to be code for 'he has pictures of them naked in his blog's sidebar.'
posted by verb at 3:14 PM on November 21, 2005

Glad to see he's faring better than the Dell Dude.
posted by Peter H at 3:17 PM on November 21, 2005

they waited 5 years and then chose "Donovan?"
posted by chococat at 3:17 PM on November 21, 2005

oops, "Donavan."
posted by chococat at 3:26 PM on November 21, 2005

There's a bit of NSFW on his blog, for others who might be browsing at work. 'He likes the ladies' in this case seems to be code for 'he has pictures of them naked in his blog's sidebar.'

There's a lot more nudity if you scroll down. And it's awesome. None of me, though. I'm a little hurt.
posted by Paris Hilton at 3:31 PM on November 21, 2005

In the upper-right corner of the NSFW link is an image of an anime-looking girl shooting a death ray from some part of her body. I can see that image showing up someday in a Metatalk train wreck at 2 in the morning.

Other links interesting also, thanks for the post.
posted by marxchivist at 3:39 PM on November 21, 2005

His bio mentions that his babysitters were Sean Cassidy and Debby Boone.

This explains even more.
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:48 PM on November 21, 2005

Since I'm responsible for the first four google links (see "target"), I feel OK posting the corrected link to my Britannica Boy email and anecdote. I've been by his weblog from time to time -- it's worth the visit.
posted by ewagoner at 3:53 PM on November 21, 2005

holy shit, that's fucking awesome.
posted by nervousfritz at 4:17 PM on November 21, 2005

To this day I can't go by an Encyclopedia Brittanica without thinking of how he put too much information into his report on Space. You know, overkill.
posted by my sock puppet account at 4:35 PM on November 21, 2005

Looks like he's headed for the same career path as child actor Scott Schwarz (The Toy, A Christmas Story) - porn star!
posted by Frank Grimes at 5:36 PM on November 21, 2005

In a former life, I briefly rubbed shoulders with C-list child star Gabrielle Carmouche. The Cosy Show, a short-run Family Channel sitcom, that kind of thing. I recently made the mistake of googling for her while chatting with my mother.

...

That was seriously the biggest rubber dong either of us had ever seen.

I wonder if it's some sort of universal rule: child stars either morph into Meta-Beings (Olsen twins, Bibleman, Winnie Cooper: Math Genius) or go into porn.
posted by verb at 6:28 PM on November 21, 2005

Wow. Very interesting stuff, but the last link attempted to install something on my machine, which I thought I successfully blocked, but Spy Sweeper just turned up virtumonde adware. Be cautious.
posted by maudlin at 8:34 PM on November 21, 2005

SPYWARE ALERT

Ok, that virtumonde may have been older than last night, when I last swept, but I definitely have winantispyware on my machine. When I went to the last link on the post and followed a link elsewhere on his site, I did get a popup asking if I wanted to install that very piece of software.

No shit, guys -- tread carefully.
posted by maudlin at 8:39 PM on November 21, 2005

tread carefully

Well, shit, I already dipped earlier.
*JUMPS BACK IN* -splash-
posted by Peter H at 9:50 PM on November 21, 2005

The blog that catalogues his childhood is fantastic. It reminds me a few houses my friends had when I was growing up.
posted by splatta at 10:13 PM on November 21, 2005

I spent hours listening to my dad's old Stan Freberg records as a kid. Truly brilliant humor, satire, and social commentary.
posted by mikrophon at 10:45 AM on November 22, 2005

I believe Stan Freberg is still alive. He is a genius, but his son seems like a real embarassment.
posted by Yakuman at 1:59 PM on November 22, 2005

his son seems like a real embarassment.

Aw, Donavan just got bored waiting for the call to come and help record the Third Part of Stan Freberg Presents the United States.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 2:10 PM on November 22, 2005

*googles Gabrielle Carmouche*

*is disappointed*
posted by graventy at 7:21 PM on November 22, 2005

Embarrassment is an understatement.

The whole site looks like its by a guy frozen at age 14, dreaming 14 year old fantasies, and telling 14 year old jokes.
posted by centerpunch at 8:06 AM on November 23, 2005