The Newtown 17-year-old and his Grandma, from Shelton, are burning up social media with their interesting conversations about everything from Dunkin' Donuts to Miley Cyrus.
About two years ago Kevin Droniak started recording car rides with his grandmother and posting the videos to his YouTube channel. Ever since, the two have been sharing their in-transit heart-to-hearts for the world to watch (Droniak's channel has nearly 8 million video views), but grandma only recently found out about their popularity.
The pair exploded in popularity this week after the videos were featured on the Huffington Post, HLN, and FOX CT. As the teen started his first week of Senior year, he was hit with a whirlwind of TV recognition:
the question is why is everyone seeing me on the news and I havn't yet omg
— ⓚⓔⓥⓘⓝ (@kevindroniak) August 28, 2014
IM ON TV AND I CANT EVEN WATCH BECAUSE OF SCHOOL LOL OK
— ⓚⓔⓥⓘⓝ (@kevindroniak) August 27, 2014
Grandma Lill is reacting in her own way. "I can't believe I'm here," she said in the FOX CT green-room, "it's great I love it." "Sometimes somebody stops me in the grocery store - 'are you grandma?'"
The middle generation is just as excited. "No matter where [Kevin] goes, he's kind of modest," said Kevin's mother Jane, "we were in New Haven at Pepe's Pizza and a kid from Holland comes over and says 'hey I know you!' Even at Grand Central Station some girls were yelling his name." "They wanted his autograph," Grandma chimed in.
It's those fans that are driving the duo's success. Leading up to their appearance on FOX CT, their nearly 165,000 subscribers and Kevin's were tweeting up a storm of congratulations and excitement.
Kevin's favorite YouTubers include names your kids might know such as Connor Franta and Troye Sivan; both have made online video and social media full-time careers. It likely won't be long until Kevin and his grandma are at the same level of Internet celebrity as his idols.