YouTube sensation and eternal college bro Dom Mazzetti came to Binghamton University Thursday to impart some wisdom on students.
Mazzetti, a character created by Mike Tornabene and Gian Hunjan, is a stereotypical Italian-American college student. Tornabene plays Mazzetti in the Youtube series “Dom vs.” which focuses primarily on the ins and outs of college life, which for Mazzetti mostly include partying and going to the gym.
Hunjan and Tornabene answered questions from an audience of more than 300 students, with Tornabene answering some of them in character as Mazzetti.
Mazzetti shared his experiences with students, giving them pearls of wisdom, like how to seduce an attractive professor.
“If I went to class, which is a big hypothetical, I would raise my hand for every question. I would answer everything she wanted to know,” Mazzetti said. “Once I had dominated her lesson plan, I would just stare her down and she would be unable to resist.”
Most of what Mazzetti talks about is related to drinking and social life, though at the event he shared his views on politics as well.
“My vice president would have to be Abe Lincoln,” he said. “They just made a movie about him, he fights vampires and he’s on the penny, and the penny is the most useless piece of metal, so if you’re down with that, you’re pretty chill.”
An hour into the question-and-answer session, one student produced two beer cans and asked if Tornabene would drink one with him, which he did.
“Wow, that just happened, this school is great,” Tornabene said. “I can’t believe you were holding those in your bag for the entire time waiting to ask me.”
Ushers and organizers came to look for the student a few minutes later, but he had already escaped through a back exit.
Students asked both the creators and their character about life as a YouTube star, including one student who wanted to know if any of the “three” of them had ever slept with fellow Internet sensation Jenna Marbles. While Tornabene and Hunjan both insisted that it had never happened, Mazzetti was more than willing to start some rumors.
“I slayed that bitch!” he shouted. “We put it up online but it was too hot. It got taken down in a few minutes because it had made people stop watching other porn.”
Some students felt that Tornabene and Hunjan did not distinguish themselves from their character very well.
“I felt embarrassed for Mike and Gian as it seemed the audience could not separate the character from the creators,” said Patrick Hao, a member of the Pappy Parker Players, who opened for Mazzetti, and a freshman majoring in English.
Other audience members were just excited to have a YouTube celebrity on campus.
“It was everything I was expecting and more. It was great being able to talk to him and have him answer,” Alex Freedman, a sophomore majoring in actuarial science, wrote in an email. “Also Dom went downtown to State Street afterwards. I saw him hook up with over 5 girls, although he spent most of the night taking pictures.”
Mariana Moriello, the Student Association hospitality chair and incoming vice president of programming, explained why the SA Programming Board had chosen Mazzetti.
“We brought him in because he appeals to college students, and we’ve heard a lot of good things from students on campus. When we polled people on campus they were ecstatic,” said Moriello, a junior majoring in psychology. “The timing honestly had nothing to do with finals, but it’s a stress relief if anything.”