He’s usually known for complaining about Bunnings snags, selling alternative “vegan” snags out of his boot instead, and getting arrested for gatecrashing Westminster.
But for Mandurah’s budding social media superstar, the knowledge that great power comes with great responsibility is foremost in his mind.
Eighteen-year-old Damien Martin, known on Facebook as Damo vs The World, is gradually climbing the internet ranks with his short, punchy, funny videos.
He’s been doing this since he was definitely too young to have a Facebook page: his social media currently hosts a video called Damo vs The Wild, in which a seemingly 12-year-old Martin apes David Attenborough in a backyard documentary.
The bulk of his content revolves around day-to-day jokes: what he would be like if he was a maths teacher, what he says to himself on solo car trips, trying to meet the Queen on a trip to London.
He’s building a fanbase built on joviality, but a video he made earlier this year – detailing the issues those of his age face when it comes to mental health and suicide – struck a different kind of nerve.
“That first video got so much reaction, there were so many people just telling me how it showed exactly how the felt,” Martin said.
“I did it because there was that big spike of suicide last year. I said to myself then that if it didn’t really change, I would keep going with it. And so that’s why I’ve made the second video.”
This time around, Martin put a callout onto social media pages, asking anyone who was interested to meet him, share their story and hopefully put out another suicide awareness video.
In one morning, Martin said he had more than 200 people meet him to do so.
“The point of this one is to share the stories and experiences that friends and family have had dealing with suicide,” Martin said.
“There’s always people telling you to handle this stuff carefully, but I didn’t want to do that.
“I wanted to make the most direct message I could: this is what happens, this is how you feel when it happens. I want it to be as raw as possible, because I think that’s what we have to do if we really want to make a difference.”
From this point, it will be probably more than two weeks before the video is fully produced.
“I’ve got a few other scenes to shoot. There’s some exterior shots, so weather permitting it will be done in two weeks,” Martin said.
“From there, we just want to share it as much as possible. I’ve got this building fanbase at this point, and a lot of people who care about what we’re trying to say, so I hope it’ll go well.”
Martin’s videos can be found at his Facebook page, Damo Vs the World.
If you, or anyone you know, is facing mental health issues, support is available by calling Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, Lifeline on 131 114, or beyondblue on 1300 22 46 36.
