Danny Go! Creator Daniel Coleman on YouTube Fame, Family and Grief

Not long ago, a man in an aviator cap began appearing on screens around the world. A slender fellow in a teal short-suit, he grooves against computer-generated backdrops—a pirate ship, a gemstone mine, an island guarded by sinister flamingoes—inviting his viewers, with intense cheerfulness, to mimic his dance moves. “Hey!” he calls out to the kids watching on YouTube. “You wanna shrink down with me and dance like some different insects?” Electronic beats throb as he swipes groceries across a scanner and hops around in a gingerbread man costume, joined by his comrades: a drummer, a woman in a pink jumpsuit, a scientist in a lab coat, and someone wearing a giant teddy-bear head who communicates only in grunts. Now they’re wearing capes, freezing floating cars with their superpowers; next, they battle a giant goldfish. It’s so high energy that you can lose your breath just watching. Since then, Danny Go! has exploded. Episodes of the YouTube show now rack up tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of views each. Adults, even music snobs, love the songs (as does Khloé Kardashian). The group has played more than 70 live shows, mostly sold out, across North America to screaming crowds. They have a new line of toys and recently published their first picture book. And the crew scored a Netflix deal in March 2026, with five episodes, dubbed into four new languages, dropping on the platform the next month. Daniel Coleman—the real-life Danny—is now a bonafide children’s superstar. But just as he is realizing his dream on a scale that very few entertainers ever do, Coleman is grieving the death of his own child. Coleman’s oldest son, Isaac, passed away from cancer at age 14 on May 21. Read more about the man and team behind Danny Go!: https://time.com/article/2026/05/29/d... Subscribe to TIME’s YouTube channel ►► http://ti.me/subscribe-time Subscribe to TIME: https://ti.me/3E3UCqt Get the day’s top headlines to your inbox, curated by TIME editors: https://ti.me/48dFNwQ Follow us: X (Twitter): https://ti.me/3xTVwSk Facebook: https://ti.me/3xWI2Fg Instagram: https://ti.me/3dO9Rcc 0:00 Why Danny Go! Keeps Going 0:26 Discovering Danny Go! 1:07 Inside the world of Danny Go! 1:16 How the Danny Go! Team Met 1:57 Daniel Coleman’s Family and Isaac’s Health 3:03 From Corporate Videos to Kids Content 3:49 How Danny Go! Started on YouTube 4:20 Touring the DIY Danny Go! Studio 5:17 Meet the Danny Go! Characters 5:42 Making Kids Music Parents Can Love 7:18 The Mr. Rogers Influence 8:05 Getting Kids Up and Moving 8:28 How Teachers Helped Danny Go! Explode 9:05 Books, Toys, Netflix and Live Tours 9:43 Danny Go! as a Family Show 10:40 The Pain Behind the Success 11:10 Isaac’s Cancer Diagnosis 11:40 Grief, Uncertainty and the Future 12:33 Fan Mail and Finding Fuel to Continue 13:13 Why Daniel Coleman Wants to Keep Going