YouTube videos 2014 in Anaheim, California Since January 2008, Ballinger has posted hundreds of videos as her comically talentless and quirky character, Miranda Sings, primarily on the
YouTube channel Miranda Sings. The character is a satire of the many YouTube videos featuring bad, but egotistical, performers who film themselves singing as a form of self-promotion, despite receiving the realistic or cruel comments of "haters". "Miranda" is supposedly a home-schooled young woman who still lives with her mother and uncle; she is eccentric and infantilized, narcissistically believes that she was born famous and is obsessed with show business fame. In the videos, Miranda sings in a comically off-key, yet plausible, voice and covers mostly
pop music hits; rants about internet haters; gives "tutorials"; and sometimes discusses the character's backstory or current events, which she usually misunderstands. She uses
spoonerisms and
malapropisms; is irritable, ludicrously self-absorbed and self-righteous, socially awkward; and has a defiant, arrogant attitude. She responds to viewers who take the videos seriously and offer criticism with the catchphrase, "Haters back off!", The character displays unusually active eyebrows and a crooked smile, her head is cocked to one side, and she has pronunciation quirks. Her views of society and morality are
politically incorrect, and she displays a strong aversion to anything risqué, which she calls "porn". From 2010 to 2012, Ballinger posted Miranda video blogs to a second Miranda YouTube channel, Mirandavlogz. Ballinger based the character partly on young women that she knew in college. At first, the "Miranda videos were meant to be an inside joke" among Ballinger's friends. In March 2009, however, a Miranda video called "Free Voice Lesson" quickly became a sensation. The video consists of bad advice about singing technique. The online critics were so harsh that Miranda became a "hero of the anti-bullying movement". Ballinger uses "humour and satire to challenge ideas of popular femininity. ... Miranda Sings ... puts on monstrous makeup to perform parody music videos [rejecting] being conventionally pretty". After Ballinger became pregnant in 2018, Miranda began a pregnancy storyline in which she claims to be the "virgin Miranda", with a virgin conception. Ballinger mentioned the story arc on a July 2018 appearance on
Live with Kelly and Ryan. When Ballinger gave birth, she tweeted about it from Miranda's account as well as her own.
Live comedy act Beginning in April 2009, Ballinger performed a one-woman comedy act, as Miranda Sings, at first in cabaret spaces and later in theatres in New York, London and other cities in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, Canada and elsewhere. BroadwayWorld.com called Miranda "the hottest, freshest and oddest breakout star in the musical theatre/cabaret scene". In live comedy acts, Miranda sang pop hits and some
musical theatre songs in her signature off-key style. At early performances, she gave "voice lessons" or "acting lessons" to Broadway or
West End stars, such as
Sutton Foster and
Andrew Rannells; assembled casts of Broadway shows; in which she was hypercritical of the stars' performances, telling them that they should leave show business. She read or sang hate mail that she has received, interacted with audience volunteers, used projected presentations containing terrible spelling, and included a "magic trick" where she sang while appearing to be stabbed through the neck by a sword; the joke is that she sings better when the sword is inserted through her neck. In her 2014 "Selp Helf" tour, she instructed her (mostly young, female) audience on how to get a boyfriend by being more Miranda-like, and could be seen, "improvising [with volunteers] and creating punchlines on the spot. ... Ballinger, the genius behind Miranda, is so convincing in the role, you ... will likely forget that there is a normal person behind the red lips", according to
The Badger Herald. One reviewer commented that the show "is no mere ... reproduction of her Internet channel. It is as theatrical as it is musical, comedic as it is inspirational". Ballinger gave Miranda shows in 57 cities in 2014. Her 2015 tours included a themed tour and a "Summer Camp" themed tour. Also in 2015, Miranda was a headliner at the
Just for Laughs festival in Toronto, Ontario, and released a film version of one of her stage shows on
Vimeo, titled
Miranda Sings: Selp Helf. Reviewing Ballinger's second engagement as Miranda at the LaughFest festival in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2016, a critic noted that the material "resonated with parents as well as the younger set". Among other appearances, she performed as Miranda at the
Kennedy Center in April 2016. During the second half of 2016, she toured Miranda shows in the US, England, Ireland, Germany and Denmark, around her
Haters Back Off production and promotion schedule. A tour in early 2017, and later performances that year, were billed as "Miranda Sings Live ... Your Welcome" and involved Miranda celebrating her own funeral. She continued to tour from September 2017 to early 2018 with shows in Europe, Australasia and the US. Her tour in mid-2018 was called
Miranda Sings Live ... No Offense. Of Ballinger's last live show of 2018, reviewers for
OC Weekly wrote: With understanding, charisma and just the right amount of self-deprecation, [Ballinger] skillfully sewed together stories of passive aggressive parents and internet trolls, painting a picture of how difficult it is to be yourself in a world of critics – especially when your art is misunderstood. ... With impressive energy, she mixed kid-friendly and adult humor, seesawed between Italian opera and meme-ish internet bangers, and invited an eclectic mix of audience participation on and off stage. ... Her relevant dedication to self-confidence proved a charming theme throughout the show. Truly ahead of her time, she has built a career on empathizing with young people. ... There's something about this specific kind of celebrity that is difficult to understand. It's fresh. A Netflix comedy special,
Miranda Sings Live... Your Welcome, filmed live at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., was released on June 4, 2019. The same month, Ballinger began touring a Miranda show titled "Who Wants My Kid?", which continued throughout 2019 and into early 2020.
BroadwayWorld called her 2022 tour her "funniest one yet". She continued to tour until June 2023. Miranda has been featured in radio, television and internet interviews. Ballinger has also appeared or hosted as Miranda at award shows and given benefit concerts and workshops. and in an episode of the television show
Victorious, titled "Tori Goes Platinum", on the
Nickelodeon channel. Miranda appeared in the first episode of
Dance Chat, an Australian web show, in 2013. She also appeared in a 2014 back-to-school video for
Old Navy. Ballinger guest-starred as Miranda Sings in the season 5 episode, "Happy Thanksgiving Miranda", of
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with
Jerry Seinfeld, in November 2014. Seinfeld called Miranda "a very well-developed character ... just as funny to me as ... to my daughter, who is 13. ... [The episode is] one of the best shows of
Comedians in Cars we've ever done".
Mediaite agreed, writing: "In its fifth season, Jerry Seinfeld's web series continued to be one of the most enjoyable weekly events on the internet. His experience with YouTube star Miranda Sings, which carried its way onto the
Tonight Show, was a particular highlight." An
Uproxx review compared Ballinger to
Andy Kaufman. In December 2014, Ballinger appeared as Miranda on
The Tonight Show playing
Pictionary with
Jimmy Fallon,
Martin Short and Jerry Seinfeld.
Us Weekly called the segment "the most hilarious game night ever",
Entertainment Weekly called it "riveting", and
People magazine wrote: "It's the most wonderful trainwrecked game of
Pictionary you'll see this holiday season". In 2015, Ballinger appeared as Miranda on
The Grace Helbig Show, together with
Jim Parsons, and she released a book,
Selp-Helf, published by
Simon & Schuster, which calls it a "decidedly unhelpful, candid, hilarious 'how-to' guide". Written in Miranda's voice by Ballinger and her brother Christopher Ballinger, it is presented in mock-scrapbook format, with silly advice, photos and comically bad artwork. The book debuted at No. 1 on the
Publishers Weekly Hardcover Non-Fiction best sellers list and
The New York Times Best Seller list for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous. It remained on the
Times Best Seller list for Advice & Misc. for 11 weeks and was on their monthly Best Seller list for "Humor" for eleven months. She released a second book,
My Diarrhe, in 2018, in the form of a
leaked diary. It debuted at No. 8 on
The New York Times Best Seller list for Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous. Ballinger appeared on
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in July 2018 to promote the book. Ballinger appeared as a guest star, as Miranda, speed dating unsuspecting men on the 2016
YouTube Premium series
Prank Academy. She conceived, co-wrote, co-produced and starred as Miranda in the
Netflix series,
Haters Back Off. The series centered around Miranda's odd family life and her road to fame as a YouTuber. Ballinger was featured as Miranda in a cover article in
Variety about the show in June 2016. To promote
Haters Back Off, Ballinger appeared on
The Tonight Show three times,
Chelsea,
Live with Kelly and Ryan three times, and
Total Request Live. The series was not picked up for a third season. Ballinger, as Miranda, returned to television in 2022 as a guest star on the game show
Generation Gap. ==Personal life==