Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 18 Vitaly - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: January 31, 2014

Vitaly, YouTube's top ranked prankster with over 5 million subscribers and 460 million views, sits down with Rhett & Link this week to discuss a prank-gone-wrong that landed him in jail, his recently-leaked involvement in the porn industry, and why the controversy surrounding the validity of his pranks is simply "for the haters." *NOTE: This conversation contains adult themes and language. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week it's time for another conversation with someone interesting from the internet. And this week, that person that's going to be sitting right here at the round table of dim lighting is Vitaly Zdorovetsky, one of the most popular prank video producers on the YouTubes. Now, as you probably know, prank videos are huge. I mean,

they're not video game videos on YouTube, but they're, I mean... Close second. Probably a close second. So, I mean, we, there was a big fascination factor on our part, and Vitaly was, you know, is one of the biggest guys

in uh in this genre so very excited to talk to him uh what did we discuss we discussed the details behind a couple of his most extreme pranks the miami zombie attack and the one that got him arrested and jailed for 45 days and unexpectedly unexpectedly, we got into a controversial story that actually just surfaced at the end of 2013. And that was it was discovered that he made an appearance in a porn video. And people found this out. Now, in doing our research and preparing for this conversation, we found this out. We thought he'd already kind of addressed it publicly. And we didn't know how relevant it was to his whole prank career and YouTube and that kind of thing. Well, he had a quote. He had a quote in an article, and he may have tweeted a couple

of things. He certainly hadn't gone into detail, but we just didn't think we were going to go there. But as you'll hear, we're asking about the first videos he made, and I think he- He thought we were trying to get it out of him. He misinterpreted us that we were trying to get it out of him. But, you know, ultimately, he was honest about it. We had the discussion. I think it gave him the grounds to be more honest and to go a little bit further about it than he has to date. So you can expect that, and I'll also take that as a warning

if you don't want to hear things discussed about the porn industry. Okay. To, you know, to check out now. But we also discussed the, you know, him growing up and the culture shock of immigrating from the Ukraine in middle school. And lots of inner workings about a guy

who creates the most shocking, over-the-top pranks on the internet for a living. And of course, you know, we start talking to a guy who's done prank videos or is doing prank videos. That's his thing. It makes us think about some of the prank videos that we've done, including one of our first videos.

And we mentioned this to him as well. Right. It's one of the first videos we ever posted. Well, it was a video that existed before we actually had a YouTube channel. So when we got our YouTube channel, there were a series of videos that we just uploaded initially right when we started in 2006. On July 24th, 2006, one of those videos is called Cutting Strangers' Nose Hairs at the Mall. And when we went, you know, we mentioned it in our conversation with Vitaly.

And then when we go back, I felt sure that we had made this video private because it's so embarrassing. There are many embarrassing points. So you can watch this thing. It's on our main channel, Cutting Strangers' Nose Hairs at the Mall. And that can watch this thing. It's on our main channel, cutting strangers nose hairs at the mall and that's what we did. I mean, four and a half minutes. It takes about

two and a half minutes to get into it, but it's, it's so embarrassing because it's such an old video, but it's, that was one of the things we were trying to do

way back then was kind of do the prank thing. I remember going to the mall and going to Sears and buying that nose hair trimmer and saying, let's just see if we can put it up people's noses. And then you also bought, right next to it, they were selling a keyboard vacuum cleaner.

Right. It sucks dust out of vacuum. So then I would, I said, okay, I'll cut their nose hairs and then you can suck it out. If any, no one will let us do this, but let's see what can happen. Now, we dressed up in suits, or at least blazers and khakis, and tried to look official, and we said, okay, let's go up to people,

and we're going to just try to actually demonstrate our hair removal system, which consisted of Link cutting the nose hairs and me vacuuming out of people's actual noses. Now, you can watch the video to see for yourself. It's, I mean, you know what? You don't even have to. I'm not, because this is not the kind of video that I'm going to recommend watching for entertainment other than just the fact that we're referencing it and it's a part of our past

and it is pertinent to this conversation. That's the only reason that I'm going to suggest that you watch it because it's a bad video. That's why it's got 26,000 views as opposed to 26 million views like the guy we're talking to today. But not only am I- And our pants were really big too. Not only am I embarrassed

by the haircut that I had, the chin strap that I was sporting, the pants, we looked like clowns. Like literally. Well, it's funny because at that time, that was the fashion. There were two, there were two things that were kind of in and we, well, first of all, we shot the video in like 05, maybe 04. Potentially. And so at the time, baggy pants were the thing that we were wearing, especially for prank videos. And did you, did you notice we look like clowns not only because of the baggy pants, but because of the shoes

They had like they were like dress shoes with really big soles big really big shoes like clown shoes We the bottom half of our bodies look like clowns And then the top half top half wasn't far behind But there was this element that i think and our our accents are very very southern there's something that we get into with vitality and that is this thing you have to psych yourself up uh you have to go into the zone get into a zone in order to approach people and ask them to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable because as we established in our conversation with with him i do not like making people people

feel uncomfortable you actually i my perception is you enjoy making people feel uncomfortable because a big part of your humor a lot of times when you're like in a group or like at a party or something like is i'm gonna say something it's going to make this person or everyone feel uncomfortable. And do you like it? Like, what is your goal? Because it seems like you're like, okay, I did what I was trying to do and now everybody feels uncomfortable. And I shudder at that. I can't stand it. I think now that I've succeeded at getting a lot of attention and actually being an entertainer, I don't have as much of that itch as I had way back then to totally sacrifice my own pride of looking like an idiot to make someone else look like

an idiot and get a laugh um but i don't even think i don't think it's taking advantage of people i i wouldn't you may have done that a little bit in high school i'm not talking about making fun of somebody right i i'm talking about doing something i'm much i'm i would be very nervous i would not want to or would never get excited about trimming someone's nose hairs or doing anything close to what Vitaly does today. But I still have this – I still have a little bit of it, like, at a party in a group when I'll be like, okay, this is not going to be funny to anybody but me, but for some reason I'm going to say it anyway because maybe something will happen. And it just – if it makes people feel weird, it's not –

I'm not doing it to make them feel weird because I don't think that's funny. I don't know exactly why I do it. I think it's just sometimes it's just like... Do you need to see a therapist about this? If this isn't funny, that will also be funny to me. That's an interesting comedic strategy. If this is not funny, well well that'll be funny to me

so it's like a win-win there's no I can't lose and people may feel a little weird but it'll be funny to me

I think one of the things that makes people feel that makes people want to watch these videos that Vitaly does is there is a

I would never do that I could never do that quality to them. And to see somebody actually do it, to have the balls to actually make some of these things happen and then get the authentic reactions from people, people are kind of addicted to that process. And I know that it makes me feel uncomfortable when I watch them, but it also makes you want to keep seeing the reactions

you know? That's the key to it. Because whenever we conceptualize a video and we don't do this very often where it's going to involve us trying to get this reaction out of somebody our most recent one being the invisible dog I just get anxious

about it. I'm anxious about it for days until we actually do it. And then as soon as we do it, I'm like, oh, I'm so glad we got done with that video. I mean, I could never have a prank channel. I mean, I wouldn't sleep. But I couldn't either. You're saying you couldn't. I could not now.

I might could have way back in the day when I really wasn't having the attention. So now that I have it, I can do it in ways I'm much more comfortable getting it. Well, in one sense, it's unfortunate that we are not willing to do a prank channel because apparently you can amass over 5 million subscribers doing it and get close to half a billion. That's a billion with a B views. This is really working for him. In less than three years, that's what Vitaly has done. His pranks have been featured on Tosh.0 and all other types of TV outlets, because you know they're hungry for this

type of stuff. He's collaborated with some of the most esteemed pranksters, including Jackass Estivo, and now he has sat down and been ear-biscuited. Yeah, he has been. So here you go. Here it is. Banana chips? No, but it's funny that you said that because that was actually get a banana and eat it in the middle of podcast but that was going to be rude no that wouldn't be

rude at all you would hear that that would be weird people always say they love natural mouth sounds on this on this show the more that you can make the the better. He's being facetious. I'm actually pretty self-conscious of my mouth sounds. Like, on our show that we shoot over there, Good Mythical Morning, we eat a lot of stuff

and when I watch it back, I just, I hear my mouth sounds and I feel like I should apologize. He's a very loud chewer. Do you think you're a loud chewer, normal chewer, silent chewer?

I'm a loud, no, I'm a silent chewer when it's with my friends, but when it's with girls, I'm doing loud to get their attention. You think the girls like a loud chewer. Yep. It's like, well, if that guy can, if I can hear him eat food, that must mean he's a caring person. I'm trying to draw some sort of a connection.

Maybe eat like an animal. Maybe not chew. Oh, okay. I see where you're going with that. You want to attract a certain kind of woman. There was actually a funny story about that. You want to hear it? Yeah, of course. I saw this best restaurant next to my house. Jack and Jill. I took him for the first time. John, my manager.

So I went there and i ordered half a chicken right i'm eating this half a chicken outside and there's a glass to go you know just you can see inside right so there's two hot girls just uh eating i'm like oh please don't watch me i'm like every time i look they don't see me and i just keep eating that chicken like nasty i'm like killing it right so So then my friend walks in into Jack and Jill and he knows those girls. So he starts talking to them and then he weighs me over.

And then I'm like, okay, what now? And I thought the girls mind their own business. They actually were watching me the whole time eating that chicken. They're like, wow, we loved the way you were eating that. That blew me off. I was like, oh really? How do you respond to that?

I got her number. She said- I still didn't get to her, but yeah. We love the way you eat the chicken. She actually said that? Yep. I was actually worrying for her not to see me. Like I was taking a bite.

I'm looking over. Nobody's looking. I'm like, thanks God. And then they said they were watching the whole thing. What part of town are we talking about? Beverly Hills. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Probably a gold digger. And these women were like in their late 50s or? No, they were actually pretty young, 20, 21. Well, that's what the late 50s women look like in Beverly Hills.

Oh, you're right about that. Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. All right. Or 60s. Next time I'm going to check the ID. Now, I want to talk about the getting the number prank, which you kind of mentioned here, but I want to wait to the getting the number prank which you kind of

mentioned here but I want to wait to get to that I just can't wait to get right to the zombie prank okay that's the one that's old I already forgot about that right off the bat I mean I just I have to go back and talk about that one cause that's the one that basically blew up

for you that then that was the the first huge one, right? Yeah, I think if that video didn't happen, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. So what's the backstory on that one? What's the backstory? I was doing videos, YouTube videos, and I had like 10,000 subscribers at a time. And then I went out to do the zombie prank. And this was right after like the bath salts.

Yeah, the bath salts story, the homeless person ate another homeless person's face. So everybody's tweeting, zombies are coming. In Miami. In Miami, yeah, bath salts, blah, blah, blah. It's spreading. You were also in Miami? Yeah, I used to live in Boca, which is 40 minutes from Miami. Okay.

So I dressed up as a- So you're like, there's this fear going around of people. There's this fear of bath salts, crazed zombies. I'm going to tap into that. Facebook statuses, Twitter statuses, all about, yeah, zombies in Miami. We're scared. And it happened like two days after I dressed up as a zombie, and I had no problem scaring people.

I think I was like the king. I could clear the whole city. This is two days after the news story breaks. Yeah. You're like, I got to jump on this. Yes. So you weren't making prank videos before that. No, I was. I was. Okay, you were. Yeah, I was, but they the news story breaks. Yeah. You're like, I got to jump on this. Yes. So you weren't making prank videos before that. No, I was.

I was. Okay, you were. Yeah, I was, but they weren't getting hits. There were like a couple thousand views. Okay. Yep. So you go out and, you know, I... Well, at first I started, sorry to interrupt, but first I started actually screaming out

of the car, like driving by people and having blood on my face and like popping out and by driving, you know, driving through. Yeah. Yeah. In the car. Yeah. Pretty much.

Drive through zombie break. Right. Kind of. Yeah. But not actually the drive through. Drive through. And just driving through a neighborhood. Yeah.

No reactions. I'm like, what am I doing? Why don't I actually just put ripped clothing and actually go out there? So I go home and I found a tie. I put it over my head because i thought it looked cool that was a nice touch that's my favorite part and then uh no shoes bare feet uh dress pants dress shirt and i went out and put blood all over it and it worked every time i went yeah barely any behind the scenes on it there is but meaning most of what

happened made its way into the video it wasn't like yeah shoot all day no no it was like two two days i shot it two days three hours each day six hours yeah it was easy you just come out of the car and they just run bingo and then you just kind of chase them with a limp pretty much and then uh and the noises yes noises, the growling. And then I tried to tell them it's a prank, but they just kept running. Well, it's interesting. Well, some of the reactions. There was kind of a discovery to it that you tried it one way. It didn't, okay, I'm in the car.

This isn't working. Why don't I just get out? And then that started to work. Yes. I guess for that prank in particular, were you scared of, okay, the thing that Rhett and I said were, you could be shot. I didn't think about that. When I do my videos, I just get into character. I kind of forgot that guns even exist at that point.

And I'm being serious. I was just in my zone. I was like, this is so much fun. I was even thinking getting shot and stuff like that. I mean, whenever in the way distant past, we would kind of flirt with kind of prank videos or just man on the street type of videos. I know in my mind, it would be... One of the first videos we made was

trimming strangers' nose hairs. Oh, yeah. We had a nose hair trimmer. This is like 2006. It might have been 2005. This was before YouTube. Long time ago. Oh, so it's not on YouTube. It is on YouTube.. This was before YouTube. Long time ago. Oh, so it's not on YouTube.

It is on YouTube. No, I think it is uploaded to YouTube. I was going to take the idea and say it was original. No, you can have the idea. You can take it. It wasn't great. You can take it and do it well. It's nowhere near the caliber of what you're pulling off,

but I remember very quickly being able to just get over this fear because I was thinking about an audience. Yes. So, and I know. For the comments. For you, you don't have as much of that, the switch that just turns off and I'm just going to trim people's nose hairs or I'm just going to. Yeah, I have, there's a lot for me to personally overcome when I'm,

I don't like making people feel uncomfortable in real life. So when I try to, when we do a video where that's the point, we don't like making people feel uncomfortable in real life so when I try to when we do a video where that's the point we don't do a lot that are like yeah I there's like this I gotta like psych myself up like it's going back to my basketball days where I have to I'm in the locker room right before the game and I've got to psych myself into you know I gotta pump myself yeah yeah absolutely do you have the same approach oh my approach is hilarious I have to walk around 45 minutes before I do anything. And what's going through your mind? So you have a

pre-game ritual. Yeah, I'm just thinking like my camera guy gets pissed at me because he just follows me. I'm just like, I'm about to go, I'm about to go and he's pushing me. I was like, no, I'm about to go, I'm about to go and I'm like, this way, back that way, this way. Yeah, back and forth and I was like, alright, I'm ready. And once I do one

it's on. So it's kind of like jumping off a cliff like into a body of water. Yeah, if you say so. You've never tried that? Mm-mm. Well,

it is like that. That wouldn't be much of a prank though. I mean, I do lots of pacing before I jump off cliffs into bodies of water. Yeah.

At least back in my high school days at the reservoir. But you're saying once you get going, I mean, you pace, you're nervous and then once you get going you're in character and yeah you don't have to yeah you're you're another person at that point you are the person you are the zombie with a uh pretty much yeah but the tie around your head but are you like i mean this neighborhood that you were in it was this your neighborhood or no it was martin luther king uh actually speaking that was what yeah a couple days ago yeah i kind of already forgot

the holiday 15th january 15th but the yeah the holiday i'm just saying but yeah i'm just bringing it up yeah sorry but you but you picked this certain neighborhood to the hood the hood you picked the hood the hood because black people give the best reactions and it's nothing right i don't know if it came off racist for some viewers or not but not not at all i love black people that's what i said on the news i love black people they give the best reactions they express themselves which i like white people just like get away black people you want a reaction you get a full one now but then you were deciding okay there's a bunch of basketball players yeah I am going to approach them as this zombie yes and at that point the first time you do that what are you

thinking I mean I was thinking great I'm gonna have 12 15 people running at the same time you weren't thinking running towards me you weren't afraid of that i wasn't no i knew they're gonna run away i felt i told you i felt so confident once i did like three reactions that everybody kept running so i didn't have any doubts i'm like this this is gonna happen my friends like now're adults. And they were like over like 20 probably. And they ran. I mean, there were guys climbing the fence. Oh, but the last reaction, yes. I didn't see that until I started editing.

That was hilarious. Oh, you didn't see the guy who was on like the 20-foot fence? Well, after I edited. Yeah, after I started editing. Yeah, you were kind of down in a crouching position. Yeah. And one of the guys backfired at the end of the video. Right. So what happened there?

It was like a cliffhanger. The guy's running after you. They ran away. And then you cut. You cut. I'm like, no, no, no. Oh, because the video probably wouldn't go viral if I didn't cut it. It was just, I told them it's a prank and they actually stopped and they offered me crack.

Really? Yeah, they offered me crack. They're like, you party? You want some hard? And hard is crack on the street so yeah what'd you say

I said nah man I don't party I don't party like that I've gotta go see our people on the other side of the block I was like let me

is that cool if we use this for a YouTube video yeah yeah yeah you sure you don't party I was like nah nah nah so I mean the guy looks like they did turn on you they started chasing you party and I was like nah nah nah so I mean the guy looks like

they did turn on you they started chasing you yeah and you cut at that moment that it seems like you're about to get pounded yeah well he he swung on me

I heard like I felt the air and then I turned around and he's about to swing at me again I was like no no no it's a prank and then he was like

oh cool you want some crack just like that you party you want some crack you want some rock he's like oh you're cool what you want I was like nah oh, cool, you want some crack? Just like that. You party. You want some crack? You want some rock? He's like, oh, you're cool. What you want?

I was like, no, I'm cool. Wow. So that's, I mean, that seems like that would not be a typical reaction. It seems like sometimes you might say it's a prank, and then that's when they get mad. Yeah, sometimes, because they hate to be on camera, like embarrassed, I guess. Right. So what's the worst thing that's ever happened? A Russian hitman, 60 seconds prank.

I put a suitcase next to some guy and I told him in a Russian hitman outfit, that's my character, fully suited, John's favorite character. And then hair slicked back, Russian accent. And I go up to people and go, your life, your choice, you have 60 seconds. And I dropped the suitcase and I run. So go up to people and go your life your choice you have 60 seconds and I dropped a suitcase and I run so they run but really they don't know the prank is there's

money inside the suitcase so 300 bucks and singles and like you know laid out like it's a drug deal whatever people think but yeah and I had this one guy um went off of me really bad and he was black he was huge and yeah he was he did he went Samuel. I think he was black. He was huge. And yeah, he was, he did. He went Samuel Jackson on me. He just sounded just like him. He started trying to beat me up. Now this is in the video too, right?

Yeah, it's on the video. It's online. The sound kind of goes away. Oh, no, there was, for that particular video, there was no sound. So that's what I'm going with the story. There was no sound. So after we fought with the guy, I didn't really fight him, but he tried to fight. He's like, I'm going to call the cops, blah, blah, blah.

So somebody called the cops because they see me trying to beat us up. So the cops came and they arrested us for a hoax bomb charge. And then I told them, like, I tried to fight it and say hoax bomb, but there was no sound in the video and I couldn't prove it. So I had to wait a year until I get off probation. I got charged. You got arrested and charged.'t prove it. So I had to wait a year until I got off probation. I got charged. You got arrested and charged. Yeah, I spent 45 days in jail. But the charges got dropped

because I completed everything like it said. So what kind of opportunity for pranks are there with 45 days in jail? What do you mean? Are you like in prank mode in jail? Or are you like, oh, no, this sucks. No, I actually thought I was thinking a lot in jail,

and I came out with some great videos. After I came out of jail, I started hitting a million views per video because I just came up with so many ideas that it worked. I mean, you're like literally in jail writing down ideas for your next prank video? I don't write them down. I just remember them in my head. That's how I do all my videos. A lot of people write them down.

I just know. Was there that, what are you in for a moment? And you were like, YouTube prank. Yeah, pretty much. And everybody knew me in jail because they see me on the news getting arrested.

Really? Yeah, so that's a funny story because I guess they liked that, I guess. They respected you? Respected me, yeah, pretty much. You were like, I'm going to make this my own little workshop here in prison for these 45 days, and I'm going to come out and dominate YouTube. Pretty much, yeah.

I had like 120,000 subscribers at a time, so I was worrying and stuff like that, but then everything was great. You were in prison, or not in prison, you were in jail worried about your YouTube momentum. Well, I got, yeah, okay, this is what happened. I went to jail for 10 days, I got out on bail, and then I violated my probation, so I was already on probation for something else,

and then I can fake ID when I was 18, but it was in Key West, so I had to warrant in Key West, so I had to fly Key West. So I had to, I had a warrant in Key West. So I had to fly to jail. So I flew to jail right when I got off the plane. I went and turned myself in. But it's a, it was an experience. I know, I guess now I'm better at what I do, more careful. And you also put footage of your, yourself in court in the video that's posted now, right?

Oh yeah. That was a great transition. Everybody loved it. That was,, right? Oh yeah, that was a great transition. Everybody loved it. That was, yeah. It was like a movie. You were watching a movie pretty much. Yeah, well, I mean, it was footage,

it was news footage of you in court. In court, and then it's transitioned to another how the anchors were explaining about the prank for like maybe five seconds and then it transitioned

like one year later after I was on probation. So I finished the last, I did the last clip the prank for like maybe five seconds and then it transitioned like one year later after I was on probation. So I finished the last, I did the last clip for the ending to like tell the story kind of in the prank mode in the character and it came out great. Right. I mean, it makes a better story, which makes a better YouTube video. You walk right past the two sheriff cars.

Oh yeah, that was incredible. And then you go up to the homeless guy. Yeah, I decided to do the homeless guy because everybody kept running for 60 seconds so I switched the story up.

I was like, in Russian, so you're telling me I wasn't supposed to tell the 60 seconds the whole time. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I sat in jail

because of you and he's like, no, just give him the money and I opened the case and I opened the suitcase and just gave him the money to end the video.

Were you worried about potentially being caught just doing that second part of the prank? Nah, I slept to the face. I wasn't scared at all. I had a good lawyer, a very good lawyer. I came across a very good lawyer. You were like, as long as I don't say 60 seconds. Yeah, I'm good. And the mic is on this time. Right. And I can prove it. There's no bomb here. It's just money. And then that was a homeless guy.

He was a homeless guy. Yes was a homeless guy, yes. And he got 300 singles. $300, yes. It wasn't bad. Yeah, he was pretty happy. Yep, he says, I'm leaving. He goes on Saturday, he's like, I'm done for today. Right, yeah.

That's a pretty good couple of minutes for him. Wow. I mean, and at that point, after that video came came out over the next year is when you gained four million subscribers over the course of a year yeah I think yes yes last January I had millions I had a million subscribers last May so less than a year I guess wow I had a million subscribers like May 20th of 2013. So it's been what? Eight months. And now you're over 5.2.

Yeah, you're over 5 million. So, I mean, there's lots of other people pulling pranks. I want to talk about that more later. But is the advice that you give to people who want to pull pranks, if you really want to take off quick, you should probably get arrested for a prank, and then it's really going to blow up. Well, like Snoop Dogg said in an interview with him, he says, if you didn't get arrested, you ain't doing it right.

Like the prank, or was he referring to something else? Yeah, just in general for everybody. Whatever you do, if you're not arrested for what you do, you're not doing it right. That's his life philosophy. Yeah. I guess that's what he said in the interview. Sometimes it works.

But I'm not also a bad guy. Speaking of the extreme, the homeless guy, I did Extreme Homeless Makeover. You've seen that? Yes. Right. Yeah, I got the homeless guy new teeth and took him shopping and all that. So the viewers think I'm such an ass. That's my character.

Right. So that's kind of what you said in the description of that video. Oh, look at you. You know everything. I like it. Right. So you're making all these videos where you're kind of that video. Oh, look at you. You know everything. I like it. Right. So you're making all these videos where you're kind of taking advantage of people, getting their reactions so everybody thinks you're a jerk.

Okay. So you were like, that's not who I am. Let me show you who I am. I'm going to actually. Yeah, but it was a douchey kind of, I feel like, even the description too. It was like, let me show you who I am. No, it's just that I wanted to do a homeless video always because I saw this little prankster doing like giving out pizza and like pocket change.

And like they make do something creative. And I just came up with Extreme Homeless Makeover. So explain what happened. Extreme Homeless Makeover. I go out, found a homeless guy named Martin. He was standing on the side of the road and he said he was really hungry. So I took him to first to get new clothes, got him a hotel for two days, haircut, and then we went to a steakhouse. He ate a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.

And then his biggest dream was to get his teeth fixed. So we raised money on Indiegogo, $12,000, and my goal was $2,500. And Indiegogo did not want to give me the money because I had a criminal with the hoax bomb thing and because he had criminal in the past so they didn't want to give us the money so I made it

as public status that I have to return all the money all the people thought I stole the money and stuff like that but they knew it after it returned

and I had doctors contact me and say they want to fix his teeth for free so you raised all the money Indiegogo made you give it back to the people or they never actually took it from

the people? They never accepted the money? Well, they never expected. On the site it says the deadlines. Yeah, it was like $12,000 and then I just get an email. All the money was refunded to... Right. Yeah, so I didn't have it in my bank account or anything like that. It was pledged. It was pledged, but then they didn't actually make any withdrawals.

I made a big deal, yeah. And then CEO wanted to call me and talk to me and apologize. I was like, I don't want to hear you. I don't want to hear you speak nothing. I was so pissed. But then a doctor did the work. Doctor did the work for free, yes. For some credit, I guess, yes.

And this guy, the... Oh, yeah. Martin, you said? Yeah, Martin. So we did the video and then two months late, well, I found out that his teeth is going to get fixed. And, um, so I go tell him that the story and I had to move to LA. I was moving to LA cause I was living in Boca Raton.

So I told him I'm going to be in LA. I'm going to fly down when the doctor's ready. So I fly back down and, um, yeah, they took his teeth out. No, they took his, sorry. They took his teeth out before I flew to Los Angeles. And then while I was in Los Angeles, they said his teeth, he's wounded, you know, healed his mouth, his gums.

We're ready to put the teeth in. So I went to get the dentures filmed and stuff like that. Very cool. So basically, I mean, that was kind of your reaction to, that was your way of saying, okay, I'm not that bad of a guy. That's a character, but this is more the real me. Yeah, but. I actually can be nice.

I just wanted to make his day, I would guess I would say. I'm actually not nice. No, just the videos. I'm always come off as like a douchebag and stuff. But in real life, I always, you know, help the homeless people always pass by and give money. I guess always come off as like a douchebag and stuff, but in real life, I always helped out homeless people, always pass by and give money, I guess, a couple dollars here and there. When I really do feel bad, when I know they're not,

yeah, when I've, you know. It was like, why not? I mean, this is something you wanted to do, why not do it? Yeah, and I just did part one, I didn't expect the two. I was like, I'm not gonna fix these teeth. There's no way I can make it possible. And I just took two months, kind of just focused on this video and I just made it happen

so let's go back to just to learn more about your background where are you from? where did you grow up? I was born in Russia and raised in Ukraine at the city of Mama

okay city of Mama what's it like? have you never been there? I guess third world country I would say yeah there's a mama. Okay. City of mom. What's it like having never been there? I guess third world country, I would say. Yeah, there's a lot of, you know, homeless people. Speaking of homeless people, yeah, a lot of poor people, I guess. And not a lot of people have the technology that USA have.

Right. And was that your case with your family? Yeah, I was born, I was raised with a single mom and and my dad was working here, so it was pretty tough for us. Dad would help us out a little bit, but... What did your mom do? What did my mom do? She was some secretary for a company. I forgot, I was a little, I was like 11 years old.

I didn't really care. I was living in one bedroom, and it was like literally one bedroom. You walk in, and there's no, like, the living room is the bedroom. So we had two beds. Me and my mom slept. It's pretty poor, you know, growing up poor in a poor family. And then my stepdad got an opportunity to bring us here because he got settled. So everything's working out okay.

And so how did he start working in the U.S.? How did that? He started working in the U.S. by moving here and trying to do something and then he started as a pizza delivery guy and he worked his way

up to... By now, obviously, I don't know when he moved, what year, but he's a programmer now. So, yeah.

He was reading the books for dummies. That's how he got his degree. He didn't even go to college. Really? He learned his programmer job for books for dummies. That's a good endorsement for that series.

Pretty good books. That's all he did is he read that, and then he went in an interview. I mean, if you can be, you know, if you have the humility to say, I'm going to read a book that says it's for dummies, then I'm told it's really good. Well, he's a smart guy, but yeah, but he just read the books. Ironically, dummies don't actually read it because they're dummies. Yeah, exactly. That's a good point, actually.

But yeah, so off the books, then he went and proved that he can do it. So what kind of kid were you? What were you into? Bad kid. You were a bad kid? Well, in Ukraine. We're talking about Ukraine. Pretty bad kid, I guess.

Always into getting fights. Always grew up on the street, in Ukraine. We're talking about Ukraine. Pretty bad kid, I guess. Always into getting fights. You know, always grew up on the street pretty much, you know. Just running around with my friends. Did you have any brothers and sisters or was it just you? No, I'm the only child. Okay, only child. What kind of fights? I mean, how rough does a street fight get in Ukraine?

School fights. We're talking like switchblades? No, no, no. I was 12 years old. You know, silly fights in school. Always was like center of attention. What was your signature move? Did you body shot?

Punch people in the face? No, I pulled their hair. Really? Just kidding. No, face shot. Just a face shot. Really? You know, it's funny because I got into a couple of fights.

Most of the time it was related to Link. What? No, you remember the time, it was related to Link. What? No, you remember the time John Carson was getting on you? Yeah, I know that. I know that one time. No, and then there was a John Ensor situation that was related to you, too. Oh, John Carson was picking on me. What was this?

And ref punched him in the probably third grade. I don't know what it was. I always went for the body shot. Oh, you guys go back then? Yeah, since we were five, six years old. But I would go for the body shot. Oh, you guys go back then? Yeah, since we were five, six years old. But I would go for the body shot, which is unusual because I've got a good reach and I've got the height. But I think I was just worried about my hands. But you knew how to hold your fist.

I guess you'd say so, yeah. Because I always did boxer and karate when I was growing up with my best friend. So you were trained. I was growing up with my best friend. So you were like trained. I was like, yeah, pretty much. Were you developing the skill to not care if you were going to piss people off from a young age? Is that something that you can see, that you can trace back?

I don't care if I piss you off. Yeah, pretty much. If it's funny, I'm going to do it. Was it that kind of thing? No, not when, no. I think I just started doing that for YouTube. I'm not going to lie. that that kind of thing no not when no I think I just started doing that for YouTube I'm not gonna lie

I never had really thought about that no before YouTube I was never really pissing people off I was just funny

I guess class clown that's what they called me but that's about it so it's more of the innocuous pranks like some innocent pranks but you might have

punched some people in the face so there's a little bit of both, but they were never together. Nah, because people started to fight first. So I fought. But in America, it's not the same. But then I came to America. What age was that?

I was 2004, so I was 12 years old. Okay. Yes. Wow, I mean, that's a formative age to make such a big move. What was that like? And this was moving to Florida. I was moving to Florida with no English at all, new dog and cat.

I moved to Florida and I went to Carver Middle School and I was the only white kid in class. Everyone was black because of ESL, because there's a lot of Haitians in Florida. So they couldn't speak English neither. So I was just there. I didn't have no friends. And I got in a couple of fights with them

but then I learned the American school system where you get suspended and you get in trouble by your parents. So I had to stop doing that. How did the language, how did you overcome that barrier? I mean... My dad used to lock me in the room

and says, you have to come out when you learn all those words. And it was literally like that. I had to knock and be like, I'm ready. Did he like give you English for dummies? No, no, he did not.

He wrote a, no, he wrote, he would write, I would write, but he would, I would write a word in Russian and next to it in English. The ones I need to use in school mostly. So, and that's how I did it. And then it just kind of went on. So, I mean, so how do you, you come in and not only are you the only white kid, but you're a Russian kid who's trying to learn English.

I mean, how was that first year? It was horrible. I was crying at home when I was home because I had no friends. I missed all my friends in Ukraine and Odessa. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm never going to learn English. I was freaking out.

And then what changed? Or did it not? Was the rest of school? Ukraine, Odessa. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm never going to learn English. I was freaking out. And then what changed? Or did it not? Was the rest of school? No, seventh grade was kind of bad. But I went to eighth grade. Then I switched schools to eighth grade. Down Estridge, middle school. And then I took computer class.

And it was kind of better because I could play games on the computer. Right. But yeah, I started learning English more and started communicating with more people, had some friends. And then, yeah, by the time I got to high school, I got better.

By the time I graduated, it's good. So when did video making enter the equation? 2011. Okay. I did videos for like six months. I didn't take it seriously because I was doing man physique. Like I wanted to be a natural bodybuilder.

Oh, really? So yeah, I had like 6% body fat. I was like eating, like measuring my calories and stuff. Let's see, you were out of high school at the time? Yeah, I graduated in 2010. So yeah. And I told myself I'm never going to college. I'm going to make it without college.

Okay. So your plan A was the gym, to be a bodybuilder. First, yeah. Well, that was a hobby. That wasn't my goal in life. I'm like, I don't need to go to school so I can become a bodybuilder. No. Just did it.

Just started working out. I saw great results. I'm like, let me be one of those guys in the magazine cover holding a protein shake. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, yeah, that's how it started. And then my YouTube took off and that's when I stopped.

I started reading the comments. But what was your first video? I mean, you're saying, okay, I'm going to, I'm lifting weights. I'm getting swole. Is that what you say? Yeah, swole, I guess.

That's what you say. Yeah. Is that what you said though? I don't want to put words in your mouth. No. Did I say swole back in the day? I definitely said, do you even lift?

No, I haven't. I haven't thought of that back in your mouth no did I say swole back in the day I definitely said do you even lift no I haven't I haven't thought of that back then yet but yeah swole looking at myself flexing but then so what was the first

video you made and were you alone did you have friends you know you had a camera were you editing skateboarding videos and maybe the bang bros

is that what you're trying to make me tell you no yeah but yeah bangbros.com Skateboarding videos. Okay. And maybe the Bang Bros. Is that what you're trying to make me tell you? No. Yeah, but, yeah, bangbros.com. I think I know what he's talking about. What? Yeah.

Let's not, let the viewers know. You want to talk about that? A dirty film. I don't know how you viewers can know. Okay, a porn film. I guess, yeah, you would say so. Okay, tell us about it. That was your first video? That's your first internet video?

Yeah, I already did art. Not my first. I did skateboarding videos. But then so. Okay, tell us about it. That was your first video? That's your first internet video? Yeah, I already did art. Not my first. I did skateboarding videos, but then my friend dragged me along on this ride. It was crazy. I was 18 and dumb. But yeah, I went to the bank bus, and then I had to get a job from the porn star

while this random guy that I knew was supposed to penetrate her. And then I had to... Is this ex going to get ex? No. the porn star while this random guy that I knew was supposed to penetrate her and then yeah and then I had to it's getting uh is this ex is gonna get ex this is no just go with it all right fine uh yeah I did the money shot on her face and I got paid yeah I was supposed to all that now all the people now all the people know that I did that because obviously I'm big now so people found that and they're like ah you couldn't get hard. You couldn't this, this, this. But they didn't know that it was all scripted.

I shouldn't say that, but yeah, scripted. But whatever, everybody knows porn is scripted. Because it's a bang about supposed to pick you up on the side of the street and stuff. Like a series. Pretty much, yeah. It's kind of like Cash Cab, but the cash, the money shot's a little different. Yeah, usually they do it differently. The money shot's a little different.

Yeah, usually they do it differently. Usually they have a porn star guy picking up random girls, supposedly random girls, but this time it's like it was a porn star takeover. It's supposed to pick up amateur guys. Oh, you were playing the guy on the street. Yeah, pretty much. So your friend got you in. The boy next door.

Oh, I guess I see the connection. Yeah, I wasn't where I was working. You're a bodybuilder. You got a friend. You know, you got. No, that was before I started working out. Oh. Yeah, I used to skate big time. Then, was just it happened i guess i turned 18 i'm like why

i don't know why not try porn i'm an adult now yeah i don't know how i don't know how it's happened i'm not saying i'm like well like regret it's whatever happened in the past i gotta look for my future now but it's like it's whatever my future now, but it's like, it's whatever. Right. And now, but now it's out there. It's one, it's the thing that you were like, okay, sure.

I'm going to do this nice paycheck to get to do something I enjoy. And then, and then all of a sudden you become this YouTube star. You know that people on the internet are going to find it. Do you remember the day when you were like, Oh, people are finding this. How am I going to spin this?

Whenever I uploaded Disturbing the Peace Part 10, that's the day. So yeah, I don't know what day was that. And how did you find out that it had been discovered? It went viral in the comments section. Yeah, that was great.

I was like, oh, f***. But then I was like, whatever, I got over it. After a month, I was like, whatever. It's 2014. It's not 92 back in the day when you made a porno and then you become a celebrity.

It's like, 2014. Well, it's also, I mean, I think you think about your videos and what you're known for. It's not like you're making children's instructional videos. Yeah, I'm not working for nickelodeon exactly or something yeah exactly my my content is very vulgar and uh yeah so now i'm known as a comedian i guess on youtube so you've just embraced it and people looked at as a sex tape yeah i mean we weren't even going to ask you about that no it's fine that's how i brought it up

because i'm not yeah i don't i't want to, I don't have to, I'm not going to hide it. Why should I? I'm an open person. I can talk about whatever. So that was kind of a one and done kind of a thing for you?

Pretty much, yeah. I did some extra, shot some, kind of was in the business. Okay. They haven't found the other videos yet.

Okay. No, I'm just kidding. Where can we find those? No, I was just filming. I was filming partially and then I got the opportunity No, I was just filming. I was filming partially.

And then I got the opportunity. And then I was an extra in some parties. And it was, yeah, I got a little wild. But then it was dirty business. It kind of, like, a lot of people were doing drugs and stuff. And I'm not, I was like, what the fuck am I doing? So I was like, let me do the YouTube thing. Because I'm actually funny.

And it was, so the YouTube videos were kind of happening in parallel with kind of flirting with the porn world kind of a thing? I think so. Yeah, I don't know. Let me think. No, no, I was right before my very first video. Or maybe I think I did it and then maybe like I had two videos uploaded, but it wasn't much. And those were skate videos?

No, those were I think it was two pranks. I'm not sure. I can't tell you exactly. No, actually no. I remember. No, I haven't done any pranks. It was skate videos.

Yeah. Okay, so you weren't thinking at the time you knew you were a funny guy. You were a class clown. So did you when you thought about YouTube what was the strategy there?

Were you like okay I'm going to be a YouTube star? Oh no I just started doing it for fun I didn't even know you can get paid on YouTube. Right you were just like you can skateboard. Yeah I can skateboard and then I was like let me try something new let me try to like prank people I guess. And were there other successful pranksters out there

before you did that? You were like okay I see this works and I could do that I'm not afraid to do stuff like that I mean I saw a lot of YouTube videos I'm like why do these

people get like millions of views not on pranks just vlogs and like other stuff I'm like what is this like

why can I get this many views damn and I just started doing it I got like a thousand views I was really happy

what was the what was the first one disturbing the peace part one it's just I'm running around trying to kiss guys like not literally I got like a thousand views. I was really happy. What was the first one? Disturbing the Peace Part 1. It's just I'm running around trying to kiss guys. Like not literally, yeah, like on the cheek, you know, like in a funny way. Let me kiss you. Like just being silly around the street, see how it would go. And I think I got like a thousand views.

I'm like, wow, a thousand people seen this video. So I kept doing it. The views grew monthly, I guess. Yeah, started getting like 10 000 views a video well when i start picking up girls how to pick up girls part one i did two series is disturbing the peace and how to pick up girls and then i went to single prank so i'm like the serious thing is not cool anymore enough part 10 that's where it ends and so how long were you doing that before the zombie prank video really popped? I started in I started in August 2011 YouTube channel I did videos for six months till this no

I did videos I did a couple of videos and then I stopped maybe in September until January I'm like let me try this again because I wasn't growing I had like 300 subscribers like oh this is never gonna work for me so um i tried it again and i started growing and then in may of 2013 no 2000 the attack happened yeah 2012 wow time flies yeah in may i shot the video right because that blew up in june yeah and then then July was the the one that arrested and that's when I was like YouTube is going to be my job and that's when it

I mean at that point you get out of jail and you're like video video video I was like that's it it's 120,000 subscribers it means 100,000 people are going to watch me per upload

I gotta do it right I mean so you start feeling some pressure at that point you're like okay my pressure it became an addiction right because you're like people are watching yeah

And if I do this more people are gonna watch I'm gonna keep doing this yeah people say I love it I love it like great comments some like why should I stop? I don't know and obviously did you do prank videos you've got to get other people involved you got to have people run camera How I mean how many just one camera guy always just one one person yeah, guy, always. Oh, so just one person? Yeah. Always the same guy? Always, it was always just, well, it was a story before the zombie prank. I had this camera guy that we started

a YouTube channel with, but I don't want to get into that. We got out of hand control. Pretty much he told me he quit before the zombie, long story short, he quit before the zombie prank. I said, cool, blah, blah, blah, the zombie prank blew up. Oh, where's my money? He said, you quit. So, blah, blah, blah, I'm gonna sue you, blah, blah, blah, boom, you're not my I said, cool. Blah, blah, blah. The zombie prank blew up. Oh, where's my money? She said, you quit. So blah, blah, blah.

I'm going to sue you. Blah, blah, blah. Boom, you're not my friend anymore. Done. New camera guy. I never had a problem with him. And then just one camera guy. And then I moved to LA.

I'm getting hired in a little production. You know, getting hired in the videos and trying to get triple the views. Right, so it's a little bit bigger of an operation than it was when you were in Florida. Yeah, I'm just trying to keep millions and millions of views per video now, not a million. Now I'm dreaming for 10 million each upload. Right.

Yeah. And, okay, so that kind of brings us to the getting girls' phone numbers and kissing girls, like making out with girls that are total strangers and all that type of thing. I mean, I'm fascinated with kind of what goes into being able to get into that mode. You know, having talked about like your pregame ritual and things like that. I don't want to overreach by trying to make a connection but being like kind of dabbling in the whole porn industry and having the I would imagine

I've never done it I would imagine it takes a certain amount of confidence to be totally bare to be naked and having sex with somebody or being at a you know doing that and then maybe going to pranks from there

doesn't even require as much confidence. I don't know. Question. Yeah. That's my question. Which is easier to do, porn or prank videos? Probably pranks because nobody, not five guys or like four guys have to watch you naked

and you're supposed to concentrate on is my dick gonna go up or what right yeah I had to experience that but yeah so all of a sudden

pranks you know everyone's thinking wow I can't believe he did that and you're thinking hey this is easy yeah

this is easy exactly I mean like approaching girls who are total strangers and then like a few seconds later you're making out with them or getting their phone number?

For the camera, yeah, for the camera. Everyone thinks I get a lot of girls in real life. I really don't care. I mean, I care, obviously. I like girls, but I don't go out like crazy for the camera because I know the viewers love it. The viewers think, oh, my God, this guy can talk to any girl. But it's all for the show. It's all for the camera.

Right, but if it's that successful on your videos. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I was like, I need to build more confidence in my real life without a camera. So you're saying that when a camera's not rolling, that's not your approach? I do talk, but not like I talk on camera. You're not just like, put your number on my phone? You've never tried? No, I did try that.

You've never done that in real life? I did, I worked a couple times, but yeah, I did. Listen, that one in particular, to put your number in my phone, was that Roman Atwood that you partnered with? No, Andrew Hales from Law. Okay, sorry. Yeah. Now, you did that on the campus of BYU.

Yes, and it's a secret. Nobody knows about it. Well, everybody knows it's BYU, but there's a secret to it. I'm going to tell you in a second. Go ahead. Okay, well, let me theorize. Yes.

We talked about this. I think that you were so successful on that campus because of the nature of a Mormon girl. The typical Mormon girl. You revealed my secrets. Super, super nice. Super, super trusting. And so you kind of go up and they're like, there's no way this guy is a creep. Exactly.

You know, he's like my my brother and I didn't even know that until I did the video I did the video that I realized that this wouldn't work this only works at BYU

we didn't plan it like me and Andrew Hales weren't like okay this is only going to work at BYU no we just did it because I visited him for a collaboration

so we did this and then realized it's not going to work in California it's not going to work in Florida and I tested it doesn't work to work in California. It's not going to work in Florida. And then I tested, it doesn't work.

Like it worked at BYU. It was five out of five girls. Oh yeah. I tried it. Yeah. It didn't work. But it doesn't even make something worth uploading. It doesn't even make a video worth uploading.

Well, no, I don't do part twos. So I wasn't doing for the video. I'm like in real life. Oh, okay. You're just saying when you've tried this technique.

Yes. Anecdotally in your own real life no it hasn't worked yeah uh in miami they just make out with you that was my next big hit well it's interesting byu they're not gonna just make out with you um they actually i actually got two reactions at uvu it's the campus over uvu yeah got two. I kissed two girls in a row without denial. And that's how I came up with how to get girls to kiss you with the three questions. It worked. The first two girls I did to, it worked. I'm like,

f***, this is awesome. This is 30 million views. So I'm like, Andrew Hales, he's like, nah, it's not going to get a lot of views. I'm like, are you kidding me? He didn't believe me. I did the video, it's 32 million views. You were doing, let me get this straight you were doing the put your phone number in my phone prank and as part of that you ended up kissing a couple of

girls no no no it was after it was a new idea i was like let me because i uploaded it while i was in utah so it went big i'm like people like getting numbers so why don't we do a step more why don't we kiss girls imagine that and Why don't we kiss girls, imagine that, and break the ice with girls on the spot. And I just did it in Miami on my own. But you did it, okay, so you, but you did it in Utah a couple of times. Yeah, two times.

And it worked? It worked, yes. And then he didn't want to do it with you? No, not necessarily he didn't want to do it. Actually, yeah, kind of, because he's like, he has a different audience. He has like Mormon people, but it wasn't the reason. He said he wouldn't mind doing two or three clips. I just went to Miami, because he has a different audience. He has Mormon people. But it wasn't a reason. He said he wouldn't mind doing two or three clips.

I just went to Miami, and he didn't really care that I keep that as an idea. And I went to do it for my million subscriber celebration. I thought it was going to be an epic video. And it gets like two million views every month still, and I uploaded it a year ago. Now, there are a number of prank videos out there now of guys kissing girls like i saw oh yeah sam pepper thing yes i saw actually um stewart edge stewart edge did it and he has been doing a lot yeah he added a magic trick yeah he does magic tricks he does like some creative different stuff but he does pop kisses he doesn't make out he just does a little right

well sam sam didn't do that, but he really made out with the girls on Venice Beach. But you did it first. You were the originator. Yes. You type in kiss girls on YouTube, first video is me.

How does that work though? Because you obviously know all these guys. You work with them and there's a sort of a prank video maker network. Is it sort of like, hey dude,

I got this idea. I'm going to kind of do the kiss girls thing. Is that cool? Is there like a phone call that takes place? No, because they do different ideas.

Like, you know, I did three questions picking up girls. Like, hey, do you have a boyfriend? No. Do you think I'm attractive? Yeah.

What's your excuse not to kiss me? Sam Pepper's video was different. He was just interviewing girls. He's like, I want to see how many girls I can make out with today.

And he would tell that to a girl and she'd be like, okay, let me make out with you. Right. So it's a was different. He was just interviewing girls. He's like, I want to see how many girls I can make out with today. And he would tell that to a girl and she'd be like, okay, let me make out with you. Right. So it's a different idea. So I can't be like, oh, it's mine, you know. Right.

He can go kiss girls if he comes up with a different idea. He was certainly emulating you on that one. I think you guys are friends. You've collaborated. Well, I met him after that video. I met him after, yeah. I met him at VidCon last year.

Did you talk about that video? No, I didn't. I never seen him because I didn't know who he was. I met him after, yeah. I met him at VidCon last year. Did you talk about that video? No, I didn't. I'd never seen him. I didn't know who he was. I thought he was a crazy fan. I didn't give him my number. And then he emailed me and would delete links and stuff. He was like, put your phone.

Put your number in my phone. Yeah, pretty much. And you're like, oh, no, this doesn't work that way. Yeah, I was like, I'd never seen him on YouTube. I was like, I don't know who he is. I thought he was just a crazy fan. So are you trying to, because there are those, I don't know, five or. I thought he was just a crazy fan. So are you trying to, because there are those, I don't know,

five or so channels that are really successful prank channels, is it like, okay, well now you want to be the king of the YouTube pranks or you wish those guys success?

How does that work? I wish everyone success, but I just passed prank versus prank, so I'm the king. I'm number one prankster and YouTuber now. No cockiness input,

but a little both and right there. Yeah, well, so yeah, for a number one asster and YouTuber right now. No cockiness input. So a little both and right there. Yeah, well, so yeah, number one is of pranks for now. It's going to stay that way for now until if I start doing script. I don't like, you know, I'm over the improv. I'm not really over improv stuff.

I like scripting stuff. You know, like I like people telling me what to do. Like, you know, I want to start doing scripted stuff. Have you done that? No, not yet. You want to be an actor? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But I want to do like, have a director tell me what to do, like, you know, I want to start doing scripted stuff. Have you done that? No, not that. You want to be an actor? Yeah, yeah, pretty much.

But I want to have a director tell me what to do, not saying scripting prank videos. Like, I want to do, like, films and, like, you know, people telling me what to do. Like, I want to be like, you did this wrong, because I'm the director of my own videos, so I don't know if I did it good or not. Have you done any of that on your channel?

Are you moving? No, I'm not going to put that on my channel, no. I'm going to lose all the audience. Yeah, no way. I'm just going to stick with pranks, but if I get something outside of pranks for TV, like this, we're working on a prank movie. It's not really going to be scripted. I don't know. We're just writing it now,

so we'll see. Well, obviously, if you're writing it, it's scripted. So it's kind of like a jackass bad grandpa model type movie? But more crazier. Their pranks are like funny but soft. Well, Jackass, they hurt themselves. Not really prank. No, there was some pranks, right? Yeah.

But Grandpa, yeah, it was hilarious. It was soft pranks. But we're going to do like, are you going to leave the movie theater and be like, is he in jail for how many years? That's what kind of pranks. That's how we're going to leave the audience. More of a shock prank. Yeah, pretty much.

Like with open mouths. Watching the screen. Right. And shock prank. Yeah, pretty much. Like, with open mouth. Watching the screen. Right, and I think that's an interesting distinction. We were talking about this. We're good friends with Ed Bassmaster, who is one of the early YouTube pranksters. And, of course, he takes a different approach, though, because his approach is very much, he's going to try to play some comedic character. Oh, yeah, he has hilarious.

And he's going to kind of push it pretty far. Look at that, look at that. Until you kind of get a funny reaction from somebody. You take a different tack, which is like, I'm going to do something, like you said, where you're going to question, was this guy in jail? And what happened? Did this guy get stabbed after the camera went off?

Yeah, exactly. So has that become the standard now? When I started it, that's what was my point deal. I was like, I'm going to stand out. I'm going to push to the edge every prank. I'm not going to be a soft prank where they get mad. Oh, you're on camera. When people get mad, I push it to the limit. That's what makes me stand out

because there's a lot of drama in my videos and so logistically how does that work once you make somebody that angry how do you get them to sign a release form or how does that work I do verbal releases

hey I'm doing a prank video is that cool if you use it yeah but when I was on probation they made me do signing releases and every once in a while, you blur somebody's face out. Because they say no to the permission.

Okay, so they say no. Yeah, I blur the face if I get a cool reaction. Now, I do know, speaking of Ed Bassmaster, going back a few years, we just, you know, because we're friends,

we were just asking him some questions, and he said, I was like, have you ever had anybody get really mad? And he had some people, you he said, I was like, have you ever had anybody get really mad? And he had some people ask him to take videos down, even though they had given him permission once they saw it. Yes.

So what's your experience with that? I had one video taken down because I didn't even ask a girl for permission. She went off of me. She beat me with a tennis racket, and I thought it was hilarious, so I uploaded it. of me she beat me with a tennis racket and I thought it was hilarious so I uploaded it and then her dad found out and she's like she's getting bullied in school because of you because you know blah blah I didn't believe it I thought it was just some crazy hater wanted me to just take down the video and the video disappeared so obviously that means that YouTube verified the person so then I believed it it was just something that happened behind the scenes they they they

went through YouTube yeah they said they said they're going to sue me. And I wasn't scared. What happened? How did the prank go down? I was just being kind of trying to be kind of, that was the How to Pick Up Girls series. And my How to Pick Up Girls series is me like kind of talking crap to girls, but then make them laugh and give me the number at the end instead of being nice.

And this one was, I was zoomed in on a boat and I'm like I'm like wow this is a nice cruise ship but not as beautiful as your ass and I switched the camera to her and I don't zoom in on her ass I just kind of like move to the camera towards and she's like excuse me what'd you say and I'm like you heard me I was like put that camera down I was like I'm not putting that camera down she's like put that camera down I was like I'm not and I wasn't gonna like if she was nice ask me. I was like, put that camera down. I was like, I'm not putting that camera down. She's like, put that camera down. I was like, I'm not. And I wasn't going to like, if she was nice, asked me nicely, I would put the camera down.

But she came off so bad already. She's like, put that camera down. I was like, no. She's like, you want two? I'm going to hit you in the balls. I'm like, and she's like, in three seconds, I hit you in the balls. I'm like, one, two.

She gave you a countdown. Yeah. And I didn't know. I gave myself a countdown. Because I was like, you're not going to hit me. I was like, one, two, three. And and I didn't no I gave him no he gave her the countdown because I was like you're not gonna hit me I was like one two three

and then she didn't she didn't hit me she's like you better put that camera down I was like alright fine I will I start walking away she's like you better

put that camera down and I'm just holding it for you know for the audio kind of up and I'm not pointing at her at all and she just followed me

and then some lady with a husband screamed the lady was screaming yeah break that break this and the husband was like it's freedom of speech it's freedom he's allowed to do this and then she and then he and then I think it was a husband I'm sorry maybe it was some random woman and another guy and then she came up to the guy and she's like what'd you say and she's like I'm about to knock you out and the guy's like well if you knock me out i'll knock you out right after and then and then i was like um i

was like i said i said something vulgar again to piss her off and at that point i was like i don't give a i don't feel bad for her she's a bitch so i'm like i uh i said something i said i was like i like the way i like i love your attitude i want to f*** you, which is like bad. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have any subscribers at that point. Very cordial. Now I would never do that.

Yeah. But before I was like, f*** this. You know, it's a YouTube video. Hee hee. Let me laugh at this. So she, then she goes, dad, across the beach. I was like, you ain't got no dad. And then I was like, no, go call your dad like a little girl.

And then that's when she started beating me with the racket. And we came on the street. The car started honking. And she just walked back on the sidewalk and walked with her friend. Oh, she was with a friend. And her friend was so calm. She had a tennis racket? The little ones, you know, that you play on the beach.

Like a badminton thing or something. Oh, the rubber, the wooden ones. Yeah, the wooden yeah the rod the wooden ones yeah like a ping pong one she was trying to paddle you yeah good good explanation yeah she paddled me on my elbow i think she didn't hit my head she tried to i ducked and it would have hurt but yeah and her friend was just standing there her friend was so nice she didn't do anything she was just standing waiting for her when she's going to be done. So she went psycho on me. Was that your worst beating? No, she just barely hit me.

What's your worst beating? I didn't have any beating except that the black guy was talking about a Russian hitman. He didn't really beat me. He just scared me because he looked like he would kill me because he was so much bigger than me and just screaming and like spit coming out of his mouth. I'm like, oh, I'm going to die today. This is my day. You've never been punched in the face as a result of a prank?

No. Well, it seems like that might need to be a goal, though. More views, you're right. I mean, nobody just wants to punch me. One time I did a prank with Jack Vale in my video, and he actually got punched instead of me. So I'm like, I just don't get punched. People don't want to punch to punch me i don't know what it is i guess it's my beautiful blue eyes people feel bad what do you say to the i mean we we dug up the blogs online where people are

trying to analyze and point out that you're fake and okay you you fake this i've seen this person in multiple videos i love it i first of all the person in multiple videos that happened once I was filming in Deerfield Beach Florida and I got one reaction from a guy I uploaded a video and months later I did a video

and there was a I filmed a reaction again from the same guy I didn't know, he didn't know I'm like you're on camera he's like wait I'm a reaction again from the same guy. I didn't know. He didn't know. I'm like, you're on camera. He's like, wait, I'm on camera again? Wait, oh, aren't you the same guy? And I have behind the scenes and actually uploaded my second channel to explain it.

And people are like, oh, what are you doing? You're just showing that you care about the haters, blah, blah, blah. I was like, yeah, what the fuck am I doing? I don't need to prove anybody anything. So I just took it down on private and I just let the haters hate. Then people still five millions per five million people watch per upload so people want to pick it apart people just just i guess

i'm being the bigger you get the more haters you get now but i love it now i was like oh this is great it means i'm doing something good no okay so you you're saying okay people the haters are gonna hate and i'm not gonna try to go on and like publicly defend myself do you think at the same time that part of the purity of a prank video is making sure that it's completely authentic i mean is that is that something that you say yeah i'm always going to make sure that these people this is a legitimate prank these people i haven't talked to them ahead of time is that that part of your philosophy then? What do you mean part of my philosophy? To say, okay, I'm going to do a prank video. This is going to be a legitimate prank.

Haters are going to hate, but also at the same time. Well, it hurts. I'm not going to say it hurts. Well, yeah, sometimes it's like, I'm doing a real video, you're calling it fake. Some videos that I don't spend days on doing it, I don't care, but some days I put hard work into the video and people call it fake.

What am I going to do, but the dislikes and likes ratio is always great. I can barely see the whatever, it's not white or red. It's always green completely all the way,

so that's why I don't care. People might say in the comments, fake, still likes, you know what I mean? So that's why I don't get, if I had like half a dislikes,

half likes, I'm like, oh, this looks as hell. Right, so I guess what I'm saying is, is you're not going to, you're not going to cater to gonna cater to the haters you're not gonna spend time you're not gonna waste energy on them but you're telling us you're telling us i'm this i'm not faking it

these people are legitimate regardless of what people say yeah this is this is a legitimate exactly these people are not fake yeah there's always there's an explanation this guy i'm in the same town this guy shows up in my video because I film in the same town what happened once and then people started saying and then after that people started saying all the same people in my videos and then when you go when they compare the links it's like completely different people they're just they're just being trolls what you call them internet where keyboard warriors and then what happened yeah and that's about it do you call them? Internet keyboard warriors. And then what happened?

Yeah, and that's about it. That's something I was going to say, but I forgot. Let me see if I can pop up. Are there other guys, some of these other guys out there who are making prank videos, you don't have to mention any names that you think are faking it? No. I just watch the stuff. That's it.

Actually, to be honest, I don't actually watch. I'm just like, yeah, I'm not going to, whatever, I don't care if it comes off bad. I just click on it just to see what they did so I don't do the same idea, and I click out of it. I don't watch. So when you come up with an idea, you search and make sure it hasn't been done. Exactly, exactly. So I go through my pranksters, all the pranksters on YouTube.

I type their name, check them, and then I see the title of the video. I was like, good good I wasn't gonna do something like that anyway it's interesting I mean because you do collaborate I mean you mentioned

five people that you work with yeah I did collaborate before yeah I just watch Roman Atwood that's the only person I watch I'm not gonna lie to you

I just go and I skip through other people's videos I don't know how rude it sounds but I just don't watch prank videos I watch them

I just I just watch just do research always on the internet. A lot of times you think Roman Atwood in some of your descriptions. Yeah, we work a lot with Roman Atwood. That's who we're going to be doing the movie with. So yeah, Roman and Dennis. So that's when you guys collaborate on something

and there's a mutual, maybe he has an idea, you have an idea, like, hey, let's make this happen together. Exactly, yeah. Okay. We this happen together. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. We started working together. I think our first collab was with him. Yeah, my first collab was with him.

And then we just clicked. We became more than just partners. We became friends. And we just started doing videos together. So going back to something at the top, in terms of when you were talking about helping the homeless guy out and having the image of being kind of a bad guy, or I think you said that you had the public image of kind of acting douchey about certain things. People love me, but they think I'm douchey, most of the people, but they love me, I guess.

I don't know. It's hard to explain. You see awesome comments, but people know I'm like,y, most of the people, but they love me, I guess. I don't know. It's hard to explain. You see awesome comments, but people know I'm like, is this guy in real life? They don't understand this is acting. This is not really me in real life. I'm nice.

I respect people. But you kind of own and embrace the characters. I mean, your hat says villain. It's not even my hat, so I don't even know what that means. What does that mean? Villain. My friend gave me a hat. Is it really? No, no, I swear. I don't know what that word means.

Your sweatshirt says cookies. You know what that means. Oh, yeah. I smoke weed all day every day. But no, smoke weed sometimes helps me go to sleep. But, uh, but, but, uh, but this is, is i can tell you this is use of pussy tube pussy tube yeah he my hair was uh is getting longer so i can't spike it up and i didn't get a haircut yet i need one so we went out to a club and he gave me the hat and i kept it for now he forgot so the villain hat i didn't know what that means i swear i got villain i was like i was

like the bad guy it's like the the Joker is the villain to Batman. Awesome. Maybe it suits me right. I should keep it then. Yeah. Exactly. I'm just trying to figure out how much, okay, owning and reveling in the being the bad guy in your videos as a character and how that kind of bleeds into real life versus how concerned

are you... About what? About your public perception of being... But I am a nice guy or I am not. I mean, you know, are you about what about your public perception of being but i am a nice guy or i am not i mean you know i mean what's your because i don't i don't do as crazy pranks anymore just starting to you know slowly doing more pg-13 stuff i'm trying not to like i stopped cursing tried to stop like you know i don't try to curse on my videos unless it's the people's reactions and i don't bleep it out because that's what I stand out my channel stands out

I don't bleep anything it's like very rated R and what's the reason why are you taking the edge off in that way I started like this and I thought it would be weird just to do it out of nowhere

I think I tried it once on the video and people like started commenting oh what is this what's happening to Vitaly everybody freaked out but I knew if I kept doing it

they would have no choice and just watch it it was like why why I stand out all the other people are bleeped mine is you can actually to Vitaly. Everybody freaked out, but I knew if I kept doing it, they would have no choice and just watch it. It was like, why? Why? I stand out. All the other people I believe,

mine is you can actually hear the curse words. And if little kids watching, I'm sorry, they shouldn't watch them. 18 and up. So what's a prank you got in the works?

Just to acknowledge, I know that you're saying you want to branch out and work on some other things, get into acting and things like that. You're working on the movie, but you're keeping your channel going, right? Yeah, absolutely is sounds like you want to stay on top i do want to stay on top and my goal is 10 million subscribers

by june so that's why i keep doing it but yeah how are you going to do that oh you got some big pranks well i mean i grow a million subscribers every month so we got what five months left so june 6 so i'm expecting at least around you just you're just doing math at this point yeah my math used to be my favorite subject give us a scoop on uh a prank you got in the works uh it's for me to know for you to find out come on tell us man you really want me to tell you yeah i mean it'll be it may be two weeks before this comes out anyway so you gotta go okay so even further than that. Oh, okay, so yeah, well, I'll just tell them, I guess. Yeah, whatever.

Nobody's going to film as good as I did. But John came up with this idea, actually. We had this girl go flirt with guys, and then the guys were really interested. Then she's like, let me see your hand. Your hand looks kind of nice and soft. And they take the hand, and then she puts it on her pants. And on the pants,

she has a fake dildo to the side. And they think it's a guy. So they flip out and like threaten her to knock her out and stuff like that. So another vulgar video, but... Have you shot it already? Yeah, we shot it.

We shot it. I was supposed to edit it and upload it. But I didn't do that yet. Do you edit? I edit all my videos. Absolutely. I don't trust anybody with my videos. I will edit? I edit all my videos, absolutely. I don't trust anybody with my videos.

I will never let anybody edit, no matter how big I get. I'm going to squeeze in time. Oh, now, okay. All right. Why? Oh, you're going to get that? And then a couple of years,

you're going to be like, you know, Rhett just wants to be your editor. You've got these aspirations, though. No, if it's a TV show, obviously, if it's a movie, I'm not going to edit it.

But my YouTube video, I'm going to edit it. Okay, and what's a prank, let's go beyond that, what's a prank that you haven't shot yet? I'm not going to tell you.

The type of thing, oh, I'm not going to steal it. No, I don't want people to steal it who's ever listening. I got a lot of great ideas.

Probably going to run out soon, but that's why I got John to help me. My manager, yeah. He's been pitching me some good ideas. So how often do you film something and you're like, we can't, this just didn't turn out? Never happens.

Every time I have an idea, I'm confident that this is going to go on the main channel. So you've never scrapped an idea? It's a very good question. I think maybe once. If I did, it would be only once. And I'm not even lying. Like every time I go,

I'm always... I uploaded everything on my main channel. Like I started doing pranks on my second channel, softer pranks. And they were in my extra footage. They were just me

filming those in an hour or two because I just get simple reactions. But the main channel, I'm only going for the greatest reactions. You know what I mean? 10 out of 10, every reaction to keep the people entertained. Well, I think that this is a keeper. You mean this interaction?

Yeah. This has been a prank the whole time? No. Have you guys been recording this? Or we didn't start yet. That would be quite a prank yeah to not record until right now or if we did but then tried to prank you and saying that we didn't that would be actually a very lame prank we weren't recording i would just go home isn't that hilarious yeah

okay there you have it our our conversation with Vitaly. We went to some places that I did not anticipate going. No, that was quite a biscuit. Yeah, it was. There were some different unexpected ingredients in that biscuit. You know, an interesting guy from a different world than ours, you know, with a very different brand from ours. So I think there's certainly a fascination factor there.

Yeah, you know, I find it interesting that he's obviously seen how pushing things very far, I mean, he basically owns it. He understands that's what his brand is, is to push people to a point where they are shocked and offended and angry on camera. And that's something that people like to see. It leads to millions of views. He's basically hitting that number one prankster spot on YouTube right now and seems poised to maintain that spot on YouTube. And he knows that it's going to take more shocking and more offending. He's embraced that. And it's interesting because it's going to take more shocking and more offending. He's embraced that.

And it's interesting because it's already resulted in a 45-day jail sentence. Right, so where does it go from here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are we going to have Vitale back on in three years and it's going to be like he's going to be in a jumpsuit? We're going to be visiting him and he's going to have in a jumpsuit. We're going to be visiting him, and he's going to have on the jumpsuit. That's your brand, and that's how you set yourself up, and you're going to keep pushing the limits.

I'm just authentically interested in where that's going to go. Yeah. If you're breaking limits, what's the next limit, and how many limits are there? You can let us know what you think on Twitter. You know our handles. Also let Vitaly know what you think of his Ear Biscuit. That's VitalyZDTV, V-I-T-A-L-Y-Z-D-T-V,

to let him know what you think. Wow, yeah, So here we are. At the end, having learned some things, how do you feel? I feel biscuited. Well, I'm just going to- I'm trying to come up with something like, you've just been biscuited. You've just been biscuited? You like that? Yeah, yeah.

Like a DeFranco thing? You should keep trying. I mean, the word biscuited kind of doesn't strike me in the right way. Okay. Well, you've just been biscuited. I have nothing better. We do it every week, and we appreciate you listening

and sharing the love. Hashtag AirBiscuits on Twitter and everywhere else that you socialize yourself in a media form. We'll be back next week. You please try to do the same.