Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 37 iJustine - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: June 13, 2014

Justine Ezarik, one of the first major female internet personalities who developed a following online as "iJustine," sits down with Rhett & Link this week to talk about what it was like to live a real-life "The Truman Show" experience having every minute of her life live-streamed online for six months, how she deals with her past and present romantic relationships in the public eye, and what really differentiates Justine from "iJustine" after making YouTube content for over 8 years. 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. It's time for another conversation with somebody interesting from the internet. And this week, that person who will be sitting down at the round table of dim lighting is Justine Izzeric, better known as iJustine, who I think is one of the first ever major female internet celebrities. Period, right? Or internet celebrities in general.

I mean, this girl, as far back as we can remember, when we were starting out on the internet back in 06, we knew about her right from the very beginning. Oh, yeah. She was in the middle of it. Now, I don't know if the live casting came first or if, I think we met her after live casting, but I definitely knew about it when it was happening, when she was broadcasting every moment of her life, not just waking moment, every single moment, sleeping or waking,

24-7 for six months straight on Justin TV. Right. I mean, that was an amazing thing that we talked to her about. And, of course, she also made a lot of YouTube videos, many of which got traction early on in the age of YouTube, publishing a vlog about her iPhone bill that was 300 pages long. It came in a box. Yeah. this is a video went viral. True story right after iPhone, the iPhone came out and it was they were printing these huge bills and she

just made all these calls. That was her first real viral video. And you know, she's built this huge audience on YouTube. She's got a number of channels collectively about 3 million subscribers. But you know, I follow her on Instagram and Twitter and I am constantly just seeing she's somewhere else in the world. And sometimes I'm just, I cut my TV on and she's on the TV hosting something. She's on a red carpet somewhere.

She's hosting something for Call of Duty. She's making an appearance on Law & Order or something like that. She's everywhere. Or on her YouTube channel, vlogging from iceland most recently she was uh she made a cameo in our i'm a techspert rap music video she also made a cameo way back in the day uh one of our early music videos i think it was 08 uh the dead ipod song

she basically is the the she opens that whole video up. That's right. I think our very first collaboration was with Justine. The first time we ever collaborated, before anybody called it a collaboration, we just said, we're just going to work with you on this. You don't think the word collaboration was used in that context? Everybody talks about, oh, who you

collabing with now? I mean, they didn't talk about collabs. We were just like, yeah, you want to be in our video? We'll get views. You'll get views. It'll be great. We actually released the video on her channel and our channel. On the same day. Trying to figure out what was the best way to go about this thing.

But, I mean, when she was on the Texpert thing, the Texpert shoot, it was basically the next day or two she was off to Iceland. Right. So, to your point, she's always somewhere. We talked to her about that, just about what her life is like. Now, I mean, not only being,

she's not a life caster anymore, but so much of her life is still online in terms of all the content she's creating all over the place, all over the world. Right, so we go back to the beginning,

what it's like to be raised as a literal coal miner's daughter in Pennsylvania, what it was like to do that live casting for six months. We get into talking about some old boyfriends and some current boyfriends, well, boyfriend, singular. She has one boyfriend now.

And Ryan's also an online personality. So, I mean, there's a fascinating dynamic there of where they draw the line between their personal relationship and their public personas and just her public and private persona between Justine and iJustine. And we talk about what it's like to still be in this YouTube game after eight years on the platform.

So here it is, our Ear Biscuit with Justine. I'm really tense now, because you hit record. This is being captured. There was that pregnant pause. So I guess let's get right to it. So you're pregnant. Oh my gosh. So let's get right to it. So you're pregnant. Oh my gosh. So let's get right to it. No, I'm not, actually.

I'm sure that every type of rumor goes around Twitter about you. Like, have you had a... I actually don't know that that's true. I'm just assuming. Has there been a pregnancy rumor yet? Because that's like the height of celebrity, right? Actually, there was. And it was my own fault because I was taking a picture, looking down, really sad at my phone because it was broken.

But I had my leg up. And so it looked like it was a part of my shirt. So everyone's like, oh, my God, she's definitely pregnant. How was it? What was a part of your shirt? Your phone? No, my pants. Because I was like kneeling and I was just being Really sad about my phone

And it just looked like I was pregnant And I wasn't I'm not Did you feel the need To clarify? I did Oh you did

Oh wow Yeah even my sister's like Oh my god I can't believe You posted that You look pregnant I was like I didn't know I just was really sad My phone wasn't working

And were you holding A pregnancy test? No Unless there's an app For that Which there probably is Oh wow Don't pee on your iPhone.

I haven't done that yet. Have you done that? Yeah. I've heard some stories from... I mean, how else do you clean it? I don't know, but the people at the Apple store, they know because they have taken them apart and found little poo traces. And when you try to tell them, no, I didn't drop it

in the toilet, they know because they can see the poo. So you dropped a phone in the toilet. I have not. But this is a story. I'm sorry. Well, interestingly though, you recently dropped a phone into like a blue lagoon in Iceland.

I did do that and then a week later, I shattered the phone that I just bought in the subway in New York. So it was really fun. How did that happen? I had a suitcase, and we were doing this scene where I was walking down to the subway, and I didn't realize that my phone was on top of the suitcase, and I also had nothing in the suitcase. So I was being an idiot and was like, look how light my suitcase is.

So it was a prop. Basically, yeah. But the phone was not the prop. It was on there, and it went flying up like 20 feet and just flew down and just shattered how many phones have you been through a lot just i mean give me a ballpark i don't i don't know i mean i can't count because i think it's an uncountable number no i mean i've had i've definitely had one of each phone that has come out and then a couple of each. So there's always, with each model of iPhone.

So 10. That would be 10. Well, it's definitely more than that. Really? I've definitely had more, yeah. I've had some problems. And you kill all of them. You know, not until recently.

I've done really well until this one. This stupid gold phone, man. But when you were in, I want to go back to Iceland because I really enjoyed those videos. Thank you. It made me want to go back to Iceland because I really enjoyed those videos. Thank you. It made me want to go. You should.

I really want to go. You have to. I'm not going unless Ben Stiller goes with me. You should have put that in your contract. But hey, you know, I don't negotiate for you. You know, it's okay. You did actually go, though. That wasn't on green screen.

No, that was actually real. But it was kind of crazy because me and my sister went and saw the movie. And when we left that theater, I was like, we have to go to Iceland. We have to. And then it just randomly happened whenever the DVD release was out. Fox emailed me and was like, hey, we need somebody to go to Iceland for a movie. And I wrote back, like, all capital letters. I didn't know this dude.

I was like, is it The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? Count me in. Had you tweeted or made anything public that you were a fan of the movie? I did, but I don't think they even found it from there, which is weird. So I don't know. But you were in this huge, I mean, we're like in this snowy terrain with this... It's like a hot spring, right? I mean, when I think about hot springs,

I think about something as big as this dimly lit table, like a hot tub. I don't think about a large pond or a small lake. But that's what you were in, right? Yeah, it was like this massive pond, and everyone thinks that it's... Steaming. Yeah, it was so hot. It's like from like the lava rocks and everything there is all geothermal.

So they don't pay for heat because it's all just natural. But it's so hot in there. It's actually blue. Like it is really blue. But it's all like minerals. So as soon as I dropped my phone in, which I had a life-proof case on, so I don't know what happened. I think it might have been actually too hot.

The minerals ate through the case, or the case just tore. Did you immediately recover the phone, or did it go to, you had to search for it for a while? No, I didn't drop it in. I mean, I was just using it. You gestured it into the water. Yeah, because it had a case on it. Because it's waterproof.

Yeah, well, you'd think it would be. Well, is there some sort of guarantee? Nope, and they wouldn't tweet me back, so I just unfollowed them on Twitter. Ooh, okay, so that's how you went for it. You actually made it public. You were like, hey, I was here with your case, and it won't survive a blue lagoon. It won't, but it did survive a shark dive, so I'll give them that much. What was the bottom of the lagoon like?

I don't know. You couldn't see it. I think it was just like rocks. You were treading water? No, you can stand up. Good thing is I can't swim't see it. I think it was just like rocks. You were treading water? No, you can stand up. Good thing because I can't swim. What did it feel like? It felt like rocks. Time out.

You can't swim? Not really. I'm doggy paddling. Doggy paddle? You guys can't see it. I'm teaching my five-year-old son how to completely swim this summer. Really? So if you want to come along for lessons, I'm really good.

Okay. This is working out really well. I feel like this is going to be a great series. We should just. Justine learns to swim. At age. Old. So you're not five.

Well, okay. Then you're not going to say your age, but let's wait until the second half of the podcast to talk about everything associated with your age. Elder. But I think the, the Iceland, Greenland, Iceland, talk about everything associated with your age. Elder. But I think the Iceland, Greenland?

Iceland? What? It was Iceland. Which is greener than Greenland. Yes. We don't have to go there. Yes. But it represents the I, Justine stereotype in my mind that she's always somewhere. It is true. Yeah yeah and we've tried to

show so many times yeah i mean this was like i think the fifth or sixth time i know but i think it's just indicative of your life because most most of the time if not every single time that we've had you booked for the show you've been asked to then go do something that really you know this the ear biscuits come and go, right? We do it every week. But you had an opportunity that you had to say yes to. So it seems like you're just kind of constantly off in a way. Yeah, and it's really.

Living the dream. Well, it is, but it's really hard to play in anything. And it's like, I mean, I feel like I have no friends here anymore because no one even asks me to hang out anymore because they're like, she's not here anyway. And then I'm like, well, I'm here now. I want to play. Well, quantify how much are you gone? I i mean i was gone for almost nine weeks and i was here for

like a week or a few days in between but then i had shoots every day so i couldn't do anything else so it's like even like doing youtube videos i have to like schedule a day that i can actually film something for myself but thankfully like traveling it's always good content and it's fun. So I can still like post that kind of stuff. Right. So, I mean, if it's not Iceland, it could be Greenland or it's Hawaii. Or I think Hawaii is like always your vacation go-to. It's a nice little easy trip from over here, LA.

But what's the, is this the status of your professional life that it's invitation and invitation and there's other things going on too but i'm curious if you're gone that much it's there's kind of an approach to life to make that happen because people approach such late notice right they do so i mean that's the thing is i try not to plan things far in advance and if it is that far in advance i mean it has to be like okay like even my family vacation i have to now go halfway through the vacation because i have something else that came up that's like oh my god i can't not do this and it's hard because like my family's like well we want to hang out with you like yeah mom but i have to do this like i can't

not like we're doing it's uh like call of duty is going to be the x games it's the first time that call of duty is going to be on TV as like an actual sport. So I'm like, I'm sorry. Well, it's an X sport. Well, you know. I'm just joking. So Call of Duty is an official X game. X game, well, at least in this round in Austin,

which is kind of cool because it's like my favorite game. So it's going to be on ESPN as a sport. So it's really fun. And you'll be there in a in a host capacity yeah because you've been there for like the past how many launches of the they had like uh it's like different tournaments and it's crazy like these kids are playing call of duty as a profession like we're making youtube videos that's a profession like they're playing call of duty and it's it's really cool because that's an actual sport now. So you're obviously saying yes to a lot of things, which means you're also saying no to a lot of things.

But what is that like being constantly asked to go do something as opposed to maybe rewind five years where you're just making content. Yeah. You know, you're like thinking about your own content and now you're being tapped to go do all these different things. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely fun, but it's like I really miss doing like this kind of stuff and just hanging out and like making YouTube videos. But I feel like making YouTube videos now isn't what it used to be necessarily. Yeah. I mean, YouTube has changed so much and and it's really hard to make that consistent content and and it's it's so hard because you can never

make everyone happy which is so hard for me because i'm like oh man little johnny 55 didn't like this video but he really liked the last one i'm like sorry johnny what is it more specifically that you're saying oh they didn't like this or there's complaints or? I mean, I think it's with anything. What's the state of YouTube and your YouTube account at this point? I think the good thing is I've never committed to doing one thing. So no one really ever knows what to expect. So even when they say, man, we really missed your older videos.

I'm like, well, I'm still kind of doing the same thing, which is really just a bunch of random stuff. So I think the hard part, though, is trying to find the time to edit. I mean, traveling and editing on the plane, it's like, okay, I know my battery will last for three hours or an hour and a half if I'm actually encoding and rendering. So I think that's the hard thing. And I know a lot of people have editors, but for me, like my content is so personal to me and to my audience that like no one can ever just edit it just right how i would even though it's not like these intense crazy edits it's like i want it to be like i want it to be like i did it have you had editors uh work for you and and you said you know what this is just not working because of that lack of the personal connection i mean i've had some people edit some things i'm like why did you do this and

then i'm like well here why don't you do this? And then I'm like, well, here, why don't you do this or this or this? And then at that point, why don't I just do it myself? And it's already done. What's interesting is my sister, Jenna, she's actually becoming quite the little editor, and she gets my sense of humor, so.

You're going to hire her? Well, you know, I'll feed her and, like, buy her video games. Oh, you'll enslave her. Okay. Well, did you work in the coal mines? No, I didn't. And that would sound like there's people thinking,

whoa, that sounds, I don't know, what the coal miner version of the stereotype is. But when you're in Pittsburgh, your dad's a coal miner. Yeah. Is what I'm getting at. Yeah, he's retired now though. That's a founded, the question is're in Pittsburgh, your dad's a coal miner, is what I'm getting at. Yeah, no, he's retired now, though. That's a founded, the question is founded in reality. Yes. It's not like an insult.

It's like his dad was a coal miner, like it's just, that's what you did. You're literally a coal miner's daughter. Yeah. That's unreal. Isn't that like a movie I haven't seen? It's a whole album. Did you grow up, so you weren't in the coal mine as a 10 year old.

No, no. Which read a scene would be legal, but wasn't the type of thing that, what did your dad do specifically? You say he's retired now. Did he come home with like soot all over his face? I think they showered before they came home,

but yeah, like he would walk the mines and then I'm not actually sure what he really did, but he worked like seven days a week, which when we were younger, that every day yeah of the week and we didn't really realize that that's not really that like normal like most people don't really work seven days a week and my mom's a gym teacher so she worked you know five days a week and then would have summers off it was like oh my dad works midnights tonight so the famous thing I think there's actually a game called that it was like it was like shh don't wake daddy like that was not a game it's like like a board game yeah it's like a board game so that was like basically our child was like shh daddy's sleeping you have

to be quiet but you had to pull out his appendix without making the buzzer sound because that would wake him up that's operation but yeah i have something like that so he worked nights seven nights a week? He would switch off like back and forth. So sometimes he would work at night or he would work during the day. So I can't even imagine having that type of schedule. It's crazy. So did you, you never saw him, I guess.

We did randomly. Yeah. But it would be, but he was always sleeping a lot. Was it a dangerous job? He's retired now though. Yeah, he is. He still found time. I don't know how He still like coached

All of our softball games And was always there So he was He was very present Yeah so he was probably Just really tired Huh Was

Did he have like a pick? You think he like Minecraft now? I don't think he like Really like went down And like was It's more sophisticated He was like a supervisor

Yeah He was like a Was he more of a pointer Or a picker? I don't think he really went down and was picky. It's more sophisticated. He was like a supervisor? Yeah. He was like a, was he more of a pointer or a picker? I don't know, but I don't think there was any picks involved. Oh, heavy machinery. Probably. And a lot of walking in the, I don't know. This is all some really great questions for me to ask. You never got to take a tour?

No, but I did go in some mine that wasn't actually the one that you actually go in it was like some tourist mine it had like lights and it looked all nice and fancy and they would give you some coal candy when you walked out was your dad there i think he was i think this is just like some tourist you and your dad need to reconnect father's day is coming up maybe you don't need to skip out on this family vacation because you got a lot. Because you've got a lot of coal mining to discuss. We do. This is great. I'm going to start taking some notes. And your family vacation is in North Carolina, right? Yes. That's where you go every year. Yes.

You go to the Outer Banks. My favorite place. And then you go to the Harris Teeter and you make a music video. It's true. I still never posted the one from last year. Oh, really? Yeah, I should probably edit that. It's sitting in a folder on my desktop and I look at it every day. Every day for a year. Pretty much.

And your mom was a gym teacher you said? Yeah she still is. And sometimes I'll get Instagram comments or YouTube they're like hey your mom's my gym teacher

and I'm like hi. How's it going? So does she wear like softball pants? What kind of gym teacher are we talking about? What kind of pants is your mom wearing?

Okay she's very specific about her pants. She loves, like, the swishy pants, and they have to be, have, like, an elastic band, and they have to have pockets. Trust me. We've shopped, and it's very hard to find those for Christmas. Warm-up pants. Yeah, like, warm-up pants. But they have to have a matching jacket. Are they tapered on the bottom?

No, just, like, nice and, like, not flared, but enough that, like, you can wear your... Are they rip-away? No. That could be potentially dangerous. She's not a professional basketball player or a stripper. Well, I had,

I mean, I had a pair of rip away pants just cause. I mean, not while I was playing basketball. This is post basketball. I had some too. I mean,

those are things are great. It is great. The ripping away is exciting. The zipping, the buttoning back up is like, why did I rip these away? Yeah. It's like, I've got to rebuild pants now. Yeah, you've got to count the cost, man.

You've got to count the cost of something like that. So what grades does she teach gym to? Sixth, seventh, and eighth. Oh, wow. Middle school gym. Yes, middle school. Did they do dodgeball now? Oh, no, they still do, yeah.

Oh, you can still do that in Pennsylvania. Did they do dodgeball now? Oh, no, they still do, yeah. Oh, you can still do that in Pennsylvania. I remember she taught them to do juggling, which was, I don't even remember. I was pretty young. I was probably about sixth, seventh, eighth grade. But then I learned to juggle, so I can still to this day juggle, which is very exciting. It's a nice little parlor trick to pull out when you're in the parlor.

Okay. So you did a little bit of juggling, but that wasn't your thing? No, I loved taking stuff apart. Like, that was why I would take apart VCRs, and that was really, I think, what I loved, like, technology. And I could never put it back together, so my dad would end up having to, like, fix whatever I did. Because that sounds, I say really,

because that sounds like a convenient iJustine backstory. It's true. Okay, it's true. Wait, before we go any further, do you guys remember when I had you on my podcast? Actually, no. You don't? You got to refresh my memory here. Oh my gosh.

Okay, I think it's actually still online somewhere, which is kind of embarrassing because I don't have anything. Oh, remotely. Yeah, yeah. Had to have been. Oh, this was so long ago. I think it was called Mommy Pack my lunch if you're yeah yeah that was your blog was named that right and then that was like me and me and my friend desiree we made we did a podcast and i remember having you guys on it what year do

you think this was 2007 or seven i think it was earlier than that because I was still in Pittsburgh and had no idea that I was ever going to leave so this I think was early it was Rever Days oh definitely Rever Days oh six only $20 I'm so pissed so we need to explain Rever was an early competitor to YouTube

I don't even think it was really even a competitor well it did the same thing except you got, you supposedly, you got paid for views back before YouTube partner program, before they would pay you for views. So there was a, I remember we made a conscious choice to put our videos on Revver and we didn't really worry about YouTube because they had a, there was a revenue model there that we could potentially make some money. And I think that that's how we met each other, right? Was we were both being featured on Revver. And I think somehow we emailed or something.

I can't remember the specifics, but there was an email exchange, which evidently led to being guests on your podcast. Evidently, I don't recall. We're going to have to look this up because I actually don't remember, but I know I was like, Tess, you're never going to believe this. She's like, I was like, Ryan Linkson didn't be on your podcast. Evidently, I don't recall, but. We're going to have to look this up because I actually don't remember, but I know, I was like, Tess, you're never going to believe this.

She's like, I was like, Ryan Linkson did me on my podcast. She's like, okay, cool. Like, I mean,

she, she definitely supported all of these random endeavors, but was just like, okay, like she was crazy like me, but then she's like, I don't think I really like this anymore.

Yeah, I remember, I remember her and I remember, so you guys were friends in what? That was like high school? It was in college, I met her. College.

Yeah. Okay. And then you were doing a, you guys were doing a MySpace thing too, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. I completely forgot about that. Because I think it, I remember, like if you went to your MySpace page, I think it was like Justine and Desiree, right?

Yeah. Like you guys were like almost like a duo. Mm-hmm. That's how you were presenting yourself on MySpace. Yeah, I think, well, I mean, Desiree, right? Yeah. Like you guys were like almost like a duo. That's how you were presenting yourself on MySpace. Yeah, I think. Well, I mean, I had like my own MySpace and then we had like Des and Justine and then our, I don't know where it even came from, but it was like Mommy Pack My Lunch. That was like our like website together because I don't even know why we liked sandwiches and paper bags and we liked lunch. And mommies. Yeah.

So I'm not really sure where that came from, but yeah, you guys are on it. We're going to have to look that up. Hold on, hold on. Okay, okay. We skipped ahead. We're going back, okay. So you were fixing VCRs. You were being geeky.

Just taking them apart, breaking them, actually. You were being geeky, not because it would be a great backstory later, but because you were actually interested as a young girl. Yeah, and I just really didn't really know what else to do, and I was bored, and there was really nothing else to do because I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I mean, honestly, like cows outside the pasture,

like, okay, I don't really like going outside. How far outside of Pittsburgh are we talking about? It's like about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. Yeah, but yeah, cows and stuff and VCRs and I will never forget though, my sister got a guinea pig and that was like the star of all of the videos

that I would make. This poor little thing, it's name was Squeaky, it ended up dying. Did it squeak? It did. You would lift it up and you would just like

shake it a little bit and he would talk. Like a Furby. Kind of, yeah. But yeah, he's really cute and he- Like a perishable Furby. Kind of, yeah. But yeah, he was really cute. Like a perishable Furby. And he ended up dying because he had a tennis ball-sized tumor.

Like on the side of his little butt. Guinea tumors. Those are the worst. I know, and he was so cute. But he was in many movies that I filmed on a massive VCR camcorder. Oh, wow. So you were still using that. I mean, this was, I was probably in sixth grade. Oh, wow. So you were still using that? I mean, this was, I was probably

sixth grade. Oh, okay. Probably maybe fifth grade. And you were the oldest child. So does that mean that you were kind of I'm in charge here? I'm like, because you had two younger sisters. Yeah, I think I was I would

make them do whatever I wanted and I would beat them up until they became bigger and stronger than me and then they beat me up and then I stopped. But you made the decision to include the guinea pig as the star and not your little sisters.

Yeah, they were kind of young then. But I mean, the guinea pig was just there and it just was a better actress. And you didn't turn the camera on yourself because no one did that. No, I did sometimes. It was too heavy to hold it and turn it on yourself, right?

I don't remember if we had a tripod, but I think you just set it on the table and do stupid things. I think I've been doing that forever. Not much has changed. Your parents still have drawers of these guinea pig videos in your earliest creations? We do, yeah.

They're somewhere. Those have to be found. But you have not found or digitized any of this? I haven't. This is some good stuff. Okay, you should also do that while talking to your dad about coal mining. Dad, tell me everything.

That's your project. I'll do that at family vacation. So when you were making the guinea pig videos, did you think, this is what I want to do when I grow up type thing, or is it just a kid having fun you've got a camera and you've got a guinea pig you know let the fun ensue yeah i think i was just having fun and a lot of this too even how i started doing this i can't remember anything

like i have the worst memory ever so i started filming like vlogs and just videos before they're even called vlogs just because like oh this is a fun thing i'd like to remember it and like at what what point are we talking about are we talking in college you started filming forward so i think that would be but even in high school i mean i was taking photos i had like a daily random photo site so i would just post a photo every day and this was still html like i was coding the forward and the back page and creating each separate thing so there was nothing at that time that you could even do that with so i just did it myself and it was kind of a it was a personal project website or were there like your friends were looking at this i mean like my friends were looking at it so i get like 100 views or something from like around and

somehow it was found on the internet but it was just more for fun so that I would remember things that we would do. So what else did you do? What was the high school Justine like? She was really cool. She had so many friends. Did she have lots of boyfriends? How did that work? Were you like, I always have a boyfriend

or I have one boyfriend for a really long time? I did have one for a very long time what was his name josh josh what's josh doing now he's actually he's now married um i haven't talked to him in a while but he's a great guy very very nice high school boyfriend long term how long did you date josh oh, man. This was, jeez. I don't know. I don't remember. It was a while.

And then we broke up and then we started dating again. And then, yeah, some stuff, you know. Oh, so you broke up. Yeah. Is on again, off again? Or a big breakup? It was pretty much most through most of high school. And then I think something in college.

Oh, in college college did you go to did you go to college together no no he was actually two or three years older than me oh wow yeah you know older guy yeah i think it was my because i went to one prom and then my actual junior prom is when i went to a land party. With Josh? No, he wasn't there. He was off in college. Yeah, he was off in college being, you know, like an older man. So was it that you wanted to go to a LAN party or you didn't want to go to the prom with anybody but Josh? I didn't like dances or any of that stuff.

So, I mean, I went to the one prom with him just because I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm your girlfriend, so I guess I'm going to do this dance here. But it was fun. Because I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm your girlfriend, so I guess I'm going to do this dance here. But it was fun. But I definitely had more fun at the LAN party, playing video games and drinking Mountain Dew. Okay. As you do at a LAN party. Does that mean you had a lot of guy friends, too?

I think so. I don't even know. I'm not really sure if I actually had any friends. I don't really remember. I mean, I think I had friends, but it was just, I don't know. It's not like you keep in touch with any of these people. I can't. Except for Josh. I haven't talked to him in a while.

But I do still randomly talk to people on Facebook and stuff like that. But yeah, I haven't really talked about this in a long time. I'm like racking my brain like, hold on. Let's keep talking about Josh. Let's look him up and let's call him right now. I probably still have his phone number. So you broke up. Let's see if he Josh. Let's look him up and let's call him right now. I probably still have his phone number. So you broke up. You broke up.

This is still his number. So he was like, was he in college somewhere? And you were in high school and you guys are still dating? Looks like that's still his number. We have Josh's number. We do. You want to call him right now? No, I don't want to call him right now.

I mean, why else bring up his number? Because I just wanted to see if it actually turned to iMessage or not, and it did. I mean, he's got a wife. It's not really appropriate. No, it's not. It would stir up. You know what? First of all, I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now, his wife already knows about you and is like,

yeah, my husband used to date that girl that's everywhere on the internet. That internet girl. Or maybe she doesn't. I don't know. I have no idea. They might have a great marriage, but I'm just saying, I'm telling you, not from experience,

but just maybe from stories that I've heard. The craziest thing, though, is seeing- You're a source of strife in their marriage. I mean, I don't know. The craziest thing is seeing his brother's kids that we used to babysit and they were like just very small children and now they're like graduating the high school that i went to and i'm like oh my gosh this is crazy like this is insane they're your fans i don't know i haven't talked to them since they were like two i know i'm just i'm i'm not intentionally making this weird i'm just

very much fascinated about this Josh character. Because you dated him for your whole high school and then into your college. And then, oh, that must have been a big break. We broke up in between there. So there was, you know. His college. Yeah. There was a big breakup, but then you got back together.

Why did you do that? I mean, because he's so nice. He's just really, really nice. I just think I'm just so indecisive Like that's really the problem. I think in most of my relationships. It's like I don't really know what I want I don't really know what i'm doing. But whatever i'm doing. I don't think this is it But I mean this is maybe a little out of order here but Not out of line just out of chronological order. You're in a relationship now that's been going for a couple of years. We were actually trying to figure that out this morning, to be honest with you.

You're trying to figure out how long you've been dating? Yes. Because we thought, we're like, wait a minute, I think it's been longer than two years. Well, I mean, I have notes here, you know. Is this from Wikipedia? I can tell you that you've been dating Ryan Wyatt, VP of Programming at Major League Gaming.

Used to be head of live in eSports at Machinima. You've been dating him since 2012. Is this real? Okay. We do research. Does it say when? Yeah, when in 2012. I think it was like in November. I don't know the date.

I know it was like before Call of Duty came out. I don't remember. I need to do my own research. So did Josh introduce you to Ryan or was there? I actually met Ryan at, we did a Call of Duty show. He was my coach for my team. I played against Michelle Rodriguez and my team won. Really?

Yeah. Although I went around and found the best Call of Duty players I knew to be on my team. So obviously we were going to win. And then you started dating. We did. Over two years ago. Yeah, I guess that's what it looks like. I should probably let him know.

I mean, so that's not indecisive. I mean, this is a relatively long-term relationship. Yeah. Although, I mean, it's, you know, a lot of those relationships lasted for a while. And it's like, I don't know. No, I'm saying, like, everything's going great. And it's so weird because, like like we actually don't really ever fight like we get along great

well do you ever see each other that's we do yeah we live together but you're I mean but you have been gone

for nine weeks and he's you know I follow him on Instagram he's always he's always got one of those headsets on and he's

he's always announcing something that's true that's true yeah he's like a he's like a sports anchor sports caster for Call of Duty. Yeah.

So, I mean, it's cool because we get to go to a lot of the same events and stuff together. So, that's always really fun too because, I mean, we travel a lot, but yet a lot of the stuff that we're traveling for, we're doing the same thing. So, it's really fun. Is he doing, is it like color commentary? Like when you're watching sports and you're listening on the radio and there's a guy telling you everything that's happening is he doing that on the video game pretty much it's like play by play and a lot of it too is is if people are listening that you're still able to know exactly what's happening and for people that are new that

are that are never have watched the game it's it's interesting because for call of duty it's something that you can it's easily understandable especially if they're kind of explaining it well so it is really it's it's kind of cool does he ever do that you can, it's easily understandable, especially if they're kind of explaining it well. So it is really, it's kind of cool. Does he ever do that when you're playing Call of Duty? A couple of times, yeah. Like personally, like just the two of them? Yeah, yeah. More or less just like making fun of me because I'm not, I'm not terrible, but I'm not as

good as like these pros. So he's like making fun of me basically. For two years, it's not, it's not that serious. I mean, we still live together. I've never lived with a guy before. But you seem to say, hey, it's not it's not that serious i mean we still live together i've never lived with a guy before so but you seem to say hey it's going well but who knows well that's what you said i guess i did say that but that's that's not what i meant well well let me ask this so you're you're both online personalities and in different ways with obviously this overlap that you're talking about but i mean that's something that you kind of have to navigate publicly there's not how much of it is public how much of this

private your relationship how do you navigate that yeah i mean i think that's that's always been something that's been kind of hard for me because even i was dating someone before and we dated for a long time and there was not a single photo of us online. But he was a popular YouTuber. He was not. Not this one. Oh. Not the... The popular YouTuber... I thought that's who you were referring to. Oh, is it hot in here?

Sweating. We'll move on to that in a second. But you made a point. You guys made a point together. Oh, yeah. Our relationship is going to be totally private. Yeah. And I mean, I'm sure...

I just want to try to respect his privacy, too. Sure, sure. I mean, I don't think he cares if I talk about it it but it's just one of those things it's like what is the funny but he wasn't a public figure no but he just it was like i don't really want to be in like this and i don't want to just be associated with that and i was like it's totally fine which was hard because i would go on vacations with him and everyone's like yeah she's she's just traveling by herself or they would see me hanging out with girls like She's definitely a lesbian because she's always with these girls. I'm like, I've had a boyfriend for three years, but he doesn't really, he's not in any of these videos.

So I'm sorry. And you were fine with that. I mean, yeah, I didn't care. But it made it difficult, it sounds like. It was difficult because I would sometimes want to even take a picture or post it. There's nothing even on Facebook at all. But now at least, yeah, I mean, my my facebook is it's not private but it's still pretty personal i post family pictures and stuff like that well i mean my my impression in

following you guys both online is that uh you're definitely not making any effort to to hide anything but you are uh it seems like there's a calculated effort to kind of minimize the amount of your relationship that's out there it's like every's a calculated effort to kind of minimize the amount of your relationship that's out there. It's like every, you know, you might look at your Instagram for a couple of weeks and you don't see any pictures of Ryan or vice versa, but then every once in a while, you'll be a picture of you and he'll be like, can't wait to see this girl. Yeah. That's always traveling. Yeah, no, I know. And, but it's funny too, cause even in like, he'll be in my vlogs because he's like sort of like your daily life. So it's funny. Cause when people't see him for a week because I'll be traveling, they're like, is Ryan okay?

Where's Ryan? And then they start tweeting him like, no, it's okay. I'm just out of town. Like, everything's fine. Don't worry. But that's what they want to do. You know, you give people an inch of personal information. They want to take a mile.

I mean, listen to me giving you a hard time on this podcast. I know. Like, okay, let's move on. But no, I mean, it is, and it is like watching a reality show, but yet I think what a lot of people, I mean, you guys obviously get it, like, it is real. Like, this is, a lot of the stuff that you're seeing is very real. I mean, obviously, you edit things out, but it is hard, like, finding that fine line, because I don't want it to be over the top, and I don't want people to just comment. I just want to, like, live my life and also have a personal life too well and you've uh you've made the choice to not suddenly have like a you know Justine and

Ryan channel or something like that right I mean there's a lot of people who do that yeah I've actually seen a couple of those and then they, what do you do with it after? Right. Yeah. Exactly. I don't know. It is a very... Do you want me to answer

the question? What you do with it after? Yeah. Delete it? Well, I've already got my solo channel planned for when me and Link break up. If it's a couple channel,

then it just dies. Yeah. But if it was your channel beforehand... You take it over. Then you take it back. But if it was your channel beforehand You take it over. then you take it back. So if you guys were to break up right now what would you do?

Well, it would die. Rhett would have to start a new channel. No, I think there would just be Rhett videos and then Link videos. It would be Rhett or Link. Rhett or Link.com The Rhett or Link channel. Never see us together.

No, and it's like you just slash the end you get tuesdays i get thursdays i mean that makes sense yeah we can move on from from the the the relationship thing but one last question i mean you do you guys have to have strategic conversations or is it kind of by feel you have to say okay this is kind of the line in our relationship of how we're going to This is kind of the line in our relationship of how we're going to treat this. Or, hey, the way you Instagrammed that statement about our relationship, let's pull back from that, hon. You don't fight, but if you were going to fight, this would be a good thing to fight over. I mean, sometimes he'll even be like, hey, you haven't posted any pictures of me.

I don't get it. It's to me, I'm not doing it on purpose. So he wants to be more in the mix. I'm not thinking that way. I'm just honestly sometimes thinking about my Instagram. It's like, okay, I'm doing this. I'm posting this. And when we're hanging out, it's not my thought of like,

oh, I'm going to have to post an Instagram with us hanging out. I don't know. It's just like I want to have a little piece of privacy. Well, is it? And getting back to the origin story, the live casting thing. I'm sure we'll get to that. But, I mean, is there more of a professional approach for you, or has it gotten more professional in there being a separation,

like between, I guess, Justine and iJustine? Yeah, actually, before we started recording, I was like, oh, is this going to be Justine or is this going to be iJustine? Which is always, I think, the joke that I've always made is like, well, you know, Justine, like, I'm actually very chill. I'm super introverted. Like, if I'm at home, I just want to sit at home and not be bothered or talk to anyone. And if I'm home for a week and I don't see anyone, I'm perfectly okay with that. Like, that's totally fine. And so people are very surprised to actually find that out. Because when you see me at, like, VidC i'm like always crazy and excited but i'm just really kind of like really chill and just want to sit in a corner but is it is there even a

so the line is like that you turn the personality up for you know anything on camera i mean that's i certainly get that. I mean, I think anybody gets that. But is there a, is there an actual separation of, you feel like it's kind of creating a character, iJustine is a character and not just a on-camera, amped up, channeled personality of your own personality? I think so.

I mean, even I will struggle with that sometimes on YouTube. I be like really being i just seen right now and i'm like she's so annoying like shut up so sometimes i'll just like stop like turn the camera off and be like okay i'm just gonna i'm just gonna talk be normal and not like over the top crazy because sometimes you do get carried away and i'll watch a video and just delete it. I'm like, Oh my God, you're when they comment and say you're annoying, like just seeing you are annoying. So it's like, I will sit there and I will see like what these people do see. And cause it is sometimes just very characterized.

So yeah, guys, if you say I'm annoying, I'm sorry. But when you're, I've never left that comment on any of your videos. No, but on all the social,

everything that you, if you're on Instagram or you're going to tweet or whatever, there's kind of a, has it moved to more of a, okay, this is a professional endeavor. I'm kind of on the clock. I'm not just tweeting. Or is there a kind of a, it's still personal. How much overlap is there? And is it less than it used to be? I mean, I do feel like it is a lot less because even when I'm posting an Instagram or a tweet, I will proofread it for like 20 minutes. I'm like, did I spell everything right?

Did I tag everyone correctly? And it becomes so much of a chore just to send a tweet. And it's a lot of responsibility, too. Actually, a good example is I was in Alabama for MTV's Hangout Fest, and I spelled OutKast wrong, and then I didn't have any reception to change

it, so I was freaking out. I'm like, guys, you're um reception to change it so i was like freaking out i'm like guys you're never gonna believe this i spelled outcast wrong and like i was like with a c yeah i'm like i wasn't paying attention just like typing okay great sent my tweet and like oh my god i'm getting destroyed right now well you could blame that on autocorrect yeah but it was not autocorrect it was just my own like oops so did you follow that up with another tweet? I did. It's like, okay, okay, yes. I just wrote in capital letters, K-A-S-T. Great.

Sorry. So let's get into the origin of that iJustine character. You say that you had this photo blog at the time. Was that the first thing that got you some attention online, and then you kind of followed it from there? I'm trying to think. So I made my first website in sixth grade, and I've actually told this story so many times.

There was this kid, his name was Steve, and he kicked me, and I was just so upset. This was like in home ec class. Kicked you where? In my shins. He was sitting across from me so it'd be like you kicking me right now yeah that's called flirting in sixth grade yeah but i think we actually were like really hating each other like i hated him and he hated me and

and i just remember us getting our seats moved and uh so i went home i was like what do i do how do i get back at him so obviously cyber cyberbullying I made an I Hate Steve website, which I don't condone doing this. I Hate Steve? Back in the day, yeah. I Hate Steve.com? It wasn't a.com because I didn't have any money or a credit card. So buying domains back then I don't think was really like not something you do.

I think it was like I Hate Steve at Tripod.com or something like that. So I figured out how to get Photoshop and I learned like DreamWorks, I think it was Fireworks, that's it. So I would have my Mac on a 30-day

trial reboot. So every 30 days I would have to format my computer so I backed up everything on disks because I didn't know how to,

my mom wasn't going to buy me the software. So I would just reinstall it all every trial, every 30 days. And keep building that website? Well, that one and a bunch of them.

But that was my first website. I was like, this is really fun. I was viewing source on different websites to try to learn how to code. What did Steve say about this website? We didn't know about it until like a few years ago. It was just like for you and yourself. It was, like, me and my friend Natalie, I remember. Me and Natalie just making this I Hate Steve website,

and I was, like, Photoshopping his eyes red, and, like, I was really happy with my work. I hate you, Steve, and your bloodshot eyes. I remember we had a scanner, so I scanned his yearbook photo in. Oh, yeah. I hate you so much. Wow, Steve. Yeah. And you still have his number. Yeah, yeah. I hate you so much. Wow, Steve. Yeah.

And you still have his number. Yeah, no, we're actually friends now. Okay. We're all worked out. Guilt friendships. He is actually the safety Steve in my Squatch Watch videos. He's our safety guy. Yep.

Really? Mm-hmm. The Steve of the IHateSteve.tripad.biz.net. I think my sister went to prom with his brother. Yeah. It's a really small town. But, I mean, things really started to happen with the live casting. That was the first thing, right?

Yeah, which is kind of crazy. I'm actually writing, well, I started writing a book about that. It's going to be kind of like telling like the stories that happened during those times. And I'm going to go and interview like my friends, be like, how did this affect you? Because it even does. She was like, it's either me or the camera. And she moved out. Oh, wow. Okay, so you guys were roommates at the time. So how did it start? How did it start? So, I mean, I was still doing like all the sort of the rever, the rever and the YouTube stuff and still posting videos. And I was working before that I was doing like freelance and I loved like video production and graphic design. So I basically started making YouTube videos so that people would know that I knew how to edit and was more just promoting myself so that I could get jobs.

And before that, I was actually working at a chiropractor. Were you cracking backs? No, I was their video production person. You were video production? Yeah. And before that, I worked at a graphic design house. And this chiropractor came into the graphic design place and ordered some brochures or something. And he was like, hey, do you know anybody that knows how to edit video?

I was like, oh, this is great. I know how to edit. He's like, okay, do you want to come work for me i'll double your salary do you know how to use avid i said no i don't know how to use that i'm thinking to myself but i'm like yeah i know how to use avid this is great so i like quit my job there went and worked at this chiropractor the next week taught myself a chiropractor who had an avid suite who is this two two? Two avid suites, nonetheless. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's not in business anymore, and I think there's several lawsuits out against him for a lot of different things. But either way.

A chiropractor who has two avid suites is, yeah, there's a label for that. There's a lot of things that we're going to see on there. A front for something? Well, so he had this media company that they like make commercials for different chiropractors. So that's what I was editing. We've done that. Yeah. We've made commercials for chiropractors before.

Yeah, but yours were cooler. A little inappropriate. Yeah, slightly. But yeah, and then I think some of the first videos I started making was in the chiropractor's office. Like the oatmeal video? Yeah. Was in the chiropractor office. That was in the chiropractor's office. Like the oatmeal video was in the chiropractor's office? That was in the chiropractor's office.

Okay, so that's now the earliest video you can see on your YouTube channel is your chiropractor office oatmeal eating video. Edited on Avid? I edited that in Final Cut. Okay. I hated Avid so much. Not taking advantage of the Avid. Okay. No. So you were making comedic videos and just kind of putting them out there. did that in final cut okay i hated avid so much taking advantage of the evidence okay no so so

you were making like comedic videos and just kind of putting them out there but and then what the live casting thing was just that kind of happened in parallel kind of i well i quit the chiropractor job and i mean it was it was great but i was like this is terrible like i'm working 80 some hours a week slaving over chiropractor stuff. We had to be there. We had to do these training things and all this weird stuff over the weekends. But I was a really fast editor, so in the time that it took me to edit what a normal person would edit, I would be editing on my laptop in Final Cut like all these other videos.

But after I quit there, I met this guy, Justin, in San Francisco of Justin TV. What were you in San Francisco for? Mac World. So you went as an attendee or you were vlogging? What was I doing there? Oh, I went out with, there was this podcast called Mac Break. So I went out there with them and did some like sort of hosting stuff. And I saw this dude with like a camera on his head.

I was like, oh my God. I got to talk to that guy. This guy is really cool. He's really cool. I was like, oh my God. I got to talk to that guy. I was like, this guy is really cool. He's really cool. I don't know if he was, but he turned out to be actually really cool. And they were starting this company called Justin.TV, which was a live streaming platform.

And he's like, yeah, in the next week, I'm going to be live streaming my entire life for the next however long. I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. And then he did. And he did it for a while. And then they were opening up their platform to other people, and he's like, do you want to be the first or the second person to livestream?

So it worked out great. Justin, Justine, I mean, people didn't even think that was my name. They just thought I was an actress. It's like, no, it's my name. I really enjoy doing this stuff. So I did that for six months. So you literally had a camera on your head, like a headlamp camera type

thing. Like a Logitech webcam with a light on it that lets people know that it's recording. And you connected to the internet via like a satellite connection. That's when Sprint had unlimited access on their EVDO cards. So I think that me

and Justin single-handedly stopped that from ever happening. So this was mobile. This wasn't just like while you're home. This was at all times. Maybe the connection was a little slow from time to time, but everything. Yeah, I mean, not everything. Let's not get too crazy.

So where would you put the camera when you use the bathroom? I would make it look at a picture of Steve Jobs which you like had outside of the restroom no I had a framed photo of him on my desk

obviously was this branding or was this sincere no my friend actually got me that for my birthday one year okay he's like here you go

so that I do still have that it's brilliant branding I'm not I'm not dogging you for it no it was just on my desk so I would always like flip it over

I'd put a note card like be right back going to bathroom or whatever doing something I don't want you to see yeah

I'm doing something six months and the only breaks were bathroom breaks and when you were sleeping where was it um it was just sitting on my desk

watching me sleep that's not creepy you know I remember I'd always play Tool, like the band Tool. I would sleep to that so everybody would get a nice Tool soundtrack every night. So you didn't mute it? No. So if you talked in your sleep, they couldn't hear it because Tool was playing.

Yeah, they probably couldn't hear it over Tool. And it was a wide shot. It wasn't like a shot of your mouth and and your eyes and your nose it was a very wide shot yeah but i mean i would sleep in so they would like think i was dead when i wasn't waking up so they would like be like calling my mom be like i think she's not okay and and what did okay so you already hinted at the fact that uh desiree had a problem with this and and said i'm out i'm out but what about um what what went into the decision? Did you talk to your parents about it?

Not really. I don't even remember how it all came about. I was like, oh, this is cool. All right, I'll do it. I don't know why I even ever agreed, but it was still kind of fun. You got paid to do it, right? No. Originally, no, I didn't, which was crazy because it was watching me um like run

a business essentially like i would be taking i would take it into meetings with me and i would mute it um because i was still doing like graphic design and web design and video stuff so i would take it to a coffee shop and it would watch me like edit what do you tell people design stuff i mean it wasn't that obvious because if i was at a coffee shop it just looked like i had just a hat just sitting there and they didn't realize there's a webcam on it and you were filming them yeah oops it's not as wrong when you're not getting paid for it yeah i mean it wasn't on my head like it was just like i would take it off my head and just sit it on the desk so it would be looking at me so you it wasn't a very you just did it because it seemed cool

i mean what yeah the concerns of like the privacy and quality of life these are things that quality of life i don't even i didn't even think about it i was just like this is this is this is a cool thing and it that's when i first started doing like the video and editing and it was just it was really fun so it's like oh this is great i don't have to edit anything it's just live yeah so for six months you you by and large loved doing it or how how far in were you like oh mistake i don't it started hitting around like the three month point but then i was like so invested that it was like it was like an abusive relationship i was like i love this oh god i hate. Like I would I would sometimes be like, what the hell am I doing? Like, I don't even to this day. Sometimes when I think about like doing a live stream, like I just get anxiety thinking of like back in the day, like just doing that nonstop.

Was there a low point? Yeah, I got a few low points where I would just like unplug and just start crying because I mean, you're it's such an emotional overload of people constantly judging you. I mean, just nonstop all day long, just having something to say about you. And you can look at this chat at all times. Yeah, at all times. And I'd be like, oh God, I think that I'm this or I'm doing this or whatever. And I'd have to be so careful. Like if I make sure I'd wear like a shirt that was like pulled up at all times. Like if I wore a tank top, I have to be so careful because you never know. Because if something happens live, like it's live, it's there forever.

And something that I did find out. Did something like that happen? No, thankfully. I don't know how it didn't in six months. But one thing I did learn is that there are sneeze people. There are people that have sneeze fetishes. So there's like. And what do they say when you sneeze?

I don't know. In the chat. Well, do it again. They love it. Like, they love it. And there's like compilations still to this day on YouTube of just all my Justin.TV sneezes. Really? Yep.

So, you know, whatever it takes. You guys are into that kind of thing? But you're okay with it. I mean, you're not, it's not like you're creeped out by the sneeze fetish people. No, I love it. It's great. Every time I sneeze,

that's what I think of. So it's kind of. I should have recorded that for those guys. I like that. And the feet people, lots of feet people. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Because they would sit around, sooner or later, they'd see your feet and there it is. Yeah, it's on the feet wiki. I got one of those.

I'm sure you guys have one too. You just probably haven't looked it up but you would turn it off and break down crying there was definitely some points yeah and you lost a roommate over it i did yeah because i made definitely made a conscious decision i was like this is what i'm doing like i'm gonna do this thing and she just wasn't really into it i mean we're still good friends like i love her and she still is like I can't believe you're still doing all this crazy stuff. Right. I mean, so it,

you did the life casting thing and that stopped after six months. Was it during that time that you started having some of those initial YouTube videos break out? Was that all the same year? Actually, at that same time

was when the iPhone bill happened. The 300 page iPhone bill. Yeah, so what was kind of crazy the iPhone bill happened. Okay, the 300-page iPhone bill. Yeah, so what was kind of crazy is as that was all happening, that was all still being life-casted. So the camera would come with me to satellite interviews that would go to wherever, like Australia and stuff like that. So it was a really crucial time because it all happened sort of right there, and it was all life-casted. And how big did the iPhone bill go? It was 300 pages. And how big did the video go?

That's actually a good question. I think there's only like 3 or 4 million views on YouTube, but then I remember on Yahoo it had so many more, and then MySpace it had so many, because it was just featured everywhere. So all of those other sites had actually tons of views and even on Revver

old Revver that's really sold me some money I was so sad when Revver shut down I had no idea because I would have downloaded all my old videos

oh wow they kept sending warnings about that really? they were like we're shutting down download your videos are you serious?

yeah we downloaded all ours no we didn't M4Vs, I remember Really? I guess I do remember that I did not get the email Maybe I'm just bad at email

But I'm very sad about it So you were getting all this press For this huge iPhone bill You cried in that video, right? No, she cried in the Steve Jobs Oh yeah, I did I did cry about that No, I didn't cry on the iPhone bill.

I did cry about Steve Jobs, which was that video. Good choice, by the way, if you're going to only cry on one. Yeah, but the thing is, I posted that on my iPhone channel, which is like, honestly, I only wanted that video to be seen no more than 15,000 times to my hardcore fans that know how much Steve Jobs meant to me so it was more just like a reaction like that was honestly real I turned on the camera I was like I'm doing this and posted it and then I was like oh great front page of reddit for Justine farting while crying about Steve Jobs I'm like oh my god are you kidding me how they find this you farted

well no I didn't I had on like rubber boots so i was it was like scooting on the chair i don't remember that so that was that was the meme that was going around i was like and then i'm like crying i'm not farting it's rubber boots so yeah okay that was fun so i mean it's widely recognized that you're not just one of the first uh women but one of the first people who had this my life is out there i am a vlogger like when people think of vlogger like you know we talk about this you still can't type vlogger into your word processing application and it it won't accept it it still doesn't see it as a word even in 2014 which is just makes it blogger it makes it are flogging i'm like right right stop it but before anybody was really understanding what that word was and they were still saying vlogging yeah you were doing it yeah and it was weird because it wasn't i wasn't thinking that i was doing that like i

mean i was blogging at the time so that was just for me an easier way to say something because I didn't I wasn't like like well this is so much easier if I just talk about it instead of writing it um and the thing then is there wasn't mobile phones so it wasn't as easily to be accessible as it is now I mean now you're watching videos on the go in the car probably shouldn't be driving and watching YouTube videos well you know we had, we had Jenna Marbles on the Ear Biscuit a while back, and she mentioned you as her inspiration. Yeah, once she decided to start doing this, she was like, I want to do what she's doing. I watch a lot of iJustine videos to figure out a game plan, basically.

I mean, do you feel like an online matriarch? I mean, I think this whole table right here, I mean, this is OG. O-U-T, the original YouTubers. I mean, it is. And like, I mean, like Phil and like that whole like crew of people. I mean, it's so crazy that,

I mean, I don't even know why originally we were doing it. I mean, I was just doing it i mean i was just doing it for fun like i really loved editing i still love editing i love making people laugh and just having fun and i don't know there's just an audience out there for everything which is so cool that now people are doing that the only thing now is a lot of people are just doing it because they want to be like a youtuber i guess so it's so different because we were just doing it because we really i don't know we're just having fun yeah guess. So it's so different because we were just doing it because we really, I don't know, we're just having fun. Yeah, it's interesting that, you know,

that first and second and sort of, you know, those first couple of waves of online entertainers, we all did it because it was just this new and exciting thing. And it's, I mean, that can't happen again. It's going to happen with some other medium, right? But it can't happen again with this.'s it's pretty it's pretty cool to think about that is that we literally were doing it for just to see what would happen yeah right yeah and it's interesting i've kind of seen that happen with vine like a lot of these vine kids like it's so

crazy because they were doing the same thing just oh this is cool i can make a really cool video in six seconds so it's kind of cool to see sort of that same community like happen over there on another platform and i got to meet actually recently a couple of them like wow you guys are so cool like this is awesome like it's a whole another thing it was like it's been so long since i felt like that feeling of like the original youtubers and like i can see it with them and i'm like this is awesome so it was really exciting. maintain relevance. I know for us, you know, it's true of all entertainment, but I feel like everything is so accelerated on YouTube and online that there's so many more people coming in. A lot of people are saying, okay, now I can make a living at this kind of

thing. So it's competition on one hand, but it's being around this long. There's a challenge to continuing to rise to the top. Yeah, and I think that's hard. And it's funny about, like, the Vine. Like, so it took us, I mean, what, this is like eight years later. So for them, I mean, that happened in less than a year. So it's, like, crazy to see, like, that platform just rise up and all of these new people just kind of pop up out of nowhere. And then even for them, it's interesting because the transition doesn't transition

that well over to YouTube. It's like two completely separate, different audiences. But how is it for you at this point with everything that's happening on YouTube and the landscape here and the difficulty it is to keep getting views, maybe the views that you could get before, how do you interact with that?

What's the strategy? Is it, okay, there's a hosting component to what you do now that's independent of your YouTube channel. Is there a struggle there? Is there a frustration? I think the frustration comes from knowing that I'm posting stuff and knowing that there are subscribers there that will never see it. And why? I mean, I don't know. Is that a YouTube

thing? Is that what? It's like people still every day, like, when are you posting a new video? I'm like, I've posted like 20 this week. Like, you guys not see any of those anywhere? So I think that's the hard part is just knowing that like you've worked so hard to get this audience and you don't have access to them I think that's the struggle it's like I mean I know I'm posting stuff I'm like no one is why are you guys not seeing it and I even talked to the audience directly I'm like why did you guys not see this and I know there's another crazy thing because I will post something on Facebook and I will see like the impressions that post, which nowhere near will reflect anything on YouTube. So I'm like, would anybody watch it?

What does that mean? Because then if I post something just directly on Facebook, I can actually see how many views that gets. I don't know. Something's going on. There's a conspiracy, guys. Need to get to the bottom of it. I'm wondering how your YouTube channel plays into it,

the hosting gigs, all the opportunities that you take and projects that you're launching that aren't on your channel. Is there a division of strategies that's not, and YouTube is just a part of it? Yeah. I mean, YouTube will always be a part of it. And I think just creating content, and sometimes I forget what my audience likes. Like they love iPhones, they love technology. And sometimes I'm like off doing something else that's crazy. I'm like, oh, I forgot. Like they don't really, that's not something that they're into. But it's fun to be able to share sort of those different things. So when I make a video talking about like my iPhone or technology, like those do so much better because that's really what my audience wants to see. So sometimes I forget about that too.

And so I lose sight of stuff that they originally started subscribing for. So I think that's something that I have to keep in mind, too, because I might be traveling and I want to post like travel vlogs, but that's not really, not everybody's into that. So I think just trying to find out what they like, what they want, and just posting consistently, which has always been a problem for me. So I'm like, well, don't have time to post. So sorry, you're not gonna get a video now. I mean, how do you navigate it you we you developed a standard with your brand there's certain things you're not going to do but you know is there's this is there a temptation that okay if i'm in why don't why don't i be in my bikini and a thumbnail

some more oh yeah hasn't that always been a that's I would imagine that that's something that if that gets traction, there's a decision to be made all along the way. The thing is I look at my analytics too. They're mostly girls. So, I mean, maybe they want to see me in my bikini, but whatever. But that's cool. But my bikini rule is only when I'm on vacation. Which is quite a bit.

Yeah. Quite a bit. Yeah. Quite a bit. Sometimes, you know. Well, has the fact that YouTube is frustrating for lots of different reasons, right? I mean, the YouTube audience can be very fickle. They can get tired of certain things. There can be technical glitches that you're kind of talking about. There's all kinds of frustrations involved with it. And it also just, you know, one year is a

decade, you know? So having almost done it for a decade, you've like lived several lifetimes online, right? But there are all those frustrations involved related to YouTube, but you've got so much traction in a lot of other places, right? I mean, like I said, you know, you're hosting all kinds of things and you're doing lots of TV opportunities. How is that part of your career going? And are you hoping to continue to kind of push in that direction and do the frustrations on YouTube kind of serve as a driving force to kind of move even more into that kind of thing. I think so. And then I've been doing it for so long. So I'm like, okay, like what do I do next? Which is why I was like, I really want to do this book, which originally the book kind of all came about more as like a joke. Cause I kept telling my audience,

I'll just save it for the book, save it for the book. And then he started like pitching TV shows and like movie type things about like that six months of the live streaming to production companies and studios. And they're like, wow, this is great. We love this idea. And then I was like, wait, let's just stop all of this. I'm just going to write the book. So I have sort of that thing that's like, okay, here's the stories. I have these.

These are mine. This is what I want it to be about. So I just kind of wanted to go back to that and just have those stories and then either kind of ask the audience like what do you guys want me to do with this do you want me to turn it into a tv show do you want it to be a movie like what do you guys want because honestly like having them make the decisions it's kind of what I've always done and they always have such really good ideas like when I need a video idea I mean they're on it I'm like you guys are so great. All these little mini producers.

So what's the book going to be called? You haven't thought that far. I just got to write it. You haven't asked your audience? I just recently Googled how to write a book. So I'm still working on it. There's an app for that. There probably is.

There are. Really? Yeah, there are. Perfect. Yeah, well, it depends on what kind of book you're writing, I guess. We'll see. So you haven't put pen to paper yet, so to speak? I've actually, so I started doing like the Draw My Life sort of thing.

Okay, yeah. So I sort of have a nice little outline, but then I'm going to go kind of crowdsource, maybe dig up some ex-boyfriends and have them write some things for me. Oh, Josh is going to have a chapter. He might. He may. And Steve, I mean, let's go all the way back to Steve. So it's not that she didn't want to talk about him.

It's that she didn't want to talk about him before they're in her book. I understand now. No, the problem is— It wasn't getting hot in here. No, the problem is I honestly don't remember so many things. Like, it's awful. Like, I'm actually looking forward to doing this. Like, I want to make honestly don't remember so many things. It's awful. I'm actually looking forward to doing this. I want to make it'll just be on Facebook.

Alright, to all of my actual friends, how did we meet? What were some fun things that we did? Did we date? Did I hurt you? Do you hate me? I want to know everything. Well, you do realize that when you access a memory, you actually change it. Really? that when you access a memory you actually change it really

every time you access a memory you change it like physically what the way it's arranged in your brain so be careful what you remember well at least somebody else remembers it maybe i'll just remember the way that's good yeah right do you have a sense that when you ask your friends have i how have i hurt you however that that's what you're going to get back, that you've hurt people and that you've alienated people? I definitely think there's some people out there that may feel that way. So I'm just wondering how honest would they like to be about it? Actually, this is really funny. I did a Reddit AMA, which I probably won't ever do again because Reddit is not like me at all.

Oh, really? No. But it went really well at first. But then there was somebody on there that kept saying like, I know you from like back in the day. And he was saying things that I was like, oh, my God, this person does know me. And they were like saying like that I hurt them. And I'm like, oh, my God, who are you? Hurt?

You hurt them emotionally? Yeah. And I'm like, how did I do this? Like, what did I do this like what did i do like i don't i didn't mean to do that so i just i just want to know those things because i don't know kind of it's kind of fascinating and i i think if there's good stories in there that's stuff that i would like to include wow so that so the way people have remembered your life is going to be a major element of this yeah Yeah. And that, and like how I've affected a bunch of like my audience. I mean, I know there's been

so many kids. I think that not just me, but like YouTubers in general have really changed their lives. People have said they've, they've watched us in like hospital rooms and we've got them through such tough times. So I really want to kind of get those stories and just, I mean, I went to school for graphic design and video production. So I do have that background, but I've always never known what I wanted to do. I've never really planned anything. And I want to just let people know that, like, if you have an idea, if you want to do something, like, if you want to do it bad enough, like, you can do it. Like, I'm writing a book.

I don't know how to write a book. I'll figure it out. I Googled it. That was my first step. So I just think if there's something that you want to do, you can figure it out. And if not, then you don't want to do it bad enough. Well, listen, I look forward to reading it. So get to writing it. Maybe I'll do an audio version too. So if you don't like to read, you can just listen to it.

If you want us to write a little, just a little paragraph about that podcast that we don't remember very well. I don't remember it either. Just, you know. Oh, no, you guys will definitely be in it. I mean, the OG. I mean, I just remember finding Rhett and Link. I'm like, oh my God, these guys are so cool. Like, they're so funny. And I kept telling Des, I'm like, oh my God, these guys are so cool. They're so funny. And I kept telling Des, I'm like, look, we can be like them. We can do this too.

And there's other two radio DJs in Pittsburgh, Mikey and Big Bob, who were also my inspiration. I kept telling him, look, this could be us. We could do this. This would be really fun. Mikey and Big Bob. Yes. Glad we have better names than Mikey and Big Bob.

I was about to say, that's pretty good. Well, but Bob is big. I could be Big Rhett. Oh, Big is not his first name? No. He's just a big dude. His and Big Bob. I was about to say, that's pretty good. Well, but Bob is big. I could be Big Red. Oh, Big is not his first name? No. He's just a big dude. Oh. His name's Bob.

No, they're so funny, but it was like, I really wanted that duo. I was like, that's what I want. That'd be so fun. And then no one ever could hold on for the ride. Well, that life casting is quite a commitment. Yeah, right. It is. Yeah. Well, listen, before you start writing the book, you have Well, that life casting is quite a commitment. Yeah, right. It is. Yeah.

Well, listen, before you start writing the book, you have to write on our table. Let's consider that a start. It's much easier than writing a book. You don't have to Google how to do this. I don't. Well, there it was. Our Ear Biscuit with Justine Azarick. You know, I think it's cool to be able to reconnect with Justine after... I mean, she was one of the first people that we befriended on the internet who was trying to do the same thing we were doing. I mean, that was almost 10 years ago, man.

Almost. So it was cool to sit down and reconnect, and it's like full circle. Well, we were in a basement in Lillington, North Carolina, the first time that we talked to her when we were on that podcast. She was somewhere outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nobody knew what we were trying to do. Nobody knew where this was going to go. No one knew if there was any more traction

with Revver than there was with YouTube. I mean, really, that was the state of things, right? Yeah. And here we are, this many years later. Don't know anything now either. We still don't know anything, but I do know a couple of things. A, YouTube is better than Revver.

YouTube turned out to be... Well, just by virtue of it existing. YouTube turned out to be a safer bet than Revver. YouTube turned out to be... Well, just by virtue of it existing. YouTube turned out to be a safer bet than Revver. And, you know, she's out here in Los Angeles, we're out here in Los Angeles, in some weird way, in the way that the industry changed, in the way that online entertainment

became what it is, it brought us all out here. It's cool to connect. I'll tell you something else. I want to go to that hot spring in Iceland. Well, every time,

you know, I'll drop my phone in there if that's what it takes to go. I didn't know what you were going to drop. I'll drop my dolls and get in there. I thought that's what

you were going to say. It's not that kind of hot springs. I'll drop my phone in there if that's what it takes. I do think we should visit more exotic spots and make videos there. And post them on Justine's channel? No.

I don't think she would want that. On our channel. I mean, we should do that. I mean, every time I look at her Instagram, she's in another tropical location. And I'm like, well, you know, when are we going to do that? What happened to us? I can't answer that question, man. I don't know when we're going to do that, when we're going to get around to it.

But I do like the idea of hot springs. My last experience in a hot spring, which we shared on GMM, required being totally naked with some really old senior citizen men. So it just, I mean, that didn't happen in Justine's vlog. She's got a different thing. And let me tell you, the water wasn't cloudy like it was in that blue lagoon in Iceland. Iceland.

Iceland. It was pretty transparent as far as I remember. So tweet at Justine. Let her know that you appreciated her ear biscuit here. You know, we put her on the spot about a couple of things, and so I appreciate her being a good sport about that. And, you know, you can also tweet at us and tell us that we're good sports too.

No, you don't have to do that. You don't have to. But what you could do is if you're a fan of ear biscuits and you want to continue to hear this show every single week, you can leave us a comment or a review on iTunes. That helps a lot. Leave us a comment on SoundCloud. Let us know what you think about these biscuits for your ears.

And certainly, you can hear from us next week with another Biscuit of Ear.