Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 62 Bart Baker - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: March 27, 2015

Ep. 62 Bart Baker - Ear Biscuits YouTube’s reigning king of music video parodies, Bart Baker, joins Rhett & Link this week to discuss how he got his start working for Jerry Springer and making videos in the porn industry, what he really thinks of the musicians he parodies, and why he laughs when reading the large amount of hateful comments directed toward him on his channel. Is there more to Bart Baker than the harshly parodic persona he’s built a career on? You be the judge. Go to lynda.com/rhettandlink and try it FREE for 10 days on us! *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. Joining us today at the round table of dim lighting is YouTube's reigning king of music video parodies, Bart Baker. Bart is killing it with his parodies. He's become the guy that everybody looks to

to parody the latest popular song, and in the process, he's racked up over five million subscribers and over a billion, billion, billion, well just a billion, I said billion three times, but just over a billion. That's not a billion when you say it three times in a row. A billion's a lot, I mean we don't have to try to

I was trying to do an echo, but a billion, billion, nobody's got that many views, that would be crazy. Now Bart shapeshifts from Robin Thicke and Adam Levine to Katy Perry and Lorde with an arsenal of high production values and many times a shot for shot approach to parody. No pop star is safe from his critical, even sometimes controversial roasting lyrics.

If you've never heard or seen Bart's videos, here's a clip from his Miley Cyrus wrecking ball parody where he of course is Miley. Since the VMAs, all the people say I am a total skank. Grinded Robin Thicke made the whole crowd sick, especially the Smiths. That one's got over 65 million views. And here's his more recent Blank Space parody with over 25 million views where he plays a demon possessed Taylor Swift. I am the dark lord of evil.

One day soon I will rule the earth. But I got this cute new boyfriend and I gotta torture his ass first. This is how I always do it. I cast a sweet love spell. And once they're in my whip I become the girlfriend from hell. In this biscuit we talk with Bart about

what he really thinks about the musicians he parodies and what Pitbull thought of Bart's parody of him. Pitbull. Pitbull. I think you mean Pitbull. No, to me, because I know him, he's Pitbull. Pitbull. Plus we discuss how he's perceived publicly

and his private insecurities. Is there more to Bart Baker than what you think you know about him from his videos? You be the judge. But first, we wanna remind you that you can support the show by checking out lynda.com slash Rhett and Link. L-Y-N-D-A.com, Rhett, A-N-D, Link. Oh, you spelled that out for us.

Thank you. Appreciate that. You're welcome. Whether you wanna take better photos or shoot better video with your DSLR, learn the programming skills to develop your own mobile app or edit your own video footage using Final Cut Pro or Premiere, lynda.com offers thousands of video courses to help you get where you want to be.

You can learn at your own pace on your own terms and you can get a free 10 day trial by going to lynda.com slash Rhett and Link. And I will say that I recently sat down to attempt to edit a holiday video, a little video that we made during our trip over Christmas. You've been putting that off. I've been putting it off.

And as I sat down to edit, I realized that Link, I've lost it. Which is why you've been putting it off. Which is a great problem to have. We've got people who do the editing for us now. We don't do, and you did it for a long time, even after I stopped, but it's been so long that it's not like riding a bike.

I can't do it anymore. The software has changed too much. So if I'm going to successfully edit my holiday video, I, instead of asking you or asking Ben for help, I'm gonna go to ask Linda, cause she's got it figured out. I'm gonna go to lynda.com. Can I take advantage of our own, of the free trial?

Can I do that myself? No, not if you use my account. I can't tell them that I'm Rh go to lynda.com. Can I take advantage of our own, of the free trial? Can I do that myself? No, not if you use my account. I can't tell them that I'm Rhett and Link. I just, that I'm Rhett from Rhett and Link. You could, yes, but. I feel weird about that. If you're gonna use my account, it's, sorry. Well, I'll make a decision for myself,

but in the meantime, you guys can go to lynda.com slash Rhett and Link and try it free for 10 days on us. Now here's our Bart Baker biscuit. When I saw you last, you were with your dad. Yeah. Your dad was in town from where? From Chicago. Okay, and.

You met Bart's dad? Yeah. Yeah, I actually. You locked eyes with him. Yeah, yeah. Did you touch him? I shook his hand. I touched his hand and he touched my hand. That's weird, Yeah. Yeah, I actually- You locked eyes with him. Yeah, yeah. Did you touch him? I shook his hand. I touched his hand and he touched my hand.

That's weird, dude. Why would you ask- Never heard of that. Did he touch your dad? Is that, have you had problems? No, I mean, it's just, I think that's a good name for a song, honestly. Why did you touch my dad?

Just did he touch your dad? You never know, I mean. He seemed like a straight up dude. yeah he's a youtube freak he knows everyone oh really that's like yeah he follows every he's on social blade 24 7 checking numbers on everyone is it a really yeah is it like uh i'm your dad but i feel like i could be your manager agent so it's more of a competition thing or is he a fan boy he's a fan boy of who everyone on on youtube really yeah yeah it's not just you he's not just a fan of his son no he's just he's super stoked that i'm you know doing youtube but like he's he's just like a fan of everybody so did did you get him into, what's his name? Yeah, Buddy. Buddy.

Buddy Baker. Buddy Baker? Buddy Baker and Bart Baker. Buddy Baker is almost maybe better than Bart Baker. That's two good names. I mean, he could start a channel. Did you get Buddy into YouTube? Yes, I did.

Or did he get you into it? No, no, I got him into it. You know, he was a little bit, it took him a while to get into it, but he really just all of a sudden, just like one day, the switch flipped and he knows everyone on YouTube now. I think he did ask something about Link.

Really, he asked about me? Would that have made sense? Asked about me? Well, I want to think that Buddy did. I want to think that Buddy did. Don't take this the wrong way. Because you weren't there, Link. It's good when you start a sentence

with don't take this the wrong way. I'm just gonna be honest, kind of stream of consciousness here. When I hear the name Buddy, I think about my blind Uncle Melvin's dog. Oh, that was his name, huh? He called him Buddy and he was a beagle. Oh God, those are the worst dogs.

He wasn't a C&I beagle because Uncle Melvin- Didn't need that. My Papa Clyde, it was his brother and he lived across the street and in his old age, he lost his eyesight. So we'd go over and visit with him. And this is like, I was very young. I'm like talking five or six years old

because he passed away when I was probably like seven. So I remember going over to see Uncle Melvin and then we'd walk him outside to see Buddy in the pen. Was Buddy in the YouTube videos? Is that where this is going? No, his name was Buddy. That's where this is going? No, his name was buddy. That's where this is going. If you tell me more

about your dad, it can replace buddy. He can be my buddy. Whenever I hear the word buddy, I can think Bart Baker's dad. Well, you should follow him on Instagram. He's trying to blow up. He is? He gets more likes than most of the people I know. What does he Instagram?

He just takes selfies driving in his car or when he's on trips. Or he'll post a throwback Thursday when it's the family. The funny thing is, I picture him dressed just like you. Amazing. A black tank top. No, I wish. No, he's a banker. Yeah, he's a pretty straight-laced looking guy.

Yeah, totally. We actually, a lot of people don't know he's my dad at first because he's- Like your lawyer or something? Maybe, yeah. I mean, I could see him being my lawyer or accountant. Yeah. But we're totally different career paths. You know what I mean?

He was a Yale grad, perfect SAT scores, didn't miss a single question. Wow. perfect sat scores didn't miss a single question like wow and uh then he went to uh he went to whatever it's called what do you do after graduation graduate school yeah that's it he went uh to northwestern so he knew chicago from there but he did it like he's uh it's totally different so but he's the ultimate fanboy because it's like he never got to do this stuff and now he gets to come to la and like experience it through me how often does he come out he's probably actually like for business he's here probably like three times a year but then he comes with my mom maybe another like two let's give let's give her my mom jan baker is also a big fan

she's a she's not like my dad, though. Are they still together? Oh, yeah. They're together. Where do they live? They live in Chicago, in the suburbs of Chicago. And yeah, my dad's like a nerdy fan girl. I'm just going to call him a fangirl

because that's the term, right? Yeah. And then my mom is just more she doesn't watch other youtube people she just watches my stuff when i tell her to because she doesn't even really get how to work her computer she's a fan mom then she's a fan mom yeah i get it and she likes to brag about what i do and she tries to not like start the conversation like my son dresses as taylor swift in Swift in Hollywood for a living. But it ends up that way. Is there an element of, oh, what are my parents going to think of this one?

Because- Yeah, not anymore. Grandparents maybe. Okay. I don't know if they watch them or not, but they're very, very religious. You're not like, when you visit them, you're not like pulling them up on your phone hey guys no way react to this I don't want

them to see it no but what do you tell them you're doing they know what I'm doing and they've seen a couple and I think they don't watch them they're like you should do videos that are more catered towards elderly I was like well that's not a new channel yeah like just for their elderly people so they can

like do parodies about like like nursing homes i was like well i used to use old people in my videos so that is a growing demographic though yeah oh i know i mean we're gonna be in it one day right true so yeah you know that's the only thing i and i don't think about it really because i can't let that make me hold back just be like oh i hope my grandparents don't think this is gross but they're super you said they're super religious like super conservative yeah is that is there like a trickle-down scenario from parents to you what was what was your upbringing like and where was that upbringing was in chicago for most of it i I lived in North Carolina for a year, which is interesting. And then back.

What part of North Carolina? Winston-Salem. Okay. We're from North Carolina. Oh, really? We know about Winston-Salem. You just breathe the air and it's like smoking cigarettes around Winston-Salem. Oh, yeah.

Depending on the year. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Winston-Salem was interesting. It was all brand new developments and all the houses were, all the houses were just like, just put up. So we were in the middle of like a farmland basically. And it was just like a brand new area. So it was totally different than what I was used to.

But then you went right back to Chicago. Right back to Chicago. Yeah, so I've been in Chicago most of my growing up. That's where I was really for all of it. And what was the situation at home in terms of, you know, were you guys, there were certain things you couldn't watch on television? Like how strict were your parents? So I was really bad in school.

Like not like, you know, my grades are good, but I was a troublemaker. So they were. Example. Example. God, I mean, I I got I made pancakes once and I put the the strain strainer hair in the pancake batter and I mixed it up and I gave the pancakes to my social studies teacher. I watched her eat them. It was your hair. Found out. No, it was hair from the drain from other people.

It was just in the drain. Oh, hair from the sink drain. people it was just in the drain oh hair from the sink drain yeah yeah stuff like that but then what did she do when you she ate that she didn't notice but we did she they she got him down she ate him she was a bigger woman we meaning all your classmates knew you told them hey they all knew they helped like they we were all in home ec and we're like we're gonna we were really our class was so bad bro it was we had two teachers quit during our eighth grade year it was crazy so we changed that school for the worst did you get caught for the pancake thing no we didn't get caught for that i did get caught for putting up lesbian porn on the computer and then changing

every single volume. When you push the volume on those old Macs, it would make a beep. I figured out how to change it to say schmuck. And all of every single computer lab computer would say schmuck. And I got banned from all the computers for like six months. But it was worth it.

Stuff like that. I was trying to be creative. Because they couldn't switch it back. So for the next six months, you could be on the computer. Well, eventually they switched it back. Said schmuck. The guy, what's it called?

What's the name of the person who's in charge of computers at schools? The IT guy? Maybe that's it. He taught us stuff, though. So he was also a teacher. His face looked like hamburger meat. So we called him Hamburger Face. But he got real red when he heard those noises.

So it was like he was really like a raw piece of meat. I think he still lurks there. Did you have any brothers and sisters? I was the only child, just dogs. So that, you know, but honestly like- Well, Hamburger Face is a good example here because what you're telling me is, you know, you've got almost a supernatural ability

to push the buttons of the artists that you're parodying. Right. And we'll get to this a little later, but I imagine them watching your work and I just get this sense that there's a, you know, you know where to hit them. Yeah, it's research. But it sounds like that was just something

that came naturally to you. Oh, that guy's face looks like a hamburger. We should call him. Maybe, I was good with nicknames, sure. Just figuring out things that I could relate. And it'll drive him nuts. It'll make his hamburger raw if I put schmuck on all the computers.

Man, he was pissed. And were you a, did you see early on that, okay, when I do this kind of thing, when I come up with this nickname, when I put the hair in the pancakes, everybody reacts in a positive way to it? Well, obviously all the classmates loved it because everyone in the class was bad.

So everyone kind of fed off of each other. And yeah. So it was directed towards, I mean, were you the bully? Was it directed toward classmates? No, there wasn't. No, it was just teachers. The teachers were mean, though. They were really mean.

Some of them we were cool with, and the teachers were really cool. But some teachers were just with, and the teachers were really cool, but some teachers were just like, you know. Some teachers just don't know how to keep kids under control. They do it by trying to be just like, we didn't like it, I guess. What should they have done for Bart Baker? I think it would have stuff just the way that if someone does one thing wrong, don't send them to the principal's office right away.

Maybe actually explain to them why that was bad and then try to be a little cool or try to relate to them on a different level. So you feel like maybe you're friends with them, you know, instead of just saying you. So you're still bitter about it. I have some of the saying, f*** you. You're still bitter about it. I have some of those teachers. Some of them. I'm trying to think of a teacher I really didn't like. I had some teachers I was really cool with. And then everything in high

school was all just normal. It was just in junior high. Were you the guy making the videos too? Yeah. That started early. Like fifth grade. What's an early one you remember the first video i remember doing was uh this video where we took our hands and put shoes on them so it would look like we're skateboarding and doing these rad tricks so it would be like this dude skating and

it'd be like him about to jump and then it would cut like the dude skating and it would be like him about to jump. And then it would cut to like the feet going and like grinding. And then like it looked really fake, but it was really funny. So it was like this skateboard movie. And it was funny as hell. That was the first one. Edited it in camera. Those are the best. On those little, what are those crappy old mini VHS?

Mini TV. It wasn't those. It was VHSC. Yeah, maybe that was it. You had what are those crappy old mini VHS? Mini TV. It wasn't those. It was old one. VHSC. Yeah, maybe that was it. You had to put it in a bigger VHS. Yeah, you had to put the little, that's what we got started on.

Right, yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that was fifth grade. And then in high school, I really started pumping out. I did my first music video in high school and we i went around selling dvds of that thing i think i sold like 300 copies and was that a really a funny a funny video it was it was actually so it was a music video that we we we had an assignment that we we could do like uh anything we wanted for this class, and we wanted

to do a music video, and we took a song that was already made. It was Get Your Roll On by the Big Timers. You put this on YouTube? It's on YouTube, yeah. It's your first video. Yeah, so I put that up. I put it up probably four years after we made it.

So you made that in high school. That was the first music video I ever did. And it was a lip sync video. That was a lip sync video. Yeah. But you had some nice cars. Oh, yeah. Where did you get those from? Most of those cars were parents' cars.

We just took them. Okay. One of them was, the ones that were driving were parents' cars. The other ones we went to the dealerships and we just stole shots of. So it looked like we had them. And that was in the, it seems like the angle of that video was just, hey, let's make a rap video for a song that we like.

Yeah, let's just see how, if we can make it look like, how legit we can make it look, you know? Because everyone was, we were like, everyone was super obsessed with cash money records back then. So you got a grade but then you also got paid because you burned dvds and sold 300 yeah we sold 300 and i got written permission from cash money records to distribute you're kidding me okay how does this is before they were huge right so we found their number and i called them i called them a secretary answered i'm like it's like little way Wayne is answering a phone or something. It was a secretary, I was like,

can I talk to the guy who owns the company, his name's Slim. Like, I'm like, can I talk to Slim? She's like, oh, the boys are out of town right now, can I leave a message for them? I'm like, we're trying to distribute this video, and. The internet doesn't allow for that yet, so. Right, I mean, it wasn't even,

I don't even think YouTube existed then. I think this was 2002. Uh-huh. So it wasn't even, I don't even think YouTube existed then. I think this was 2002. Uh-huh. So they were just like, I don't remember why or we got permission or. It sounds like you got permission from the secretary. The secretary, yeah, but no, but we got a contract. They sent it back. Oh, really?

We had a signature and everything saying we could distribute it. Did they want to cut? No, they didn't care. But the fact that they. They had cash money. They didn't care. That was back. But, you know, know this is like did you bring that into i mean when now that it's on your channel on youtube does that is it actually effective for that like i don't it probably is you can you take

the ad sense from that i don't know i don't even know if i'm running ads on that i don't know i probably am but that's hilarious it's not even you know. Okay, so you made that in high school. It was high school, yeah, 16. And then at some point you're starting to think that you want to be a filmmaker. Right, that's what I wanted to do originally was a filmmaker, director, editor, you know, behind the camera.

And I went to school for that and all that crap so yeah so you where do you go to college you went to college yeah major in film i went to my university miami florida so how did how did you end up in miami how did that um so i just their film school was really good it was like one of the top five at the time so it was like usc miami ucla and it was all of it i think uh it was mostly all california then miami um and i actually knew one of my best friends stepdad was like one of the biggest like alumni there he's like super into miami so uh he was like you should just go do like a early interview. Show them one of your videos. So I showed him the get your roll on video.

And they're like, okay, you're in. Really? Yeah, they're like, you're in. They told me that when I was there. They're like, you're in early admission. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, so I just went there. Because I'm like, I don't want to worry about writing essays.

What was the Miami film school experience? Miami's a weird school. It's different than normal college life. It's in Miami. There's a constant tension that you could be underwater at any moment, right? That's, yeah. So everyone's really anxious. We had hurricanes. No one likes to party.

Yeah, we had hurricanes. No one likes to have fun. No, no, everyone hates having fun. No, we had like the first week I was there, we had a hurricane hit. And basically when hurricanes hit, the dorms are locked up and everyone just has sex and drinks. That's all you do.

Because it's a dorm party. You're locked in your dorms. You can't leave. So that was the first week of school. That was crazy. Then it happened again and it ripped up the whole campus and like the lake. I remember looking out the window and the whole lake was in the air because it was like right over. It was crazy. Besides that, Miami, it was pretty, it's just different, dude.

It was like, I was in a fraternity too, which sucked. The worst experience ever. Why? They didn't have, so they didn't have houses so yet like the greek life there sucked um basically it was like it ended up being like okay well now i'm paying dues to go to uh a meeting every week that i sit there listening to this little guy talk about how we're gonna like better our minds and bodies and have parties and stuff. Did you give him a nickname? That guy? Oh God. I, um, did we give him a nickname?

Uh, I feel like we did. Let me think. It's going to come back to me. I'm pretty sure we did. You know, I just saw his brother the other day. Really? He had an identical twin. I thought it was him. Here in LA? Yeah. I just saw his brother the other day. Really? He had an identical twin. I thought it was him. Here in LA? Yeah. I think he's like an agent or something. I'm scared.

Because he was sitting at Starbucks. Yeah. And he's really short, so he's an agent or something. Was the, I mean, the things I hear from YouTube creators who had brushes with film school is that it didn't do much for me. Yeah, I agree. Oh, it didn't? No, it didn't. Not for what I did because they taught me

old school methods and I mean we shot stuff on 16mm and we didn't use digital really. So yeah, we edited on an Avid, like huge, like one of those big ass Avids, you know? Like I would never edit in one of those again.

But you were there for four years. I mean, you got the degree. I got it. And it was a degree in that and art and a minor in psychology. And it looks like a number of videos that you probably made during that time are on your channel too.

It probably was. Like look into my eyes while I masturbate. That was after you graduated. That was right after I got out of college. And that was your first like break out. That was the first viral video. The first one to hit 100,000, which was crazy to me back then.

And that's a totally different approach than what you've kind of adopted today. Yeah, that was original music. How'd you come up with the idea? Of doing the song, of that song? Yeah. That song was so Lonely Island inspired. That's like right when Lonely Island blew up.

And I was just like, God, this is so cool that they can make music that's funny and get so many views. So I was like- And what was your mind, so you were looking at them, but you had just graduated. Yeah. And what did you know about your strategy?

I mean, did you say, I'm gonna try this YouTube thing or I'm just gonna go I'm gonna go to LA and like get on a set to work my way up? I moved back to Chicago. Okay. Right after college. Didn't have any desire

to go to LA. What was your plan? I didn't have a plan. I was just like, I'm taking a year off. I'm not gonna do anything and I didn't do anything for a year.

Except what? You had to do something. I made that video. And I didn't do anything for a year. Except what, you had to do something. I made that video. And then I drank a lot and partied way too much. So you lived at home? Yeah, I lived at home. I think most of my friends all lived at home right after college, they all came back to Chicago.

And were your, did Buddy and Jan say? Buddy and Jan were. What are you gonna do, Bart? They were like, you need to get internships and stuff i did some internships um so i think i might have had an internship during this maybe it was right after i don't even remember i interned it uh i was doing editing for jerry springer show oh my goodness yeah really well that's so it was really random i found this internship and it's a post house in chicago that's where they filmed jerry springer and steve wilko's show yeah um that not anymore now they film it somewhere weird it's cheaper so you you get to see uncut i would see the uncut

dude and i was i was supposed to be like a little like bitch intern who worked the front desk but i was like i can edit and they're like yeah whatever so they're all actors right yeah no they're not they're not that's the crazy part they're all freaking weird real people but i thought that they brought people on jerry springer who kind of wanted their 15 seconds of fame so to speak that's probably true not even minutes and then they play it up yeah and then they would and they would probably give them assignments in the way that you would give someone on a reality, if you were producing a reality show.

Oh, totally. Listen, you're playing yourself, but you don't know who the real father is. Right. And when you find out, you probably wanna get really upset. Yeah. Matter of fact, you probably wanna throw a chair, huh?

Don't you think, maybe? Yeah. Okay, action. Yeah. That didn action. Yeah. That didn't happen? Well, I couldn't see what was happening behind the scenes because we just got the footage. But it wasn't like they didn't, there was no raw footage of like a director coming out.

No, not really. Really? It was pretty live. Like they don't even stop. It's really like. Well, that restores my faith in humanity and Jerry Springer. They actually film it all almost and they don't like be like, they're like, cut, we need to do that again.

There's no stopping down. No, they just do it. And I ended up... So you left it not feeling what I thought and what I just told you. It's like, you're actually like, no, this is for real. These people are for real. Yeah, it was for real.

I mean, it seemed for real. It's sad. There's that many people that are that messed up. They're all like not there. They don't really get what's even happening. They're in a whole other world. Did you enjoy editing it? I ended up editing the intros.

Remember like those, you know those like- Before the people would come out. They're backstage. Yeah. So it's like the intro of the actual show where it's like this episode on jerry springer it's like all these stupid cheesy effects of like you know like uh like a vignette on like a woman crying and like and then like crappy transitions to like a guy like in black and white like he raped her and stuff like that but it is an art form i mean it it defined a genre of art if you

ask me no No, totally. And, you know, I got a knack for that somehow, and they let me start doing those. They had editors that were working there for like six years who would do it, but then they let me do it. Then they asked me to move to freaking New York, and they're like, we want you to be a full-time editor. We're going to give you like 80 grand a year.

And I was like, no, I want to do YouTube. Because by that point, look into my eyes that's that that video did well and then I put out my first parody while I was there too which did well and what which was the first one boom boom pow parody boom boom pow okay big old pubes which is as black eyed peas black eyed peas. Yeah, okay Yeah, two point six eight million views five years ago Wow, and so it's probably gotten residual views over the years. Yeah, you know, but it probably went Pretty big at the time. It did okay. I think it was the same type of thing I could did like a hundred thousand in like a week or two

And who was helping you at the time? Who was the guy in the look into my eyes video? That was my friend Rob, who still lives in his parents' basement actually. Really, well, you know, there's a lot of room in there. It's a nice basement. Yeah, it's like the whole footprint of the house is yours. That's true. That was just my friend, I'm like,

dude, you gotta put on the space suit, bro, and lip sync. And talk about masturbating. Yeah, and he was like, I'm like, dude, you gotta put on this space suit, bro, and lip sync. And talk about masturbating. Yeah, and he was like, I'm down. And then you did the Kesha TikTok parody. Yeah. And then you did the California Girls Katy Perry parody with like this, these two elderly

dudes. That one was the first old person parody we did. I also should note that by this time I'd been hired by a porn company. All right, let's talk about that. We should note that. So you moved from Springer. It's like, where can I go from here?

So I was at Springer. I got contacted by the owners of Reality Kings, the biggest porn company in the world. The owners, you know, they're like 32. They contacted you because of your YouTube video? Yeah. It had the word masturbate in it. They found the Boom Boom Pow one.

Okay. And they're like, this is it. They found the Boom Boom Pow one. Okay. And they're like, this is really funny. And I was like, thanks. And they're like, would you consider making like some parodies for us and put like the watermark

in the corner with a link? And I was like, yeah, sure. And then somehow I convinced them to hire me full time and move me to Miami. Because you wanted to go back to Miami. I didn't, but they were located on South Beach.

It was just kind of convenient because I already knew the area. That's why. I was wondering about that watermark in the video. Yeah, those are RK watermarks. So if I go to RK.com or whatever that is, that's a porn site. That's porn. So hardcore porn, the first thing you'll probably see is a huge chick's mouth right when you get there okay and but in so how do you come up with the idea of okay the strategy for this is going

to be i'm going to do a kitty perry parody right but it's going to be two old dudes that was i just got this idea originally like um why don't we do old people like sing the hits like it would be funny because they don't know the music or the tempo or anything and then i was just like well why don't we just put the damn people in the parody and have them play the characters and so we tried it and it turned out people thought it was hilarious and it got picked up by like every news outlet. And they didn't, the guys at Reality Kings didn't care that it had nothing to do with their product. It was just.

They just wanted the watermark, yeah. Really? Yeah. And they paid well for that. Yeah, they paid well, man, out of college. I mean, it's a really, it was a real, it's more than most of the people I know are making now. Where did you get these two old guys for the Katy Perry California Girls?

Craigslist, of course. So what is that? How do you compose said Craigslist ad? I think it was just, I think I probably still have it actually saved somewhere. We've posted some weird Craigslist ads don't get me wrong but it was like hey I need a really old dude senior citizen to star in music video parody and it was just like for needs to basically be nude and dressed like tell him that

when did you tell him that when he came to the audition we're like this is like I'm like we're like are you comfortable wearing a bikini and this one guy was like oh alan is his name the guy who ended up using in a lot of videos alan he was just like oh yeah i'll wear whatever i don't care you know fine like it sounds like fun to me they all just wanted to like they were just bored and they wanted to do something fun yeah he played justin bieber right after he was good as bieber in the diaper that was one of my favorites, honestly, the Bieber one. God, that one gets me going. Some of my old videos make me laugh harder than my new ones.

So what, well, you know, an interesting thing is I can relate to that. I think that, and we'll get into this of what you're doing now, which is a fine-tuned thing that is really, it's working. And you can kind of, I think we know why it works. You know why it works and why you're continuing to do it. But when you see something like those two dudes doing the Katy Perry song, you see there's an extra amount of hate on that video

and just dislikes because it's just a weird sense of humor. Right? But it's just, it's so weird. It's funny. Right, right. but it's not the kind of thing that has this it's not gonna have the mass appeal mass appeal it's tim and eric style right and that's honestly where i got my inspiration for that video like my old videos were all green screen tacky backgrounds wanted to make it look cartoony and at the time i was

also thinking though like how do i do something that'll make me different than, you know, every other kid trying to put up a music video or something like that? Because there's so many. And I was like, well, let's just do something totally weird that'll get picked up by news outlets. Because that was the only way to get views at first. When you don't have subscribers, you got to rely on websites and bloggers to pick you up. So how many of these watermarked videos did you do? Good question. And how long did you stay in Miami?

I think there's like, is there maybe six of them or something? It started with TikTok and it ended with only girl in the world. So did you end up also editing porn for them? No. You know what we did do though? We made some theme songs for them, which is really cool.

Like I made the MILF Hunter theme song. It was a good song. The MILF Hunter. MILF Hunter. Was that a movie or just a video? That's one of their websites, MILF Hunter. It's a drunk guy who has sex with mothers. And you wrote his theme song?

They wrote it because they just had signed a deal with DirecTV to have their channel on DirecTV so they needed all these theme songs for their shows.

Can you hum a little bit of it? I mean, it was like, it was really 80s. I think it was like, you can find him on the hunt, da-na-na-na-na-na,

looking for a mom to fuck, da-na-na-na-na-na-na. That's all. I don't remember the rest. But it was like, you can find him on the hunt. No, no, no, no, no, no. Looking for a mom to fuck. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's all. I don't remember the rest. But it was your vocals. Yeah, my vocals. Did you also play, was there like the MILF part and you like brought your voice up? No, I didn't.

Because you do that. No, it was just straight up, just like a hit theme song. Just, yeah. A hit came right out. We had some interesting roles we played. It was me. I did this with my buddy. No no we weren't in them we just did the music me and my friend moved there together okay um because we were both in the boom boom pow parody and i was like oh i work with my friend so can we both come and they're like sure so we both moved to miami together which was sweet

because i had someone it was kind of of like the dynamic you guys had. We worked together on every video. And then do you tell your parents, oh, I'm working for. They knew what was up. They knew exactly what was happening. But grandma and grandpa didn't. I don't think they did. I told them their secret name is World Net Media.

So that's kind of like the actual company. If you go and interview for it or look it up, it's World Net Media. So that's kind of like the actual company if you go and interview for it or look it up. It's World Net Media. They had a lot of other websites like dating and stuff like that. And what, I mean, so your parents knew about it, but what did they say? They, I mean, they were kind of freaked out. It's like their son straight out of college is working for this company they didn't know what exactly what i was doing day to day and neither did the company really because a lot of times we wouldn't show up like we would we'd go to work at like two and

nobody would we didn't really have a boss it was weird they kind of hired us as this new they were trying to out this new like like branch a watermark yeah it's like let's try they gave you a watermark and then you just did whatever you wanted it was originally supposed to be the youtube channel was supposed to be like reality king slash reality kings um but they let you do it all on your own channel yeah fine they did it was just lucky that that happened because so what happened was we put up a video and it got it got 18 plus i think and i said well the reason that's happening is because i'm you're not partners i'm a partner so i get preferential treatment we'll also get better listings in the searches and we'll get you know whatever the hell it's called featured so you had already

gotten partnered based on- The other stuff. Some of those early periods. Yeah, yeah. Which raises another question, because I've heard multiple things from multiple people. Sometimes you hear people say, well, if you get into this parody thing, you're gonna have to change the tune of the song

just enough in order for you to be able to not have it pulled. What's the actual deal on that i didn't monetize any of my videos until i started making them actual parodies because my original videos were satires if you think about it a satire makes fun of a different topic but takes the original instrumental and like Weird Al exactly that's why Weird Al has to get permission legally a parody has to comment on or criticize the original in an ironic or humorous

way so we do all those things by making fun of the artist making fun of the video recreating the video shot for shot making fun of the song so we cover all those bases if you do that legally um you know it's fair use right but you have to you have to do it that way and we've never had any legal issues uh really to this day a lot of people have legal issues shane has been having legal issues like

right it's crazy well the video, what happened with that? What was the scenario where that was being taken down? Yeah. So that one was taken down, and it was a full-on takedown. I had to do copyright school. I don't know if you guys have ever had to do that. It's like a stupid-

No, but you certainly- Like traffic school. You certainly just proved that you went through it. I mean, you gave us a good synopsis of fair use right then. Oh, yeah. Parody versus satire. I know it like the back of my hand. So what was the original video?

Why was it taken down? And then tell us about the school. The original, the Lord one? Yeah. It was, they took it down for, they said, you know, it was the musical composition. That was what it was the musical composition that was what it was filed under okay and then

the next day well I made a video when I found out right away and I put it up and I'm like you know this is if you guys agree tweet at the publisher and I guess they did obviously they did I saw they did it was crazy they got it was like every five seconds like the publisher was probably like freaking out.

Um, and then it was back the next day and the publisher apologized on Twitter. And they're like, that was not us. That was our, that was an automatic machine. Like, but that's not true because you can't,

in order to file a takedown, you have to do it by hand manually. So they basically just kind of realized that i have a feeling they were going through all the parodies which probably most of them weren't legal and done correctly and just taking them down or trying to claim them um and then when they took this one down i'm sure their lawyers looked at it and they're like you up you better put it back up you better put it back up right now so but you still because of the process you had to do the copyright school thing oh yeah i had to do the copyright school you

can't even access your channel again until you do it and so is that like an online it's just right there online yeah i got every answer right i didn't even watch the video so they make you watch like an hour-long video i'm like that i knew all the answers. Is that for one strike? Yeah, one strike. So you got to keep taking it if you get another one. It's kind of ridiculous. But you were already employing the strategy of creating things as a technical parody, not as a, what's the other word? Satire.

Satire. Yeah, I was. Yeah, so, but. There's my dad trying to FaceTime me. Just put it on speaker. We can talk to him. Do you want us to talk to him? Yeah, just tell him he's on our podcast and we're basically live.

Let me try to get him. Let me try to connect with him. He's trying to do FaceTime audio. Dad? Hello? Buddy? Hey, Dad, I'm doing a podcast right now with Rhett and Link, so you're on with them.

Oh, hey, cool. Hey, guys. We were just talking about how you're such a big fan of all the YouTubers. Mr. Baker, can we call you Buddy? Yeah, you call me Buddy, right. Okay. He's like, yeah, you call me Buddy. Okay, it's kind of hard to explain,

but up until this moment when I thought about Buddy, I thought about a blind man's dog, my blind uncle, but now I'm gonna think about you from now on. Okay, well I appreciate that. It seems like a lot going to think about you from now on. Okay, well, I appreciate that. It seems like a lot of people think about dogs. He's like, yeah, that's not the first time you've heard that, I'm sure. No. No, I don't know about

blind dogs. I think it's the first time I've heard it's a blind dog. No, my uncle Melvin was blind, but his dog Buddy could see really well and smell really well. He's a beagle. The worst. I'm calling you from Puerto Rico.

I just thought I'd give you a shot while I was here. Oh, yeah. How's that? Are you fangirling right now? It's hot. Yeah. Yeah, I'm in the north of the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico.

You got internet there, obviously. Well, I'm actually back in my hotel room right now. Well, thank God. Not over in the National Forest right now. I was over there hiking around. Mom told me not to, but I was hiking around in the National Forest. By yourself. Yeah, it's dangerous.

And you can't even watch YouTube there, can you? Well, it's actually hard to hike around by yourself because it's so crowded. Ah, wow. Well, you know what, buddy? Why don't you give a plug to your Instagram? Oh, yeah. We know everyone wants to follow you on that. What's your Instagram?

Instagram handle, WBakerIII, right? Right, WBakerIII. He's the third. We're all actually named Walter. Yeah,, right? Right. W. Baker III. He's the third. We're all actually named Walter. Bart's the fourth. Yeah, I'm the fourth. Really? Link's the third.

Really? Yeah. And his son is a fourth. Oh, there you go. Well, I'm a fourth. Wow. And everybody asks, what's your middle name? And we say, we don't have any middle names.

They say, that's so strange. But Bart says, well, but I'm the fourth one with no middle name. It's not that strange. Yeah. It's not that strange. It's not that strange. Really, it's not. Well, why don't I call you back after I finish up? Well, I'm going to sleep. I just thought I'd give you a call. All right. Talk to you later.

Love you, Bart's dad. Bye, Dad. Good talking to you guys. You too, man. Bye. There he is, buddy. I'm going to see those pictures from Puerto Rico. Yeah, he's definitely going to take a bunch of selfies there. I wish he would have called earlier. This would have been a good podcast. Yeah.

Well, sorry, guys. Just kidding. So we're doing a potential reality TV show based on these parodies. So it's like the making. It's like making the video, right? But it's like with these parodies so it's like the making it's like making them video right but it's like with the parodies and then half of it'll be like all the that goes on when we're producing it and coming up with the ideas and the other half will just be whatever personal uh life which is probably going to be all set up right for reality tv yeah of course um so and how how far along is

that is it just a concept no that's far enough along where they've already... We're doing it right now with Banajay, who is Boonam and Murray, like, you know, real world, the Kardashians, all that crap. Okay. They contacted me, like, maybe a month ago, two, three weeks ago. They've moved so quickly.

They already interviewed all my staff. They've been to shoots. They've cut a sizzler. Really? They've presented it to their CEO and COO who said do it, and they're trying to sell it to E, which would be dope. Right, and then what's the working title? We don't know yet.

We don't know yet. It's called the Bart Baker Project right now. Okay. That might be the name. It might be better than that. Who knows, it's not a bad name, really. But they, you know. Where does the drama come from that actually exists besides in the comments?

Like, what's the real life drama? It's a lot of just, well, the shoot day is hell, always. You're cramming everything in, like, 12 hours. I mean, my producers are having heart attacks. Because isn't there, there's like a kind of a race. You don't, you wanna, the timing means so much for these things. That's another thing, right. So.

What's the, so walk me through from, okay, Taylor Swift releases Blank Space. You're watching the video, you're reading the comments, the hater comments on her video. You're being inspired. I mean, how quickly do want to turn around a parody and you know you're writing the lyrics you got people who also write yeah kind of pitch things at this point yeah but how quickly do you need to get yours up um is it kind of loose or it's kind

of loose so sometimes it's good to get it up quick sometimes it's good to wait so it has more exposure in the long run like we just did Uptown Funk but it's been to get it up quick. Sometimes it's good to wait so it has more exposure in the long run. Like we just did Uptown Funk, but it's been out for three months, something like that. Okay, so that's a long. It's like it starts slow. Some of them blow up right away. That one blew up gradually, so we put it on the back burner. Taylor Swift, we knew right away we had to do it as soon as possible.

It still took three weeks because getting a house like that is hell. But you've got someone who's creating like a sound-alike track. You're not just ripping the karaoke track. No, we got someone recreating everything from scratch. And they have to change a little bit, right? It's not changed tune-wise, no.

Right, so it's basically you don't have to change anything. We don't have to change anything. Because of the parody. Because of the parody. Because of the fair use, so it's like you can take a certain amount of something and use it. And then when you're writing the song,

kind of stepping through the process, you kind of talked about this line of, you know, the more harsh you are, the more response you're gonna get, positive and negative. Any press is good press. Sure. But you seem to say that there is a line that you don't wanna cross, and so you have to pull back.

Yeah. What, kinda help to clarify what that line is for you. It's whatever I would personally feel uncomfortable like conveying to everybody. I like, sometimes. To everybody or to the artist's face? Like do you picture singing to katie perry or nikki minaj saying i can yeah i'm comfortable saying to nikki i don't you're away

you're wasting your talent yeah that's literally a lyric right yeah or or is your evaluation i'm comfortable saying that to the audience i don't think i would know it's if i'm comfortable i'd never think about saying it to the artist because then I would never say something directly to an artist like that because I don't actually, a lot of the stuff I don't actually mean. It's just stuff that I know people will agree with and I know will get views and I know will be funny. But like I always say, most of the artists that I make fun of and roast, it's a roast basically, right? So it's not an editorial piece.

This is not Bart Baker's feelings about this artist. No. This is- You're playing a character almost. You're embodying the hater. Yeah, almost. That already exists online. Right.

So it's almost like that. And it's also just picking apart the video and everything like that and um but a lot of the times i like the videos i like the song i mean i bump it i'm i'm bumping bieber in my car you know i don't i don't have anything against these people i'd love to meet all these people and work with these people uh and i hope most people can understand that it's just a comedy and it's like it's like well you know it's just it's the i always say it's like when you roast someone you say the meanest but yeah but you kind of do it in a way that's paying homage to them right so it's like oh i'm saying all this mean

it's not supposed to be taken seriously it's supposed to make people laugh um so that's honestly that's that's that's how i feel do you think that's how the artist takes it and what have you who has responded pitbull saw the pip wanted about him which was pretty harsh what's the harshest line in that one um god what was it um i mean the whole the whole concept was that he's a that he's a sellout for all those sponsors um the harshest line itself was well at the very end their heads explode and it's like this guy is like oh thank god those douchebags are dead and then all the World Cup sales go through the roof because that was their song, it was a World Cup song.

Yeah. It was just really stuff that people always say about him. So it's embodying people, I hate you so much, I wish you were dead, that's pretty far, right? It's pretty bad. So then he turns around and what does Pitbull say? He loved it, he thought it was funny and he was like

Was this on Twitter or a phone call? Or did he call you through your dad? Yeah. This was on Twitter. He tweeted the video and he said thanks for the love. He said thanks for the love. I haven't watched this yet. I'm too busy to watch this.

And then he invited me to be in his music video. Did you do that? Yeah, I was in it and I met him and which one fireball yeah fireball yeah uh one of the lines in the video was i pull my pants up to the sky way too high because he's always got like a pit bulge going on you know i mean uh um and he's like he's like hey papa i don't pull my pants up that i now do i that's the first thing he said to me and then we took pictures but he was and then he was so he's so he's super cool and he's after we shot with he was like he was like we need to do stuff together i'll help you write stuff and come up with concepts for if you're doing a parody just let me know and i want to be involved he's just like i understand he didn't really mean that though did he i he seemed like he did he had some vodka though so he did he pick

up on the mi-ness of you? I don't know if he knows that I went to Miami. I don't know if I told him that. But when I look at the end of your videos, like when you're doing your vlog, like the way, you know, your tank top and the way you wear your hat, I think that he's, Bart is Miami.

Yeah? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Maybe. Something about the hat in that way. Yeah. Like your hat's got a lot of sequins on it. Oh, that one? That's what I think of Miami.

Miami is very sequiny. Yeah. It was like Ed Hardy and. Everyone had that. But you don't consider yourself repping Miami? I don't, so do you not consider yourself like repping Miami? I don't think so. From an apparel standpoint. No, I feel like it's more LA at this point.

Yeah. Definitely not Chicago though. Yeah. Now a guy like Pitbull, to me, my speculation is he's just a smart guy that knows that the best way to handle what you have done is to embrace it. Yeah. that the best way to handle what you have done is to embrace it. Yeah.

But you know as well as anybody who does stuff that people can criticize, that when people say things that could be true and the doubts that you might have about yourself, it hurts. People, you know, Taylor Swift watches this and I think of somebody like Taylor Swift watching this thing and just getting mad.

Yeah, well. You know, I can see that and it's almost kind of what you're pointing out in the way that you portray her. I mean, I can't imagine her laughing it off. Pitbull, yeah. Pitbull's like, bring this guy over. Certain people, you can kind of tell

or feel like you would have an idea of how they would react to it uh so when you think about that when you when you have this mental picture of taylor swift sitting there just getting pissed yeah at you or hurt i picture her or her or getting hurt what it has to make you feel? I just, it's so hard. I mean, I can understand them, maybe her feeling like kind of hurt by it. But at the same time, it's like I'm not targeting her directly. And we do every artist. So it's like just, if they can just see.

You are targeting her directly. We're targeting her exclusively. Yeah, right, exactly. It's like every artist is in, we're just hitting everyone, and it's not like, I think people should know by now that we don't have anything against them as an artist because we do every single artist. It's just, that's what we do.

And you have to find an angle. Yeah, you have to find an angle. That angle is, you know, she's the devil. People like it. But there are other choices that are risky for different reasons. And the risk isn't that you might hurt their feelings. But.

Get it taken down. Or, you know, if somebody like Kanye is so volatile, well, are you sure that you want to don Blackface and play him with your cheeks puffed out? Yeah, that's bad. I mean, what was behind that that led to that decision? I mean, was there a risk calculation in there? I'm gonna let you finish,

but first I'm gonna send someone after you. Yeah. No, I didn't even think about it, because... He's not Suge Knight. No. I don't think you should do that with Suge Knight. No. And then walk around in a parking lot

in front of his truck or anything. Yeah, that was just like a... It all came down to the fact that I just didn't want anyone else playing the character at that point, and now I just wanted to play the character. I never thought about it as blackface. I just was like, put me in makeup,

make me look as much like him as you can. And no one in your squad said, you know what, this is blackface. You do know that this is, like people are gonna- They said like it was bad. They said like it could be bad, but nobody said don't do it. I mean, first of all, I'll be honest with you.

I was surprised that there were only, you know, there's only like 5,000 dislikes on that video. Yeah. And so I was expecting it to be, you know, just like, you know, tens of thousands of dislikes and people. And there's lots of comments that, hey, this is racist. And there's lots of people who are like,

well, he's playing a character yeah yeah i mean would you do it again i guess is the question though i don't i the i think that i need that there's a i don't want to play kanye again and i don't think i need to i feel like at this point i'll get someone else to play those characters like there's certain characters i will play and it's like drake or because drake is he's lighter skinned people just have this thing in their mind that it's racist to to do any like coloration of your skin like that's just something that's always going to be there and blackface itself is so different the whole thing was just like blatantly being you paint your face black and then you're just being racist making fun of every single characteristic um and when we when i did

that i was like we're not gonna mention anything about the fact that he's black everyone knows that it's just like if i'm gonna play him i I can't have white skin. Darken me up. Put on a ball cap. But then you get your parody of Lorde. You know, you write and sing that she, her lyrics are racist. So that's kind of, is that kind of hypocritical there that you're making fun of her for saying, now I'm gonna list out everything

that I think black people like, Chris style, or however you say it. Right. Crystal. Chris, that was like. Crystal. I was like. Yeah, well those were. That was almost a joke what I did there, but it was not intentional.

People can interpret being, I mean, I was saying that because it was a news article I found on a website like, oh, Lord, wrote this song about hip hop culture. So again, so you were embodying someone else's criticism. You kind of channeled that in the parody. I think that's interesting. I think it's certainly not a way that, it's not a first way that you view your videos. I think that it's an interesting,

I don't know if I'd call it a defense, just an explanation. I certainly think you're just being honest. I find it, you know, I wonder if people are thinking right now, well, that's a rationalization. I mean, whenever you say say it whenever you sing it it becomes it becomes your point of view or doesn't it have to i mean you're saying no yeah i mean it's my it's my point of view during that video i guess something i don't agree with a lot of the stuff that uh that we're just blowing it out of proportion purposely.

Have you ever felt the need to somehow offer that explanation? Like, you know, okay, well, everyone, do your fans know that that's what you're doing, that you're kind of embodying the hater? My fans know. My hardcore fans know. my hardcore fans know all the comments where people are really angry are people who stumble upon the video and don't have a clue that there's a whole slew of these for every single person out there who's you know but they just find this one and they're like wow this person must really hate whatever lord to make this video it's like they did this video just like about Lorde saying all this mean stuff. And does that mean you get tired of that?

Yeah. The comments? Yeah. Yeah. But you've never said that, I don't believe all these things, I'm just embodying the haters. So it's like a double level parody.

I said that on my last video, I left a comment on it saying that um because that was all the original video was all about how the all the controversy was because she was 12 and he was 28 dancing together right so i said and i blew that out of proportion they get arrested at the end because you know um anyway and then i left a comment on that i'm like i don't actually think that that was what all the comments were on the original video so we took that and of course we're going to make fun of that because that's what the news is right that's people's yeah that's

the perception that's the perception that's what people are getting all up in arms about on the original that's what we're going to make fun of now and it's an interesting thing because it works so well and it's kind of the key to your success right now. You know, not that you aren't capable of other things, but you had this angle that is really working. Yeah. So does that create a, do you ever think, okay, well now my job is I see the latest music video

that comes out and now I've got to figure out how to embody the negative perspective on this video to make my video. Kind of, yeah. You have to put a spin on it. Like Uptown Funk was really hard. That song and video are awesome. Like you see it and you're like, okay, here it is. Everybody likes this.

I've got to hate this for everybody. Yeah, and that, yeah yeah i think it's also like and then so tell us what what where you landed and how you got with uptown funk yeah so uptown funk was like it's very hard to find something sometimes it's like we let's do it in a way that's poking fun of what's happening in the video as opposed to totally going after after the artist because sometimes you don't have anything to go after him. Because what can you say about Bruno Mars, right? Nothing, just the cocaine thing.

That's it, right? He got arrested for cocaine, and the whole song is like an 80s vibe, whatever, funk music. So we're like, oh, that would be funny. Let's just at least incorporate the fact that that's why they're all dancing around the streets with a group of dudes, and we'll give them some cocaine. You know, that would be funny. At least we can hit them with

one thing there and then um then like what's going on the video they're they're walking around look trying to pick up women the women are not interested at all uh stuff like that the fact that you know they're they're why are they driving around the car and they're all dancing but mark ronson's never allowed to dance so we made this whole thing up like okay mark ronson's never allowed to dance because he just can't dance and he's trying to fit in but he can't fit in uh so throughout the whole video that was like a concept we made fun of that uh so there was the michael jackson then michael jackson because there was just a news fake news thing that had gone out saying michael jackson and ruben mara is like it's his

son so we're like we're like, okay. And it went viral one day on Facebook. You know how these things are. And it was probably trending on Twitter. And so we're like, that's funny. Like I could actually see some people believing that. Obviously people did believe it for a day. Okay, so you're the master embodiment of haters. you're the master embodiment of haters uh are your you know hater comment videos what do you call those but her comments but hurt comments is that just another give me give me the pitch of

what those are those what the actual show is what the comments comments are? The show. The show is me reading the top five basically angriest comments about me, directed directly at me. Usually it's like really brutal. Okay. Yeah. But it's funny because it just gets more and more illiterate and angrier the more you get.

I mean, what made you think, I need to do this? Reading the comments was making me laugh really hard because it was like, I can just picture these people sitting in their bedrooms pounding on their computers so angry over something that's meant to make people laugh, you know? And they take it so seriously. So I was like, let's, I think it'd be funny to make a series just reading them. And how have people responded to it?

People love that series. The problem is I feel like a lot of the comments now on my videos are all negative because they all want to be on there. They want to be featured. They want to be featured. So many comments are fake now. It's hard to tell who's really mad. There's people going completely over the top.

Instead, it's just all angry, which is great for the comment section because then it's more people fighting. But, you know, I can't even read the comments anymore, dude. I can't because

I can't tell what's real and what's not. Has there ever been a comment before it was hard to tell if they were sincere that hit home for you? It's like, ooh, this hit me where it hurts.

Has that ever happened to you? The table's being turned. It's not so much comments directly attacking me that I care about because that's whatever. People can say whatever they want about me, and I understand that, and it's fine. I think it's stuff where people are like you're being a bully or something like that like you're gonna hurt their feelings where i feel like am i

being too mean and i didn't know people would actually think i was saying like saying this from the bottom of my heart like i mean all mean all this stuff. And some people think that. And that's when people actually think that, you know, and I'm sure they're very young and they're just like, that's what your initial reaction is. This is someone who really feels this way because they made a video. That makes me feel sometimes just like bad, like, because that's not my intention. To be misunderstood. Yeah. I don't want. But like I said, it's like if I met these artists in person,

like when I met Pitbull or someone like that, I would be, the first thing I would say is like, I'm a huge fan of you guys. Like I didn't, this wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I hope you would know that. And when people don't know that, it makes me feel like I hope that the artists don't feel that way. If you had to parody yourself.

I'm going to. So I'm going to start. I'm doing original music this year. We're going to start doing original music. Why the hell not? I've studied pop music. I know it. I'm going to do a music video, and then I'm going to parody my own music video. Figure why the hell not i've studied pop music i know it you know um i'm gonna do a music video and then i'm

gonna parody my own music video figure why the hell okay so the first one is it gonna be a comedy song or no they're gonna be serious like but serious fun right like like kesha that's pop hip-hop okay it's serious but it's fun it's light-hearted light-hearted i don't want it's not jokes it's not it's no it's not jokes. It's not jokes. No, it's not jokes. Party music. But the video could be funny. Got it.

So it's something that could play on the radio that's catchy, that's not like, oh, this is comedy. But the video itself would be comedy. Who would you want to play you if you weren't going to parody yourself? Because that would be a total turn turn the tables if, you know. Well that would probably happen, right? If I put out a music video on my channel of myself doing an original song,

I'm sure people are gonna make a parody of it, right? They're like, we got it, let's get him back. No, but you said you were gonna produce the parody. I'm gonna do it and play myself. Okay. Can I make a suggestion that would be hilarious? Yes. Vanilla Ice. Oh my God? Yes. Vanilla Ice.

Oh my God, dude. Get Vanilla Ice to play you. Second, this is yesterday. Roman Atwood kept calling me Vanilla Ice all day. Well, there's the Miami thing. Yeah. I mean, he's got a lot of years on you. He just got arrested too for stealing from a home.

It was a misunderstanding. I believe it. I think he was framed. I think he was framed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's not a cop. He doesn't need that. But I mean, I'm not saying it should be him, but that would really do it,

is if you allowed someone to play you. Because when you play yourself, there's only so much, oh, he's making fun of himself. That is fun. You didn't ask my opinion. Right. And I've given you three. Right.

That's interesting. Well, you can parody multiple ones. Maybe one is yourself. Maybe one is, call it Robert Van Winkle. No, I'd be funny, bro. You'd probably do it. Yeah, you would. That'd be funny.

I'm not gonna say he would, but I would hope that he would. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff to make fun of me for. I'm excited. So, so, let's. I think that's brilliant. So what? Not my idea, but just your idea that he would. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff to make fun of me for. I'm excited. I think that's brilliant. Not my idea, but just your idea to do it. I can't wait to see it. So what would you do?

Yeah, I was like, I've done that before. You know, obviously you're already thinking about this, but if you have to think about the things that you would sort of zero in about yourself to parody, what are they? I think it's what people perceive me as, right? A douchebag. That's like one of the main comments i'll get i mean that's a lot of people get that you know they make fun of when i have my hair gone it's like

it's higher than yours it's like oh this stupid little faux hawk and his big glasses and look at his stupid earrings what a loser stuff like that right it's like oh what a poser he's trying to be like bieber he wears his hats backwards like bieber like loser, stuff like that, right? It's like, oh, what a poser. He's trying to be like Bieber. He wears his hats backwards like Bieber. Like, you know, stuff like that. Oh, he wears Supras. His apparel embodies Miami. What does that mean?

Right, right. So, I mean, look at the, we could go and read, we could find so many awesome things to make fun of me for, which is what people are making fun of me for, and that they can relate to that because they're the ones saying it. What's the, and we all have insecurities, but would you be willing to tell us

what's an actual insecurity? An actual insecurity. Like Bart Baker going to sleep at night, the thought in his head that if this thing was ever a comet, it would hurt. Jeez. That's tough. There's nothing you don't like about yourself? Oh I mean, yeah, sure.

That you don't want people to know? But you're gonna be forced to say on a podcast. Well it doesn't have to be a secret. It could be also something that when people say it, they're like, oh, yeah. Yeah, but I think it's not like I have a lot of insecurities, obviously, just about all that stuff in general because that's the comments that I read. But I can't really single anything in particular

that if I saw in a comment would be like would hit me hard not in a comment i think just okay not in a comment insecurities in general um just just uh people losing interest in who i am as a person right like falling off the map, getting older. I am repped by a management company that has 14-year-olds. So it's crazy to me that I'm 28. Nobody knows how old I am really except for freaking Wikipedia. I might delete that. That's like an insecurity just in the space yeah right now it's so it's getting so young because how old do you feel like you need to be perceived as to be to remain successful

um what's that number I feel like everyone I meet thinks I'm 21 to 25 um so I don't know why that's like the sweet spot, but I think 25, if you can stay 25 for a long time. Yeah. You know, because then 30 scary, bro. I mean, that's coming up. And then I don't know. It's like people are people going to change their perception of me. And then it's also strange because I'm meeting all these fans and they're so young, but they're like, oh my God, we love you, you're so cute and stuff. And it's just like strange because they don't know how old I am. They don't have any- I could be your father. Yeah, they don't know. Rhett wasn't making a joke.

He was being sincere. I could be your father. I might be. No, but I mean, I'm joking. I don't want to derail the sincerity here because I appreciate it. You know, I'm about to be 37 and wanna derail the sincerity here because I appreciate it. I'm about to be 37 and I know a guy who already is.

Just to put the shoe on the other foot, I've got gray hair. I don't want anybody to know that. I have to shave because there's gray hair down here in the beard. Like you can probably see it now because it's been a long day. It's like, you know, what if somebody comments about that? Right.

And it scares me. That comment I do hate. I have that insecurity. And so, you know, I'll put that out there since I put you on the spot. Right. No, for sure. That's a comment that it makes.

If you think you're old, you've made us just feel that much worse. And it's just it's so it says it's just the space is so strangely young right now. Right. Yeah. And it's not YouTube in general. I feel like the most successful people on YouTube are all older right now. Still like they're they're not 14. They're not even in their teens.

A lot of them are 20s, 30s. But you have to but you have to have this conversation with yourself. And so do we. So do I. The thing is, it's harder. How long will I keep getting Instagram followers? Who's looking at my pictures? When I am like, in 10 years, am I going to post a selfie and have 13-year-olds click

like? You know what I mean? But that's the audience that's so engaged on those platforms. They are. I mean, I think that, you know, we relate to this already, already being 10 years ahead of you. Yeah. I think that, you know, one of the things that, that we hope is that, you know, the reason, the reason they're so young is because this is so new. Yeah. But they're gonna stick around, right?

Right, no, yeah, for sure. But I think that, you know, you're kind of giving an answer to the insecurity, but I think that it's kind of just an interesting, just to say, hey, this is what it is, and we can rationalize and that's a true rationalization. And maybe they won't.

Maybe they won't stick around and maybe this is, we've all peaked, maybe that's the reality. Maybe we've all peaked and then we just gotta figure out how to channel it and make a living. Yeah. That could be a reality. At the same time, it's like we're doing content that's actually content driven

as opposed to content that's driven by the fact that we're cute. Right? It's not like the girls are watching these videos like, oh, he's so cute. What a fun little video. They're like, this video's good and funny. We're watching it and it's actually viral. Right. But so then it goes to the other insecurity that you seem to say, what if people actually think I'm a douchebag? Yeah. Yeah. Well,

I mean, is that another one? That's an insecurity awake at night, so to speak. That's just an insecurity I have in general. Always. Um first meet people, it's very hard for me to tell what they think because they all have a perception of me as this guy at the end of his videos, right? Like, yo, guys, what's up? Thanks for watching my parody, blah, blah, blah. And that's just me on camera getting people to watch more parodies. That's how I am in front of the camera. I'm different when I'm off the camera. And people don't know that until they meet me.

So I always kind of have this thing in the back of my mind, like, what do they think right now? Do they think I'm this freaking, like, wannabe white rapper guy who's, like, in your face 24-7 and is, like, a D-bag who's just trying to make money on YouTube? So that's... First impressions, stuff like that. It's hard for just trying to make money on YouTube. So that's, first impression, stuff like that, it's hard for me to tell how people actually feel.

Yeah. I mean, that's just how it is in general in the space. So you're describing somewhere between a character Bart Baker or just an amped up, this is not a normal interpersonal volume. Right. That I adopt. Yeah, I think, and then that's like the first thing everyone says too is like,

well, you're super mellow compared to your videos. But like when you met me, or I know you met Rhett last time. Yeah. Was that, does it go through your mind like when you meet people like us, is that what's happening? Wow, you know, I wonder if they'll get to know the actual Bart versus the- Does it go through your mind when you meet people like us? Is that what's happening? Wow. I wonder if they'll get to know the actual Bart.

I think it goes through my mind whenever I meet somebody in the space. When we first meet, it's very hard to tell what people's intentions are when you're meeting them. Because some people are so selfish and they're bitter that you're successful. Like, you know? Even if they're successful. And it's like, you're like, what's up, dude? And they're like, nice to meet you. And you can't tell if they really think it's nice to meet you or if they're just saying that, you know?

Because it's like, let's make friends with all the other people who are doing well so we can all do well together. And it's all fake. It's hard to tell what's real. It's hard in this space in general. Let's not be friends, but let's collab yeah let's let's collab and then let's never talk again you know or you know stuff like that and then i don't know there's it's just uh how it's it's unfortunate but everyone kind of is like i feel like has a little chip on their shoulder like is this person being truthful or is this person trying to get my email address and be like, let's shoot a video.

Well, there is that dynamic that when someone is succeeding, you're like, I wanna be happy for them. I wanna know how they're doing it. Sure. And I wish that was me. Yeah. And if we've been in this for a long time,

like you have, we have, there's been so many ebbs and flows that you see, oh, well, this is working for them now, and this is not working for us anymore. Though this is really working for us right now. Yeah. It's like some sort of weird high school debate team competition that never goes away.

Well, the whole thing, especially VidCon playlist, I feel like it's like a popularity competition still, right? It's like, oh, well, how many Instagram followers do you have? It's interesting. I mean, you're describing kind of the interpersonal interactions between creators and YouTubers, but I think that anyone can relate to,

I think it's a good lesson for anyone to learn that we, you know, as humans, for some reason, we just wanna make a snap judgment about somebody and just put them in a box, slap a label on them, you know, and you have to fight that, you know? I feel like this conversation is a reminder for me in getting to know you that, okay, my tendency, maybe it's a human tendency, maybe it's just a link problem

is to wanna put somebody in a box and slap a label on the box and say, okay, I have a foreign opinion about this person because I watched the first half of eight videos. Yeah. You know, and then I skipped to the end vlog once and now I can make a vanilla ice joke. You know, it's, I mean, who's the bad guy here?

The person that I put in the box or me, you know? And I think, I hope that it's a human tendency and it's not just my problem. No, it is. To wanna label people. Right. And so I think this is a good reminder that, okay, and I'll just give an example.

I think I didn't anticipate your answer, your rationale behind embodying the haters instead of just saying, oh, I'm just doing this for the views or I really believe this. I just saying, oh, I'm just doing this for the views or I really believe this. I just found myself thinking, well, there's a couple of options here and I'm just gonna choose the most likely one

and then I'm gonna come at it from that angle. And it wasn't your answer. So it kinda surprised me a little bit. Said, okay, maybe everything you assume is not correct about somebody, about you in this case or people in general. I think that's a good lesson. It is.

So thanks, Bart. Oh, no problem. I'm glad I could help. Well, we'll be following your dad on Instagram. Yeah, you need to. And my mom has one too. Oh, really? Go ahead and throw that out too.

I think it's just Bart's mom. Bart Baker's mom. Oh, really? She's totally fan mommy. She's doing like 600 likes it's just Bart's mom. Bart Baker's mom. Oh, really? She's totally fan mommy. She's doing like 600 likes a picture. Bart's mom. Really? Yeah.

Bart's mom. I'm trying to get her some brand deals, man. She's good at, she can get like a- Take 10%. Like a wine deal or something? Next time they're here, we'll see if we can give them an ear biscuit. But for now, it's time for you to sign the table.

Oh, dope. Dim lighting. Let's do it. Thanks, man. It was biscuit. But for now, it's time for you to sign the table. Oh, dope. Dim lighting. Let's do it. Thanks, man. It was fun. Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. It got really interesting, actually.

Oh, it did? Yeah, I mean, I didn't- You can share something you learned too if this is like show and tell. What did I learn? I just- What did you learn today, Bart? I learned that talking about my feelings

surrounding YouTube and my insecurities is good. It makes you feel better in the long run. And there you have it. Our Bart Basker our Bart Basker. Bart Baker Biscuit. I thought I was gonna get some great alliteration. You could have said Bart Biscuit. I blew it.

The Bart Baker Biscuit is the Bart Biscuit. Let Bart know and us know at the same time what you think of our conversation with him on Twitter. Tweet at him, Bart Baker, and use hashtag Ear Biscuits. We truly appreciate when you guys tweet at our guests and include us. We read those, I know they do. I feel like I've learned some stuff.

I'm curious if you did. I did. Am I people? Can I be people right now? Yeah, people here in the room with me. One of the fascinating things that I found, I always love to learn about the process that someone applies to something like this.

And I think I, along with most everyone else, brings a certain set of assumptions to the process. And when I watch a Bart Baker music video, a lot of times I'm like, oh man, he's going there. He's saying that thing about this artist. Because he believes it. That's harsh. It's an artistic representation of his personal opinion. Well, that would be the perception, right.

Right. But what I learned in talking with Bart is that he is essentially taking what the internet is already saying about this person and their video and he's distilling it. Channeling the collective criticism of the internet. And it's fascinating and it does two things. Number one.

It's like a laser beam of criticism. But it does two things. The number one thing is when you do that, you're tapping into what people want to be said about something and that helps to explain the crazy popularity. I mean, there's lots of things that explain the crazy popularity of these videos.

You know, the fact that the production design is amazing, the fact that he looks as much as you can look like a person who is not you. The fact that the musical production is exactly a recreation of it. But you add in the fact that he's saying the things that the internet's already saying, but he's saying them in a funny way

that fits into the context of the song. Yeah, I mean. It's just a recipe for a lot of hits on the YouTube. It makes me think of the principle of persuasion that you can either tell somebody to do something or you can help, you can get someone to do something by getting them to think they came up with it. And this reminds me of that in a little way that,

you know, you think that I have tremendous insight and I'm not saying he doesn't, but his insight is channeling their criticism and making it seem like giving them something to resonate. It's like hearing it and giving it back to them. Isn't that a principle of persuasion? It is. And I don't want to belittle the fact that Bart

and the guys that he works with are- He's genius. They're writing. I mean, they're not just taking ideas from comments, but the fact that they are heavily informed by the general tide and the general public perception of a person, a lot of alliteration in that sentence, I think that's even more genius in one sense.

Leave us a review on iTunes and comment along with the conversation on SoundCloud. Those things help us out as well. And we'll continue to help you out as long as you consider this a help. I don't know if this is a help or just entertainment for you. I mean, maybe to help somebody. But hey, listen, as long as we can find. As long as we can find the bread dough,

we will keep coming back and making biscuits. And that wasn't an analogy about him getting paid. It was just literally- He means literally we have to gather dough. We have dough here and you wouldn't believe it. We're surrounded in it. Right. Surrounded by it.

Yep.