Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 7 Julian Smith - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: November 8, 2013

Where has Julian Smith been? Rhett & Link sit down with arguably one of the most talented directors on YouTube to discuss why he hasn't released any comedic videos this past year, meeting his wife and becoming a father, and the project he has in store for his fans in the very near future. 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 Rhett. And I'm Link. On this week's Ear Biscuit, where we gather around the round table of dim lighting, we talk to Julian Smith. Talk to him about what it was like growing up as a homeschooler, who was also already a video professional by the age of 15. How he got into YouTube, and we answered

the $10 million question that's on all of your minds. Julian Smith, where have you been? Why are you not making comedy videos on YouTube anymore? Well, one of the things he's been doing that we talked with him a little bit about is he's been having a baby or at least a woman that he impregnated had a baby his wife he became a father I mean just a number of weeks ago so that's that I mean that's that's the big news that's the first thing and you know in being

fathers it's always I always enjoy talking to somebody who is you know has just become a father they're going through this milestone you know I don't like to get too you know advice lad't want to be like, okay, well, here's what you got in store and that kind of thing. If they have questions, you know, we'll answer them kind of thing. But, you know, it reminded me that he, Julian's going through this milestone of becoming a father. I feel like I'm going through a very significant milestone as a father. And that is really that my nine-year-old, Locke, is now texting me. You gave him a cell phone? Did not give him a cell phone. Now, a lot of people, because I think that would be controversial,

and I don't think he should have a cell phone, but maybe this kind of slipped the cracks, because what happened is he has an iPod Touch. Well, you know what he has? He has an iPhone 3G that is just an iPod now. It's deactivated. It doesn't have a SIM card in it. So it's essentially an iPod Touch. He can play games on it and that kind of thing.

My kids also have those. Right. But we go back home. My old phones that I don't want anymore. We go back home to North Carolina for our friend Mike's wedding over the weekend. And my wife and children stay for a few extra days to kind of hang out with family and that kind of thing. Well, he finds out from his cousin, Isaiah, that there is this app that you can put on your phone, and using a Google account, you can essentially have an iPod Touch that functions as a phone. If you have a Wi-Fi signal, you can text. Basically, iMessage kind

of thing, but he can also call. Oh, he can call you on a telephone, too. Right, but he can only call the few people that are in the, you know. But he's texting you mostly. What are these texts? Well, the first text I get from him yesterday is, It's me, Locke. Okay, that's a good start.

Okay, so I know who that is. And then he says, I got this for you. And there's a link, and you click on the link, and it is a picture of a king-size Mr. Goodbar. You like those? I do. I do like them. Well, that's good.

He's thinking about you. I think this could be an added dimension to your relationship. But the problem is he can also communicate with older females. That's what you gotta be watching out for. You gotta limit who he's gonna talk to. Well, of course I'm gonna do that. What are you talking about older females? Well, because they have cellular telephones.

Well, he doesn't have their numbers. They like to text. You don't know if he has their numbers. You didn't even know he could communicate via text until you got one. That's true. But then I call him. I call him on this number, and the first thing

he says is, he's like, hey, Dad. And when I say older females, I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm just going to come clean. I'm talking about my daughter here. I don't want your son texting my daughter. Well, he's like, yeah, that's not going to happen. They're just friends. They're just good friends. Okay, one year apart. So he,

I get him on the phone after this because I can call this number that I've been texted from, and I can have a conversation with him. So the first thing he says is he's like, hey, Dad. I'm like, hey, Lock, he's like, hey, I got you a king-size Mr. Goodbar. I'm like, yeah, I got the text. So, I mean, that was important to him. Kind of redundant. And I'm thinking, well, okay, how's that thing going to do on the plane?

I don't know. Keep it out of the heat. I don't want to melt you, Mr. Goodbar. But then this morning at 8.55 AM, I get another text. Taylor Swift just came out with single, Sweeter Than Fiction. This is a nine-year-old. So he's giving you entertainment news. Yeah. So now he's always on top of things, But, you know, we listen to music as a family, we are Taylor Swift fans, the boys love to sing her music and that kind of thing, so we get the Taylor Swift text. But then right after that, he follows it up with a text

that says, and please buy it. Also, buy Daft Punk's new album. It's a good album. So, I mean, all of a sudden, I'm getting Daft Punk recommendations. Okay. I agree with that. I actually agree a little about this. It's a good album. I own it, and so I agree with

Locke. You should buy the album. I mean, it's a very trendy thing to do, the helmets and everything. It's very cool music. It'll make you cooler. How do you feel about my nine-year-old texting me about Mr. Goodbars? That's one thing, but then texting me about new albums. That's pretty cool.

I think it's proper usage of the appliance. So are you gonna get this app for your kids so they can text you? Never, no. I gotta keep more control over them. But buy that Daft Punk album. Lincoln, who's a year younger than Locke, he listens to me play that one and it has Up All Night to Get Lucky.

Right. Which is not necessarily a song that is appropriate for my eight-year-old son to hear until I hear him singing it, and I realize that he thinks the lyrics are Mexican puppy. Mexican puppy. Up all night to up all night. He didn't even hear the up all night part because it's when the robot starts singing, it just sounds like Mexican puppy. Like a Chihuahua?

Yeah, I'm like, this is okay. So he's just singing about a Chihuahua. It's okay. That's harmless. So as long as... Well, I'll tell Locke that's what it says, Mexican puppy. Okay, well then I'll let my kids text with him then. Okay.

And then we'll share all of this with Julian, who is a new father. All right, let's get to our conversation with Julian Smith. He is a longtime friend of ours, so we had a great conversation. We got into lots of things related to and preceding to his YouTube channel, which if you want to check it out, if you don't know, JulianSmith87. He is known for his incredibly cinematic and incredibly funny comedy sketches. And you've probably seen them

even if you don't know that you have because he's got some videos out there with what, 20 million views? Yeah, Malk, he put his cat in an oven and waffles, which, hey, we're partial to that one because we may be in that one. May or may not be in that one.

Here it is, our conversation with Julian Smith. Okay, so Julian, you are fresh off of having a baby. Sarah had a baby. Yeah, I didn't have the baby myself, but yes. We're talking three weeks ago? Three weeks. This is one of the first things I've done. You don't look sleep deprived.

This baby is a freak of nature. It sleeps better than I can half the time. So you're still calling it it. You don't know if it's a male or a female. It's a surprise. You're waiting until week four. You've heard of parents waiting to find out what the gender is until it comes into the world. We're waiting until its 18th birthday.

We're going to shave its head every week. Okay, good, good, good. Never look in the diaper. That's not how you tell the sex of a child by the length of the hair. I'm just newsflashing. It is an indicator, though, culturally. It's not? No, it's not. Sorry.

You have to look at their private parts. Now, you haven't done that yet, have you? I don't even know what private parts are. What is this? Okay, all right. What's your child's name? Nora. Ele-Nora.

We call her Nora. Ele-Nora, middle name. Ele-Nora, not Ele-Nora. Everybody's calling her Ele-Nor. I said Ele-Nora. Yeah, you said it right. I'm just correcting all the people that are in their cars right now calling her, oh, Eleanor. Hmm. Eleanor

Lynn. Lynn. Smith. Smith. But she goes by Nora. Yep. Right now she just goes by Nora. Baby, yeah. With no H. With no H. N-O-R-A. N-O-R-A. Now, was this an eventful delivery? Anything exciting happen? Did you faint?

Uh, Sarah's... Everybody's healthy now. Let's just, let's, I don't, let's have Now, was this an eventful delivery? Anything exciting happen? Did you faint? Sarah? Everybody's healthy now. Let's just, let's, I don't, let's have a spoiler. You want a spoiler? Yeah, I need to know that Sarah's okay, the baby's okay. Sarah's good, baby's good. I assume I would have heard that before now. Well, guys, I gotta tell you,

I came here because I knew it meant a lot to you, but really, at home, things are bad. Okay, so now I can breathe easy. You can just tell me the delivery process. How does that work? Well, I don't know how much you want to know. All of it. But Sarah's water actually broke, which is crazy,

because that only happens like 8% of the time. When your water breaks at home, you guys probably know that, because you have children. Right. It happens 100% of the time in the movies. In the movies, it happens all the time, because it's like the most exciting thing that could possibly happen. Was this ahead of the due date or what? It was after the due date, like three days.

Three or four days. Yeah. So her water broke at home and we hauled it to the hospital. What were you doing? Sleeping. Oh, she was asleep. We were asleep. It was like 1 a.m. when her water broke.

It was like 1.45 in the morning. And she was like, Julian, you've peed on the bed again. Yep. And you were like, it wasn't me this time. I think we need to get you. But was it panic? It kind of was. I was like dead asleep, and I wake up to, honey, I think my water just broke.

And like within 13 minutes, we were out the door. I remember looking at that. Oh, that's good. Yeah. So it was crazy. And then traffic could be an issue in this town. But not that early in the morning. So that's a good thing.

I got there and we moved from the valley to Venice mid-pregnancy, and we decided to stay at the hospital that we had in Tarzana because we liked our doctor so much. So we were, you know, it was a long drive, but I got there in 20 minutes. That was the best possible timing was to go in the middle of the night because that could be like an hour and a half drive. You guys, I was going so fast. On the 405.

Yes, that is the fastest I think anybody's gone on the 405. Now, was she like screaming? I mean, was this how dramatic was this? She wasn't screaming, but it was definitely, you know, it was intense. Neither of us really knew what to expect. We haven't, you know, I've never had a kid. Never been through that process. It was just get to the hospital as fast as possible.

Because especially because her water had broken. If it was like, you know, just if it was just get to the hospital as fast as possible. Cause especially cause her water had broken. If it was like, you know, just, just, if it was just labor, you know, we would have had like five hours to chill at the house or whatever.

Yeah. And, uh, you know, so we were just, we just knew we had to get there. But the contractions were, were happening on the four Oh five.

You're like pedal to the metal. Yep. I am not, I'm not going to be the one. I'm kind of a crazy driver. I'm a safe driver. I've never been in an accident. That to the metal. Yep. I am not going to be the one. I'm kind of a crazy driver. I'm a safe driver. I've never been in an accident that's my fault. Okay.

And Sarah is always like, you know, she's always telling me that I need to chill out when I'm on the road because I'm very aggressive on the road. And this was the one, she looked at me, it was like this moment, it was like that moment in the movie where she looks at me and she goes, go fast. And I was like, I can do that. Finally looks at me and she goes go fast and i was like i can do that finally and so i went fast and i got there i got from i went from venice to

tarzana in 20 minutes that's that is close to a record if not a record it has to be a record seeing your wife in that much pain i mean you know that okay in in principle that's going to be part of it you know that it's, in principle, that's going to be part of it. You know that it's natural. Not necessarily anything wrong is happening. But it still has to be a bit of anguish to see her go through so much pain. If you want to know what someone would sound like as an animal, just get them pregnant. It's that simple.

It really brings that out in you. So what animal is Sarah? A triceratops. And if you want to know what a triceratops sounds like. Well, you said triceratops. Oh, wow. I thought that was a pun. That was probably subliminal.

That was probably subliminal. No, I'm not into puns, Rhett. I'm not into puns. I don't do puns. That was pretty good. It was a good pun. It was a good opportunity. I'm a very serious person, Rhett.

I know. I demand that you take me seriously right now. Okay. Okay. You feel different? Yeah. It's like, you know, they say that you can't. My dad called me the week before Nora came here,

and he said, he's like, you know, the kind of love that you feel for this human being you don't even have a slot for yet, and it is going to blindside you. And that's like you know the the kind of love that you feel for this human being you don't even have a slot for yet and it is going to blindside you and that's like exactly how it is it's like a it's like a totally different like i didn't even know that this like sensation could exist it's really strange for me anyways it's probably different for everybody but for me it was just yeah i don't love my kids so i mean well that blank stare you were giving me it looked like you were very removed.

I mean, you're only three weeks into this thing. You know, I think there's something that I've observed, a lot of people have observed. Yeah, it's still very new to me. With the mom, there's this instant connection because of the previous nine months. Right. For the dad... It's a little different. And I think I've heard that it's common for the dad to feel even a sense of guilt for not feeling an instant connection. Yeah.

Or not knowing what it is. It's definitely different for me than it is for Sarah. I can tell that. And, you know, I've had friends that have had kids and they've said, oh, I had to sit down with my wife today. And, like, she thinks that I don't, like, love this kid because know, I, it's not the same for me as it is for her. And, and, uh, she has, you know, she's been totally understanding, like she doesn't, you know, she totally gets it, you know, and, and, you know, it is different, but I still, it still is like, it hit me immediately. It was like this totally, it was like this rush of, uh, emotion that I didn't, when I was holding her for

the first time, sorry, I started like talking started talking about I had no frame of reference for what I was talking about. When I held Nora for the first time I was rushed with these emotions. Still, every day though I feel like I'm getting to know this person. You can only get to know someone so much when they don't even speak English.

You'll start learning a lot when she begins speaking. It's like trying to order at Taco Bell or something. Was that bad? Should I have not said that? You were talking about well yeah you'll start learning a lot when she begins speaking it's like trying to order a Taco Bell or something so was there was that bad should I have not said that in the which part you were talking about

the intercom the difficulties with the intercom yeah is that is that is that technologist yeah but it's okay here we allow that

safe zone alright good good was there was it traumatic at the point of delivery were you like oh my gosh

yeah it was crazy. I mean, up to that point, I thought like, I don't wanna, when the baby's head starts coming up, that's when I look away. And that was like the moment where I shocked myself. I was like, I can't stop watching this. This is amazing. Like I didn't, I wasn't like weak at the knees or anything.

I thought I was gonna be, but I wasn't. You're a father now. You've joined the club. Yeah. We can compare notes. Welcome. On that. Thanks. We'll tell you about all the failures that You've joined the club. Yeah. We can compare notes on that. Thanks. We'll tell you about all the failures that we've had so far. Maybe you can learn something and improve.

I have no desire to learn. But let's go. That's smart of you. It's a good mentality I found. Okay. So I'm assuming that you were born at some point. I think so. I'm still waiting to find out.

I'm all about surprises. And where was that? Where are you from? Nashville, Tennessee. Now, you've got a slew of siblings. I'm the second oldest of six. Second oldest. You got an older brother? Sister? Older sister. Okay. And she has

six kids. Or she's pregnant with her sixth right now. Crazy. Wow. I got a lot of work to do. The pressure is on. Just kidding. I'm not doing that. You don't aspire to that okay you got an older sister and then let's see so that leaves four younger than you did i just do that right i think so yeah six of you total yeah okay so so what six kids in this day and age that's a lot of kids what's the what's the dynamic here growing up uh What's your dad do? What's your mom do? So when I was really young, my dad was a, he was an executive at a record label.

He worked, he actually, he worked, you know, he had a pretty long music career in Nashville doing like country and Christian music. Kind of, I mean, that's pretty much the only market there. I think it may be growing a little bit now, but back in the 80s and 90s, that's pretty much all there was. So he was, he was pretty influential. Influential? Yep. I just added a syllable there.

It's even better than influential. That's my Southern coming out, adding syllables now. He had a pretty long career in music and my mom is- As a what? As an executive, like doing A&R, finding bands, signing them. And does he have like a claim to fame? My dad is the most modest person. I don't, I still, I get the feeling that I don't really know everything he's done.

But like every three years I hear, like two years ago, I found out that he, that he is responsible for Garth Brooks cutting the dance. What? And I was like, what? How did I not know about this? Apparently, Garth Brooks came into my dad's office as a nobody and was cold playing songs for record labels. Oh, wow.

No-name guy. Or maybe he wasn't no-name. It was before the dance, so I'm not super familiar with Garth Brooks or what his, you know. Yeah, that was on his first breakout album. Let me pause you for a second. Rhett, can you sing some of the dance? Do you remember it?

Looking back on the memories of the dance we shared. He loved this album. Oh, really? The stars above. It sounds like it. For a moment. He loved this album. Oh, really? The stars above. It sounds like it. For a moment. I lost the key. All the world was right.

I'm getting really uncomfortable. How could I have known. Just take it in. That you'd ever say goodbye. And now. I don't know how long he's going to go. I just can't stop looking at him. Close your eyes.

He looks like it hurts. How does the chorus go? But I didn't know. at him. Close your eyes. He looks like it hurts. How does the chorus go? But I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go. I can only imagine Garth Brooks sitting in your dad's office. I remember dancing. I don't even know the song. That's how good of a son I am. I never even listened to it.

I remember dancing to that song in the Ruitin building. My, let's see, ninth grade, Melissa, somebody was in tenth grade, and she wanted to dance with me after I broke up with Tabitha. And that was the dance that we danced to. Wow. It's a good song to dance to. That was the song that I think established Garth Brooks on the scene. Yeah, I knew that much about the song.

And your dad can take credit for that. Yeah, so apparently my dad was pushing for Garth Brooks to do that song, and nobody wanted to let him do it. They didn't believe in the song. They didn't think it sounded right. And my dad was pushing from the beginning to let him do it. And my dad was one of the key people that ended up pushing the, I don't know which expression I should use here,

but he was the one that ended up like. Well, only one guy can do a song. So once that song's paired with somebody, in country music, other people can do it later. But I mean, in modern country music, it doesn't happen that often. A song goes with a guy and that's either his ticket, it either works or it doesn't.

Right. Is my understanding of it. Yeah. So it's a pretty big deal. Yeah. Very big. So I'm always finding stuff out about my dad. I'm going to find out one day that he was actually a secret agent

and I never really knew his real name. So he was dabbling in country music and Christian music. He was doing the Toby Keith and the Toby Mac type situation. Yeah, actually, yeah, Toby Mac too. He did some stuff with DC Talk. Okay. Uh-huh. Yeah. And you were born in 87. 87. Because that's your username on YouTube. Yeah, let's not talk about

that username and how I got stuck with it. But that's point of reference. Okay, so this is, I guess this is around that same time. So he was working in that business when you were, before you were born and then even through that. Yeah. What about your mom? My mom is a published author and playwright. And she, my earliest memories of her was, I have a lot of memories of her directing dinner theaters

and things like that. So she, you know, my parents definitely both influenced me a lot. You know, I grew up in a really creative house. Pretty much all of us play an instrument and do something with the right part of our brains. So they told you to get guitar lessons? Is that what happened?

I've actually never had a guitar lesson. My dad taught me some basics as a kid, but I was never really good at a classroom setting. That's a major reason that I was homeschooled for the large part of my life. Were all your siblings homeschooled? Yeah. I was in elementary school until third grade, and then my parents pulled me and the rest of my siblings.

One of the big reasons was because my kindergarten teacher thought I was autistic. Have I ever told you guys about this? No, I don't think so. Like based on, I guess at the time they were really big on analyzing like drawings that the kids were doing. And based on my drawings, like the facial features of the people I would draw were out of place. Like they would have noses for ears and like ears for eyes and things like that. It was really wacky drawings. And they had a few meetings with my parents. They were like, we're really worried about Julian.

And like my parents were like, he's just, he's just weird. He's not autistic. He's just weird. He thinks your noses are funny. Yeah. Yeah, basically. That's what he thinks you look like. He could have made it personal.

I'm not being totally fair. I was a little bit, I don't think I was a problem child, but I definitely pushed my teachers a little bit. I would find out that they were having a fire drill. Do you guys remember fire drills? So I would find out that there was going to be a fire drill happening, and I would tie my shoelaces to the chair so that when the bell went off, I'd just be sitting in my chair and like the teachers would be

like, what are you doing? And I'd be like, I can't get up. And like, they'd have to help me untie my double knotted laces from the chair. And that'd be like the last one out of the classroom. So I think that,

I think there was some of that too. I think they were kind of like, he's just, the things that he thinks of are not good. And so in third grade, they took you out and they said, we'll do the homeschool thing. Yeah.

Your sister, they, they took her out, your older sister at the same time. Yeah, they took her out. And then my younger brother, he wasn't even in school at the time. So all the rest of my siblings were, and still are, some of them are still homeschooled. Actually, only one of them is still in school. So you had this, okay, two creative parents. You've got six kids being homeschooled. So did you guys do like family productions?

Is it one of those situations like where they were like, you know, let's sing together, let's do this play together. And while all wearing jean jumpers. We tried to do some of that, but it didn't really work out, I guess. I don't know. I mean, some things would work. Like my mom would put us in some of her dinner theater things, like doing live drama and like that.

That setting worked. But I remember she also tried to get us to do a family band at one point, and that just went terribly. I didn't even think there was anything south of Nashville until I realized you could go further down. That did not work. You mean on tour? No, I just mean it was so bad that I realized you could go further down. That did not work. You mean on tour? No, I just mean it was so bad that I realized the word.

The Smith family band. Yeah, now I am doing the puns. Look at me. I mean, I definitely, I wanted to hear that you guys put out an album because when I hear about a really creative family with all these children, I just, you know, it's like daddy sang bass, mama sang treble. I think that's what my mom was hoping for too. Not treble.

You don't sing treble. Mama sang the tweeter. Okay, but that didn't happen. Didn't happen, no. So did you fit the stereotypical homeschool upbringing? And, you know, I will say, you know this, we homeschool our kids and Rhett, and Rhett's wife, Jessie, homeschools their kids.

So that was a big factor in us making a decision was the stigma and the stereotype. You talk about the gene jumpers. Yeah. And ultra strict and sheltered, I guess is the word I'm looking for. What was your experience growing up homeschooled? Was it a sheltered type of a thing?

I wouldn't say it was sheltered. Actually, it was really great for me because I knew from a very early age what I wanted to be in either music or film like very early. And so I was in high school. I mean, now I'm skipping a little bit, but, um, in high school, I, uh, my friends and I would shoot little like home videos on the weekends just for fun. And then that eventually turned into me, uh, you know, freelancing editing for other people. And so I was like, I was like 15 16, and I was doing my school at night so that I could do these like day jobs for like, I was like getting clients and stuff like that. So

homeschooling was great for me for that reason. So you did have friends. Yeah. Your friends weren't just your family members. Oh, you want to talk about friends? You had friends. See, I'm still trying to figure out what these are. No, I'm kidding. No, I, I, I think that the secret, uh, home, I think that a lot of parents want to, uh, they think like, okay, so we're going to homeschool our kids. Uh, we got to make sure that they're social. So we got to get all these homeschoolers together to talk. And I think that's like the, like, that's okay, but that can't be their only social interaction. Cause like, I don't know how it is today, but when I was in elementary school,

I would go to these homeschool get-togethers. Like I remember one very vividly that was at a roller skating rink every week. And it was so terrible. It was like, I was like seven. No, no, no. Yeah, no, I was probably like eight or nine. Don't even understand what it means

to be like good or bad at a social setting and i'm like this is awkward they didn't have a cookie cake that usually i don't know i don't remember anything like that i just remember like leaving every conversation with every kid feeling very dissatisfied and confused and uh and dissatisfied and confused yeah julian the eight-year-old yeah i was just like it just didn't, it seemed very like weird and it was weird. And so I just, I didn't like going to those things. And you know, there was a homeschool prom and I was like, I'm definitely not going to that. You don't want to be caught dead at that thing. Yeah. So I, uh, I just think that those things aren't quite the

answer. I think you gotta find, uh, you gotta get your kids involved in something else. And how did you find real friends at like a nine-year-old age? That's a good question. I was really involved with my church at the time, so I had a lot of friends involved. I had a lot of friends through my church, but I also was like, I don't know, I was just... Most of my friends were through like,

I was just like a social virus. I would just like find somebody that I liked, and then I would just like force my way into their life. In hindsight, it was like a social virus. I would just like find somebody that I liked and then I would just like force my way into their life. In hindsight, it was kind of weird. Like I would just like meet all their friends. And so I actually ended up, I didn't go to my own prom, but I would go to, I went to like five of my friends' proms and like I would, so I had all these different like groups of friends and none of them really knew each other, but I would, uh, I don't know, I got around. I was, I was, I was like a, I was, I I got around. I was like a friend prostitute.

Now, your dad, at some point, didn't he switch to be like a pastor of your church too, right? He left the music industry when I was around 11 or 12, and both of my parents are very entrepreneurial, and he started a few different ventures on it on his own and, um, he's still got a few of those going. Um, and then somewhere along the way, what an inventor, no, like music stuff, like doing music on his own. Um, you know, I think he just got tired of being a part of like the big label industry. And it was so, uh, uh, I don't know. I mean, everybody knows what I mean when I say that. He just wanted to be like a Lone Ranger, like doing his thing. And, you know, so he's kind of done that over the years.

And he's done, you know, the guy can do everything. So he's done a plethora of things over the decades. Including pastor a church. Yeah, and he started pastoring a church about, gosh, I don't even know how long it's been, eight to ten years ago, something like that. Yeah, eight years ago, probably. It was around 04, something like that. Yeah, eight years ago probably. It was around 2004 or something like that. Yeah, so about ten years. Okay, so I mean you were kind of transitioning into adulthood.

Yeah, and I actually in the early stages of that, I was around 17 or 18, and I had found this job. I was out of high school, and my parents were like, okay, you're either going to go to college or you're going to find a way to make money doing this video stuff that you're so passionate about. Which it sounds like you had been doing for a couple of years. You said you were 15 or 16, and you had clients. Yeah, I mean, I was doing more than the average 15- or 16-year-old was work-wise,

but I wasn't going and looking for apartments. So they were like, you either got to turn this into something stable or you're going to go to school and learn how to make it stable. So when I graduated high school, I went on monster.com, which I don't even know if that's still around anymore.

I think it is. Is it? And I started looking for jobs in the area. And one thing that came up was there was this mega church in uh nashville called at the time it was called bellevue community church and uh they were looking for a full-time video guy and i was like i'm gonna try out for that did the monster uh listing say mega church did they describe themselves well i guess i just say that because

it's like uh when you say a church video guide. What about mega church? It's like when you usually say church, people picture like pews and like 50 people. And it's like, so when you say video guide at a place like that, it's like, what are you possibly making? And maybe as a point of clarification for people who may not, you know, being in the South and even being in Nashville. Yeah. I mean, we have what we would call mega churches where we come from, you know, being in the Bible Belt, you've got these massive community. First of all, the majority of people go to church and then you've got these massive churches

with thousands of people. And then in Nashville, I know it's a, I mean, we don't see much of that even out here in California. Right, it's very different. It's a very big part of the culture there in Nashville. So it's just like, that's what, those of you listening, that's what a mega church is. It's not like a church that's about to take over the world. It's just a very large church with

thousands of people. It's basically a giant business that is like, that is, uh, well, they have a coffee shop. They have like a staff of, they have a creative team. They have an audio guy. They have like all, it's like a, it's like a mini production house. They like, we had this church that I went on to work for. They had like, they had their old like creative offices that was disconnected from the church. And it was like, we worked on a creative staff there. And it was, that was like where I learned the bulk of, you know, what I've learned today.

That's just, you know, I got to. So you're talking about the job. You took the job. Yeah, I took the job. What was the position? A video director. Well, tell us how we got to YouTube. Let me rephrase that.

I know how I got to YouTube. How you got to YouTube. How I got to YouTube. Yeah. Well, I just, when YouTube came out and things were starting to kind of go viral on there, I was like, well, heck, I've got hundreds of these videos I've shot with my friends.

I could put a couple up there and see what happened. And, um, so I started putting a couple of my favorites up there and, uh, uh, and it was like really unofficial. It wasn't even like, I wasn't even trying anything. It was just like, I'll put them on YouTube so I can send them to my friends easier and stuff like that. Um, and then I went, any videos that we, that are still up that we, we would know. I think there's a couple. Actually, yeah, there's one called... It's an awkward... I had a series of videos that I did called Awkward Moments.

And one of them called Kevin's Bro is still up, I think. I think it's the first video I uploaded. Okay. I had uploaded several before that. They're now unlisted. But that one is like before I was actually trying anything legitimately. That was just like me and friends goofing off and not trying anything. Okay.

So that's still on there, I think. But I'm trying to remember. I went through a, I went through a pretty serious breakup. I was with this girl for like three years and this was in Nashville. And, and I wanted to get out of Nashville.

Let me guess. The mega church pastor's daughter. No. I wasn't that Southern. Okay. No, but, and I decided to go move to Buffalo, New York, where my best friend lived at the time. Well, that's quite a breakup.

Okay, you're with this girl. Well, it was a pretty serious relationship. We were like, you know, in the South. Were you engaged? No, well it was pretty it was a pretty serious relationship we were like you know in the south were you engaged? no but pretty close to it we were pretty close to it

I mean in the south you get in a hiatus it's like you're 18 you start thinking about marriage oh yeah so it was that kind of thing so it was a high school homeschool

high school sweetheart type thing yeah well she wasn't homeschooled she was in a real school? she was in a real school her prom was one of the ones I actually went to so that's very notable.

But anyways, we broke up, and I was like, well, I kind of want to just get out of this. I had been kind of wanting to look for something. This was right when the partner program had been introduced, and I had kind of heard about it on YouTube. And I was like, well, maybe I could try to do some weekly videos and see what happens. And so we broke up, and I moved to Buffalo with my, uh, to live with my best friend who is up there. And, uh, and I just, I, I shot this series. Now I want to know your frame of mind now. So forgive me for digging on this. No, go for it.

Were you, was this like heartbroken situation? I'm so heartbroken I have to leave the state. Yeah. This was like, I don't want to see her. I dumped her. But it was like, it was really hard. Like, I still really cared about her, but like,

I knew it wasn't going to work because we had, we were just too different. And like, I knew that if we got married, I'd be really, I'd be a really unhappy 40 year old one day.

So I just, I called it off. It was really hard. I actually, I did it the worst way too. I wrote her a letter. Oh no, Julian. Wr wrote her a letter oh no Julia wrote her a letter

I was such a tool better than a text though yeah and we talked we talked after that how long was the letter was it like three sentences

it was like a three page letter it was really we were I mean it was a really hard thing it wasn't like you know it was a pretty intense thing

and I could have handled it better in hindsight but I was like I didn't know I didn't know anything at the time. So you wrote a three-page letter, then you went to Buffalo. Yeah, I went to Buffalo. And you had a phone conversation with her after. We talked a bunch.

We actually almost got back together. Whew, glad that didn't happen. Oh, really? Yeah. That always happens, though. After you moved to Buffalo or before you moved? Yeah, after I moved to Buffalo. It's cold up there.

It is cold up there. Yeah. Meaning that's what makes you want to Buffalo or before you moved? Yeah, after I moved to Buffalo. It's cold up there. It is cold up there. Yeah. Meaning that's what makes you want to go back to Nashville and be with the warmth of your woman. Don't look at me like that. I was like, why are you talking about the weather all of a sudden? I'm with you, Rhett. Don't worry.

I didn't get it. So I'm up there and I'm like, I'm just going to dig my head in the ground and try to focus on making little funny videos and releasing them. And I was up there, and my friend Mark, the guy that I moved up there with, his friend Chris Torsha came over one day and introduced us. And Chris was like a very quiet, reserved person. He's a scientist. He's like one of these people that's actually a scientist for a living.

And so he was very quiet at first, but he started kind of warming up and I was like, this guy's actually after a couple of days of hanging out with him, I was like, this guy's actually kind of funny. And, uh, so I asked him, I was like, if I could think of something to shoot with you, would you want to be in it? And he was like, you know, kind of taken back. I could tell it because he had never heard that question before. He was like, yeah, sure, I guess. And, um, so I had this idea to shoot a series where I get kidnapped and I'm going to get killed if I don't meet a certain amount of subscribers. So this guy, Chris Torsha, ended up being the guy that is now called Gabrielle

on the Kidnap series. And so we shot that, and I met my deadline, and I shot a bunch of other videos while I was up there, moved back to Nashville. You met your deadline of subscribers. Of a bunch of other videos while I was up there. I moved back to Nashville. You met your deadline of subscribers. Of subscribers, yeah. What was your goal? I think it was 1,000 subscribers in five weeks.

1,000 subscribers. Yeah. Okay. Something like that. So I got there, and then I moved back to Nashville. After a while, I moved back to Nashville and just kept making videos. I did that for—and I still hadn't gotten partnered yet. This was still like, you know, I moved back home and I was like living with my parents

and they were like, what are you doing? What is this YouTube nonsense? You know, and they were very supportive of my end goal, you know, which I wanted to make movies one day, but I think they weren't as, they just weren't as familiar with the framework as I was. And how are you making a living at this point? I had saved up a bunch of money from freelancing because I was making pretty good money at the time.

So I just saved up a chunk of money so I could live off of for a while. So I was taking like, I took like several months off and just was focusing on this. So I, after moving back to Nashville from Buffalo, it was, this was like when I had met my kidnapped goal of a thousand subscribers. I was like, okay, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can like do this enough to where

I could get like partnered and start getting a little bit of money from this. Um, and so within like four months of that, I shot this video called, I see, was it four months? It was like, yeah, it was like four or five months later, I shot this video called 25 things I hate about Facebook. And, um, this was back when YouTube actually featured stuff on the homepage and they featured it. Right. And it was like overnight, like my channel just blew up. Like we were shooting another, we were shooting a video. I was shooting a video with like 10 of my friends at my parents' house. When a friend of mine texted me, he was like, you're on the front page of YouTube right now. And I had this moment where I had like the camera on and we were about to shoot some, we were about to shoot this take and I like froze for a second. And I was like, wait a minute. I was

like, really? And like everything stopped for a second. And, um, I checked my email and this is when I had all my notifications going to my email and I had like 3000 emails or something like that. And I was like, I better turn these off. So I turned those off and, uh, you know, like overnight, like I got partnered, uh, like, like almost immediately, it was like two days later I got partnered. Um, and I was able to start generating a little bit of money off of my channel. And my, uh, my parents were kind of like, at that point, they're like, okay, I could see how this could work. But I still wasn't, I still wasn't full time, uh, doing that until like a year later or something like that. So you're still doing the freelance. Yeah. I was still freelancing a little bit

and doing YouTube on the side. So connect the dots from the Facebook video to getting partnered to then getting on the television show. Smash Cuts? Yeah. Yes. So I was still living in Nashville, but I was traveling out to L.A. about once a month,

twice a month, and I was doing this a lot for just but I was traveling out to L.A. about once a month, twice a month. And I was doing this a lot for just generals and stuff like that and auditions. I had an agent out here, but I wasn't making enough money to justify moving out here yet. So my agent—and I had met Sarah. I met Sarah on one of these trips, and we immediately started dating. And I was like, this girl's awesome. Where'd you meet her? She actually—I hate telling the story.

She wrote, she was working for a blog at the time and she was like writing an entertainment column and she wrote about 25 things I hate about Facebook and her company wanted to meet me since I was out here for all these generals. So I came out. Her company, meaning? The blog she worked for. She wanted to meet you. Right. No, it was actually her company, Social Vibe, was,

they had all these, like, they worked with a bunch of different YouTubers at the time and, like, doing, like,

I guess, endorsements or I don't know what the scenario was but, yeah, they said, if you're going to be

out in LA, we'd like to meet you and Sarah had sent me a message on Facebook, I think it was, because at the time I didn't have a, I don't think they had

fan pages yet so I just had a personal profile with like 5,000 friends or something like that. And she had added me in case I made anything else new. So she sent me a message and I saw her picture and I was like, hmm. So basically, from your perspective, a fan sends you a Facebook message

and you're trolling your own Facebook messages for good looking girls. Yeah, basically. There's no shame in that. No shame. It works. Gotta take it while it's hot. I'm going to reply to this one. Yes, we started dating and I was back and forth between Nashville and LA for several months. So she interviews you for the blog and then it turns into a date? Well, no, we actually, I had seen her picture from that Facebook message. I remember that. So I, she and I started, I was like, I should get your number so that I know how to, you know, I slyly got her number.

Know how to what? Call you? I said, so I know how to whatever. So I don't know how I got her number, but I was like, we should just, I think it was clear why I wanted her number, but I made it seem like it was business. I think it was clear why I wanted her number, but I made it seem like it was business. And so we started texting,

and then I found out she had a really good sense of humor, and so then we started talking on the phone. This was before we had ever met. So when I came out to LA for those generals, the night I got there, I took her out to dinner. So it was like before I even had the meeting with her company, I was taking her out and getting to know her. That's good. So then we were long distance for a while. before I even had the meeting with her company, I was like taking her out and getting to know her. That's good. So,

uh, then we were long distance for a while when I was back and forth, uh, between these two places, Nashville and LA. And, uh, my agents called me and they were like,

Hey, we have this, um, there's this show that we want you to audition for when you're out here next month. Uh, and so maybe just bring like a bigger suitcase in case you end up getting it because it would start immediately.

So I didn't tell Sarah because I didn't want her to get her hopes up that I was going to be moving out there, but I just packed a big suitcase and came out. This is actually a crazy story. I had like $40 in my bank account when I came out for this trip. I couldn't even afford a rental car. Sarah didn't know any of this. She still doesn't know any of this.

No, I'm kidding. rental car. Sarah didn't know any of this. Uh, she still doesn't know any of this. No, I'm kidding. Uh, so I was, I was staying at some, at a friend's house who was out of the country. I was using his car and, uh, and that's how I was like getting by out here with no money. And I'm go, I go to this audition and, uh, and I'm like, I don't think that audition went very well. I've never been good at auditions. So I walk out and my car got towed. My friend's car got towed. He's out of the country. I have no way of getting in touch with him. So I'm like, how do I get home?

How do I get this car? How do I pay for the car if I can even prove that I know the guy who it belongs to? And so I call my dad and I'm like, dad, can I borrow some money if I can prove that I am responsible for this car while my friend's out of the country? And so my dad wires me some money. Yeah, because they're going to demand cash. Right, right. And like probably $250 at least. Yeah. So my dad's, my dad wires me some money. I can't remember how, but somehow through a freak of nature, I guess it was my social virus coming out again. I proved that I'm connected to this guy and I get the car back. Um, it was, it was around,

it was like that same day I get the call. My agents call me and they're like, by the way, you got the gig on the show. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like I, that is amazing. Cause I don't know like how I was going to eat next week. You know, like, um, so, so what was the audition? It was basically an improv audition. Um, and, uh, I, it was like, I'm trying to remember it. It was like, they just threw a bunch of curve balls at us. They were like, okay, so we did the game, the improv game where you, one person like says a sentence and the other person says a sentence and you have to tell a story and like it's one sentence at a time and they just like switch it at random um and then i did another actually the it's funny because i i still tell donovan jordan the guy that's in a bunch of my videos uh i i still tell him that he's responsible

for all this mess because he was he had already gotten he was already cast on the show and he was in one of the auditions i had to do one of of the improv games I had to play. And I was auditioning against this one other guy that was up for the same role as I was. And I guess I did such a mediocre job in the audition that the executives of the show didn't know which guy they wanted to hire. So me and the guy walk out of the room and they... Oh, you were both there head to head. No, we were taking turns with Donovan. Oh wow. And, um, and Donovan broke my sunglasses in the, in the, uh, during the improv game. It was intense. So he felt bad for me and told them

that they should hire me. And that's how I got the kick. So I owe a lot to Donovan Jordan, I guess. And so, okay. And, and we, I can kind of tell this a little bit from our perspective because you ended up getting on the show Smash Cuts, which was a clip show that talked about viral videos. Right. And with four hosts, which incidentally, some of you might know, that in 2007 we were on a show called online nation on the same network right on cw that was about viral videos that had four hosts in our and it's a very it's a very uh

successful network well we're trying a lot of things you know the interesting thing is is i as i know that you know we have our own uh set of embarrassments related to our job with online nation and i know that you have your own set of embarrassments with smash cuts but from our perspective when i saw the show we were like okay well this is a lot better than what we were involved with that was the first thing i thought and then i was like you know what and my four-year-old son really likes this show he he when the first time we ever met you, he was like, are we meeting Julian from Smash Cuts? I mean, he

absolutely loved the show. That's funny. So, anyway, so Yeah, so same show, we had the same position, only difference is two years later, and yours went a little longer, and somehow was syndicated. It was like a season, but then they kept replaying that same season.

It got renewed, but it's actually the long short of it is that the show lost a lot of money in development because there was originally like eight hosts, seven or eight hosts. And like CBS, there was a huge miscommunication when they sold the show. CBS thought they were buying a sketch comedy show. And then they like, I don't know how they, how this happened, but like they got, we shot like four episodes and like commercials for the show and everything. And then they, CBS finally decided, Hey, maybe we should watch this. And, uh, cause CBS like, I guess, so you shot four episodes of

a sketch show. Yeah. Yeah. And they were including some of my sketches from my YouTube channel in the mix. And I was like really excited about this so then CBS sees it and then they're like oh well we thought we were buying a clip show and so then they send all these executives to set and there's like

two weeks where they're eliminating hosts and nobody knows who's getting fired next for like two weeks like Survivor yeah and so like

I was thinking like man if I lose this gig like I don't know I'll have to move back home I'm gonna have to tell Sarah like I have to move away again because I can't support myself off what I'm making from YouTube. And I had this apartment that I had signed a year lease on. It was kind of expensive. And like,

I didn't know what I was going to do. So, uh, I fortunately didn't get cut, but, uh, they lost some, the show lost so much money in development that the only way they could make their money back was if they, the show got renewed and they didn't reshoot anything. And they just kind of repackaged it and mixed the episodes, mixed the footage up so it looked like they were unique episodes, but it was actually made up of non-unique footage.

And they didn't have to pay their hosts royalties because it was a quote-unquote reality show. So we all had these lousy reality show contracts and I didn't see a dime for any of that syndication. Oh, wow. Terrible.

Now, our... First world problems. It was at least much more of a perceived success, your show was, than ours. We shot eight episodes, and they aired four. Oh, really? They aired four. And I remember we didn't live here in L.A. for that, of course.

They would fly us out for like a week, and we would shoot three episodes or so, because I knew we flew out three different times, and the third time we flew out, we were shooting. Well, no, the third time we flew out, we thought we were coming out to shoot the next four episodes, but the show got canceled before we came, but we had already bought the tickets, and so that was when we came out for meetings. So it was three trips, two trips with four episodes, but the show got canceled before we came, but we had already bought the tickets,

and so that was when we came out for meetings. So it was three trips, two trips with four episodes each. I remember the last one that we filmed, they had already started to air, and the show wasn't good, and we were shooting the last stand-ups tossing to the videos before we'd fly back, and we turned to our two co-hosts,

Stevie Ryan and Joy Leslie. Stevie Ryan has a show on VH1 now. Oh, wow. Sketch show. We turned to them, and as we said the last time, we said, all right, Stevie and Joy, it was great knowing you.

That's how they told you? This is it. No, that's how, we felt like. We knew that the show wasn't gonna make it. They hadn't announced that it was going to be canned. We just knew it because we had seen the show on television. Oh. We turned to Stevie and Joey and we were like,

all right, great knowing you, that was great. And they were like, what? Oh my gosh. Yeah, haven't you watched the show? This ain't going to continue. See, I felt the same way about Smash Cuts. Every episode I watched, I eventually stopped watching it because I was like, this is going to get canned

and I don't want to know when it's coming. I only watched like four episodes, I eventually stopped watching it because I was like, this is going to get canned and I don't want to know when it's coming. I only watched like four episodes, I think. Because you're basically just doing a Bob Saget. I mean, you guys had some fun with it and you had some other things that weren't just America's Funniest Home Videos trying to be modernized, but just really just pretending to try to make internet videos relevant on television

and it just was a miss. Yeah. Yeah, after Smash Cuts wrapped, I'd say like two or three months afterwards, I was full-time YouTube. And I signed at Maker at the time, somewhere around there. And then, yeah.

And that was like, when I signed at Maker, that was around the time where I went full-time because I remember them saying, they were talking about my strategy and they were like, if you keep this up, you know, next month you'll be, you know, you won't be doing freelance anymore. And I was like, great. So I remember that, I remember that day where I got, where I got the news that I was like, where I realized I was gonna be able to do this full-time. And it was like, I was sitting in my car and I was just like, so thankful. It's,

uh, I'll never forget that day. Hmm. Well, I mean I mean, as people who were friends of yours and definitely fans, you know, our perspective, and I think we probably speak on behalf of a lot of people who are fans of yours, you know, we were like, this guy's doing things that are, I mean, you know, incredibly funny, also incredibly slick. You know, like everyone talks about, okay, if Julian Smith does it, it's going to look incredible. It's going to look like a movie. You know, lots of people, the production level on YouTube has risen across the board in a lot of ways. But you were doing that and still do it better, but we're doing it a lot better than a lot of other people at the time. And so there was this like, when Julian does something, he does it right. And like, what do you think it is about you, your personality, your approach to things? Like, what is your perspective? Hearing that from us, that that's how we would perceive your content

is like, oh yeah, we might make something that's really funny and it might look pretty good. But then Julian does something that's like, man, this is on another level. What's your perception of yourself and your content in that way? I just got really tired. I mean, I've been making videos for so long and I started making videos when I was like 12 and I became very familiar very fast with like,

every year I would look back on the videos I did the year before and I'd be like ashamed of how it looked and how it sounded and like, cause I was learning so much. And I just got to a place when I started freelancing where I was really tired of uh not liking things that I made like three years later and I really enjoy liking things years after I make them and so I think that's probably why I think it's so valuable to put all that time into it because it does it doesn't really make a whole lot of

sense monetarily I could make a whole lot more money if I just didn't care about that part of it. And I, you know, just like, you know, hired a 16 year old to come shoot it or something like that. You know, uh, I actually, I could do a lot, I can make a lot more content is what I'm saying, you know? Yeah. Um, but I, I, I would much rather, uh, look back, like, you know, I'm really happy with what, what's on my channel right now. Um, and I, I wouldn't trade that back like, you know, I'm really happy with what's on my channel right now, and I wouldn't trade that for anything, you know? I want to get to your music and where you're at with that and how your audience perceives where you're at right now,

having done the music. But before we get there, I also want to touch base on the amount of videos on your on your channel started to dwindle a little bit more and you were producing equals three yeah Ray William Johnson and so how did how did that start happening in terms of what strategy for you and you know when I heard that I was like okay I didn't think so are you producer now production company what you know, when I heard that, I was like, okay, I didn't think. So are you a producer now, a production company? What was happening?

You produced our Goth Boy video, too. Yeah. That was right around the time you were like, well, I'm going to, you know, I want to make my own stuff, but I want to produce other people's stuff. And we were like, well, hey, we've got this project. And so we collaborated on that. So, yeah, kind of what led to that sort of change in strategy? I didn't, like, intentionally stop making videos.

I mean, I was definitely going to slow down and try some new things that I'd been wanting to try for a while. I've known for years that I've always wanted to make an EP. Eventually, I still want to make a full-length album one day. There's a lot of things I want to try.

I love it all, but I never intended to not make anything in 2013 right it was just it's just kind of how it happened you know so uh you know i definitely knew that i was you did make a choice i'm gonna work on music i'm gonna do the production thing but then i'm going to make it a priority to work on music and it's not good you know from from our experience when you told us i I'm focusing on music. Okay, so like funny songs,

like more of the same, but just more songs. And you're like, no. I remember you looked very disoriented when I told you. I was just role-playing what your audience would think. Right, right. But you did make a strategic decision to focus on music instead instead of your sketches? Well, you know, I was writing a movie at the beginning of 2013 that I thought was going to be, you know, I've written a million, not a million, I've written like three movie screenplays that I

thought was going to be my first movie. And then I decided later, I don't want to do that when I'm going to, I can do better than that. You that. I want to push myself a little harder. So I was writing a movie at the time that I knew I wanted to make. And I knew I was really getting stressed out with figuring out what next to do comedy-wise on YouTube because I had done so many different kinds of things. And I didn't want to just like repeat where I had been, you know, and I can tell, I can tell, I could tell from some of the stuff I was releasing, my audience was like, you know, like you said, they're like, where's the next mock, you know? And it's like, you know, I don't want to be the guy that just releases stuff because like there are people

that are waiting on it. That's not how I look at my channel. Like I said, I look at it as like a way to exercise a muscle. And so if I'm not pushing harder than I have in the past, then I don't want to do anything, you know? So that's how I was looking at it. Um, and so, yeah, there was a while, there was a few months early on in the year where I was like, yeah, maybe, maybe I'm done with YouTube. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this because it seems like there are so many other people in my life that are doing it that are like, you guys have been doing it for so long. And I'm, I have no idea like where you muster it up. Like I just, you're so good at it. And like you guys have been doing it for so long and I'm I have no idea like where you muster it up like I just you're so good at it and like you you keep coming up with stuff that seems fresh and I

just I uh you know I I want I I think I I think a part of me was like I want to focus on this movie because I know I can I know I can make a movie one day and maybe I need to find something that I can maybe I need to just experiment a little bit so I can buy myself some time to work on this movie. And so I was like, well, I've always wanted to make an EP. And I'm, and I had been also writing a lot at the time. Like I, you know, I've always written music in my spare time, but at the time I was writing a lot and I was like, well, maybe I'll just make an EP or at the time I was thinking it might be a full length album, but it ended up being an EP. Um, so yeah, there was a few months where I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my YouTube channel,

but I never intended to shut it down or anything like that. But when you were focusing on music, you said, okay, I'm going to make an album of X number of songs. It's going to be a sincere album. It's not like it's going to be a comedy album. Not a comedy album. But you had to know that people would expect, to be a sincere album it's not like it's going to be a comedy album but but you you knew that you had to know that people would expect okay he if he's not going to do youtube at least he's going

to give me something that's comparable to what he's been giving me it's you know how much of those thoughts entered your mind because you certainly paint a picture as as an artist who is you have an internal standard and it's a very loud voice that you that you follow that you know for us maybe we follow our fans to a fault but was there a concern there of what they were going to think i mean across my mind i knew people were gonna like when i announced that there was going to be an album i knew people were going to, like, when I announced that there was going to be an album, I knew people were going to immediately think it was going to be comedy, but that wasn't a concern of mine. I, you know, I, I, uh, I don't know. I just, I just do things I want to do. Well, but is it, okay. You know, is it frustrating though? Is it frustrating to get, because you, because I mean, you know, you actually, you let us see the music video before it came out.

Yeah. You gave us a little preview, and we were like, this is awesome. Yeah. You know, we expected no less of how great of a song it is and how great of a music video it is. And then I look at some of the comments, and of course, there are perceptive fans, and I think there was a very positive response overall, but you still have those people who are like, you know, so when is that next thing that is like what you used to do? There was a lot of, there were some confused people. They didn't really know. I think it

kind of came out of left field for some people, and, you know, I guess I am very, my fans are a factor, absolutely, in what I do. And, you know, I definitely think that, you know, I owe a lot to them because they've enabled me to keep making things, you know. But at the same time, you know, the way I look at my channel is so strange because I've always looked at it as not a – I don't look at it as like an enterprise. It's not really a business to me even. It's just a place where I get to put things that I make. I get to post them there. And that's how it started.

The channel name is JulianSmith87, so it wasn't clearly started with any intent of uh and it's an expression of who you are as an artist i think is what i'm hearing you say yeah not as a it's not a place to fulfill expectations right yeah yeah i've never there's never really been there's there was like there was like one year where there was consistency in my channel where like there was a day you could come and there would be something new i did that that for a year. And then I realized like, that's not like, I'm not going to be able to keep this up. And so ever since then, you know, I've, um, you could come to expect a certain thing, but like, there's never really been consistency on my channel in every capacity, you know, it's never been like a TV station or anything like that where you can tune in and capacity, you know? Right. It's never been, like, a TV station or anything like that where you can tune in,

and, like, you know, even when it was all comedy, like, you never really knew what, if it was gonna be, like, like, which character it was gonna be or which song it was gonna be a song. I didn't even know. I was flying by the seat of my pants, you know? So it's, like, I don't know.

I guess it's, yeah, I guess I just don't really, I don't have any plans with it. So what would you say to your fans who are listening? This is what they've been waiting for, for you to tell them when you're coming back and how you're coming back. That's their perspective. What would you say to them? I will say, having taken the year to reflect and take some time off, I have a very clear understanding now of where I want to go and what I want to do, and I actually am writing my movie now that will definitely be my first movie. I'm going to try to shoot it end of next year. And in the meantime, I am going to pick back up on my YouTube channel and keep things going. It will probably look a little different than it has in

the past. It'll still be comedy. It'll probably be a lot of different things that would probably still be as inconsistent as it always has been. Uh, but I'm not going anywhere. I still really care about that channel. I still really love that channel. I love having that outlet to be able to express myself. And I'm so thankful to have that place and the people that have come to enable me to be able to make those things. So I'm not going to abandon any of that. I will be continuing to make things. I don't know exactly how soon, but I will say soon. I will say definitely before the end of the year

there will be regular content on the channel. Oh, okay. Well, I think people will be happy to hear that. And I think that, I mean, obviously... And most likely sooner. If I didn't want to do YouTube anymore, I wouldn't do YouTube anymore. I didn't hardly do it at all this year.

And I've made money other ways. So if I come back, it will not be because I need to make ends meet. Because I am not capable of creating on the basis of making ends meet. I, I wish I could, but I cannot operate under that pressure. It has to be something I want to do. So I think in a lot of ways, that's why I started my production company, which I'll continue to keep alive and grow. You know, I will funnel all of my productions through the production company,

you know, and I still have a lot of plans for it. But I think that's why I initially started it, because I was like, well, maybe there's other ways I can, maybe I don't have to do as much YouTube content, and I can make a living other ways, and I don't have to have the pressure of making something that I don't really necessarily want to make. Because if it came down to it, I would much rather freelance for the rest of my life

if I had to, if I then make something week to week that I couldn't really, I don't know how to articulate it, but I just can't, I can't, I can't create out of obligation. I'm incapable of it. I think, I mean, I think I totally understand. And speaking as a fan fan I'm excited that there's going to be some more content

on your channel and I'm also very excited that you're going through this movie idea because we've always talked about it

it's like okay when is he going to do it when is he going to when is he going to make this feature length film that I think is going in our minds will be the feature length film

that they point to as okay that's when the YouTuber transitioned and did it right I mean that's point to as, okay, that's when the YouTuber transitioned and did it right. I mean, that's not to put the pressure on you or anything. Jeez, that's a lot of pressure. But that's our expectation at this point.

So it better be awesome. I would say that an accurate, to sum up everything we've just said, I am excited, I'm genuinely excited about reengaging my audience and making more things. But that said, my channel is, and always has been, and always will be, you know, uh, subject to me making my first feature film, because that's why I started it. I started it to see if I could make something people would actually want to watch. And now

that I know that I have an audience, I'm just waiting till I have that idea finished where I can go do it. So everything I've done and everything I continue to do will be through the goggles of, you know, working towards making that movie. So it's all kind of up in the air. That's why I don't have any permanent plans, but I know I can say I will definitely be making more content very, very soon. Well, I can guarantee you that everyone will be happy. I will be very happy. Because it sounds like you were listening to that voice

and that's really what we want. Like Rhett said, as fans, the best thing we could want is for you to follow the internal urge to create as Julian Smith. Follow your biological clock. I'm going to. Compass. I'm going to. Compass.

I'm going to go to sleep. And be a good father, so we can help with that. And sign the table, because that's what time it is. It's time for you to take this. Well, you can open it. Do I sign while we're recording? Sure. Thanks for having the guys. And that was our conversation with the Julian Smith.

I like talking to that guy. You know, I'm glad to consider him a friend. I consider him a creative genius. Hopefully, you know, I didn't, I was fanning out a little bit there. I was trying to just be honest by the fact that I am a big fan and I really admire his work. And I also also like all

these other people I want to see more videos I was fanning out you mean you were fangirling is that what you meant to say I use it no I use the term fanning out because fanning out means you're spreading out well because physically I was like in the I was standing up in like a jumping jack position people can't see at home no you weren't but you were fangirling but he's actually a friend of ours so it's not really You were fangirling. But he's actually a friend of ours, so it's not really appropriate to fangirl with someone who's a friend. I'm a little conflicted because

he is a friend. He was actually a friend before I was really that familiar with his work, but I'm saying that we often use him as a, you know, we're like, well, what would this look like if Julian did it? And so I love to just sit there and pick his brain and talk to him about what he's thinking. And I think it's interesting

that we've determined that if our standard is Julian, a lot of times in terms of how good something looks, how funny something is, his standard is within his own mind. You know, I guess I mentioned multiple times the voice in Julian's head and how he listens to the voice. I don't know if I mischaracterized him as crazy, like he listens to a voice in his own head, but I'm just saying that he's a... Well, I think you said inner voice, which inner voice is much better than the voice in your head.

Did you actually say the voices in your head? I don't, probably. Well, that's the litmus test. If you say the voices in your head? I don't, probably. That's the litmus test. If you say the voices in your head and you use plural, that's crazy person. But if you just say the voice, your inner voice, that's like a television show. The inner artist.

Yeah, the inner voice is a new spinoff of the voice that's coming out. Well, whatever I said, I meant it with the highest esteem. And it was a good conversation. We gained understanding. Those who were wanting to know the answer to the question, where has he been? You know, hopefully you're satisfied.

Well, that's what we try to do here on Ear Biscuits. I mean, we're having a good time. We're having a conversation. We're asking the questions that we want the answers for. But we hope that we are, in one sense, sort of speaking on your behalf, asking questions on your behalf. We know that you want to know what Julian's up to, when his next video's going to come out, what he's thinking about, and hopefully this was satisfactory on some level.

You enjoyed the biscuit. Nice and warm. Exactly the right consistency, and the flavor was right, right on. I like my biscuits undercooked a little bit, by the way. You do. You like a light biscuit. A warm, light biscuit for your ears. We do it every week, and we thank you for sharing the fact that we do this with your friends. Bring them on in. We can handle it.

We made this for you. Can I steal that? Can I say that?