Smosh Mouth - S1: #27 - How To Keep A YouTube Channel Alive for Almost 15 Years w/ Ryan Higa

Episode Date: August 21, 2019

Ian and Mari sat down with Ryan Higa before VidCon to talk about what it’s like keeping a YouTube channel alive for almost fifteen years, the pressure of having to be the representative of your culture in media, and whether or not Ian & Ryan they regret the cringey movies they made. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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or enjoy over 3,000 games to choose from like Cash Eruption, UFC Gold Blitz. Make instant deposits or same-day withdrawals. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey guys, so this is a very special episode. So I got the chance to interview Ryan Higa of Ramble. Shout out to upstart.com for sponsoring this episode. Let's get to it.

Literally every girl YouTuber or influencer that I've talked to has had serious stalker problems. People that are messaging them constantly. Some people get hundreds of emails a day from the same person. If I were to like restart like everything, if I started today, I know for a fact that nobody would see it without some kind of collab or some kind of help there's just too much out there the vocabulary is oh we never announced it like as if you have to announce like what do you announce usually engagement and wedding right you don't have to be like I'm announcing to the world this is my girlfriend and it's weird that that's a position that a lot of people find themselves in it's pretty

good yeah I was like oh yeah like you didn't like it? Yeah, it's getting a sequel. I know, which I was not invited back to. Really? Yeah, but Anthony was. Wow. Wow, Angry Birds. Recorded like four of these summer games. Is that where you guys go somewhere

and then just shoot a bunch of stuff? Yeah. We went out to Barstow. It's our summer camp. Why Barstow? It was an apocalypse theme, so we just went out. Oh,ow. It's our summer camp. Why Barstow? It was an apocalypse theme, so we just went out. Ah, very... Out in the middle of nowhere.

Probably the only reason why you go to Barstow. Yeah, it does look like that. To go die. Yeah. Hey guys, welcome to the Smoshcast. We have a very super special boy here today. Mari Takahashi! Hello! Hi, thanks for having me. Oh you thank you um oh oh and I

guess uh Ryan Ryan I'm also here thank you thank you for being here Mari it's an honor no but really though Ryan Higa is here uh this is this is very this feels very special um and was not something that was really planned very Very last minute. Yeah. Like, well, so this... Yesterday, right? Yeah, yesterday. I guess I should... Disclaimer, we recorded this right before VidCon. So we've recorded this about a month and a half ago or so.

We just couldn't put this podcast out yet because we had a bunch of Smosh Number Games stuff. So this comes out way late. So I apologize if anybody we mention now is dead. We didn't know. I'm sorry. It's possible though. That's the thing.

Dead or canceled. Betty White. I hope you're still with us. She will always be with us. I think so. I don't know how she does it. Yeah. At least she'll be in our hearts.

I know. We wanted to get you on the podcast and I hit you up and I was like, hey, like come, come by in like August. Cause that's when we're going to be recording. And you're like, I'm actually in LA today. But I didn't, I didn't know if you were going to be free or not. Cause I just don't know in August. I don't plan that far ahead like you.

Yeah. Yeah. Well. But I didn't want to do it at some point. Yeah. Well, I know. Cause yeah, I went, I went over, I visited you in Vegas and did your podcast, and that was a lot of fun. I was like, yeah, I'd love to have you on.

But getting your ass out of Vegas is so hard, Ryan. I know. I know. It's so hard. It's just, I'm just not the biggest fan of LA. I know there's so many people here, and I actually have more friends here than in Vegas, but I just am not the biggest fan of LA. I know there's so many people here and I actually have more friends here than in Vegas, but I just am not the biggest fan. I think you just haven't found the right spot.

Maybe, but I don't like, like just even like a living, like leave coming here. Right. Yeah. It took like, I don't know, like 25 minutes and I'm like really close. I don't know. You're like across the street. I grew up in Hawaii. So, you know, it's like very, uh, I'm not used to having to deal with crowds in general.

And that's the one thing LA is known for, right? Yeah. I mean, there's a couple people here. Yeah. There's a few. Yeah. But you lived here in LA for like a year and a half, two years? Yeah, about two years in North Hollywood.

Yeah. And every single time I'd have to leave there, it was the same thing. I would never leave. So there's no point in being here. I would just be in my like apartment. Yeah. No, single time I'd have to leave there, it was the same thing. I would never leave, so there's no point in being here. I would just be in my, like, apartment. Yeah. No, I understand that. That can be kind of, like, isolating.

Yeah, Vegas, definitely you can get around places a lot faster. You don't have to worry about parking. LA's usually free. But if you want to see your friends, you've got to fly to LA. There's no state income tax, so, I mean, if you guys want to. Yeah, man. Oh, so you're all about the money yeah it's all about the money actually pete and i considered moving to moving half of our like operations to vegas and i think we were talking about this like

a month ago um because of that yeah i mean honestly there's a lot of creators now out in vegas as well it's not just ryan there's more people going out now out in Vegas as well. It's not just Ryan. There's more people going out there. Yeah. So this is the intervention. Ian, we're moving, right? It could expand. I mean, like you could have this set up anywhere, right?

That's not true. I'm just trying to pitch right now. Also, sometimes we like to shoot outside and Vegas. I don't know if it's changed or anything, but I'm pretty sure it's a desert. You know what's interesting though? I was telling people, and I might just be making this up. I'm probably going to cause controversy for saying this, but ever since, I've been there for about 11 years. And over the course of those 11 years, every single summer has been getting less hot.

And we've been, it's like, I don't know what it is. Global warming is the opposite in Vegas. I feel like it's been raining more and like it used to get hot in like June. It was only in like the 90s. Well, global warming is all about like extreme things happening, right? So like unexpected stuff. Well, climate change, they say. Not warming.

So maybe it's good for Vegas. It snowed in Vegas, right? That was weird. Yeah, I know. But like it's good for vegas in vegas right that was weird yeah i know but like it's been so much cooler i was like oh it's it's like july and it's not over 110 i guess you could say uh because of climate change hell is freezing over perhaps perhaps i don't know but it was it was very odd because i was like if it gets hotter here no one's gonna want to here. It's been like the same or less, I feel like, every summer. I also could be making stuff up. It could just be in my head.

But I remember it being a lot hotter. You're just getting colder. Perhaps. You're becoming a lizard. Perhaps. I don't know if this is still topical since this is like a month and a half later. But we felt earthquakes in Los Angeles this past week. Yeah.

Did you feel them in Vegas? So the first one, right, was like a 6.4. Yeah. I was actually driving from, it was last week. Well, last a month and three weeks. I was driving, so we didn't feel it. From here to Vegas, actually. And then the last one, the seven point something,

that's the one I felt. Really? All the way out in Vegas? Yeah. Yeah. Damn. It just felt like a little, like I was on my bed.

So it was like rolling. It felt like a little waterbed or something. Oh, nice. Yeah. Except it was all the ground below you. Yep. Yeah. Turned into a waterbed. I also, I mean,

I don't know if you felt it when you were at my house, but like, they're like blowing up the mountain. So I feel little earthquakes all the time. So it wasn't like, I was just, I knew it was an't know if you felt it when you were at my house, but like, they're like blowing up the mountain. So I feel earthquakes all the time. So it wasn't like, I was just, I knew it was an earthquake because of what happened earlier and how long it was lasting. But normally my house shakes all the time. Because they're blowing up the mountain.

Okay. I want to know, like when you got that place, because you're in this kind of like area they're developing. Did they warn you that they would be blowing up mountains around your house? They did after. I mean, it was like a few explosions until I realized, okay, these aren't earth. I even tweeted it the first couple of times it happened. I was like, did anyone else feel that earthquake? And nobody, no one related to it.

I was like, what's going on? Because it was like my whole house shaking. It was pretty, it was like, it was pretty intense. Do you have any idea when it's going to stop? I guess when they're done developing We're like at the very edge of Vegas Like on the mountains Oh so they're like making more Vegas?

I think so That's incredible They're like what are these dumb mountains It's supposed to be flat like a desert Just like flat Get rid of these mountains But there's a lot of interesting stuff Because we are at the edge

Like I've seen like rams And like tarantulas and scorpions yeah it's interesting not necessarily good but i'm not pitching vegas very well i see coyotes in my neighborhood yeah which is like weird because you think you're in a city so you're not going to see any wildlife and i always see coyotes just kind of like walk around and there's a lot of um lost dog lost small dog posters around my neighborhood oh that's a bummer yep coyote did you did you already tell your story about the cats uh i don't know i don't know if i ever did i because i told you about the all the cats yeah

yeah i uh there was i had a neighbor that i never really met i would just kind of see like just like little like bits like little like wisps of see like, just like little like bits, like little like wisps of her, like kind of like walking around older lady. And there was like, there was always cats around, like, and I couldn't get a count of how many, but there was many. One day I finally met like her niece who lives in a different part of the house. It's a very strange house. She was like, oh yeah, she had dementia. And she told me she was taking care of these cats. Turns out she wasn't taking care of these cats turns out she wasn't taking care of the cats and none of them were fixed and no and so like for for like three

for like three years i just heard just like cat orgies all the time i just watched that south park episode actually it's the cat orgy yeah that's basically outside my house and that's why you have coyotes like that's like prime food for them. You would think so, but I think cats, since they can climb up trees, they probably stay safe. So, yeah, the coyotes clearly aren't doing their job well enough because the niece finally got a cat rescue to come and capture the cats, fix them, and then release them back out because they're pretty much feral. And they caught 16 cats. Oh my goodness.

That's the 16 cats in one house? It was, well, so she left a window open that the cats could freely run in and out of the house. So I think that's probably also why the coyotes didn't eat them because they could always just run inside the house. Now they're all fixed. They kind of like, they snip like the top of one ear. So they're marked that they've been fixed Snip their ear. Yeah, they cut a little corner like off the top of their ear

So like so you would see them in the wild and know that they've been fixed You don't have to capture probably a better way, you know Yeah I imagine the cats are like gonna be privy to it and they're like, let me just take a bite out of your ear, man. That's how you don't get your balls not like taken off. You want your ears or you want your balls? Interesting. That's the choice my mom gave me.

Yeah. That's why your ears sniffed. You chose the ears. Yeah. It was a hard choice. But yeah, so now there's just always a cat party outside my house. Like no more orgies. I hear some fights sometimes, but like none of the...

That's the horny cat sound? Yeah, it's like the horny cat sound. Yeah, it's not good. You know that. Yeah. You actually know that. I live that. I've heard way too many...

I've heard more cat sex than I really have ever needed to hear in a lifetime. So, Ryan, you've been on YouTube about as long as I have. You've been making YouTube videos for like 13 years, something like that. Almost, like 06. Yeah. Damn. I think I actually started making videos, yeah, 06. Something like that. It's privated, so. It's all lip syncs that's why i write so you privated those yeah because i don't want to

get in trouble well it was a long time ago when i privated them did you private i remember you had like a a school project video it was like a serious like three of them dramatic video about not drinking and driving i think that's what it was. It was, I have all those probably somewhere. Yeah. There was like a video productions class that me and Sean were in. And actually it was actually film. Like we were supposed to learn about film, but our teacher, he did not know anything.

Like we knew more and we didn't, we didn't know anything either, but he was like learning on the spot. He would learn from the book that day and then teach us stuff and then just give us assignments. Yeah. That's, we did a bunch of those. Like we did that super serious anti PSA drinking. I think it was a drinking thing. Like don't drink and drive thing.

Yeah. And then we had to do one that was like toying with stop motion, which I just had like a toy Power Ranger basically just move on its own. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I didn't know what stop motion was at the time, but yeah. So there's, there's, there's a few school projects that were up. They're all privated. You should make them public.

They all have music in them. Oh, I didn't know. Slow down the whole thing. That wasn't, yeah. Is that what it was? Does that actually work? I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe if it's slow enough. Probably not. Yeah. It doesn't work. Let's't know. Maybe if it's slow enough? Probably not. Yeah, it doesn't work. Let's try. Let's try to get you demonetized. Yeah. I mean, I had to stop making I dare you's because they're age-restricted and inappropriate. Really?

Yeah. You know, just a disclaimer, but, you know, I guess people would do it. I don't know. That's strange. I feel like YouTube just picks and chooses what they to, or who they want to demonetize, right? Yeah. I mean, it's pretty arbitrary.

Yeah. I know. Cause yeah, Anthony and I, we went on, we did an I dare you with you and I licked the bottom of one of your shoes, like from, I believe it was from top to bottom. I think it went from like the heel all the way up to the toe. That was, it's not too bad. We've done some really nasty things on that show. And the thing is we don't fake it. Like it's, it's real. It's disgusting. What, what, what was the worst one out of your

memory? So once, uh, Greg, he had to lick the, what is it called? The basin of a toilet bowl. And it was after a party. So like if guys, you know guys are pissing and like. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, so underneath the, it's the basin, right? Underneath the lid. And the seat. You lift the seat up and there's like dried piss.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is getting demonetized. No. He did, he had to to He licked the entire rim And he just goes It's so salty No

So now we There's so much taste That's how you know That's that umami It's up there I've also seen One of our guys Eat earwax

Like straight Sean's earwax I mean that's not that bad That's not that bad It's not as bad. It's not a toilet bowl. He didn't get sick? No. No.

Wow. Human bodies are amazing. If you think about it though, there's probably dirtier things than like piss. I mean, that's true. But it is a lot of people's different piss. What is in there? It's like, you ever play King's Cup, that drinking game where you all pour into the same cup and then the loser has to drink it.

It's like that. It's disgusting. It's like the Kings cup of toilet seat piss. Yep. Did you ever think about when you played, you guys played beer pong, I'm sure, like growing up. Growing up. Like in college or something.

Like last week. But I don't, did you guys ever do the thing, like, do you put water in there? Do you put actual beer in there? See, we were dumb and we didn't, we didn't realize this hack of filling the cups with water and then just having a cup of beer on the side. No one did that. Yeah. Now we do like, if not that we play it a lot, but if we were to do it, it would, you don't think about that stuff. Right. Yeah. And that stuff is dirty, man.

The ball's like hitting the ground and like people's, if you think about it, they're walking in piss. So we're probably taking in piss all the time. That's true. That's true. Back in the day. That's true. I mean. Oh, wow. I didn't even think about that.

I definitely ingested worse because we, we played in our garage and that's, we parked our cars there. And then when, when we had like a party, we would pull our cars out of the garage and then put the table there and play beer pong in the garage where like, so the balls are rolling on like where our tires had been. And the tires have been on roadkill and a bunch of, who knows, piss probably. People. Oil.

Oil. You have oil stomach. And for some reason. And you're fine. Yeah. Yeah. For the most part. Sure. Yeah. Take a chance. Must be 19 plus. Available in Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. For some reason, our garage was carpeted because I think the people before us were running like an illegal daycare out of that garage. So it was just probably definitely not clean. And yeah, we would just, the whole thing with like beer pong is you have your cups full of beer and then you have your cup on the side full of water. That is like the washing cup that we, you know, when the ball goes rolling across the oil and pee and roadkill, you just dip the ball in the water and you're like, oh, now it's clean. But it's really just creating a soup that's getting dirtier. And you got to think about not only that, it's just you're also getting everyone's hands. Oh, yeah. All the DNA.

Yeah. The dead skin cells and hair. Yep. It's a very dirty game. Yeah. Yeah. It's a dirty conversation. The whole point is a little pee never hurt anyone.

There's worse things that you've taken in. I mean, we've all taken in worse. Yeah. Look at Bear Grylls. I mean, that guy's drunk his piss all the time. And he survives. I think it's probably, I would, and somebody, I mean, scientists back me up on this, but it's probably, it's probably more dangerous to, to lick pee on a toilet seat. No, pee on a toilet seat. No, pee on

a toilet bowl rim. Probably more dangerous to lick a belly button than it is to lick that. I don't know if that's true. Are you making that up or did you hear that? I heard that the belly button has more bacteria in it than a toilet seat.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I'd rather lick a belly button. I mean, you think about your belly button, like it's like collecting stuff. I have hair around my belly button, and it acts like a, you know in Star Wars, the Sarlacc pit in, was that episode two, was it? Three.

Episode three, the thing, the big like teethy ma that Boba Fett gets kicked into um my belly button is like that for lint and so like because i have this hair all around my belly button that is all in the direction of my belly button it just acts as this like sarlacc pit for lint so this is information keep going dude i want to hear stop interrupting to all the listeners who are eating at the moment this podcast is brought to you by ian's lint hair in his belly button licking yep we're just trying to keep it real you know like yeah it's a little piss never hurt anyone but a little lint might it might according to ian it's fun it's like a little

like treasure thing you know and if i'm wearing like several different shirts throughout the day i'll get like just colors i'll get like a multi-colored like lint in my belly button you know it's weird i don't get belly button lint yeah but do you have hair around your belly button uh yeah but i don't i don't ever have like a like a like lint like i've seen like even like so like will he gets it as well um but maybe it's the shape of belly buttons for like the different ethnicities yeah i don't get white and like me and like derrick and like all the asian dudes we have they ain't got like any belly button lint. Conspiracy. Dude. Think about that.

Ask a scientist. I think we're onto something here. We might be. I think this needs to be added to 23andMe. Like where they say like you have like a propensity to have like hard ear wax or whatever based on your ethnicity. They should say if you're more likely to get belly button lint. Yeah. I'm actually curious about that actually.

Because I used to hear, I mean, obviously everyone knows what belly button lint is, but I was always curious about that actually. Cause I used to hear, I mean, obviously everyone knows what belly button lint is, but I was always curious, like, Oh, how does that even happen? Cause it never happens. For real. It never happens to me. So like, I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah.

I wonder if it's an ethnicity thing. I don't know. I mean, I don't have hair around my belly button, so I don't know, but I don't, I also don't get any belly button lint. You don't have hair? No. I wax all of my very thick stomach hair.

So strange. We also did that. You also did that laser thing, right? Oh yeah. That's like a life changer. It is. Does that last though? Um.

Don't you have to keep doing it? Let's see. It's lasted like, gosh, the first time I got it done was probably like eight years ago and it lasted and then i re-upped maybe three years ago okay yeah yeah for like it does change everything because you just like you're a hairy person not too hairy but it's like as a girl it's like sometimes it's just inconvenient and then just upkeep like you don't have to think about it ever so it's kind of nice now you know what it's like to to to be a be a traditional guy but a hairless one well yeah but i know what it's like to be a kendall but you don't have to like you know because i know

typically a lot of girls are like oh like they take a shower they're like well now i gotta shave my legs and do all this other stuff i'm like oh peace like i'm just going out the door yeah i take like 10 minute showers now just because there's no upkeep see that's what it's like to be a dude yeah or be hairless or be hairless dolphin life ian you mentioned um a little bit earlier before our belly button conversation um how long ryan's been on youtube and how long you've been on youtube and like for me coming in as somebody who perpetually watched youtube especially ryan's stuff before i was ever on it it's like i see you guys as like you guys are like the grandfathers of youtube like

you guys old yes and wise though you know asian cultures have that parallel. Sure. So I'm going to give that to you guys. No, but I mean, you guys have been around for so long. It's like you have constructed the history of what we know of YouTube. I have a question. What's your secret sauce? Like, how do you make it last for this long? Don't say sauce.

That's weird. What's your secret sauce? Give me this. What's your secret sauce? What's your secret sauce? What's your secret sauce? What's your secret sauce? I feel like we've, I feel like Ryan and I have done sort of, we've sort of like done, gone down different paths. Like we sort of started in the same place and then, and then we sort of went down kind of like separate paths and both paths. Like there's no path that's like the wrong path, right? Because I've always been more to collaborate with the people I work with and release some of my creative control on things. And for me, that keeps me sane.

And for me, my thought is like I don't think I know the most out of everyone, and I don't think that my ideas are always the best. So I'm always more willing to kind of, like, release some of that control. Whereas, Ryan, like, you've helmed this ship, like, since, I mean, basically the beginning. Well, I have help. You have help. For the writing stuff, yeah, I do, basically the beginning. Well, I have help. You have help. For the writing stuff, yeah, I do other writing. Yeah. I mean, like creatively, you have like 100% control, right?

I mean, you're kind of there from like the very beginning to the very end, involved in like every process essentially, right? For the most part, yeah. Why is that? Like I said, it's, I mean, I guess you were asking what longevity wise. I mean, I think it's just a preference what you want out of it. And for me, it was kind of like, I just like creating cool things, like things that I didn't know how to do.

So things that I want to like, I haven't done. And I mean, I could have, I could have I could have I guess released that control but it was just like I had such a specific voice that I wanted to I guess give to people and uh I mean I did try even looking for some writers at one point and it just it was more work to to take what they did and try and explain why it wouldn't work for me but it's a good idea it's not like I'm not saying my ideas are better it's just for my try and explain why it wouldn't work for me. But it's a good idea. It's not like I'm not saying my ideas are better. It's just for my channel and for me, it was, I was not open to changing that.

Yeah. Basically. It's preference. I mean, like you said, there's no right or wrong way. And like, it would be a smart, smarter business decision to do what you did. I think in terms of like longevity and like, like being able to upload as frequently as you guys do, you know, like, I think that wasn't on my part, it wasn't the smartest thing financially. It's just my personal preference of what I wanted to do.

Looking at some of your videos, it's pretty, it's pretty obvious that it can't be done creatively without the complete control of one person. I don't know. Cause it, cause like looking at like, I think you did it like two years ago. You're, you're,

um, you had like a conspiracy video. I've done a couple of those. Yeah. Yeah. And just like you're, you're like chained from like one thing to the next. It's like, so it's so complex.

And like, I just like, there's, there's a lot of videos that I just watch. I'm like, how the hell did you get here? But I think it comes from like it's just coming from your brain. And I think that is something that I guess, you know, I don't think a collaboration could quite get there because it has to come from like one very specific kind of mindset. So there's definitely

there's definitely strengths and and weaknesses to to both it's dope because from an outsider's perspective like like all of us knowing that there is no handbook for like how to youtube it just sounds like it's like following your voice and like continuously doing that regardless how many years you've been doing it and then just like i don't know like honing your craft and then god there was like another point that i thought of but it's like it's interesting it's like just raw talent is what it sounds like like where you guys found youtube as an outlet but at the same time you guys already had this inherent thing it wasn't like learned off of other YouTubers or things like that. Like, it just was already there, which is, like, what a cool, magical recipe.

It's incredible. And it's a different time. You know, like, back in the day when we first started, I guess, I don't know when it happened, the partnership program. But, like, we did it literally. There was no money. Nobody thought there was going to be money. At least I didn't. I don't know if you guys knew that or not.

No, we had, like, a small, like, merch was going to be money. At least I didn't. I don't know if you guys knew that. we had like a small like merch thing going on. Yeah. Um, but it wasn't, it wasn't like, it didn't feel like it was, it was like real substantial amount of money until, until YouTube partnership program,

which was like the ads running on videos. I think the reason why we have the sort of like voices that we do is because when we were, when we were starting sort of like voices that we do is because when we were, when we were starting to find our voices, there were, there weren't trends on YouTube. There wasn't like a specific rule book and you're, you were kind of touching on that.

There wasn't like a rule book and people to follow. There weren't challenges. Yeah. Like nowadays it's like, it's like a lot of people, a lot of people are seeing like and it's always with one trend or the next but currently it's like a lot of people are seeing mr beast and they're like oh i just have to make those kinds of videos so there's a lot of people

that are following they're just they're getting views by following a specific trend that somebody else started but there were no trends for us to follow like sketch comedy was like kind of a kind of a thing back then when we started so i guess you could say we kind of went in that trend but we couldn't really see a specific way to get popular on youtube it was just we were just doing our thing so then how do you see um or how yeah how do you see youtube the way it's going now now that people are doing it not just for just to make videos, but to actually become YouTubers and become famous and things like that. I mean, it is what it is.

Like it's, you gotta adjust to a certain degree. It's just tough. Like even if you, if I were to like restart, like everything, if I started today, I know for a fact that nobody would see it. I'm very sure without some kind of collab or some kind of help, there's just too much out there. And yeah, I'm very sure I wouldn't have been able to learn what I've learned because I wouldn't have probably continued. And most people start off and don't make it unless they have some kind of help these days, I think. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm sure there's some diamonds in the rough, right, that get found. They have one viral video

and they know how to milk it. But a lot of times it's just one-offs and they don't know how to. It's just too instant. They haven't learned how to deal with that or capitalize on it. Currently, YouTube is the most lucrative place for social media people to be. But I think a lot of people are getting their start maybe on other platforms and then and then moving over to youtube to sort of build their career when when i was like first watching you on youtube you hit this niche of asian americans being in the in the spotlight in a very very different way from what we would normally see like on television and movies and that is the reason why like i was

drawn to youtube more than watching stuff on tv and stuff but did you ever think that you would be in that position of being like inspirational to people who are watching you in that sense or did you ever want that i so i was always getting pushed a lot from like once it started to get more traction to it um like i said i grew up in hawaii so there's a ton of Asians there, like specifically a lot of Japanese people. And I never felt the same way a lot of other people who, even my friends now, because they grew up, you know, in California or whatever. I've never felt the exact same type of, I got bullied, but not in the same way. Like, I didn't feel that same kind of like, oh, I'm a

minority. I understand, like, you know, there wasn't many Asian people to watch on TV and look up to and stuff like that. I get that. But for me, constantly getting pushed by like the Asian community to like push Asian content. And they were like, I mean, it was in a nice way. Not like they were like so thankful and I didn't understand why. I get it now. I get it. But at the time, I never tried uh, my content towards like something.

I didn't want to be just making Asian content, like just jokes for just Asian. I just wanted to create stuff I thought was funny or interesting. And then, you know, I just so happened to be Asian and it's not like written for like Asian jokes or Asian, uh, you know, I have some videos like that, but. Yeah. Which I think, I think that's better. Like, I think, I think that helps normalize it more than, than creating content just for the Asian community. Because, I mean, a lot of the problems that I had with, I think what held a lot of like minority groups back in like media was you would have people like back in the day of like Mad TV, like Bobby Lee always had to play like the sort of like the Asian guy doing Asian people things, you know?

And I feel like that that's damaging for normalizing sort of asians in media um so the fact that you weren't catering your content i think helps yeah but i was also like i said i was unaware that i was doing that because i was just like i see what i like on tv i don't want to do that i don't care if it's you know if they don't want me as an actor because i'm asian that's fine i'm just gonna do it myself so that it was more of that attitude versus like, I'm going to do this for the, you know, for the, there's nothing wrong with that. Cause I like, I loved Wong Fu's content.

You know, you, I'm sure you kind of were drawn to them as well. But like their content was so focused on, and it's a good thing for the Asian community, but so focused on like promoting Asian Americans and talking about specifically that culture, I guess. I guess for me, culture, I guess. I guess for me, naturally, I knew the smart thing would be like to kind of ride that. But I just, like I said, my upbringing was different from a lot of people. I feel like yours is kind of like paralleled to like Rami Malek on iRobot.

Or not iRobot, Mr. Robot. Oh, the singer. Is that the guy? Freddie Mercury wrote Mr. Robot. Oh, the singer. Is that the guy? Freddie Mercury? Yes. Oh, okay. So when he was cast as Mr. Robot, I think his character's name is like a very like Caucasian name.

It's like Matthew Anderson or something like that. And they kept that same name, but he's a person of color. And it's never like distinguished like that it's a weird thing at all he's just a hacker guy this is what he looks like this is his name and you just take it for what it is and i think that's exactly what you're saying ian's like in order to normalize it you don't have to he doesn't have to play into the fact that he is egyptian right he's just a guy who hacks and that's just his character he's you an Egyptian-American or whatever it is. But I think that's more of the path that you took.

And yeah, I definitely saw that from your content too. It wasn't like you had to cater a certain way. You didn't have to pander a certain way. You were just you. And I think that's exactly what was so cool about YouTube is that you got to see different types of people in a completely different light than like the box that you're put in when you're looking at more hollywood things and i think sort of the focus of your

content the typical kind of um things you would see other people doing where it's like it was about like friendship and and just being. I mean, that's something that like Anthony and I did in the beginning where it's just like it's just it's relatable because it's like two friends just making like dumb videos. And that's relatable to everyone, like regardless of like your sort of background. Like everybody has a friend that you want to just like make dumb videos with. Not everybody has a friend. Oh, damn. I have a question. If YouTube never like took off the way it did

and nothing came out of it, what do you think you'd be doing right now as a job? I probably would have, so I had to make a decision in 08 or 09, when I was in college, basically at UNLV, to either drop out and continue YouTube or to stay in college. And I was doing college basically at UNLV to either drop out and continue YouTube or to stay in college

and I was doing nuclear medicine at the time so probably that. I don't know. I don't even know if I would have made it but

What? I don't even know what that is. It's like the next like one level like after x-ray right? It's kind of like that

nuke med is like like radio or something injected to whatever that's what it's called like like that. Nukemed is like. Like radio. There's something injected to. That's what it's called. Like Spider-Man.

Yeah. Basically, okay, let's just say I would have done x-ray. I would have been an x-ray tech probably. A glorified x-ray tech. Wow. All right. Okay. That's cool.

But I didn't like it. I just like, oh, this is not too much school. It's not like a doctor and it doesn't cost that much, but it makes decent okay that's the reason why that was my reasoning that was my whole like my that was the dream growing up you know like i gotta get good grades so i can get to an average college you know they had this pass yeah they had this uh program with hawaii specifically like i don't know why so many people go there i was gonna ask you because didn't you say that like the most hawaiians that live out of hawaii live in las vegas or something i didn't you say that like the most Hawaiians that live out of Hawaii live in Las Vegas or something? I don't know if that's true, but we call it the ninth island.

We call it the ninth island because there's so many there, right? Why? I don't know. Maybe it's a scholarship program. It's called a WUI scholarship. I don't know if they still have it, but it's basically you pay in-state tuition. So that's the reason why I went there. What?

Yeah. People thought like, oh, why do you go to like, everyone thought I was going because it's a party school, right? It's, I didn't have that many, I didn't go to that many parties. It was like a normal school with a lot of Hawaii people. I think because now there's so many Hawaii people, a lot of them still go there because it's like comfortable. There's Hawaiian food everywhere. Like it's, now it makes sense why people go there. Yeah.

Yeah. I guess it's just like, yeah, you grew up around all the humidity. So it's just people want to get out of that. So they go to the driest place on earth. Yeah. Yeah. That's just like, yeah, you grew up around all the humidity. So it's just, people want to get out of that. So they go to the driest place on earth. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's. I will say I had to learn how to use like chapstick and stuff.

Cause in Hawaii you don't need that stuff. Or lotion. And I just have, you need it there. Yeah. The air just sucks you dry. I've had moments where like, I'll just wake up, go to brush my teeth and my lip will just start bleeding. It'll just tear. because it's so dry. It happens.

Yeah, because humans aren't meant to live in the desert, Brian. I'm really not selling Vegas very well to you guys. That's just the, just get a humidifier and some chapstick and you're good. Just keep talking about the zero, zero. State income tax. State income tax, yeah. And you know what? Right here, whatever you're paying for, wherever you're living, you can get a mansion.

I guarantee you. Yeah, I know. I've seen your place, Ryan, okay? No, but it doesn't mean it's expensive. It's cheap. That's my point. No, I know. I know.

It's ridiculously cheap. It's so expensive here. It's ridiculous. I almost cried when our friend Jacob, who told me how much he pays for his apartment, which is pretty much the same apartment as me and my husband. I got teary-eyed because he's like, oh, I spend this much. I'm like, that's like a quarter of what I pay. Yeah.

That's just how it is. Vegas is just a great place to live. I mean, it's not a place that a human can live without a lot of, uh. We've talked about this before. If things were to go, you can't swear in here, right? No, you can. If shit were to go down and the, we were, we

were talking about this with the guys. Uh, if just the AC went out, I think we'd all die. Like literally, like how could you live right during the summer? Yeah. If the AC went out, I think you'd see like half of Vegas dead. I could be, I mean, maybe there's another way.

I don't know. But think about it. Like, what do you do? Yeah. I mean, go to your car and turn on the AC. Like people, most people would be worried about like, oh, there's going to be riots, looting, like get your guns or whatever, you know, like protect yourself, zombie apocalypse, whatever. But really it's just, they just got to get rid of the AC and everyone's dead. Yeah.

Everyone's sitting down on the sidewalk yeah there's what do you do at that point that's true you're just hot and you can't really

do anything about being hot yeah yeah those resort pools are already pretty populated and gross

oh yeah everyone in Vegas I don't know if people know this but I'm still making ragging on Vegas but at the clubs, those pools during day parties, they're one of the

filthiest things because people are pissing in them and like, now we know piss is not that bad, but the beer and all kinds of stuff is getting in that. Would you rather lick the toilet bowl rim or would you rather drink a cup of a day club pool water? I know it's worse, but I'd probably drink the cup.

Just for the thought. Probably wouldn't taste as bad. Yeah, because it's diluted. But there's also like, people were really getting sick because I think of the sunscreen in it. Or not sick, but like rashes and stuff. Because everyone's sunscreen

was like going into the pool water. Yeah. That was an issue for a bit. I don't know how they fixed it. They probably didn't. They probably didn't. Yeah. It's disgusting. They just put more chlorine in it. But yeah, come to Vegas issue for a bit. I don't know how they fixed it. They probably didn't. They probably didn't. Yeah. It's disgusting.

They just put more chlorine in it. But yeah, come to Vegas, spend your money. Unless Vegas really needs it. Yeah, I had a good time visiting you in Vegas. You let me stay at your place. Your mom also lives with you, right? Half of the year. Okay.

And she's so lovely. I love your mom. She made some awesome food. We had partied a little bit the night that I was there, and then I stayed over. And then in the morning, she made us all loco mocos, which I have never had before. Really?

Yeah. I mean, I'm California. You've been to Hawaii. I feel like, yeah, and there's some like there's like loco moco is everywhere now i know i just don't i anyway okay yeah it's uncultured i have discovered that it is probably one of the best hangover foods in the world because it's rice a hamburger patty gravy egg and just smothered in gravy and it's so good it's It's, it's the, it's the best hangover food. Cause you eat it.

And then you're like, Oh, I immediately need to go to sleep again. Yeah. It's so good. And, uh, your mom.

Yeah. Well, actually even when I, when I got to your house, like your mom had made like all this food and she's like, eat, eat, eat,

eat, eat. She does that. Especially when people are coming. Yeah. Like normally, like, uh,

if I, if she wasn't there and there was like a shoot, I'll have to remind myself, well, I got to put some stuff out, like some snacks, but I don't make food. I don't know how. But yeah, it's nice when she's there. Cause there's, there's actual crafty. So what do you do when she's not there half the year? We just starve. Oh yeah. We just have snacks.

I don't know. Things that don't need to be cooked. I have hot pockets and stuff in the freezer. I'm like, just grab one. You know how to make it. But when she's there, it's like you bulk up for the winter. When she's there, I definitely gain weight during that time. When she's gone, I slim down instantly.

Oh, I'm sure. And I'm actually encouraged to like diet because I'm like, I don't need to. I'm not even hungry. A lot of times, it's just a problem about having someone who cooks is like, you're not going to say no, right? If there's good food there, but like, you're not even hungry. So a lot of times it's just a problem about having someone who cooks is like, you're not going to say no. Right. If there's good food there, but like, you're not necessarily hungry. Yeah. And that's why I gain weight. She made enough food for like 20 people and there was maybe five of us there. Yep. It happens.

It was, it was great. And, and so your mom, your mom, like, is your, I mean, she's like, kind of like your business manager or? Kind of. Like, what would you, what would you consider her like in the, in? Yeah, I would say that. Yeah? Yeah. I mean, she has, handles a lot of my, I mean, I have an accountant, but she like works.

She, she was an accountant. So she like helps me with all that stuff. We used to have managers, I had managers here and there. And I don't know, just, I mean, there's nobody you can trust more, right? And you have to, if someone's looking after your business, you want them to be very trustworthy. So it was always easier to just have her there. Yeah. And then she retired.

So it was like easy for her. Okay. So she didn't, so she, she was already going to retire and then she was like, oh, I could. But even when she was working, she was still, when I was like in high school, she was still like helping with that kind of stuff. Cause we didn't know,

and she didn't know what she was doing either. You know, we were like, we used to take crazy deals. I did a movie, awful movie. Can we talk about that? I can legally say

that it was bad. I don't know if I'm not supposed to say it was bad, actually. I don't remember the contract. But we made this movie, independent, very independent and ryan and sean's excellent adventure i'm not saying it is that there's a bunch of movies that could

have been made that's true okay i'm just gonna say it was ryan and sean's excellent adventure but but you don't have to confirm nor deny that it's that movie i can say the truth about that is that we were excited sean and i were excited that it was a movie. Yeah, of course. And we're from Hawaii, right? And this was like 2007 or 2008? It was around, yeah, 2008, I would say. So we were just excited, right?

And normally this is the first time we're going to do a script that I'm not writing. Not that I knew how to write actual scripts back then. But when we got it, we were just memorizing versus actually reading. Cause I didn't understand half the jokes and like, I didn't, they were all movie references to like things Sean and I weren't born when it like came out. So we just had no idea about the creative. My mom and I, and of course Sean and his parents didn't know what they were doing either. So, um, we did it, things that we know better now, but I made a lot of mistakes along the

way. I think we all, I think we all did. I mean, I'm, I'm not, I'm certainly not going to say that. Let's talk about that company. Smosh the movie. I'm not going to say that Smosh the movie was, was a masterpiece. It was for us. It was like, we took the opportunity to do something that was beyond ourselves.

Right. And, and for us, like how often are you going to get that opportunity? So whether or not it was perfect, I don't, I don't regret doing it. Right. And, and for us, like how often are you going to get that opportunity? So whether or not it was perfect, I don't, I don't regret doing it. Yeah. And I think there's a lot of people that definitely enjoyed it. And there's a lot of people that definitely didn't enjoy it.

That's fine. Yeah. Like I had a, I had a good time. I met people that like, I, I'm still friends with like the makeup artists that, that I,

that worked on the shoot yeah i had a good time i'm not saying the costumer i use her all the time now oh sorry the costumer yeah yeah um angela yeah she's great shout out angela yeah i've never met her but she sounds great it was just a it was a wild experience and It's a good experience. And they threw like this like crazy premiere. Like they rented out like this theater that I've been to for legit movie premieres. They like closed down the road. They had a red carpet. They paid a lot of money for that.

Yeah. And that was not out of our wallets. Does that mean you lost a lot of control though? Because they paid for it. Well, so yeah. So it was like co-produced between Defy Media and Awesomeness. So we had some, we had a lot of say in the writing of it, but we didn't have the actual, we didn't have like true, true control.

We could give notes and stuff, but we didn't have the actual, we didn't have like true, true control. We could give notes and stuff, but we didn't have like absolute control. And it was also, I don't know how many movies are made this way, but we were basically given a deadline for the movie to be finished before we had a movie. Do you know what I mean? Like even before we had a script, they were basically like, this movie has to be done at this point. And we're like, we don't have a movie. I think that's normal though, right?

Is that normal? I think so. For a movie. When I did my book, it was like that. It was not ready to be like, it wasn't, it could have used more work. But it was like, this is the date. Yeah.

You signed up for this, so. Yeah, it was just kind of funny to be given, given the opportunity to do a movie without ever having talked about a huge opportunity though like you guys got like a crazy budget like you said you had the premiere thing like that's i mean it wasn't a crazy budget for a movie compared to other people independent like compared to that's like your first real like movie right yeah yeah for your first movie that's a crazy budget. I would say. Yeah.

I mean, we had, can you say what the budget was? Can I say? Yeah. I mean, it was like a million dollars. Oh, I thought it was more than that.

No. Oh, well, that's still a lot, but I thought it was more than that. Yeah. I mean, we had to film it.

For the premiere, like that's expensive. That was a separate, that was a separate budget, I guess. And I mean, we, I mean,

I think the movie, I think the movie made made it made its money back because of a i mean i shouldn't get too deep into the details because i don't know what i really can't say but yeah it was it was a fun experience we had to shoot the whole movie in 15 days that was the crazy that was the crazy part that's pretty crazy so everything we're low budget yeah everything that you guys that you guys see in that movie was shot in 15 fricking days. That's what we did for the movie we did. Yeah.

It was like two weeks. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. I remember seeing a trailer for, for Ryan and Sean's and we're not saying that this is the movie you're talking about. This is not. It's something else. It's something else.

I just remember just being very confused. I also remember being confused while reading the script. Yeah. Yeah. I was confused about a lot of it, but I was just like, free trip. Yeah. Barely got paid, but free trip. It's just those kinds of things that you like look back and you're like, that's so fucking crazy that that happened.

I know. I mean, but it's an opportunity that. It was a learning experience and i think like regardless of of whether or not you think it's good now like i think your viewers are still excited about the fact that you got to make a movie whether or not they saw it or whether or not i hope not i hope us talking about it doesn't make people go see it with that said let's do a lot of watch party it's just one of those it should be one of those things you know know, one of those, the cult. Cult classic.

Cult classics where you're so bad. The room. Yeah. It could be that. That's great. I mean, when we talked before, I was saying, I want to get a watch party for that movie. And in turn, maybe for one of the terrible things that I was involved in. You want to get a what?

An intern? No, no, get like a watch party going. Oh, a watch party. Yeah. Of maybe that movie, and then I voiced like a really bad animated movie. Is this a secret movie that you didn't talk about? What is this? No, I promoted it.

A bad movie? I mean, yeah, it's probably pretty bad. Anim he not angry birds oh okay angry birds is pretty good yeah i was like oh yeah it's getting a sequel i know which i was not invited back to really yeah but anthony was wow wow angry birds yeah now i'm an angry bird. Yeah, you should be. That's interesting. I don't know. They didn't, they didn't hit me up. Didn't like your voice?

That might've been it. Oh. I feel like maybe I didn't find an exact voice. You don't really have a bird. You're more of a cat voice anyway. Cat voice. Yeah. You think so?

All right. Angry cats. Hit me up. Angry cats. When you did your cat impression, I was like, oh, that's loud, but also very good. That was a very good impression. That was your audition. Yeah. You're hired. For the cat orgy. Yeah. Angry cats. When you did your cat impression, I was like, oh, that's loud, but also very good. That was a very good impression. That was your audition. Yeah.

You're hired. For the cat orgy. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I hit up one of the producers. I DM'd him. And I was like, I sent him, I wrote an obituary for my bird and sent it to him as a joke.

Wait, you actually did? Yeah. Oh, I thought you were making a joke now. No, no, I, I DM'd him, I DM'd him an obituary when,

cause I saw, I saw Anthony recorded for it. Oh. And I was like, I was like, what the hell? Where's, where's,

why haven't anyone hit me up? Do you even see Anthony anymore? Cause he lives down, well, I shouldn't say where he lives. This is his address. Down south in Texas. He used to live downtown LA.

He doesn't live anywhere Oh okay Yeah Go downtown Because that's where he lives Yeah exactly Do you still hang out at all? I mean

Not that much I mean we haven't We haven't talked in a little while I think that He's He's been really busy I've been really busy Yeah we don't talk a whole lot

Yeah You might see him at VidCon though Oh yeah Yeah Dude yeah Cause Cause when When he left When he left Smosh Yeah, we don't talk a whole lot. You might see him at VidCon, though. Oh, yeah. Dude, yeah. Because when he left Smosh, that was right before the last VidCon. So that was kind of weird because it was fresh, and I think some of the people going to VidCon didn't even know that we had split.

So I think there was maybe one person, one or two people in the meet and greet that were like, where's Anthony? I'm like, ooh. Yeah. But yeah, it was just. But you guys had already, like that was your public announcement, but you guys already have talked probably way before that, I would assume. Yeah. Yeah. I had to keep it a secret though. Right.

For quite a while. That was a year ago. A little over a year ago. Yeah. So where is Anthony? Just kidding. Sorry. I'll. That was a year ago. A little over a year ago, yeah. So where is Anthony? Just kidding. Sorry. I'll tell you exactly where he is.

I'm just kidding. He's behind this curtain. Can you imagine? Viral. Instant viral. Okay. Well, speaking of secrets, you kept your girlfriend secret for three years, two years? About three. Yeah, about three years two years about three yeah about three years yeah it wasn't really a secret it just wasn't announced like if people really wanted to like people knew but if they really

cared to know they could find i mean it had to have been a secret because i just didn't announce it i mean you didn't post a lot of like photos with her, right? Yeah, that's true. It was kind of like, hey, let's not like put like our arms around each other. Initially, yeah. Initially. But then after about a year, I mean, I don't post those kind of pictures anyway. Yeah, that's true. I barely post.

I need to start posting more. I need to start taking pictures. I never remember to take pictures when I do things. Dude, I'm so bad with Instagram. I'm the opposite of what people say like, oh, go thing but like i really need to stop enjoying things i need to think about my business yeah like yeah i i go to places that are actually really cool and i forget to like and i regret it i forget to take the picture and once i leave i'm like damn it i should have done something or even us hanging out i probably would have forgot have we not i probably will still forget

to take a picture with you guys but but I should, and we should. We got that picture of us eating udon. Oh, yeah. We did the lady and tramp thing with the udon in Vegas. That was really interesting. That's a photo moment. You got to get that on pasta, yeah. So how about you?

Any movies you want to make? Did you make a movie yet? Did you just change the subject? I'm talking about you keeping your girlfriend's secret for three years. No, I was going to ask. That was a hard turn. Anyway.

Well, anyway, it's not, it's, yeah, it was a secret for in the beginning. Yeah. Was the worry just that the viewers were going to get like too crazy about, like get too involved about? Not really. It was just more for us initially because it started

off really like casual and we didn't want to announce something and then like oh we're not together anymore yeah you know and then like oh we gotta make another thing it's so it happens but just the fact that the vocabulary is oh we never announced it like as if you have to announce a relationship is a really interesting thing because it's like what do you announce usually engagement and wedding right you don't have to be like this is i'm announcing to the world this is my girlfriend and it's weird that that's a position that we're i don't know a lot of people find themselves in because people put we put our lives out there right so like if we're not putting such an important part of our

life it kind of feels like you're lying a little bit and i did feel a little bit of that but like that's why i never said if someone asked me if we're dating in person i would tell them the truth like fans have asked it before and you just told them straight up yeah because we'd be together they'd see us together right and then they would some post pictures and stuff and i mean i never told them to take it down so like if you really wanted to find it, you could, but we're not just going to go announce it. How private are you about, about your sort of like personal life? Like, and, and did, has that changed throughout the years

or have you always been like this sort of like, you've always kind of followed the same sort of like guidelines of like what you reveal about your personal life i'm pretty private i would say yeah for the most part i i've always been like that though from even when i was like uh i'm just not i don't know i'm just i've always been private i guess i feel like i've become a little less private as a result of the podcast oh same yeah yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's funny, but I feel like this is a better sort of like invasion of privacy than if I were to be daily vlogging or whatever,

because that's a lot of the daily vlogging stuff is a lie. It's like, this is my daily life, but it's not really. And with podcasts, we're just kind of like talking about the things that happen in our life. Right.

And, you know, it's, I don't know, I think it's a different kind of invasion of privacy that I'm a little bit more okay with. I'm not showing people my, you know, inside of my house every day and like my daily routines. Right. Because I feel like you and I are kind of on the same page in regards to privacy of like, I don't want everyone to know everything about me or like project this sort of like fake image of my daily life. Cause that's, that's none of their business because it's weird when a stranger knows everything about you or when they think they know everything about you, but they don't. So I think we've always, I think we've always kind of been on the same page. What

about, what about you, Mari? I mean, I think I think I've you know I follow suit with um with with like watching you and Anthony like that you guys were my first like inlet into this world and so I think I really took to heart like how you guys um do things but with that said you know I mean I was open with with the audience about me and Pete since the very beginning you know I mean I, I think that's partly me being really naive about, like, where all of this was going to go. Like, I'd never imagined that I'd be sitting here nine years later. Also, it was just kind of, like, establishing from the very beginning, like, who I was.

Like, I wasn't going to be, like, a thirst trap or something. So I'm not going to, like, make myself look like i'm single for all these years um but mari said we were talking about how stalkers are a real big problem on youtube especially for women literally every girl youtuber or influencer that i've talked to has had serious stalker problems people that are messaging them constantly emailing them uh some people get hundreds of emails a day from the same person. Just really terrible stuff. Or worse, like showing up, finding their locations, their house and stuff like that. It's crazy that it happens.

It's very scary. It's a real thing. And you don't even have to be a big influencer to get a stalker either. Because I've seen pages of people with like 5,000 followers on Twitter and they've talked about having stalkers. I think one thing that I've been good at from the beginning that you guys taught me is to not feed into people, you know, like negative people or whatever, because in the beginning, as we all know, there was a lot, but I think it's just like, I just don't respond. I respond to all the people who are saying cool things and nice things.

So. That's kind of what a stalker is though. They're like so in love, right? Those are all the stans. It's. Right? It can differ. Like there's, there's some pretty, there's some

pretty violent stalkers out there that. That's true. That is true. Yeah. I would say all the people who ever like found my place, all the different homes that I like moved from. Yeah.

They found all of them. But like, it's always been the ones I've seen some girls, but it's always been guys like coming to like. Really? Yeah. Really? That's surprising. I've been to the other one before where I live now.

I think so. It's like the three story, but it's like very small, like not small, but it's like tall. Oh, I don't think so well that one uh because there's multiple floors i felt safer i was never on the bottom floor but i have cameras set up and i could always see like kids coming up to the door and trying to like take pictures in the windows and stuff yeah so even part of that is like normally people don't have to worry about keeping their shades down and stuff right but if kids are coming and take pictures inside your house who knows what you're doing at the time so So I always, my house was always dark. I'd say that those people

are less stalkers than they are clueless or disrespectful. Yeah. They weren't, they weren't stalkers, but, um, generally the people who would actually come up to the house were, were guys. I found more than more often than not. Yeah. Back in the day when people found out where the Smosh house was, it was mostly girls. Yeah. Yeah. And then some parents, the parents are the worst because it's like, you, you should have should know better.

Yeah. You should definitely fricking know better. Parents would come with their kids. Yeah. It's not like the, what, that, what, what, what is that? Um, Jake Paul house or. Oh, a team 10 house. Yeah.

They were bringing their. I mean, they advertise that house though. Actually, I don't really follow. I don't know that. I didn't really follow that. I just heard that was an issue. Yeah, I mean, they made that house very obviously known that that was their place, and they filmed outside it. Not that I'm saying that they deserved all those people being outside their house, but they made it very publicly known where they lived. And I think they also use that as a publicity vehicle to show like, look how many people know about us and look how famous we are.

Like it's, it's kind of like a, it's a way to legitimize themselves as well. There's also a sense of security when there's like multiple people living at your house as opposed to your actual private house. Yeah. It's like if they're using that as a tool and everybody there knows that it's for production Yeah. It's like, if they're using that as a tool

and everybody there knows that it's for production, then there's a little bit more security knowing that there's more people, but it's a very different situation. Don't go to people's houses. Yeah, don't.

Skit versus sketch. Huh? Skit versus sketch. I'm not 100% sure what that means. Is it a skit or is it a sketch? What? Do you make skits or sketches? I'm not 100% sure what that means. Is it a skit or is it a sketch? What?

Do you make skits or sketches? I don't know. Would you call what you do a skit or would you call what you do a sketch? Is this a skit? I know. Is this part of it? This looks like a skit.

This sounds like a skit. Actually, is there a difference? Because I don't really know what that means. I don't know what a sketch is, actually. What is a sketch? You always call it a skit. I think I do say skit. Interesting.

I actually don't know the difference either. Yeah, what does does sketch mean i don't think there's a difference i don't know we're playing a game just now that's all i was trying to figure out what you're doing no because i always call it a sketch i think of a skit as like like something that you do at like a like like a camp talent show or something like isn't that like a skit i've never been to a camp talent show i haven't either but i've seen it in the movies. I never got to go. I know what you're saying, though. I know what you're saying. Yeah, I mean, what's a sketch, then?

I always refer to what we do as a sketch. Oh, yeah, I'm a sketch comedian. This is when you just start to unravel because you're like, what is it that I do? Who am I? It might be the same thing for all we know. I think it is. I don't know. What made you ask that, though?

I'm curious. I don't know. We wrote it down because some people people call them skits some people call them sketches we just didn't yeah that isn't i mean i never i don't i don't think i've ever said sketch yeah i think i have but i didn't know what it meant yeah i thought it was like the same thing you're posting your podcast on your main channel now now it seems like there's less skits you're creating yeah um is that was that intentional or did you not see like the focus shifting like that or was that i still wanted to do i still wanted to leave it open that i was gonna i could do other things and we are working on different things but

for me i was at that point where i was like I need to either take a break or like change stuff up. Well, either take a break or stop completely or change things up because I was just like, kind of, I was like, it's not that I was over it. It was, I don't, I like making like the bigger videos. It's just because it takes so much longer. And like I said, I always want to top myself. So it's going to take, it's going to get crazier and crazier. Yeah.

We weren't able to do that without like taking off a lot of time. And if you take off that time, you know, by the time your video comes out, you have no like push to it. Like you have no, you're not feeding the algorithm, right? I think, I think frequency is less important on YouTube now. It's yeah. But I mean, what I mean is that I didn't, I had to change something. Either I was going to stop doing it or I had to do something else.

Were you feeling burnout? For sure. Yeah. And it was, the thing is I didn't mind the burnout like for a long time because it was exhausting and I felt that. But back like even a few years ago, even though you were doing it, you would still see the results from it. Like if you put in all this work, you know, you're going to get some kind of like reward, right? Yeah. You'll get the viewership.

But because of the way YouTube is now, you don't get that reward. So there's no point. It was like very demoralizing to work so hard on something that you could have just made like five vlogs and got like five times the views, you know? Like it's, it's very demoral. It's just the way YouTube is like, but like you have to times the views, you know, like it's, it's very demoral. It's just the way YouTube is like, but like you have to feed the system, right? It was just, it's hard to do and then not have any type of reward. I think that also comes down to putting your value on the views rather than trusting in your own content and knowing that if you stay, if you stay doing

what you're passionate about, your viewers are going to respect that. And your viewers will understand if you need to take more time to make videos. As long as those videos, I mean, like, because you've created such consistent quality content, like from the beginning, like you've been so consistent with your writing and just the kind of crazy shit that you've done.

There's such a massive amount of respect that I've seen from your viewers, like in your comments and everything. Like whenever you do put out a skit or a sketch, like you see that in the comments. They're like, Ryan is the only person on here that's still of quality do you know what i mean so it's like yeah so it's like when we do those types yeah

yeah so i i definitely understand like it's it's really easy to look at you know another youtuber and say well i mean they they put in way less or like or i can put in less, less effort and get the same amount of views. But I think longevity wise, like you, you got to just trust in the content you're making. Yeah. And I think for me, it's not that I wanted to stop doing that. It's just like, it's either I was going to completely take that break or just find something else, or I got to fill this time with other things that will keep this channel alive and be able to keep paying my guys basically until we can do these bigger things and for me it was just literally I call it my break even though we're still making things it's a break for me because I'm not

like stressing every single day about like man this is like I'm always writing but it's never like I'll if I can't find something that's like topping what I did or something I've already done, then it's like really stressful. Cause you could spend like 10 hours writing straight and have nothing. Right. It's like, if you're doing a stop motion, you do 10 hours stop motion, at least you see some progress, but you could be writing for 10 hours straight and be like, this is all crap. So it's just like it, not having that stress has been nice. So you've noticed, do you feel like you've, you're mentally in a better place right now than you've been for the past couple of years? I would say yes, because I, I don't have to worry about that. Not that I don't want to do it anymore, but like I got to the point

where I didn't want to do it anymore. So I think now I'm starting to like itch to do crazier things again, but I need that feeling. Like I always tell people like, they always say, oh, what do you want to do next? And I would always say, well, I need to get bored to figure that out. Like what's next for you? And like, I don't have time to be bored, but now I have some time to be bored. So it's like, you know, it's kind of nice to have that itch to want to do more again when like it was becoming a chore. Yeah. want to do more again when like it was becoming a chore yeah and it just like i could i felt like

i was just putting out things that i've done in the past that worked versus like what i was saying why i started and like trying to top myself it it was it's nice to like see it from this perspective because i wouldn't have if i kept doing it i don't think i would have discovered that yeah i mean the youtube algorithm doesn't exactly reward you you know, taking a step, taking a step back, taking time and putting out something big. That's, that's why I missed the homepage. Everyone, it was like most liked most favorited. Yeah. But that was also when there was like 10 of us uploading on YouTube. That's true. We used to like fight over spots basically. Yeah, no, like straight up. It was, it was a very different place.

There was, but I mean like YouTube. Took it for granted back then. I don't see it anymore. But it was such a good system. Cause you know, like now if you click trending, half of those videos aren't trending really. Like, I don't know how they get there. You guys might know more than I do, but I was just like, this video has 10,000 views and it's, I click on it. Cause I, maybe it's really good and it's not. And like but why is it here i don't understand it i mean youtube

finally admitted that there is some human intervention on that trending page they finally it's not just the machines learning yeah i mean there is a part of that there is definitely a part of that but but they do i think know, YouTube's direction has always been towards TV. They want to be the next TV. So they have to promote things that are going to reflect that better. So promoting Jimmy Fallon or the next big music video is more in that direction than promoting the things that get a lot of views. Like, um,

you know, last, the first person to eat this cup of shit wins. Yeah. It's safe for them. And as, as they've gotten bigger, it's become more corporate.

And it's like from an outsider's perspective, you understand, but then at the same time, it's like, you know what YouTube is capable of and you, you know, the communities it's capable of. And it's,

it was bound to happen. I of. It was bound to happen. I mean, it was bound to happen once money gets involved, and at the same time, you can't really complain. I wouldn't do – if I was in charge of YouTube, I don't know what I would do differently. Aside from fix the claiming issues, and I think they just rolled out something yesterday. No, this would be a month or so ago. They just rolled out some fixes to the claiming issues um now people that will uh copyright claim your video have to prove where on the timeline you they infringed and now you can actually remove the audio out of that section all right right so they're actually they've they're

they're they're getting better but youtube obviously, they're pressed with this problem of now everybody wants to be a YouTuber. And now there's billions of hours of video being uploaded to YouTube a year or whatever. So I don't know how you make that fair for the quote unquote creators. So there. Well, and it's also important to remember that it is a free platform that people have like huge opportunities to, to make something of themselves. Like literally anyone can post on it. Yeah.

And it's like, it's, it's a good reminder that at any point, like they could shut it down. There can be zero YouTube from now on, you know? So. And,

and I re like, we, we, we have always kept our stuff PG 13 because like you're, you're looking at the things on YouTube. Of course the adpocalypse happened. It had to happen at some point because we were, we saw videos and we're like, oh man, like at some point, like some Coca-Cola representative is going to go on this video that has a Coke ad and it's going to be like a, you know, like back in the day, like old Shane Dawson content where he's like, you know, making like all these like period jokes. Isn't it crazy about how he developed his career?

Yeah. Isn't it so crazy? Well, if you want to talk about like making movies, did you see? I saw clips of like the watermelon bit and like are you talking about shane's thing yeah not cool yeah i didn't see the full movie i just saw a lot of clips from it there's a there's a there's a part where a guy is eating shit and um and then also a part where a guy uh smashes his penis against a window and And we saw, I saw it, we went to a theater screening of it. And it's full frame penis against a window.

So you're looking at this like three story high dick just smearing against a window. And I'm like, all right. But I think that was kind of like the turning point for Shane. Like after that, he, I think he started, well, no, he did like the podcast, which he's still kind of paying for now. Because of all the crazy shit he said on there. But it is kind of nuts, like how he's, how he's been able to pivot. I mean, it's awesome.

It's crazy. People grow up. People grow up. And then it's also like, again, there's no roadmap for YouTube and it's like people are figuring it out. And sometimes it takes people like 10 years to be like, oh, I shouldn't make that anymore. Let's pivot. And sometimes people inherently know it's like, you just, you just don't know. Yeah. YouTube had to grow up at some point. And, and the problem is there's growing pains. I'm not going to excuse everything YouTube's done, but I understand a lot of it. I get it. Like, and look like creators will complain all

they want. I think also like a lot of creators think they're, they're bigger than they really are. Like YouTube doesn't need any of us. Of course. Yeah. Like they do just fine without, without the top 100 channels. There'd be another 5,000 channels there eager to replace them. So I, I realized my place in the universe for me, for me, YouTube, for me, YouTube is a wonderful tool and I feel very grateful for the, the sort of like opportunities that they've given

us. But at the end of the day, it is a tool they're looking to make money and I'm looking to, you know, grow my business and, you know, I'd love to work with them as much as I possibly can. They're not perfect, but. Neither are we. They just need a competitor. That's what they need. I know that that's, that's been the luckiest thing for them because they, they don't have, there's nobody like people have tried, like you had, you had the vessel, vessel came through

and like tried to bankroll a bunch of YouTubers into being on their platform. Right. That lasted for six months. Yeah. It's just all, it's crazy. It's crazy. Any final thoughts, Ryan? Final thoughts.

I don't know. I don't know what you expected walking in here. Wait, I have a final thought. Oh, what's that? Ninja milk. Oh, yeah. Let's talk about ninja milk. Yeah.

Yeah. I was actually going to bring, because I still have some at my house what's that? Ninja milk. Oh, yeah. Let's talk about ninja milk. Yeah. Yeah. I was actually going to bring, because I still have some at my house. I was going to bring some and I forgot. I can send you more. Please. For the simple price. Go ahead. Of your soul.

No, go ahead. Do your pitch. No, I mean, I created an energy drink called ninja milk. And you guys were both at the opening thing. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. That was awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's something I've been working on

for like a long time. Like three years, right? Yeah. It was just, it was, it was tough because we couldn't, it was such a different thing because there's a little bit of dairy in it. A small amount because, you know,

a lot of Asians specifically get really afraid of that. Yeah. Um. A lot of lactose intolerant Asians. Yeah. But like my, we've tested it on a lot of people. I'm not saying that it's, you're not going to have

a reaction, but a lot of people are fine cause it's so small. Um, but because there's a little bit of dairy and it's an energy drink and it's, it doesn't sound like it goes together. And also there's no place in the U S that basically allows that that like literally no production,

um, places do that. So we had to, we had to make it like in the Netherlands that took forever. And, uh, yeah, it's finally launched and I'm happy with it.

And it's delicious. Yeah. It's good. I didn't pay them to say that. No, it's good. Thanks guys. I love,

I love that, uh, that you at your launch party, you, you guys hired like a mixologist and figured out like alcoholic ways, like ways to make it like an alcoholic drink. That was fun. I'll be honest though.

I didn't, I don't like sweet drinks. Yeah. Like I know it's not too sweet though. Yeah. I wasn't a, I'm not a big fan. I like it by itself,

but when you start mixing with things, I wasn't a big fan of those drinks. Oh yeah. Other people liked it, but I wasn't a, I'm not a big fan. I like it by itself, but when you start mixing with things, I wasn't a big fan of those drinks. Oh, yeah. The alcohol. Other people liked it, but I didn't personally. It's a fun thing to be able to do. Like, I don't think most people would think about it unless it was already done. Right.

I was told it's good with soju. Oh. I actually haven't tried it yet, but I should. Well, I'm a fan. I think that's so cool that you're able to do this thing that's like outside of what you normally do. Yeah. And just try something different. What can we expect from the channel in the next year or so?

So we just – well, the reason why I'm here is because we just launched our LA podcast because I found it was – What? Yeah. It's basically the same thing, but right now, temporarily, it's at David's house. Okay. So it's not all fancy like this. And we need- Well, I shouldn't say we-

We got free mics. You guys got good equipment. But yeah, we had a setup here because we found nobody other Ian, wants to come out to Vegas to do a podcast. Yeah. Are you surprised by that, Ryan? No, I mean, like I was doing my sales pitch and people come on like, you know how cheap this place is and you know how little taxes we pay. No, but I, yeah, everybody is here. So we had to do a setup here as well.

I like to think that you're getting a referral from like, like a referral kickback from like the city of Las Vegas. I've pitched very well. I've gotten, okay, only one other YouTuber out there, but my sales pitch was on point through a DM. Nice. I'm still thinking you guys at some point, you know, you could have a podcast out there. Wait, you move yours to LA and we move ours to Vegas?

Yeah. Because the community is just going to build out there, you know? move yours to LA and we move ours to Vegas? Yeah. Because the community is just going to build out there, you know? There's just going to be more and more YouTubers. When they find out how great it is. Yeah, until they run out of water. We have water. Or AC. Yeah, we run out of AC, then we're screwed.

You're so worried about the apocalypse, Ian. I know. I'm a prepper. No. Are you really? No. Oh. Yeah, no.

Yeah, I got my vault in New Zealand. I'm going to take my private jet there when the apocalypse happens. It's a long jet ride. You know, there's like a lot of people doing that. Sorry. That's a whole nother topic that we don't have time for. Next podcast. It's a real thing, though, yeah.

Yeah. Ryan, damn, I did not think that we would get you here in LA. Now I will be here more. I hope so. Yeah. I love getting Korean barbecue with you. Let's do that more. I know. I more. I hope so. I love getting Korean barbecue with you. Let's do that more. I know.

I know. It's fun. We'll mix some soju with Ninja Milk and see if that's true or not. Let's do it. Well, thank you so much. Mari, thank you also for being on here. Yeah. Wrap it up.

Wow. This has been great. I hope I didn't dig into your personal. You don't sound very excited about this. No, I'm. This has been great. This is his wind down voice. This is my earnest voice

this is when I'm calming down I'm coming off the high of having this lovely podcast with you Ryan Higa, Mari Takahashi this is where he falls asleep thank you so much for being on this podcast also we still have our shirts in store

smosh.store we got some awesome stuff uh i don't know what we're selling right now because this is happening a month in advance do we possibly still have some summer game shirts that are left over i don't know maybe not ryan higa thank you so much if you guys haven't checked out his youtube channel nika higa he's making awesome stuff go check it out please thanks for having me thank you for subscribing to this podcast. If you're not subscribed on iTunes or any of the other podcast apps, please do so. Also, YouTube, Smoshcast, subscribe on there.

Punch that notification bell. Thank you guys so much. Loco moco? Loco moco. Loco moco. Sorry. sorry