Butterflies
Transcript 52 minutes

00:00:00:00 "The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity." -George Carlin
00:00:17:17 My name is Jill. I am thirty and ...what are you asking me? And my screen name on YouTube is XgobobeanX.
00:00:28:09 People ask me, "Do you ever get recognized in public?" They were all calling me Boheme. I had to sign autographs. I signed my screen name. I mean… who does that?
00:00:37:16 When I meet people, I go, "Hey, are you on YouTube?" And that’s how I socialize these days. When I am not on YouTube I…I edit the videos for YouTube.
00:00:49:13 Being famous on the Internet is a lot more appealing to me. Television is going downhill. They are trying to go reality but how much more real can you get than YouTube?
00:00:57:22 At school, yeah, I feel like everybody now knows that I am like the YouTube guy. They’re like, "Oh, that’s the kid that makes videos." So it gives me a greater sense of confidence but it’s kind of weird knowing that everybody knows who you are. But it’s been really cool I like it.
00:01:10:08 Life is great. If we didn’t have YouTube, we don’t have the audience, we don’t have the views, we don’t have all these things that it has awarded us. So I think we'd just be struggling a bit more.
00:01:34:05 How do you find the entertainment from people being themselves? What Hollywood has to do is figure out the distinction between being an actor and a celebrity. They have to be extreme personalities, people that have some flamboyant persona.
00:01:46:23 The traditional media is always trying to figure it out. But it’s like we’ve already figured it out. Like the new…. we've already figured it out. And all these TV shows they are driving traffic to their websites. Go to NBC dot com. We are already there!
00:01:58:00 YouTube is about keeping it real. Youtube is about vlogging. Youtube is not about big old fancy cameras, crazy cool microphones and sound guys. If you really want to know what YouTube is about, you got to get in YouTube.
00:02:10:21 We look up the sketches on YouTube and for us it's a great resource.
00:02:13:19 The first stop in making it is just to get people to see what you do. YouTube is just the newest coolest platform.
00:02:22:01 It's just a new world, man.
00:02:37:00 YouTube was launched in 2005 and allowed users to upload videos and share them with the world wide audience. Today, YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the Internet with more than 5 billion videos viewed a month.
00:02:48:02 The more creative users developed a strong following and their celebrity grew with the number of views on their videos. Their YouTube channels attract the attention of sponsors and they are being offered appearances in traditional media on daily basis. This is the story of six of them.
00:03:04:13 Being famous on YouTube is such an interesting thing. Because of what I do, the videos that I post, people feel like they know me.
00:03:13:10 I got this little kitty about two months back. He was the nicest little kitty now a pain in my crack. This little kitty....
00:03:18:11 When you are known on the Internet or when you are famous or popular or whatever it may be, it's a different world. I mean, if you are not famous, if you are not popular and all that good stuff, you think about things like that. You think a little bit too much about what you would do if you were in a situation but when you are actually here, it's... it's like... it's a same thing except people know who you are.
00:03:39:26 ... in the closet and you just won't care. Kitty chews on my shoes and he licks up my hair always scratching on my favorite chair and jumping on the couch, playing on the window sills and tearing through the house. He is so full of energy and easily amused; kitty will attack anything that moves causing troubles starting battles....
00:03:58:09 When I started, it was such an odd thing. You have to understand at the time we started, it was just something that... I've never even heard of YouTube. Nobody was talking about it; it didn't really quite make sense... people were making videos. It wasn't something that was just common knowledge. So it was this really odd thing and just getting submersed in the world was just fascinating... looking at all these videos. Putting one up was sort of challenging because it was such an odd thing to me.
00:04:21:07 Welcome, George Bush.
00:04:22:19 Thank you for having me, Ashley. I love... I love Orange County.
00:04:25:14 People love to trash you. They are like, "George Bush, he is the worst president of all time. His approval ratings are abysmal. He is stupid and incompetent." When you really think about it, you are like the smartest, greatest president of all time.
00:04:36:23 -Yeah.
-Because you've got everything you've ever wanted. I mean, the Iraq War, you wanted that from day one. And like it took you a few years to get it but you've got it.
00:04:43:21 I don't.... I don't worry about anything because.... ummm... because I am already President, you know, and...ummm... there isn't gonna be any...ummm.... percussions.... um.... there isn't gonna be any persussion at this...um.... you know, I mean... there... anyway, there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point... is my point. That's what I'm trying to say, so... yeah... I mean, we are good. I'm golden. So, yeah... I feel fine.
00:05:08:26 It was such an exciting experience putting something out there and having somebody reply to it immediately and just comment. And I was able to comment every single person that commented me at the time. And to get instant feedback it was so exciting, you know, and especially 'cause we've been shooting things and doing things we couldn't get anybody to look at it... to have people care about some small little video you did was just so exciting.
00:05:31:24 Hi Johny, how are you doing? Isn't it so great that we get to make more and more Pirates of the Caribean? But what if they don't want to make more? Then what sequal are we going to do together? You know, I've been thinking and I have some ideas. What if we did Fear and Loathing Brooklyn? You know, a sequal to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Except this time I'm a girl that's hooked on LSD, but my family is in the Mafia, you know, and we are in Blooklyn all the time like, "Whatcha doing? Forget about it. Forget about it." Is that a great idea, Johny?
00:06:09:08 That's a terrible idea.
00:06:11:19 Most people didn't know YouTube at the time so for us... I wasn't really telling anybody, "Hey, check out this site." It was a fun place to sort of try these fun zany little videos, and I didn't know at the time where it would go and how big it would get. Like I said it sort of, you know, just... word of mouth it spread, and then in just became more and more natural, and it was just.... it was very excting.
00:06:37:13 I made some of my first videos about LisaNova. So then she favorited it and helped promote them which definitely got me views and more subscribers.
00:06:45:05 I record the music all by myself...
00:06:47:08 Because we are eight years apart, I should have known from the start it won't work out it won't work out.
00:06:59:13 It definitely has been overwhelming but I guess... it is overwhelming but I try to keep cool about it and I think it's.... I think it's pretty cool. I don't get too overwhelmed by the popularity but it definitely has changed my whole life and my perspective on a lot of things.
00:07:13:14 I get a lot of fan mail which is really cool. I try to respond to most of it, but I like the fans a lot, yeah, but it gets overwhelming when I get too many; it's hard to reply. But, I mean, they're the reason why I still make videos and why I keep doing music. So without the fans, I mean, I wouldn't even be here so...
00:07:28:20 I won't let them arrest you I'll always protect you. The older guys don't treat you right. You're searching for someone, but you have found no one I can be there tonight. She said, "Are you really eighteen? I need to see some ID on that one."
00:07:46:29 I mean it's really cool to have a lot of girls all over you but... I think it's really cool. I'm happy I like it.
00:07:53:15 ... almost nineteen. You're leading me on. Girl, you are leading me on. And I'm not that strong. No, I'm not that strong.
00:08:10:04 Olga is the YouTuber. She is OlgaKay. Some of the videos that she puts up I...
00:08:18:23 Just say it...
00:08:19:22 Well, I mean, it's not that bad. It's just... some of them, I guess, I don't necesarilly understand or get.
00:08:26:00 Oh, I'm so nervous, you know. I've never done this. What? We are live already? Oh, oh, oh...
00:08:46:16 Give me my shrink.
00:08:48:02 Hello, my dear viewers. Thank you so much for joining this program. I'm starting my new session here on YouTube and today is the first shrinkingsation with one of your favorite YouTubers out there. You all know her. You all call her YouTube celebrity. But she's still a real person, therefore, she is crazy. Therefore... I didn't even know I knew that word.
00:09:13:21 I think Olga sees probably the potential on it more than I do. That's not to take anything away from you or YouTube but, you know, for me it's something fun. I just I like to post up there just to, I guess, get stuff out. I think YouTube's been such a part of Olga's life at this point it's hard for me to remember life without YouTube. Her life is YouTube right now.
00:09:34:29 Once you realize that there is more opportunities into it, you get into this...
00:09:52:22 -Yeah.
-Oh, wow, YouTube is a huge community that you can make whatever you want out of it.
00:09:56:21 I guess I didn't get it. I didn't understand, you know, what it was all about and I'm starting to see a little bit more the potential that is there for YouTube.
00:10:04:13 YouTube has definitely opened up so many doors and jobs. It's a big part of my life. At first I didn't know YouTube had vloggers on it. I thought it was just movies and cartoons and all that other stuff.
00:10:17:18 But then I saw a couple of people on there, normal people talking, making silly videos and I said: "If they can do that, I can do that." And I just sat in my bedroom, recorded, put it out there, got a subcriber and I was like, "Holy shit! One subscriber is amazing!" And then I just became addicted.
00:10:41:00 The dogie diper.
00:10:43:18 Through rain...
00:10:45:23 Earhquakes...
00:10:48:11 Trippy effects...
00:10:50:05 Electricity...
00:10:51:20 Very easy to apply as you can see here.
00:10:56:16 Dogie dipers... there are for the rescue.
00:11:00:25 And sleep like you did... before your dog was a peeing machine.
00:11:05:23 I've had Lucky for about two years. She is usually in my videos and my subscribers love her. So many people I've never met have been so in love with her. I'm waiting for her to get famous like when I'm walking here, "Hey, that's Lucky!"
00:11:21:29 People watched my videos for me and for her. It's really funny. Two years ago I would have never thought I'd be here. I was in a crappy job, completely depressed out of my life, broke up with a boyfriend. It was just hard. And just uploading that first video and just realizing that the community is there and friends you can make. It completely has transformed me.
00:11:50:11 And it just feels like, you know, some sort of either a flower that's budding or a little catapilar that's just waiting for it's wings to expand to a butterfly.
00:12:22:21 The reason I started making videos was for Steve-O in Jackass. He was casting a new show that was... I think it was set to film that year. This was about two years ago. So I did firebreathing and juggling and magic tricks and stuff like that for the camera, you know, and I've never really done a recording before. But I've never heard back from him, so I wanted to show my family that, you know, look at me kinda thing. Then I started noticing there were video bloggers on YouTube.
00:12:51:08 I'm an opinionated guy so I had to go and say my thing about it. I just sit there and think of stuff and just kind of roll it there as much as I can. Everything is by the seat of my pants. I just riff on whatever I want to talk about.
00:13:01:29 Greetings from the frozen south. This needs some explanation. I'd like to previse this by saying I'm a complete and total pussy when it comes down to the cold.
00:13:12:05 I know a lot of you are going to be like, "Uhuhuh, he is a pussy when it comes to everything." But I'm a Florida boy. Specificaly cold... it just kicks my ass.
00:13:22:10 Ahhh, God!
00:13:25:01 So this is Boheme, being a complete and total pansy in Alabama, signing off.
00:13:30:13 I pretty much started out with some family watching videos but making video logs and doing them regularly was really kind of a weird leap for me. I've never been one to promote myself. I just kind of did videos until I saw people getting the momentum, and then they would tell people.
00:13:58:04 "Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money." -Owen Laughlin
00:19:56:04 I do care about how many subscribers I have. I do care about how many views I get.
00:14:07:01 I have over 17,000.
00:14:11:02 About 42,000.
00:14:13:25 I have around 87,000 I think...
00:14:17:06 I have 111,000 subscribers and like 50 million views.
00:14:22:00 I can do this for a living, you know. I'm at the point now to where I'll make enough money to where I don't have to work anymore.
00:14:28:09 I do make some income with YouTube and the partnership program. Partnership on YouTube is just a program; they allow ads to pop up on your videos. You get a portion of people that click on the ads. But only really make any money if you get a lot of views on your videos.
00:14:48:17 I've had a lot of sponsorship opportunities. Product placements stuff right now is huge.
00:14:54:17 I'm not gonna go out and say drink Pepsi, you know, it's just having it in there.
00:59:08 It's pretty good money, I think. I'm reallly happy with it. It's pretty good money, yeah.
00:15:04:00 I don't think it's inconceivable to see a full time video bloggers within the next six months being a regular thing.
00:15:11:15 I just think it would be such a pretty world if we didn't have fucking airplanes dragging, you know, their little.. whatever it is... the little banner behind it and didn't see ads on the sides of buses and the bus stops and everywhere you go you see some ads, some dot com, some service or product. It's irritating. So for me to cross the line and say, "Drink Coors Light it's the best" really, really puts a thorn in my underwear. It's not good.
00:15:36:16 Hey, if I can get money for it to help promote my.. not necessarily myself but my art, then that's good.
00:15:45:09 For the last two three months or so I've actually been bringing in anywhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars a month. It looks like I'm possibly going to be bringing in probably about sixty thousand this next month.
00:15:57:25 It's been a big lifestyle change. Of course I bought all the stuff I've been wanting like the better camera, the audio, the... you know, whatever I wanted. And now all the money that we have is just being put away because we're looking to get a house.
00:16:11:01 All of a sudeen he is huge and Mr. Fabulous and everybody was crazy.
00:16:16:11 It's not really a big deal to me. He does everything that you want a guy to do. Except do the dishes.
00:16:24:01 "I won't be happy till I'm as famous as God." -Madonna
00:16:29:23 Everyone who is on YouTube they either want to get famous they want attention. Oh, people who say, "Oh, we don't care about attention." I'm like, "Why are you putting yourself out there?" You're putting such a personal information out there. People make videos, really creative videos, really putting so much energy because people are realizing that if one right person sees you on YouTube, they can change your life forever. A lot of popular YouTubers go on and say, "You know, we're on YouTube not because of the popularity."
"We don't care about getting famous."
"We don't care about getting discovered."
"We don't care about making money."
Or, "We don't care about if people watch us or not. If nobody watched us, we would still be making videos."
00:17:01:29 And I have to disagree with that because when you spend like six hours a day trying to come up with an idea, film it, edit it, promote it so at least a thousand people see your video... I think people lie when they just say, "Oh, we really don't care. We do it just for fun." I don't really believe that. It's just... nah.
00:17:23:19 You know, I've never been concerned about, "Ooh, did they recognize me?" I honestly don't care. I just put that video out there because I was having fun. I'm not trying to be famous but it is nice to be known for my work.
00:17:35:20 I got an email from a casting director at MADtv and she is like, "I like your videos," and, "Do you do characters and impersonations?" It was a kind of a shock to hear that they wanted me to be acting and I just said, "Oh, of course I do." They just hired me for the last part of the season. It was just interesting seeing that world and... versus the YouTube world where you have all this control and then at MADtv you don't really have control. There's all these producers and everybody telling you what to do and what to say and how to say it.
00:18:01:04 Celebrities are just normal people just like we are. The difference between a new media personality and a Hollywood celebrity is the fact that a Hollywood celebrity is paid to be famous, and we just aren't. They do watch YouTube. They watch it, and I think that a lot of them actually take their ideas from YouTube. They find people who are creative and funny, but a lot of them won't admit it because they don't want to push their viewers to the internet because that's not where they are at.
00:18:32:08 VH1 gave me a call and they said, "Hey, we want you to come to a casting call for one of the shows that we have. We think you'd be really good for it."
00:18:41:01 And it was... it was a stripper show about male strippers. So I drove all the way to LA. I had no money but I was like, "I'm gonna do this," and, "This is my future." I'm gonna be famous now. So I went to LA and sure enough I did the casting thing. And they looked at me and they said, "You know you sure as hell are not sexy but you look stupid doing it and it was funny."
00:19:08:14 And the whole time they are laughing at me. I was like, "What? I'm being serious," and I was trying to do these sexy moves. I did really good. I did really, really good. And yeah, I failed that casting call so bad I promised myself I'd never go back to another casting call like that again.
00:19:45:25 It's really hard for me to get subscribers. I don't know why, but I'd say I worked really hard to get those subscribers. I created these business cards where I put my YouTube link only and some pictures. I make thousands of those cards and I would go around town and I would just drop them everywhere. Like whoever I meet I just give it to them.
00:20:06:02 I had to work so hard to be here and to prove myself. And people are disciplined in Russia which is hard discipline... smack... you can't do that, you have to show up, you have to do stuff, you can't give up, you have to practice. If you don't practice, you're not going to get anywhere.
00:20:21:21 -Don't cover my face!
-I'm sorry.
00:20:23:29 -Well, I actually liked your arm better up here.
-Up here?
-Yeah.
-OK.
00:20:28:06 -Stop picking on me.
-Sorry.
00:20:30:12 When I told my mom I was dating a girl from Russia that used to be in A circus and she joggles, my mom was like, "Ok... interesting."
00:20:37:19 I always wanted to be an entertainer ever since I was five years old. I started travelling with a circus when I was twelve thirteen years old and two years after that I came to America.
00:20:49:20 Olga is a performer. You know what I mean? I do think that's what she was born to do-to perform and entertain in some avenue.
00:21:05:19 We were both at a party. I saw this flicker of a lighter behind me and when I turned around it Cory playing with a lighter. I stole it from him and we started talking and he was like, "Come here!" and he drags me into the back yard and he has a can of Pam cooking spray in his hand. And he grabs a lighter and he sprays the Pam on his leg and lights it on fire. It was really funny so I started laughing.
00:21:34:00 And ever since we've been... we don't leave each other.
00:21:38:13 This is where I belong. Everything would be OK as long as I was with him.
00:21:44:23 Lisa and I met five or six years ago and we just had a lot in common. We didn't start dating or anything right away but we ended up going out a couple of years later.
00:21:57:05 He'd been doing production for years and we got together and joined forces and he found YouTube and he started posting videos and he is like, "You should post some videos."
00:22:05:00 I was always interested in films and acting in them. It was kind of hard thing to explain; there is a site and you put up videos...
00:22:11:23 And then there the whole commenting and interaction and feedback from people...
00:22:15:11 It's a lot of comedy spoofs and parodies of political things, entertainment...
00:22:21:00 Do you mind if we talk a little bit about your album?
00:22:24:09 Totally. That's what it's about. It's always about the music. Um, this album I've entitled it Raw Flesh... um, basically it's... I'm exposing myself. I'm opening up. It's raw. And it's my flesh.
00:22:42:09 Ummm...
00:22:46:22 I think a lot of the reasons we are succesful is it was a much smaller community, so we were one of the first people there. I mean our first video did really well. We got like thirty thousand views on our first video.
00:22:57:03 It was pretty cool. So I just basically became sort of obsessed with YouTube and focused a lot of my spare time. We felt like there is so much opportunity on YouTube. Oh, this could help us transition to mainstream media; maybe we can get a TV show; Lisa can start acting. It was great to get an audience because a lot of time you have a video and it's like you feel so excited if two or three people in a room watching it and suddenly Im like, oh, my God, fifty people watched us in one day. Holy shit!
00:23:21:15 It was just sort odd... me and Danny.... and, you know, it was just an accomplishment for us to be like, OK yeah, people are watching.
00:23:27:17 We knew the power of it immediately.
00:23:39:20 YouTube definitely helped me to put my talent out there, and if somebody was looking for somebody, they would just search Google and my name would come up and my video would come up and at first... well, of course it takes a while to, you know, to people to notice your videos.
00:23:55:29 There are times when I'm like, "Aaah, what video do you want to show me right now?" I know she is all day on YouTube. It's really strange. There is people on there that are, you know, doing ridiculous things they just happen to be taping but then like Mr. Safety. I mean, the songs that he's written about his cat, or whatever it is, it's like, that takes a lot of time. You know what I mean? You can't just do something like that and be like, screw it I'm just going to tape it and see what it turns out. That stuff you have to plan, so you know... I mean people are taking time to make this stuff good, and then you've got the people on there that are just doing stuff to be entertaining and stupid, you know. I think there is the whole spectrum of things. I think as far as whether it's art, it's a complete spectrum. These are people that are gaining celebrity or making careers out of this type of stuff.
00:24:42:26 ... but you will get home sooner or later; it's because of your fingers that you have toilet paper. If you've gotta shit and you're stuck in traffic, your palms will sweat and your ass will twitch, ain't that a bitch. If it starts to come out, just give your cheeks a pinch. Pinchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitch, poop, poop...
00:24:57:14 Make poop was my first song that really took off. And you know it's weird. There was this girl named Emma from Australia. She was my first real fan that didn't know me and didn't give birth to me. She said that the song inspired her so much that she basically stopped herself from commiting a suicide.
00:25:19:07 She was gonna commit suicide and then she saw me, and it just inspired me and then I realized that my poop helped somebody not to commit suicide. But no, it's not about that. It's just a.... It's stupid but I'm kinda getting teary eyed a little bit, but you know, it's kinda good to know that my videos help people. You know that... it's not tears because I'm laughing. It's tears because I'm honestly... happy.
00:25:59:13 I'm Mr. Safety but my real name is Cory. Belive it or not I make poop every morning.
Make poop the people in the USA make poop. The people who live in the UK make poop. The people in the countries of Europe make poop. Everyone around the world just make poop.
00:26:15:29 I eat and I poop and I smoke and I sit just to eat some more to poop some more all the while smoking and wondering how to destroy that rebel base on level five. That's not the way to live.
00:26:26:28 YouTube is a huge part of my life. It really is. To a fault really just because it's not a healthy lifestyle sitting in front of a computer and making videos and obsessing over it and stuff like that. I'm originally from Florida. I grew up there, went to high school there and the day after graduation I went to Huntsville, Alabama. I started recording the videos. I wanted desperately to move out. I didn't like Alabama at all. It just wasn't my kind of place. So I had no money. So I asked all my subscribers if they wanted to send in some money, it would be awesome. This would take me out there you know, and overnight they donated over a thousand dollars to get me out here. Just overnight we're talking twelve sixteen hours. If there was no YouTube, I'd be probably still a waiter. I'd probably be still in Alabama.
00:27:19:14 Before it was just like, "I make videos on YouTube." And now it's like, "Hey! I make videos! Check them out! It's cool." So it's definitely changed my life over the past two years. I found out Lucky had a heart disease about a year ago. She was thirteen and she had so much life in her. I didn't know what to do, and I made this video on YouTube asking people what they think I should do. Should I, you know, go to a doctor, should I put her down? It was just getting really, really bad. And I also said I couldn't afford all of her bills because getting x-rays and echo-kardiograms and bloodwork it just.... I just couldn't afford it. And so many people came to me and said that they would donate and they want to help and they loved Lucky, and it's crazy to know that people care so much about you.
00:28:12:23 So I actually raised enough money to take her to the doctor. And I posted a video, the next day I raised all the money, took her to the specialist. She was there for three hours. She was there for so long. I got her back and the doctor said, "She is really, really, really bad. If we change her medicine, she has good three six months." So I was like, "Oh, that's great; we'll change her medicine." She came out of the animal hospital and she was running around. She was such a bull. She was just full of life. The overwhelming response I got from people from strangers, people I knew: don't worry, your dog is sick but try this, try this doctor, try this remedy, try herbal medicine. Tons of information flew in from people I've never spoke to. YouTube, it's part of my life.
00:28:57:25 I'm gonna get my head shaved.
00:28:59:26 Here you go, honey.
00:29:03:24 Alright.
00:29:04:07 Go ahead and stand behind me, honey.
00:29:08:19 Alright.
00:29:10:05 So here we go.
00:29:20:27 "Will you marry me?"
00:29:23:07 When I was filming that proposal, I... just watching it you feel it over and over and over and over.
00:29:33:24 Stephanie Roby, will you marry me?
00:29:37:20 Yeah!!!
00:29:44:06 Proposing to her was my best video I've ever done.
00:29:48:11 I was really nervous because I get nervous on camera a lot.
00:29:52:25 I don't think I even noticed the camera.
00:29:55:17 I was really happy when he pulled off his hat. That's really what I wanted.
00:30:00:24 I wouldn't choose any other way. I love the way I did it because that was my way.
00:30:06:08 Really, I couldn't see anything other than right there in front of me what was going on. I completely forgot everybody else was in the room.
00:30:13:16 The fact that he was able to pull it off in the end and go back into remembering to talk to the camera and finish that story was beyond what I could have done.
00:30:29:12 Lucky got really, really sick the last month or two. She just kind of fell out of her doggie bed, and it was weird. She just laid right over her doggie bed and was just in this state shock. I went over to her and she was just laying there.
00:30:52:14 I was like, "Lucky, are you ok?"
00:30:56:07 I had called the animal hospital because I didn't know what to do, and they said to bring her right back over. Lucky is about forty pounds or so. So I picked her up and I took her into the car. And so many people were telling me that, "You will know when your dog wants to go."
00:31:16:08 Her constant coughing and...
00:31:24:21 And I had her in a towel and she was laying on me. So I kind of felt she knew that...
00:31:31:11 She knew that was her time, so it was really... good moment in the car.
00:31:54:10 So we got to the animal hospital and... the doctor said they couldn't do anything else. And that was the decision.
00:32:07:09 So I had seen her; they brought her back out for like thirty minutes, and she had IV's, so she was on something. I don't even know. But she was running around the little hospital room like nothing happened.
00:32:30:09 And I just kept thinking I have to make a video telling people that don't know her that she is gone because she was such a huge, huge character in my videos.
00:32:44:06 So posting a video was probably one of the hardest things to do, but I wanted to show not to be sad that she left but to be really happy that she had a great life.
00:33:17:29 "It is in collaboration that the nature of arts is revealed." -Steve Lacy
00:33:21:28 I have to do a video today.
00:33:24:03 OK.
00:33:24:18 And I really need you for the video.
00:33:27:04 Alright.
00:33:27:19 I'm always going to be into collaborating with people.
00:33:30:16 One of the YouTubers that I'm actually helping out right now, because they are kind of... I think they're kind of lost a bit in where they are going, is Ben, Boheme, a really good friend of mine.
00:33:39:09 He is up in Thousand Oaks, you know, and I'm down here in Torrance. That's a good fifty miles of driving on a motocycle in LA traffic or in the middle of the night when it's cold or in the afternoon when it's hot. You know, it kind of sucks that way.
00:33:51:23 I think it's fun doing collabs and people email me asking for collabs. I do a few of them but that's what's fun about collabs- you can do whatever you want. I'm excited to do them with LisaNova for sure.
00:34:00:07 Collaboration videos on YouTube... seems like everybody was doing them.
00:34:05:05 Tons of people are always asking Lisa to collab and it's just overwhelming because you can't do it with everyone.
00:34:09:22 Oh, I love collaborations. Collaboration videoes are key. When you first start on YouTube, it's almost impossible now to get subscribtions unless you kind of network your way around.
00:34:19:09 "Friendship is born when one person says to another: What? You too? Thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
00:34:23:01 We have more friends, more close-built connection with YouTube friends than our real life friends because we have the same ideas in a way. So we just become such close friends because of this website.
00:34:35:27 A lot of times the real life friends, not everyone but a lot of them, don't understand what you are doing. They laugh at you when you say you are on YouTube. They don't understand why you would spend that much time on it.
00:34:45:28 I remember the first time I met someone from YouTube. I said, "Hey, I'm gonna go meet this person."
And they are like, "You are crazy, what if they kill you, " and "they are strangers and it's the internet."
Every single person I've ever met that I saw on YouTube, meeting them in person was exactly like knowing them.
00:35:01:16 LisaNova is a big celebrity on YouTube. LisaNova subscribed to my videos, and it made me so happy. I thought, well, if LisaNova subscribed to my videos, I'm probably doing the right thing. And you know, I've never talked to Lisa before; we emailed before back and forth and stuff. And she is like, "Yeah, why don't you come to my house tomorrow." Next thing I know the next day I'm in her house, and we never talked so it's a little awkward when you don't have the relationship built on the internet before you start in real life talking.
00:35:28:05 So it's really weird. But it was great. She was so welcoming and we did this her first live show ever. We are together and everyone's like, "Oh my God, OlgaKay at LisaNova's house! That's crazy!"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I know!"
And they are like, "We didn't even know you were friends."
And I'm like, "Me neither."
00:35:45:16 It's always funny when you meet someone who you know online, and they are as famous to you as a big movie star or something because of how much time you spend in that area being YouTube.
00:35:54:26 There are people out there like you. Having these gatherings that I do that was the main thing. YouTubers together? There was no community when I started. The site was a few thousand users. I felt like these people had something in common with me.
00:36:07:08 I want to get in on this. When I first had the As One gathering, I just made a video saying, "Hey, I'm coming to Los Angeles. If anybody is going to be out there, come hang out because it would be cool."
00:36:28:08 These gatherings are really good for the community, and yeah, community is nothing more than a bunch of people that have common interests.
00:36:35:27 YouTube is one of the best communities I've ever been involved with just because it's dynamic. I mean you have those moments where people are so one way or the other: either they are really nice, really cool or they are gunning for you; I mean, they don't like you whatsoever. And it's that dynamic that allows people to really be who they are. You really get to know who people are without, you know, just a regular blogs.
00:36:55:29 I'm just happy to be a part of this, man. I'm just looking at all these people, I'm sorry, I'm kind of distracted by the... it's very euphoric. So days like this it's very hard for me to talk because here I am; I'm a YouTube community member. I have more friends, I mean, all of these people know who I am. I know who most of these people are. There are a lot of people here. It's just gonna get bigger.
00:37:34:23 I'm in Toronto for the 888 gathering. I took a bus. I took it from Philly to New York City which was two hours then New York City to Toronto which was like ten. And I had to cross the border and when I got there, they smeared all the stuff around me I guess looking for drugs. They questioned me, "Why are you here?"
I was like, "I'm here for the gathering."
And they were like, "OK, are you under eighteen?
I was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Do you have note from your mom?"
I was like, "What???"
Am I in the middle school or something? I don't know.
I was like, "No."
Then I had to call my mom at like five a.m. And they started questioning me, "Why are you going to the gathering? Who is KevJumba?" I was staying with KevJumba and they were like, "Who is KevJumba?" And they looked at me like, who is this KevJumba guy? Have you ever met him?
00:37:53:07 We slept... oh, we shouldn't tell them. That's bad.
00:37:56:20 We shared a bed.
00:37:57:22 Oh, why did you...
00:37:59:25 That's why they called my mom because they didn't believe me.
They were like, "So he is here for a YouTube gathering with internet people?"
And my mom was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Oh, ok, ok."
Because I didn't have a note.
00:38:06:27 DaveDays is definitely one of my favorites. It's cool to come to the gatherings and to hang out with these people whose videos you watch all the time, you know? And then all of a sudden you are touching them. I saw the Winekone and I was like, "Are you real?" And trying to touch him. It's cool because all these people on there are amazing. Everybody has an amazing talent. I think everyone there has something to offer.
00:38:55:20 I'm here with Kicesie at the YouTube Live. Bunch of YouTube popular people.
00:39:01:01 I've had offers to go into television, and I kind of almost thought that would be taking a step backwards. YouTube is just gonna grow and grow until... I think it's going to overtake TV. I'm sticking with the internet because I really do think that is the future.
00:39:19:04 What got me started? Boredom. Really just boredom and then greed. And then boredom again. This is my job now. That's all I really have to do. I work two hours a day and that's it. I feel like a douche every time I explain that. I'm doing something I like and I'm getting paid for it.
00:39:37:10 It's only going to get bigger.
00:39:38:14 Do you know who I am? Michael Buckley! Thank you! What is your YouTube channel?
00:39:43:26 -Michael Buckley! Michael Buckley!
-Right here, right here!
00:39:46:14 The worst thing any of us can do as internet personalities is be like screw you internet. I'm gonna go be a TV or a movie star. This is what launched us and this is what gave us the opportunity.
00:39:55:22 You know YouTube is only less than three years old. Celebrity is kind of thrown out of the window in the world of YouTube. YouTube celebrities are fans of YouTube celebrities.
00:40:02:15 I do watch YouTube. I favorite a lots of videos from Fred to Daxflame to Tay Zonday. They are the best.
00:40:08:03 I was really excited to see Katy Perry.
00:40:10:10 I got to meet Katy Perry. She is nice. I didn't know she had videos but I will... I will see them.
00:40:17:04 It's crazy. You look around and everyone from YouTube is here basically. So far I haven't met Fred yet. He is the only guy I haven't met.
00:40:23:05 ... and Esmée Denters...
00:40:24:09 I started singing covers on YouTube, and that's how I got signed. So it's an amazing experience to be here and to let people hear my original song.
00:40:34:26 I'm at YouTube Live right now. It's a big event where all the YouTubers and all their friends, everybody just comes out together, and we all have a good time, and there is a show and everything. It's a big event.
00:40:42:29 I put the plane ticket on my mom's credit card, and I don't know if I'll pay her back for that. I don't know.
00:40:47:10 Where do the VIP's go?
00:40:48:27 My phone is just going off the hook.
00:40:50:28 I've been to a number of YouTube gatherings at this point.
She is like, "Oh, it will be fun, it's something we can do together."
And I'm like, "Olga, this is a YouTube trip. This is not about you and me."
00:41:00:05 I don't get it, no. I'm not so much into the whole YouTube scene. It's interesting going to the gatherings because you can see that there is a community there.
00:41:07:27 But who these people are... I don't get it... there is a celebrity community within YouTube.
00:41:13:29 It's like being a secret celebrity in a way 'cause you can be online and people are like, "Ooh, it's Paperlilies." But in real life, you know, nobody has ever recognized me in the street or came up to me and spoken to me or anything like that.
00:41:25:07 I wouldn't say there any real fame to it, I mean, I do get recognized places...
00:41:31:22 I don't know. There is no celebrity status to it right now.
00:41:34:15 Olga gets excited to see these people and I'm like, I don't understand what the fuss is about. You know what I mean?
00:41:38:24 Oh my God, there is Fred! Fred over there!
00:41:41:25 It's unbelievable! I will get to meet Fred right now!
00:41:44:22 - Lucas! Hi. I'm Olga.
- Hey, hey.
00:41:47:16 I'm watching your videos. I love it.
00:41:52:00 Yeah, Fred is here!!!
00:41:53:08 It was weird initially going to these gatherings and just not really getting it, you know. I was definitely on the sidelines and kind of like, this is strange. But I'm definitely starting, I guess, to understand or see how these people do have followings, and they are impacting or affecting different people, you know? There are a lot of people that look up to these YouTube personalities.
00:42:29:04 As much as you are friends with everybody on the internet when you part of the community, you are friends with all the people who are on the Most Subscribed list. Yes, there is definitely, definitely a competition.
00:42:40:29 There is really not a competitiveness there when you are speaking with someone, but after you get home, it's like a big video game all over again. You are like, OK well, I'm gonna try to outdo them now. No matter how friend you are with the guy, you still want to try to do that.
00:42:52:28 Passing somebody on the list is...
00:42:55:19 It's a good feeling.
00:42:56:14 Can you imagine how many people every minute uploading videos? Ten hours of footage uploaded on YouTube every minute.
00:43:04:00 Everyone is trying to act and everyone just looks so much better than you and they are maybe so much more talented.
00:43:10:20 "The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed." -Nelson Boswell
00:43:14:03 Because Whatthebuck was in one of my videos, I got more subscribers.
00:43:18:04 I'll say it. At one of the gatherings I met Mr. Safety, and he is such a creative guy and so fun, and I always wanted to get to know him better.
00:43:21:11 He has this cat, Sparta, that is... I swear Sparta is more famous that I am on the internet. He said, "Olga, you've never been at my place. Come over and hang out with my cat Sparta, and maybe we can make videos together. Mr. Safety is just so powerful on YouTube. Because of that video I got like, I don't know, a thousand of subscribers. Just because I played with his cat.
00:43:39:24 At one of the gatherings I also met Sxephil who is so dominant on YouTube right now.
00:43:44:13 Everyone is like, "He is a YouTube celebrity," which I think is the most ridiculous thing to say ever 'cause we are all just people on the internet.
00:43:50:08 So he promoted me and the next day I got over five thousand subscribers. And I was like, oh my God. I've been working for two and a half years and I got thirty five hundred subscribers and then over night I just got extra five thousand. And from that day it just kept growing and growing and growing.
00:44:20:21 "There are many things we hate in others in order not to have to hate them in ourselves." -Anonymous
00:44:25:17 On YouTube there is a lot of positivity. But with that positivity does come negativity.
00:44:31:14 "I hope you die."
"You wasted three minutes out of my life."
And "I hope your house burns down," and, "You are so gay," and, "You're so... " Oh, such stupid comments.
00:44:42:17 First stalker that I can remember was named Kerri Ann. She was in New York and she was about thirty four and she was sending me messages. She started to get pretty hot and heavy and creepy like, "I love you," and, "I want to be with you. I'm going to move out there next month," kind of stuff.
00:44:57:09 And I am just being friendly. I'm just talking to you and you are going to a whole new level of creepytude. So I stopped talking to her. You know, I sent her that message and I didn't read anything. So by email, by MySpace, by YouTube messaging, anywhere I popped up online or at least logged in, she would send me a message. All day, every day for like months.
00:45:15:23 One thing about the internet is putting yourself out there. You're really putting yourself out there. I mean everything: your personality, your feelings, everything that makes you you.
00:45:25:26 Haters... I just ignore them. I don't mind them at all because the more haters the more popular you are. So, I don't mind them at all.
00:45:32:06 You know, controversy is not the worst thing and haters aren't really the worse thing. It's all part of the course.
00:45:37:18 There was a guy who commented all the time who seemed obsessed, and somehow we corresponded. His name is DaveDays, and he was just constantly contacting us. He was telling Lisa how much he loved her and it was actually me responding to him, and he didn't realize it. And it just got really awkward. He was saying sexual things to me thinking it was Lisa, but it was really inappropriate.
00:46:00:28 -It was you the whole time?
-It was me the whole time.
00:46:03:21 -Really?
-Yeah.
00:46:05:02 That's weird. That changes everything.
00:46:09:20 One time I was in the mall and this fourteen fifteen year old girl screams, "Oh my God! Is that Boheme?"
00:46:15:10 I'm like, "Do I know you? How drunk was I?" I really didn't know what was going on, and then she mentioned she knew me through YouTube.
00:46:21:17 I guess I've hit another level of something, you know? Very strange.
00:46:26:28 Dealing with bad comments is something that I'm continuously working on because it's... digs on you. It's bad because they are attacking something you put time and effort into. Something that you think is awesome and people are going to enjoy. And they are like, no, it's bad." And you are like, aaaah.
00:46:44:05 It's never that civil either. They say the worst things, and always in the most cutting way that they can.
00:46:50:17 It gets overwhelming or you can get burned out and you just feel like being creative and so that causes more stress and pressure to keep putting out quality videos. Right out of the gate we had success, and we kind of just expected big things and so... you know, we work on a lot of different things and if something falls through, you have a tendency to get upset or disappointed. It demotivates you like is this ever going to happen or are we crazy?
00:47:14:00 The YouTube has become very consuming. You are working together, living together so... I try to be a motivator.
00:47:19:18 What should I do? Do you need help with anything?
00:47:21:29 Why don't you just come back here?
00:47:24:01 We just take breaks when we need to. Trying to get that balance where it's not affecting your relationship is definitely tough, but we've managed to do great so far, so I think it's testament for how much we love each other.
00:47:36:28 I had forty or fifty thousand views on a bunch of sequential videos, and then it plummeted to like 15K. Just like half the audience or three quarters of the audience just gone.
00:47:46:16 Initially loosing views really made me want to do good videos, get more views, get it back, get my place, and then I just stopped really caring about placement and viewership.
00:47:57:07 I'm probably going to quit.
00:48:01:01 My friend Boheme... he know where he wants to go. He just wants to be in an entertainment. He just doesn't want to go in the same direction that I'm in as far as product placement. That happens.
00:48:12:27 Mr. Safety is cheesy. YouTube is so... YouTube and video making is so much of a part of his life. I'm slightly jealous just because I would like that.
00:48:21:24 I realize that it is a huge drop, and those people were in a way giving me exposure and money through ads and stuff like that. I have an animosity towards advertising and the capitalist consumption machine where you have to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Buy this and not that. This is better. These guys suck. And seeing ads everywhere you go...
00:48:45:18 I actually think being a waiter is going to be better for me anyway. You know, less responsibility, go flirt with the host stand, you get five hours of work and sometimes you walk out with two hundred bucks.
00:48:54:27 It seems some people have been waiting tables twenty years and they are happy as pig in shit. I mean, they do it every day with a big old shitty little grin. They are just happy.
00:49:03:29 That seems to be the way for me.
00:49:14:29 "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." -Richard Bach
00:49:33:10 So funny how the internet allows one guy who just works all this stuff by himself without any knowledge or training whatsoever and I can go out here and do this.
00:49:46:08 It's weird. Internet is so weird. But I love it.
00:49:50:18 If I can do YouTube and do music and do all that, I'd definitely do that. But I should go to college just because... to get it out of the way in case YouTube fails in the end.
049:59:28 Our goals are, of course, to stay on YouTube and stay as relevant on YouTube, and I think that we, both Danny and I, believe that the future is in the internet and that the mediums are just going to merge at some point. TV will be internet and internet will be TV, and so we want to stay as relevant on the internet as possible.
00:50:18:21 YouTube is the starting point. I'm so happy to be on the internet and be making friends and videos because without it, I'd probably feel a little bit lost. So it definitely completes my life.
00:50:30:16 Traditional media isn't something I want to do. My foot is so well planted in a new media. The money is here; it's that people don't know how to get it yet. I don't wanna have to follow other people's rules. I wanna just do what I wanna do and be an artist.
00:50:44:09 People who are becoming popular on internet right now they are going to be Tom Cruises of internet. Those are the people who we are going to watch ten years from now and say, "Oh my gosh, I remember when he started on the internet and we thought it was a crazy idea."
00:51:01:09 Yeah, I don't know if you are going to replace your Tom Cruises or Brad Pitts, but...
00:51:17:17 I'm addicted. I don't know about you but I don't even watch TV anymore. I can't wait to get home. How many subscribers we've got? Oh my God, this guy said we suck!
00:51:30:13 We're just standing around, you know. The 2009 juggling competition is a big thing, and we've all been practicing all year. He's got a new six-ball routine that he's been working on. I still only have two small balls.
Butterflies
Transcript 52 minutes

00:00:00:00 "The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity." -George Carlin
00:00:17:17 My name is Jill. I am thirty and ...what are you asking me? And my screen name on YouTube is XgobobeanX.
00:00:28:09 People ask me, "Do you ever get recognized in public?" They were all calling me Boheme. I had to sign autographs. I signed my screen name. I mean… who does that?
00:00:37:16 When I meet people, I go, "Hey, are you on YouTube?" And that’s how I socialize these days. When I am not on YouTube I…I edit the videos for YouTube.
00:00:49:13 Being famous on the Internet is a lot more appealing to me. Television is going downhill. They are trying to go reality but how much more real can you get than YouTube?
00:00:57:22 At school, yeah, I feel like everybody now knows that I am like the YouTube guy. They’re like, "Oh, that’s the kid that makes videos." So it gives me a greater sense of confidence but it’s kind of weird knowing that everybody knows who you are. But it’s been really cool I like it.
00:01:10:08 Life is great. If we didn’t have YouTube, we don’t have the audience, we don’t have the views, we don’t have all these things that it has awarded us. So I think we'd just be struggling a bit more.
00:01:34:05 How do you find the entertainment from people being themselves? What Hollywood has to do is figure out the distinction between being an actor and a celebrity. They have to be extreme personalities, people that have some flamboyant persona.
00:01:46:23 The traditional media is always trying to figure it out. But it’s like we’ve already figured it out. Like the new…. we've already figured it out. And all these TV shows they are driving traffic to their websites. Go to NBC dot com. We are already there!
00:01:58:00 YouTube is about keeping it real. Youtube is about vlogging. Youtube is not about big old fancy cameras, crazy cool microphones and sound guys. If you really want to know what YouTube is about, you got to get in YouTube.
00:02:10:21 We look up the sketches on YouTube and for us it's a great resource.
00:02:13:19 The first stop in making it is just to get people to see what you do. YouTube is just the newest coolest platform.
00:02:22:01 It's just a new world, man.
00:02:37:00 YouTube was launched in 2005 and allowed users to upload videos and share them with the world wide audience. Today, YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the Internet with more than 5 billion videos viewed a month.
00:02:48:02 The more creative users developed a strong following and their celebrity grew with the number of views on their videos. Their YouTube channels attract the attention of sponsors and they are being offered appearances in traditional media on daily basis. This is the story of six of them.
00:03:04:13 Being famous on YouTube is such an interesting thing. Because of what I do, the videos that I post, people feel like they know me.
00:03:13:10 I got this little kitty about two months back. He was the nicest little kitty now a pain in my crack. This little kitty....
00:03:18:11 When you are known on the Internet or when you are famous or popular or whatever it may be, it's a different world. I mean, if you are not famous, if you are not popular and all that good stuff, you think about things like that. You think a little bit too much about what you would do if you were in a situation but when you are actually here, it's... it's like... it's a same thing except people know who you are.
00:03:39:26 ... in the closet and you just won't care. Kitty chews on my shoes and he licks up my hair always scratching on my favorite chair and jumping on the couch, playing on the window sills and tearing through the house. He is so full of energy and easily amused; kitty will attack anything that moves causing troubles starting battles....
00:03:58:09 When I started, it was such an odd thing. You have to understand at the time we started, it was just something that... I've never even heard of YouTube. Nobody was talking about it; it didn't really quite make sense... people were making videos. It wasn't something that was just common knowledge. So it was this really odd thing and just getting submersed in the world was just fascinating... looking at all these videos. Putting one up was sort of challenging because it was such an odd thing to me.
00:04:21:07 Welcome, George Bush.
00:04:22:19 Thank you for having me, Ashley. I love... I love Orange County.
00:04:25:14 People love to trash you. They are like, "George Bush, he is the worst president of all time. His approval ratings are abysmal. He is stupid and incompetent." When you really think about it, you are like the smartest, greatest president of all time.
00:04:36:23 -Yeah.
-Because you've got everything you've ever wanted. I mean, the Iraq War, you wanted that from day one. And like it took you a few years to get it but you've got it.
00:04:43:21 I don't.... I don't worry about anything because.... ummm... because I am already President, you know, and...ummm... there isn't gonna be any...ummm.... percussions.... um.... there isn't gonna be any persussion at this...um.... you know, I mean... there... anyway, there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point... is my point. That's what I'm trying to say, so... yeah... I mean, we are good. I'm golden. So, yeah... I feel fine.
00:05:08:26 It was such an exciting experience putting something out there and having somebody reply to it immediately and just comment. And I was able to comment every single person that commented me at the time. And to get instant feedback it was so exciting, you know, and especially 'cause we've been shooting things and doing things we couldn't get anybody to look at it... to have people care about some small little video you did was just so exciting.
00:05:31:24 Hi Johny, how are you doing? Isn't it so great that we get to make more and more Pirates of the Caribean? But what if they don't want to make more? Then what sequal are we going to do together? You know, I've been thinking and I have some ideas. What if we did Fear and Loathing Brooklyn? You know, a sequal to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Except this time I'm a girl that's hooked on LSD, but my family is in the Mafia, you know, and we are in Blooklyn all the time like, "Whatcha doing? Forget about it. Forget about it." Is that a great idea, Johny?
00:06:09:08 That's a terrible idea.
00:06:11:19 Most people didn't know YouTube at the time so for us... I wasn't really telling anybody, "Hey, check out this site." It was a fun place to sort of try these fun zany little videos, and I didn't know at the time where it would go and how big it would get. Like I said it sort of, you know, just... word of mouth it spread, and then in just became more and more natural, and it was just.... it was very excting.
00:06:37:13 I made some of my first videos about LisaNova. So then she favorited it and helped promote them which definitely got me views and more subscribers.
00:06:45:05 I record the music all by myself...
00:06:47:08 Because we are eight years apart, I should have known from the start it won't work out it won't work out.
00:06:59:13 It definitely has been overwhelming but I guess... it is overwhelming but I try to keep cool about it and I think it's.... I think it's pretty cool. I don't get too overwhelmed by the popularity but it definitely has changed my whole life and my perspective on a lot of things.
00:07:13:14 I get a lot of fan mail which is really cool. I try to respond to most of it, but I like the fans a lot, yeah, but it gets overwhelming when I get too many; it's hard to reply. But, I mean, they're the reason why I still make videos and why I keep doing music. So without the fans, I mean, I wouldn't even be here so...
00:07:28:20 I won't let them arrest you I'll always protect you. The older guys don't treat you right. You're searching for someone, but you have found no one I can be there tonight. She said, "Are you really eighteen? I need to see some ID on that one."
00:07:46:29 I mean it's really cool to have a lot of girls all over you but... I think it's really cool. I'm happy I like it.
00:07:53:15 ... almost nineteen. You're leading me on. Girl, you are leading me on. And I'm not that strong. No, I'm not that strong.
00:08:10:04 Olga is the YouTuber. She is OlgaKay. Some of the videos that she puts up I...
00:08:18:23 Just say it...
00:08:19:22 Well, I mean, it's not that bad. It's just... some of them, I guess, I don't necesarilly understand or get.
00:08:26:00 Oh, I'm so nervous, you know. I've never done this. What? We are live already? Oh, oh, oh...
00:08:46:16 Give me my shrink.
00:08:48:02 Hello, my dear viewers. Thank you so much for joining this program. I'm starting my new session here on YouTube and today is the first shrinkingsation with one of your favorite YouTubers out there. You all know her. You all call her YouTube celebrity. But she's still a real person, therefore, she is crazy. Therefore... I didn't even know I knew that word.
00:09:13:21 I think Olga sees probably the potential on it more than I do. That's not to take anything away from you or YouTube but, you know, for me it's something fun. I just I like to post up there just to, I guess, get stuff out. I think YouTube's been such a part of Olga's life at this point it's hard for me to remember life without YouTube. Her life is YouTube right now.
00:09:34:29 Once you realize that there is more opportunities into it, you get into this...
00:09:52:22 -Yeah.
-Oh, wow, YouTube is a huge community that you can make whatever you want out of it.
00:09:56:21 I guess I didn't get it. I didn't understand, you know, what it was all about and I'm starting to see a little bit more the potential that is there for YouTube.
00:10:04:13 YouTube has definitely opened up so many doors and jobs. It's a big part of my life. At first I didn't know YouTube had vloggers on it. I thought it was just movies and cartoons and all that other stuff.
00:10:17:18 But then I saw a couple of people on there, normal people talking, making silly videos and I said: "If they can do that, I can do that." And I just sat in my bedroom, recorded, put it out there, got a subcriber and I was like, "Holy shit! One subscriber is amazing!" And then I just became addicted.
00:10:41:00 The dogie diper.
00:10:43:18 Through rain...
00:10:45:23 Earhquakes...
00:10:48:11 Trippy effects...
00:10:50:05 Electricity...
00:10:51:20 Very easy to apply as you can see here.
00:10:56:16 Dogie dipers... there are for the rescue.
00:11:00:25 And sleep like you did... before your dog was a peeing machine.
00:11:05:23 I've had Lucky for about two years. She is usually in my videos and my subscribers love her. So many people I've never met have been so in love with her. I'm waiting for her to get famous like when I'm walking here, "Hey, that's Lucky!"
00:11:21:29 People watched my videos for me and for her. It's really funny. Two years ago I would have never thought I'd be here. I was in a crappy job, completely depressed out of my life, broke up with a boyfriend. It was just hard. And just uploading that first video and just realizing that the community is there and friends you can make. It completely has transformed me.
00:11:50:11 And it just feels like, you know, some sort of either a flower that's budding or a little catapilar that's just waiting for it's wings to expand to a butterfly.
00:12:22:21 The reason I started making videos was for Steve-O in Jackass. He was casting a new show that was... I think it was set to film that year. This was about two years ago. So I did firebreathing and juggling and magic tricks and stuff like that for the camera, you know, and I've never really done a recording before. But I've never heard back from him, so I wanted to show my family that, you know, look at me kinda thing. Then I started noticing there were video bloggers on YouTube.
00:12:51:08 I'm an opinionated guy so I had to go and say my thing about it. I just sit there and think of stuff and just kind of roll it there as much as I can. Everything is by the seat of my pants. I just riff on whatever I want to talk about.
00:13:01:29 Greetings from the frozen south. This needs some explanation. I'd like to previse this by saying I'm a complete and total pussy when it comes down to the cold.
00:13:12:05 I know a lot of you are going to be like, "Uhuhuh, he is a pussy when it comes to everything." But I'm a Florida boy. Specificaly cold... it just kicks my ass.
00:13:22:10 Ahhh, God!
00:13:25:01 So this is Boheme, being a complete and total pansy in Alabama, signing off.
00:13:30:13 I pretty much started out with some family watching videos but making video logs and doing them regularly was really kind of a weird leap for me. I've never been one to promote myself. I just kind of did videos until I saw people getting the momentum, and then they would tell people.
00:13:58:04 "Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money." -Owen Laughlin
00:19:56:04 I do care about how many subscribers I have. I do care about how many views I get.
00:14:07:01 I have over 17,000.
00:14:11:02 About 42,000.
00:14:13:25 I have around 87,000 I think...
00:14:17:06 I have 111,000 subscribers and like 50 million views.
00:14:22:00 I can do this for a living, you know. I'm at the point now to where I'll make enough money to where I don't have to work anymore.
00:14:28:09 I do make some income with YouTube and the partnership program. Partnership on YouTube is just a program; they allow ads to pop up on your videos. You get a portion of people that click on the ads. But only really make any money if you get a lot of views on your videos.
00:14:48:17 I've had a lot of sponsorship opportunities. Product placements stuff right now is huge.
00:14:54:17 I'm not gonna go out and say drink Pepsi, you know, it's just having it in there.
00:59:08 It's pretty good money, I think. I'm reallly happy with it. It's pretty good money, yeah.
00:15:04:00 I don't think it's inconceivable to see a full time video bloggers within the next six months being a regular thing.
00:15:11:15 I just think it would be such a pretty world if we didn't have fucking airplanes dragging, you know, their little.. whatever it is... the little banner behind it and didn't see ads on the sides of buses and the bus stops and everywhere you go you see some ads, some dot com, some service or product. It's irritating. So for me to cross the line and say, "Drink Coors Light it's the best" really, really puts a thorn in my underwear. It's not good.
00:15:36:16 Hey, if I can get money for it to help promote my.. not necessarily myself but my art, then that's good.
00:15:45:09 For the last two three months or so I've actually been bringing in anywhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars a month. It looks like I'm possibly going to be bringing in probably about sixty thousand this next month.
00:15:57:25 It's been a big lifestyle change. Of course I bought all the stuff I've been wanting like the better camera, the audio, the... you know, whatever I wanted. And now all the money that we have is just being put away because we're looking to get a house.
00:16:11:01 All of a sudeen he is huge and Mr. Fabulous and everybody was crazy.
00:16:16:11 It's not really a big deal to me. He does everything that you want a guy to do. Except do the dishes.
00:16:24:01 "I won't be happy till I'm as famous as God." -Madonna
00:16:29:23 Everyone who is on YouTube they either want to get famous they want attention. Oh, people who say, "Oh, we don't care about attention." I'm like, "Why are you putting yourself out there?" You're putting such a personal information out there. People make videos, really creative videos, really putting so much energy because people are realizing that if one right person sees you on YouTube, they can change your life forever. A lot of popular YouTubers go on and say, "You know, we're on YouTube not because of the popularity."
"We don't care about getting famous."
"We don't care about getting discovered."
"We don't care about making money."
Or, "We don't care about if people watch us or not. If nobody watched us, we would still be making videos."
00:17:01:29 And I have to disagree with that because when you spend like six hours a day trying to come up with an idea, film it, edit it, promote it so at least a thousand people see your video... I think people lie when they just say, "Oh, we really don't care. We do it just for fun." I don't really believe that. It's just... nah.
00:17:23:19 You know, I've never been concerned about, "Ooh, did they recognize me?" I honestly don't care. I just put that video out there because I was having fun. I'm not trying to be famous but it is nice to be known for my work.
00:17:35:20 I got an email from a casting director at MADtv and she is like, "I like your videos," and, "Do you do characters and impersonations?" It was a kind of a shock to hear that they wanted me to be acting and I just said, "Oh, of course I do." They just hired me for the last part of the season. It was just interesting seeing that world and... versus the YouTube world where you have all this control and then at MADtv you don't really have control. There's all these producers and everybody telling you what to do and what to say and how to say it.
00:18:01:04 Celebrities are just normal people just like we are. The difference between a new media personality and a Hollywood celebrity is the fact that a Hollywood celebrity is paid to be famous, and we just aren't. They do watch YouTube. They watch it, and I think that a lot of them actually take their ideas from YouTube. They find people who are creative and funny, but a lot of them won't admit it because they don't want to push their viewers to the internet because that's not where they are at.
00:18:32:08 VH1 gave me a call and they said, "Hey, we want you to come to a casting call for one of the shows that we have. We think you'd be really good for it."
00:18:41:01 And it was... it was a stripper show about male strippers. So I drove all the way to LA. I had no money but I was like, "I'm gonna do this," and, "This is my future." I'm gonna be famous now. So I went to LA and sure enough I did the casting thing. And they looked at me and they said, "You know you sure as hell are not sexy but you look stupid doing it and it was funny."
00:19:08:14 And the whole time they are laughing at me. I was like, "What? I'm being serious," and I was trying to do these sexy moves. I did really good. I did really, really good. And yeah, I failed that casting call so bad I promised myself I'd never go back to another casting call like that again.
00:19:45:25 It's really hard for me to get subscribers. I don't know why, but I'd say I worked really hard to get those subscribers. I created these business cards where I put my YouTube link only and some pictures. I make thousands of those cards and I would go around town and I would just drop them everywhere. Like whoever I meet I just give it to them.
00:20:06:02 I had to work so hard to be here and to prove myself. And people are disciplined in Russia which is hard discipline... smack... you can't do that, you have to show up, you have to do stuff, you can't give up, you have to practice. If you don't practice, you're not going to get anywhere.
00:20:21:21 -Don't cover my face!
-I'm sorry.
00:20:23:29 -Well, I actually liked your arm better up here.
-Up here?
-Yeah.
-OK.
00:20:28:06 -Stop picking on me.
-Sorry.
00:20:30:12 When I told my mom I was dating a girl from Russia that used to be in A circus and she joggles, my mom was like, "Ok... interesting."
00:20:37:19 I always wanted to be an entertainer ever since I was five years old. I started travelling with a circus when I was twelve thirteen years old and two years after that I came to America.
00:20:49:20 Olga is a performer. You know what I mean? I do think that's what she was born to do-to perform and entertain in some avenue.
00:21:05:19 We were both at a party. I saw this flicker of a lighter behind me and when I turned around it Cory playing with a lighter. I stole it from him and we started talking and he was like, "Come here!" and he drags me into the back yard and he has a can of Pam cooking spray in his hand. And he grabs a lighter and he sprays the Pam on his leg and lights it on fire. It was really funny so I started laughing.
00:21:34:00 And ever since we've been... we don't leave each other.
00:21:38:13 This is where I belong. Everything would be OK as long as I was with him.
00:21:44:23 Lisa and I met five or six years ago and we just had a lot in common. We didn't start dating or anything right away but we ended up going out a couple of years later.
00:21:57:05 He'd been doing production for years and we got together and joined forces and he found YouTube and he started posting videos and he is like, "You should post some videos."
00:22:05:00 I was always interested in films and acting in them. It was kind of hard thing to explain; there is a site and you put up videos...
00:22:11:23 And then there the whole commenting and interaction and feedback from people...
00:22:15:11 It's a lot of comedy spoofs and parodies of political things, entertainment...
00:22:21:00 Do you mind if we talk a little bit about your album?
00:22:24:09 Totally. That's what it's about. It's always about the music. Um, this album I've entitled it Raw Flesh... um, basically it's... I'm exposing myself. I'm opening up. It's raw. And it's my flesh.
00:22:42:09 Ummm...
00:22:46:22 I think a lot of the reasons we are succesful is it was a much smaller community, so we were one of the first people there. I mean our first video did really well. We got like thirty thousand views on our first video.
00:22:57:03 It was pretty cool. So I just basically became sort of obsessed with YouTube and focused a lot of my spare time. We felt like there is so much opportunity on YouTube. Oh, this could help us transition to mainstream media; maybe we can get a TV show; Lisa can start acting. It was great to get an audience because a lot of time you have a video and it's like you feel so excited if two or three people in a room watching it and suddenly Im like, oh, my God, fifty people watched us in one day. Holy shit!
00:23:21:15 It was just sort odd... me and Danny.... and, you know, it was just an accomplishment for us to be like, OK yeah, people are watching.
00:23:27:17 We knew the power of it immediately.
00:23:39:20 YouTube definitely helped me to put my talent out there, and if somebody was looking for somebody, they would just search Google and my name would come up and my video would come up and at first... well, of course it takes a while to, you know, to people to notice your videos.
00:23:55:29 There are times when I'm like, "Aaah, what video do you want to show me right now?" I know she is all day on YouTube. It's really strange. There is people on there that are, you know, doing ridiculous things they just happen to be taping but then like Mr. Safety. I mean, the songs that he's written about his cat, or whatever it is, it's like, that takes a lot of time. You know what I mean? You can't just do something like that and be like, screw it I'm just going to tape it and see what it turns out. That stuff you have to plan, so you know... I mean people are taking time to make this stuff good, and then you've got the people on there that are just doing stuff to be entertaining and stupid, you know. I think there is the whole spectrum of things. I think as far as whether it's art, it's a complete spectrum. These are people that are gaining celebrity or making careers out of this type of stuff.
00:24:42:26 ... but you will get home sooner or later; it's because of your fingers that you have toilet paper. If you've gotta shit and you're stuck in traffic, your palms will sweat and your ass will twitch, ain't that a bitch. If it starts to come out, just give your cheeks a pinch. Pinchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitch, poop, poop...
00:24:57:14 Make poop was my first song that really took off. And you know it's weird. There was this girl named Emma from Australia. She was my first real fan that didn't know me and didn't give birth to me. She said that the song inspired her so much that she basically stopped herself from commiting a suicide.
00:25:19:07 She was gonna commit suicide and then she saw me, and it just inspired me and then I realized that my poop helped somebody not to commit suicide. But no, it's not about that. It's just a.... It's stupid but I'm kinda getting teary eyed a little bit, but you know, it's kinda good to know that my videos help people. You know that... it's not tears because I'm laughing. It's tears because I'm honestly... happy.
00:25:59:13 I'm Mr. Safety but my real name is Cory. Belive it or not I make poop every morning.
Make poop the people in the USA make poop. The people who live in the UK make poop. The people in the countries of Europe make poop. Everyone around the world just make poop.
00:26:15:29 I eat and I poop and I smoke and I sit just to eat some more to poop some more all the while smoking and wondering how to destroy that rebel base on level five. That's not the way to live.
00:26:26:28 YouTube is a huge part of my life. It really is. To a fault really just because it's not a healthy lifestyle sitting in front of a computer and making videos and obsessing over it and stuff like that. I'm originally from Florida. I grew up there, went to high school there and the day after graduation I went to Huntsville, Alabama. I started recording the videos. I wanted desperately to move out. I didn't like Alabama at all. It just wasn't my kind of place. So I had no money. So I asked all my subscribers if they wanted to send in some money, it would be awesome. This would take me out there you know, and overnight they donated over a thousand dollars to get me out here. Just overnight we're talking twelve sixteen hours. If there was no YouTube, I'd be probably still a waiter. I'd probably be still in Alabama.
00:27:19:14 Before it was just like, "I make videos on YouTube." And now it's like, "Hey! I make videos! Check them out! It's cool." So it's definitely changed my life over the past two years. I found out Lucky had a heart disease about a year ago. She was thirteen and she had so much life in her. I didn't know what to do, and I made this video on YouTube asking people what they think I should do. Should I, you know, go to a doctor, should I put her down? It was just getting really, really bad. And I also said I couldn't afford all of her bills because getting x-rays and echo-kardiograms and bloodwork it just.... I just couldn't afford it. And so many people came to me and said that they would donate and they want to help and they loved Lucky, and it's crazy to know that people care so much about you.
00:28:12:23 So I actually raised enough money to take her to the doctor. And I posted a video, the next day I raised all the money, took her to the specialist. She was there for three hours. She was there for so long. I got her back and the doctor said, "She is really, really, really bad. If we change her medicine, she has good three six months." So I was like, "Oh, that's great; we'll change her medicine." She came out of the animal hospital and she was running around. She was such a bull. She was just full of life. The overwhelming response I got from people from strangers, people I knew: don't worry, your dog is sick but try this, try this doctor, try this remedy, try herbal medicine. Tons of information flew in from people I've never spoke to. YouTube, it's part of my life.
00:28:57:25 I'm gonna get my head shaved.
00:28:59:26 Here you go, honey.
00:29:03:24 Alright.
00:29:04:07 Go ahead and stand behind me, honey.
00:29:08:19 Alright.
00:29:10:05 So here we go.
00:29:20:27 "Will you marry me?"
00:29:23:07 When I was filming that proposal, I... just watching it you feel it over and over and over and over.
00:29:33:24 Stephanie Roby, will you marry me?
00:29:37:20 Yeah!!!
00:29:44:06 Proposing to her was my best video I've ever done.
00:29:48:11 I was really nervous because I get nervous on camera a lot.
00:29:52:25 I don't think I even noticed the camera.
00:29:55:17 I was really happy when he pulled off his hat. That's really what I wanted.
00:30:00:24 I wouldn't choose any other way. I love the way I did it because that was my way.
00:30:06:08 Really, I couldn't see anything other than right there in front of me what was going on. I completely forgot everybody else was in the room.
00:30:13:16 The fact that he was able to pull it off in the end and go back into remembering to talk to the camera and finish that story was beyond what I could have done.
00:30:29:12 Lucky got really, really sick the last month or two. She just kind of fell out of her doggie bed, and it was weird. She just laid right over her doggie bed and was just in this state shock. I went over to her and she was just laying there.
00:30:52:14 I was like, "Lucky, are you ok?"
00:30:56:07 I had called the animal hospital because I didn't know what to do, and they said to bring her right back over. Lucky is about forty pounds or so. So I picked her up and I took her into the car. And so many people were telling me that, "You will know when your dog wants to go."
00:31:16:08 Her constant coughing and...
00:31:24:21 And I had her in a towel and she was laying on me. So I kind of felt she knew that...
00:31:31:11 She knew that was her time, so it was really... good moment in the car.
00:31:54:10 So we got to the animal hospital and... the doctor said they couldn't do anything else. And that was the decision.
00:32:07:09 So I had seen her; they brought her back out for like thirty minutes, and she had IV's, so she was on something. I don't even know. But she was running around the little hospital room like nothing happened.
00:32:30:09 And I just kept thinking I have to make a video telling people that don't know her that she is gone because she was such a huge, huge character in my videos.
00:32:44:06 So posting a video was probably one of the hardest things to do, but I wanted to show not to be sad that she left but to be really happy that she had a great life.
00:33:17:29 "It is in collaboration that the nature of arts is revealed." -Steve Lacy
00:33:21:28 I have to do a video today.
00:33:24:03 OK.
00:33:24:18 And I really need you for the video.
00:33:27:04 Alright.
00:33:27:19 I'm always going to be into collaborating with people.
00:33:30:16 One of the YouTubers that I'm actually helping out right now, because they are kind of... I think they're kind of lost a bit in where they are going, is Ben, Boheme, a really good friend of mine.
00:33:39:09 He is up in Thousand Oaks, you know, and I'm down here in Torrance. That's a good fifty miles of driving on a motocycle in LA traffic or in the middle of the night when it's cold or in the afternoon when it's hot. You know, it kind of sucks that way.
00:33:51:23 I think it's fun doing collabs and people email me asking for collabs. I do a few of them but that's what's fun about collabs- you can do whatever you want. I'm excited to do them with LisaNova for sure.
00:34:00:07 Collaboration videos on YouTube... seems like everybody was doing them.
00:34:05:05 Tons of people are always asking Lisa to collab and it's just overwhelming because you can't do it with everyone.
00:34:09:22 Oh, I love collaborations. Collaboration videoes are key. When you first start on YouTube, it's almost impossible now to get subscribtions unless you kind of network your way around.
00:34:19:09 "Friendship is born when one person says to another: What? You too? Thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
00:34:23:01 We have more friends, more close-built connection with YouTube friends than our real life friends because we have the same ideas in a way. So we just become such close friends because of this website.
00:34:35:27 A lot of times the real life friends, not everyone but a lot of them, don't understand what you are doing. They laugh at you when you say you are on YouTube. They don't understand why you would spend that much time on it.
00:34:45:28 I remember the first time I met someone from YouTube. I said, "Hey, I'm gonna go meet this person."
And they are like, "You are crazy, what if they kill you, " and "they are strangers and it's the internet."
Every single person I've ever met that I saw on YouTube, meeting them in person was exactly like knowing them.
00:35:01:16 LisaNova is a big celebrity on YouTube. LisaNova subscribed to my videos, and it made me so happy. I thought, well, if LisaNova subscribed to my videos, I'm probably doing the right thing. And you know, I've never talked to Lisa before; we emailed before back and forth and stuff. And she is like, "Yeah, why don't you come to my house tomorrow." Next thing I know the next day I'm in her house, and we never talked so it's a little awkward when you don't have the relationship built on the internet before you start in real life talking.
00:35:28:05 So it's really weird. But it was great. She was so welcoming and we did this her first live show ever. We are together and everyone's like, "Oh my God, OlgaKay at LisaNova's house! That's crazy!"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I know!"
And they are like, "We didn't even know you were friends."
And I'm like, "Me neither."
00:35:45:16 It's always funny when you meet someone who you know online, and they are as famous to you as a big movie star or something because of how much time you spend in that area being YouTube.
00:35:54:26 There are people out there like you. Having these gatherings that I do that was the main thing. YouTubers together? There was no community when I started. The site was a few thousand users. I felt like these people had something in common with me.
00:36:07:08 I want to get in on this. When I first had the As One gathering, I just made a video saying, "Hey, I'm coming to Los Angeles. If anybody is going to be out there, come hang out because it would be cool."
00:36:28:08 These gatherings are really good for the community, and yeah, community is nothing more than a bunch of people that have common interests.
00:36:35:27 YouTube is one of the best communities I've ever been involved with just because it's dynamic. I mean you have those moments where people are so one way or the other: either they are really nice, really cool or they are gunning for you; I mean, they don't like you whatsoever. And it's that dynamic that allows people to really be who they are. You really get to know who people are without, you know, just a regular blogs.
00:36:55:29 I'm just happy to be a part of this, man. I'm just looking at all these people, I'm sorry, I'm kind of distracted by the... it's very euphoric. So days like this it's very hard for me to talk because here I am; I'm a YouTube community member. I have more friends, I mean, all of these people know who I am. I know who most of these people are. There are a lot of people here. It's just gonna get bigger.
00:37:34:23 I'm in Toronto for the 888 gathering. I took a bus. I took it from Philly to New York City which was two hours then New York City to Toronto which was like ten. And I had to cross the border and when I got there, they smeared all the stuff around me I guess looking for drugs. They questioned me, "Why are you here?"
I was like, "I'm here for the gathering."
And they were like, "OK, are you under eighteen?
I was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Do you have note from your mom?"
I was like, "What???"
Am I in the middle school or something? I don't know.
I was like, "No."
Then I had to call my mom at like five a.m. And they started questioning me, "Why are you going to the gathering? Who is KevJumba?" I was staying with KevJumba and they were like, "Who is KevJumba?" And they looked at me like, who is this KevJumba guy? Have you ever met him?
00:37:53:07 We slept... oh, we shouldn't tell them. That's bad.
00:37:56:20 We shared a bed.
00:37:57:22 Oh, why did you...
00:37:59:25 That's why they called my mom because they didn't believe me.
They were like, "So he is here for a YouTube gathering with internet people?"
And my mom was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Oh, ok, ok."
Because I didn't have a note.
00:38:06:27 DaveDays is definitely one of my favorites. It's cool to come to the gatherings and to hang out with these people whose videos you watch all the time, you know? And then all of a sudden you are touching them. I saw the Winekone and I was like, "Are you real?" And trying to touch him. It's cool because all these people on there are amazing. Everybody has an amazing talent. I think everyone there has something to offer.
00:38:55:20 I'm here with Kicesie at the YouTube Live. Bunch of YouTube popular people.
00:39:01:01 I've had offers to go into television, and I kind of almost thought that would be taking a step backwards. YouTube is just gonna grow and grow until... I think it's going to overtake TV. I'm sticking with the internet because I really do think that is the future.
00:39:19:04 What got me started? Boredom. Really just boredom and then greed. And then boredom again. This is my job now. That's all I really have to do. I work two hours a day and that's it. I feel like a douche every time I explain that. I'm doing something I like and I'm getting paid for it.
00:39:37:10 It's only going to get bigger.
00:39:38:14 Do you know who I am? Michael Buckley! Thank you! What is your YouTube channel?
00:39:43:26 -Michael Buckley! Michael Buckley!
-Right here, right here!
00:39:46:14 The worst thing any of us can do as internet personalities is be like screw you internet. I'm gonna go be a TV or a movie star. This is what launched us and this is what gave us the opportunity.
00:39:55:22 You know YouTube is only less than three years old. Celebrity is kind of thrown out of the window in the world of YouTube. YouTube celebrities are fans of YouTube celebrities.
00:40:02:15 I do watch YouTube. I favorite a lots of videos from Fred to Daxflame to Tay Zonday. They are the best.
00:40:08:03 I was really excited to see Katy Perry.
00:40:10:10 I got to meet Katy Perry. She is nice. I didn't know she had videos but I will... I will see them.
00:40:17:04 It's crazy. You look around and everyone from YouTube is here basically. So far I haven't met Fred yet. He is the only guy I haven't met.
00:40:23:05 ... and Esmée Denters...
00:40:24:09 I started singing covers on YouTube, and that's how I got signed. So it's an amazing experience to be here and to let people hear my original song.
00:40:34:26 I'm at YouTube Live right now. It's a big event where all the YouTubers and all their friends, everybody just comes out together, and we all have a good time, and there is a show and everything. It's a big event.
00:40:42:29 I put the plane ticket on my mom's credit card, and I don't know if I'll pay her back for that. I don't know.
00:40:47:10 Where do the VIP's go?
00:40:48:27 My phone is just going off the hook.
00:40:50:28 I've been to a number of YouTube gatherings at this point.
She is like, "Oh, it will be fun, it's something we can do together."
And I'm like, "Olga, this is a YouTube trip. This is not about you and me."
00:41:00:05 I don't get it, no. I'm not so much into the whole YouTube scene. It's interesting going to the gatherings because you can see that there is a community there.
00:41:07:27 But who these people are... I don't get it... there is a celebrity community within YouTube.
00:41:13:29 It's like being a secret celebrity in a way 'cause you can be online and people are like, "Ooh, it's Paperlilies." But in real life, you know, nobody has ever recognized me in the street or came up to me and spoken to me or anything like that.
00:41:25:07 I wouldn't say there any real fame to it, I mean, I do get recognized places...
00:41:31:22 I don't know. There is no celebrity status to it right now.
00:41:34:15 Olga gets excited to see these people and I'm like, I don't understand what the fuss is about. You know what I mean?
00:41:38:24 Oh my God, there is Fred! Fred over there!
00:41:41:25 It's unbelievable! I will get to meet Fred right now!
00:41:44:22 - Lucas! Hi. I'm Olga.
- Hey, hey.
00:41:47:16 I'm watching your videos. I love it.
00:41:52:00 Yeah, Fred is here!!!
00:41:53:08 It was weird initially going to these gatherings and just not really getting it, you know. I was definitely on the sidelines and kind of like, this is strange. But I'm definitely starting, I guess, to understand or see how these people do have followings, and they are impacting or affecting different people, you know? There are a lot of people that look up to these YouTube personalities.
00:42:29:04 As much as you are friends with everybody on the internet when you part of the community, you are friends with all the people who are on the Most Subscribed list. Yes, there is definitely, definitely a competition.
00:42:40:29 There is really not a competitiveness there when you are speaking with someone, but after you get home, it's like a big video game all over again. You are like, OK well, I'm gonna try to outdo them now. No matter how friend you are with the guy, you still want to try to do that.
00:42:52:28 Passing somebody on the list is...
00:42:55:19 It's a good feeling.
00:42:56:14 Can you imagine how many people every minute uploading videos? Ten hours of footage uploaded on YouTube every minute.
00:43:04:00 Everyone is trying to act and everyone just looks so much better than you and they are maybe so much more talented.
00:43:10:20 "The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed." -Nelson Boswell
00:43:14:03 Because Whatthebuck was in one of my videos, I got more subscribers.
00:43:18:04 I'll say it. At one of the gatherings I met Mr. Safety, and he is such a creative guy and so fun, and I always wanted to get to know him better.
00:43:21:11 He has this cat, Sparta, that is... I swear Sparta is more famous that I am on the internet. He said, "Olga, you've never been at my place. Come over and hang out with my cat Sparta, and maybe we can make videos together. Mr. Safety is just so powerful on YouTube. Because of that video I got like, I don't know, a thousand of subscribers. Just because I played with his cat.
00:43:39:24 At one of the gatherings I also met Sxephil who is so dominant on YouTube right now.
00:43:44:13 Everyone is like, "He is a YouTube celebrity," which I think is the most ridiculous thing to say ever 'cause we are all just people on the internet.
00:43:50:08 So he promoted me and the next day I got over five thousand subscribers. And I was like, oh my God. I've been working for two and a half years and I got thirty five hundred subscribers and then over night I just got extra five thousand. And from that day it just kept growing and growing and growing.
00:44:20:21 "There are many things we hate in others in order not to have to hate them in ourselves." -Anonymous
00:44:25:17 On YouTube there is a lot of positivity. But with that positivity does come negativity.
00:44:31:14 "I hope you die."
"You wasted three minutes out of my life."
And "I hope your house burns down," and, "You are so gay," and, "You're so... " Oh, such stupid comments.
00:44:42:17 First stalker that I can remember was named Kerri Ann. She was in New York and she was about thirty four and she was sending me messages. She started to get pretty hot and heavy and creepy like, "I love you," and, "I want to be with you. I'm going to move out there next month," kind of stuff.
00:44:57:09 And I am just being friendly. I'm just talking to you and you are going to a whole new level of creepytude. So I stopped talking to her. You know, I sent her that message and I didn't read anything. So by email, by MySpace, by YouTube messaging, anywhere I popped up online or at least logged in, she would send me a message. All day, every day for like months.
00:45:15:23 One thing about the internet is putting yourself out there. You're really putting yourself out there. I mean everything: your personality, your feelings, everything that makes you you.
00:45:25:26 Haters... I just ignore them. I don't mind them at all because the more haters the more popular you are. So, I don't mind them at all.
00:45:32:06 You know, controversy is not the worst thing and haters aren't really the worse thing. It's all part of the course.
00:45:37:18 There was a guy who commented all the time who seemed obsessed, and somehow we corresponded. His name is DaveDays, and he was just constantly contacting us. He was telling Lisa how much he loved her and it was actually me responding to him, and he didn't realize it. And it just got really awkward. He was saying sexual things to me thinking it was Lisa, but it was really inappropriate.
00:46:00:28 -It was you the whole time?
-It was me the whole time.
00:46:03:21 -Really?
-Yeah.
00:46:05:02 That's weird. That changes everything.
00:46:09:20 One time I was in the mall and this fourteen fifteen year old girl screams, "Oh my God! Is that Boheme?"
00:46:15:10 I'm like, "Do I know you? How drunk was I?" I really didn't know what was going on, and then she mentioned she knew me through YouTube.
00:46:21:17 I guess I've hit another level of something, you know? Very strange.
00:46:26:28 Dealing with bad comments is something that I'm continuously working on because it's... digs on you. It's bad because they are attacking something you put time and effort into. Something that you think is awesome and people are going to enjoy. And they are like, no, it's bad." And you are like, aaaah.
00:46:44:05 It's never that civil either. They say the worst things, and always in the most cutting way that they can.
00:46:50:17 It gets overwhelming or you can get burned out and you just feel like being creative and so that causes more stress and pressure to keep putting out quality videos. Right out of the gate we had success, and we kind of just expected big things and so... you know, we work on a lot of different things and if something falls through, you have a tendency to get upset or disappointed. It demotivates you like is this ever going to happen or are we crazy?
00:47:14:00 The YouTube has become very consuming. You are working together, living together so... I try to be a motivator.
00:47:19:18 What should I do? Do you need help with anything?
00:47:21:29 Why don't you just come back here?
00:47:24:01 We just take breaks when we need to. Trying to get that balance where it's not affecting your relationship is definitely tough, but we've managed to do great so far, so I think it's testament for how much we love each other.
00:47:36:28 I had forty or fifty thousand views on a bunch of sequential videos, and then it plummeted to like 15K. Just like half the audience or three quarters of the audience just gone.
00:47:46:16 Initially loosing views really made me want to do good videos, get more views, get it back, get my place, and then I just stopped really caring about placement and viewership.
00:47:57:07 I'm probably going to quit.
00:48:01:01 My friend Boheme... he know where he wants to go. He just wants to be in an entertainment. He just doesn't want to go in the same direction that I'm in as far as product placement. That happens.
00:48:12:27 Mr. Safety is cheesy. YouTube is so... YouTube and video making is so much of a part of his life. I'm slightly jealous just because I would like that.
00:48:21:24 I realize that it is a huge drop, and those people were in a way giving me exposure and money through ads and stuff like that. I have an animosity towards advertising and the capitalist consumption machine where you have to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Buy this and not that. This is better. These guys suck. And seeing ads everywhere you go...
00:48:45:18 I actually think being a waiter is going to be better for me anyway. You know, less responsibility, go flirt with the host stand, you get five hours of work and sometimes you walk out with two hundred bucks.
00:48:54:27 It seems some people have been waiting tables twenty years and they are happy as pig in shit. I mean, they do it every day with a big old shitty little grin. They are just happy.
00:49:03:29 That seems to be the way for me.
00:49:14:29 "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." -Richard Bach
00:49:33:10 So funny how the internet allows one guy who just works all this stuff by himself without any knowledge or training whatsoever and I can go out here and do this.
00:49:46:08 It's weird. Internet is so weird. But I love it.
00:49:50:18 If I can do YouTube and do music and do all that, I'd definitely do that. But I should go to college just because... to get it out of the way in case YouTube fails in the end.
049:59:28 Our goals are, of course, to stay on YouTube and stay as relevant on YouTube, and I think that we, both Danny and I, believe that the future is in the internet and that the mediums are just going to merge at some point. TV will be internet and internet will be TV, and so we want to stay as relevant on the internet as possible.
00:50:18:21 YouTube is the starting point. I'm so happy to be on the internet and be making friends and videos because without it, I'd probably feel a little bit lost. So it definitely completes my life.
00:50:30:16 Traditional media isn't something I want to do. My foot is so well planted in a new media. The money is here; it's that people don't know how to get it yet. I don't wanna have to follow other people's rules. I wanna just do what I wanna do and be an artist.
00:50:44:09 People who are becoming popular on internet right now they are going to be Tom Cruises of internet. Those are the people who we are going to watch ten years from now and say, "Oh my gosh, I remember when he started on the internet and we thought it was a crazy idea."
00:51:01:09 Yeah, I don't know if you are going to replace your Tom Cruises or Brad Pitts, but...
00:51:17:17 I'm addicted. I don't know about you but I don't even watch TV anymore. I can't wait to get home. How many subscribers we've got? Oh my God, this guy said we suck!
00:51:30:13 We're just standing around, you know. The 2009 juggling competition is a big thing, and we've all been practicing all year. He's got a new six-ball routine that he's been working on. I still only have two small balls.
Butterflies
Transcript 52 minutes

00:00:00:00 "The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity." -George Carlin
00:00:17:17 My name is Jill. I am thirty and ...what are you asking me? And my screen name on YouTube is XgobobeanX.
00:00:28:09 People ask me, "Do you ever get recognized in public?" They were all calling me Boheme. I had to sign autographs. I signed my screen name. I mean… who does that?
00:00:37:16 When I meet people, I go, "Hey, are you on YouTube?" And that’s how I socialize these days. When I am not on YouTube I…I edit the videos for YouTube.
00:00:49:13 Being famous on the Internet is a lot more appealing to me. Television is going downhill. They are trying to go reality but how much more real can you get than YouTube?
00:00:57:22 At school, yeah, I feel like everybody now knows that I am like the YouTube guy. They’re like, "Oh, that’s the kid that makes videos." So it gives me a greater sense of confidence but it’s kind of weird knowing that everybody knows who you are. But it’s been really cool I like it.
00:01:10:08 Life is great. If we didn’t have YouTube, we don’t have the audience, we don’t have the views, we don’t have all these things that it has awarded us. So I think we'd just be struggling a bit more.
00:01:34:05 How do you find the entertainment from people being themselves? What Hollywood has to do is figure out the distinction between being an actor and a celebrity. They have to be extreme personalities, people that have some flamboyant persona.
00:01:46:23 The traditional media is always trying to figure it out. But it’s like we’ve already figured it out. Like the new…. we've already figured it out. And all these TV shows they are driving traffic to their websites. Go to NBC dot com. We are already there!
00:01:58:00 YouTube is about keeping it real. Youtube is about vlogging. Youtube is not about big old fancy cameras, crazy cool microphones and sound guys. If you really want to know what YouTube is about, you got to get in YouTube.
00:02:10:21 We look up the sketches on YouTube and for us it's a great resource.
00:02:13:19 The first stop in making it is just to get people to see what you do. YouTube is just the newest coolest platform.
00:02:22:01 It's just a new world, man.
00:02:37:00 YouTube was launched in 2005 and allowed users to upload videos and share them with the world wide audience. Today, YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the Internet with more than 5 billion videos viewed a month.
00:02:48:02 The more creative users developed a strong following and their celebrity grew with the number of views on their videos. Their YouTube channels attract the attention of sponsors and they are being offered appearances in traditional media on daily basis. This is the story of six of them.
00:03:04:13 Being famous on YouTube is such an interesting thing. Because of what I do, the videos that I post, people feel like they know me.
00:03:13:10 I got this little kitty about two months back. He was the nicest little kitty now a pain in my crack. This little kitty....
00:03:18:11 When you are known on the Internet or when you are famous or popular or whatever it may be, it's a different world. I mean, if you are not famous, if you are not popular and all that good stuff, you think about things like that. You think a little bit too much about what you would do if you were in a situation but when you are actually here, it's... it's like... it's a same thing except people know who you are.
00:03:39:26 ... in the closet and you just won't care. Kitty chews on my shoes and he licks up my hair always scratching on my favorite chair and jumping on the couch, playing on the window sills and tearing through the house. He is so full of energy and easily amused; kitty will attack anything that moves causing troubles starting battles....
00:03:58:09 When I started, it was such an odd thing. You have to understand at the time we started, it was just something that... I've never even heard of YouTube. Nobody was talking about it; it didn't really quite make sense... people were making videos. It wasn't something that was just common knowledge. So it was this really odd thing and just getting submersed in the world was just fascinating... looking at all these videos. Putting one up was sort of challenging because it was such an odd thing to me.
00:04:21:07 Welcome, George Bush.
00:04:22:19 Thank you for having me, Ashley. I love... I love Orange County.
00:04:25:14 People love to trash you. They are like, "George Bush, he is the worst president of all time. His approval ratings are abysmal. He is stupid and incompetent." When you really think about it, you are like the smartest, greatest president of all time.
00:04:36:23 -Yeah.
-Because you've got everything you've ever wanted. I mean, the Iraq War, you wanted that from day one. And like it took you a few years to get it but you've got it.
00:04:43:21 I don't.... I don't worry about anything because.... ummm... because I am already President, you know, and...ummm... there isn't gonna be any...ummm.... percussions.... um.... there isn't gonna be any persussion at this...um.... you know, I mean... there... anyway, there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point... is my point. That's what I'm trying to say, so... yeah... I mean, we are good. I'm golden. So, yeah... I feel fine.
00:05:08:26 It was such an exciting experience putting something out there and having somebody reply to it immediately and just comment. And I was able to comment every single person that commented me at the time. And to get instant feedback it was so exciting, you know, and especially 'cause we've been shooting things and doing things we couldn't get anybody to look at it... to have people care about some small little video you did was just so exciting.
00:05:31:24 Hi Johny, how are you doing? Isn't it so great that we get to make more and more Pirates of the Caribean? But what if they don't want to make more? Then what sequal are we going to do together? You know, I've been thinking and I have some ideas. What if we did Fear and Loathing Brooklyn? You know, a sequal to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Except this time I'm a girl that's hooked on LSD, but my family is in the Mafia, you know, and we are in Blooklyn all the time like, "Whatcha doing? Forget about it. Forget about it." Is that a great idea, Johny?
00:06:09:08 That's a terrible idea.
00:06:11:19 Most people didn't know YouTube at the time so for us... I wasn't really telling anybody, "Hey, check out this site." It was a fun place to sort of try these fun zany little videos, and I didn't know at the time where it would go and how big it would get. Like I said it sort of, you know, just... word of mouth it spread, and then in just became more and more natural, and it was just.... it was very excting.
00:06:37:13 I made some of my first videos about LisaNova. So then she favorited it and helped promote them which definitely got me views and more subscribers.
00:06:45:05 I record the music all by myself...
00:06:47:08 Because we are eight years apart, I should have known from the start it won't work out it won't work out.
00:06:59:13 It definitely has been overwhelming but I guess... it is overwhelming but I try to keep cool about it and I think it's.... I think it's pretty cool. I don't get too overwhelmed by the popularity but it definitely has changed my whole life and my perspective on a lot of things.
00:07:13:14 I get a lot of fan mail which is really cool. I try to respond to most of it, but I like the fans a lot, yeah, but it gets overwhelming when I get too many; it's hard to reply. But, I mean, they're the reason why I still make videos and why I keep doing music. So without the fans, I mean, I wouldn't even be here so...
00:07:28:20 I won't let them arrest you I'll always protect you. The older guys don't treat you right. You're searching for someone, but you have found no one I can be there tonight. She said, "Are you really eighteen? I need to see some ID on that one."
00:07:46:29 I mean it's really cool to have a lot of girls all over you but... I think it's really cool. I'm happy I like it.
00:07:53:15 ... almost nineteen. You're leading me on. Girl, you are leading me on. And I'm not that strong. No, I'm not that strong.
00:08:10:04 Olga is the YouTuber. She is OlgaKay. Some of the videos that she puts up I...
00:08:18:23 Just say it...
00:08:19:22 Well, I mean, it's not that bad. It's just... some of them, I guess, I don't necesarilly understand or get.
00:08:26:00 Oh, I'm so nervous, you know. I've never done this. What? We are live already? Oh, oh, oh...
00:08:46:16 Give me my shrink.
00:08:48:02 Hello, my dear viewers. Thank you so much for joining this program. I'm starting my new session here on YouTube and today is the first shrinkingsation with one of your favorite YouTubers out there. You all know her. You all call her YouTube celebrity. But she's still a real person, therefore, she is crazy. Therefore... I didn't even know I knew that word.
00:09:13:21 I think Olga sees probably the potential on it more than I do. That's not to take anything away from you or YouTube but, you know, for me it's something fun. I just I like to post up there just to, I guess, get stuff out. I think YouTube's been such a part of Olga's life at this point it's hard for me to remember life without YouTube. Her life is YouTube right now.
00:09:34:29 Once you realize that there is more opportunities into it, you get into this...
00:09:52:22 -Yeah.
-Oh, wow, YouTube is a huge community that you can make whatever you want out of it.
00:09:56:21 I guess I didn't get it. I didn't understand, you know, what it was all about and I'm starting to see a little bit more the potential that is there for YouTube.
00:10:04:13 YouTube has definitely opened up so many doors and jobs. It's a big part of my life. At first I didn't know YouTube had vloggers on it. I thought it was just movies and cartoons and all that other stuff.
00:10:17:18 But then I saw a couple of people on there, normal people talking, making silly videos and I said: "If they can do that, I can do that." And I just sat in my bedroom, recorded, put it out there, got a subcriber and I was like, "Holy shit! One subscriber is amazing!" And then I just became addicted.
00:10:41:00 The dogie diper.
00:10:43:18 Through rain...
00:10:45:23 Earhquakes...
00:10:48:11 Trippy effects...
00:10:50:05 Electricity...
00:10:51:20 Very easy to apply as you can see here.
00:10:56:16 Dogie dipers... there are for the rescue.
00:11:00:25 And sleep like you did... before your dog was a peeing machine.
00:11:05:23 I've had Lucky for about two years. She is usually in my videos and my subscribers love her. So many people I've never met have been so in love with her. I'm waiting for her to get famous like when I'm walking here, "Hey, that's Lucky!"
00:11:21:29 People watched my videos for me and for her. It's really funny. Two years ago I would have never thought I'd be here. I was in a crappy job, completely depressed out of my life, broke up with a boyfriend. It was just hard. And just uploading that first video and just realizing that the community is there and friends you can make. It completely has transformed me.
00:11:50:11 And it just feels like, you know, some sort of either a flower that's budding or a little catapilar that's just waiting for it's wings to expand to a butterfly.
00:12:22:21 The reason I started making videos was for Steve-O in Jackass. He was casting a new show that was... I think it was set to film that year. This was about two years ago. So I did firebreathing and juggling and magic tricks and stuff like that for the camera, you know, and I've never really done a recording before. But I've never heard back from him, so I wanted to show my family that, you know, look at me kinda thing. Then I started noticing there were video bloggers on YouTube.
00:12:51:08 I'm an opinionated guy so I had to go and say my thing about it. I just sit there and think of stuff and just kind of roll it there as much as I can. Everything is by the seat of my pants. I just riff on whatever I want to talk about.
00:13:01:29 Greetings from the frozen south. This needs some explanation. I'd like to previse this by saying I'm a complete and total pussy when it comes down to the cold.
00:13:12:05 I know a lot of you are going to be like, "Uhuhuh, he is a pussy when it comes to everything." But I'm a Florida boy. Specificaly cold... it just kicks my ass.
00:13:22:10 Ahhh, God!
00:13:25:01 So this is Boheme, being a complete and total pansy in Alabama, signing off.
00:13:30:13 I pretty much started out with some family watching videos but making video logs and doing them regularly was really kind of a weird leap for me. I've never been one to promote myself. I just kind of did videos until I saw people getting the momentum, and then they would tell people.
00:13:58:04 "Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money." -Owen Laughlin
00:19:56:04 I do care about how many subscribers I have. I do care about how many views I get.
00:14:07:01 I have over 17,000.
00:14:11:02 About 42,000.
00:14:13:25 I have around 87,000 I think...
00:14:17:06 I have 111,000 subscribers and like 50 million views.
00:14:22:00 I can do this for a living, you know. I'm at the point now to where I'll make enough money to where I don't have to work anymore.
00:14:28:09 I do make some income with YouTube and the partnership program. Partnership on YouTube is just a program; they allow ads to pop up on your videos. You get a portion of people that click on the ads. But only really make any money if you get a lot of views on your videos.
00:14:48:17 I've had a lot of sponsorship opportunities. Product placements stuff right now is huge.
00:14:54:17 I'm not gonna go out and say drink Pepsi, you know, it's just having it in there.
00:59:08 It's pretty good money, I think. I'm reallly happy with it. It's pretty good money, yeah.
00:15:04:00 I don't think it's inconceivable to see a full time video bloggers within the next six months being a regular thing.
00:15:11:15 I just think it would be such a pretty world if we didn't have fucking airplanes dragging, you know, their little.. whatever it is... the little banner behind it and didn't see ads on the sides of buses and the bus stops and everywhere you go you see some ads, some dot com, some service or product. It's irritating. So for me to cross the line and say, "Drink Coors Light it's the best" really, really puts a thorn in my underwear. It's not good.
00:15:36:16 Hey, if I can get money for it to help promote my.. not necessarily myself but my art, then that's good.
00:15:45:09 For the last two three months or so I've actually been bringing in anywhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars a month. It looks like I'm possibly going to be bringing in probably about sixty thousand this next month.
00:15:57:25 It's been a big lifestyle change. Of course I bought all the stuff I've been wanting like the better camera, the audio, the... you know, whatever I wanted. And now all the money that we have is just being put away because we're looking to get a house.
00:16:11:01 All of a sudeen he is huge and Mr. Fabulous and everybody was crazy.
00:16:16:11 It's not really a big deal to me. He does everything that you want a guy to do. Except do the dishes.
00:16:24:01 "I won't be happy till I'm as famous as God." -Madonna
00:16:29:23 Everyone who is on YouTube they either want to get famous they want attention. Oh, people who say, "Oh, we don't care about attention." I'm like, "Why are you putting yourself out there?" You're putting such a personal information out there. People make videos, really creative videos, really putting so much energy because people are realizing that if one right person sees you on YouTube, they can change your life forever. A lot of popular YouTubers go on and say, "You know, we're on YouTube not because of the popularity."
"We don't care about getting famous."
"We don't care about getting discovered."
"We don't care about making money."
Or, "We don't care about if people watch us or not. If nobody watched us, we would still be making videos."
00:17:01:29 And I have to disagree with that because when you spend like six hours a day trying to come up with an idea, film it, edit it, promote it so at least a thousand people see your video... I think people lie when they just say, "Oh, we really don't care. We do it just for fun." I don't really believe that. It's just... nah.
00:17:23:19 You know, I've never been concerned about, "Ooh, did they recognize me?" I honestly don't care. I just put that video out there because I was having fun. I'm not trying to be famous but it is nice to be known for my work.
00:17:35:20 I got an email from a casting director at MADtv and she is like, "I like your videos," and, "Do you do characters and impersonations?" It was a kind of a shock to hear that they wanted me to be acting and I just said, "Oh, of course I do." They just hired me for the last part of the season. It was just interesting seeing that world and... versus the YouTube world where you have all this control and then at MADtv you don't really have control. There's all these producers and everybody telling you what to do and what to say and how to say it.
00:18:01:04 Celebrities are just normal people just like we are. The difference between a new media personality and a Hollywood celebrity is the fact that a Hollywood celebrity is paid to be famous, and we just aren't. They do watch YouTube. They watch it, and I think that a lot of them actually take their ideas from YouTube. They find people who are creative and funny, but a lot of them won't admit it because they don't want to push their viewers to the internet because that's not where they are at.
00:18:32:08 VH1 gave me a call and they said, "Hey, we want you to come to a casting call for one of the shows that we have. We think you'd be really good for it."
00:18:41:01 And it was... it was a stripper show about male strippers. So I drove all the way to LA. I had no money but I was like, "I'm gonna do this," and, "This is my future." I'm gonna be famous now. So I went to LA and sure enough I did the casting thing. And they looked at me and they said, "You know you sure as hell are not sexy but you look stupid doing it and it was funny."
00:19:08:14 And the whole time they are laughing at me. I was like, "What? I'm being serious," and I was trying to do these sexy moves. I did really good. I did really, really good. And yeah, I failed that casting call so bad I promised myself I'd never go back to another casting call like that again.
00:19:45:25 It's really hard for me to get subscribers. I don't know why, but I'd say I worked really hard to get those subscribers. I created these business cards where I put my YouTube link only and some pictures. I make thousands of those cards and I would go around town and I would just drop them everywhere. Like whoever I meet I just give it to them.
00:20:06:02 I had to work so hard to be here and to prove myself. And people are disciplined in Russia which is hard discipline... smack... you can't do that, you have to show up, you have to do stuff, you can't give up, you have to practice. If you don't practice, you're not going to get anywhere.
00:20:21:21 -Don't cover my face!
-I'm sorry.
00:20:23:29 -Well, I actually liked your arm better up here.
-Up here?
-Yeah.
-OK.
00:20:28:06 -Stop picking on me.
-Sorry.
00:20:30:12 When I told my mom I was dating a girl from Russia that used to be in A circus and she joggles, my mom was like, "Ok... interesting."
00:20:37:19 I always wanted to be an entertainer ever since I was five years old. I started travelling with a circus when I was twelve thirteen years old and two years after that I came to America.
00:20:49:20 Olga is a performer. You know what I mean? I do think that's what she was born to do-to perform and entertain in some avenue.
00:21:05:19 We were both at a party. I saw this flicker of a lighter behind me and when I turned around it Cory playing with a lighter. I stole it from him and we started talking and he was like, "Come here!" and he drags me into the back yard and he has a can of Pam cooking spray in his hand. And he grabs a lighter and he sprays the Pam on his leg and lights it on fire. It was really funny so I started laughing.
00:21:34:00 And ever since we've been... we don't leave each other.
00:21:38:13 This is where I belong. Everything would be OK as long as I was with him.
00:21:44:23 Lisa and I met five or six years ago and we just had a lot in common. We didn't start dating or anything right away but we ended up going out a couple of years later.
00:21:57:05 He'd been doing production for years and we got together and joined forces and he found YouTube and he started posting videos and he is like, "You should post some videos."
00:22:05:00 I was always interested in films and acting in them. It was kind of hard thing to explain; there is a site and you put up videos...
00:22:11:23 And then there the whole commenting and interaction and feedback from people...
00:22:15:11 It's a lot of comedy spoofs and parodies of political things, entertainment...
00:22:21:00 Do you mind if we talk a little bit about your album?
00:22:24:09 Totally. That's what it's about. It's always about the music. Um, this album I've entitled it Raw Flesh... um, basically it's... I'm exposing myself. I'm opening up. It's raw. And it's my flesh.
00:22:42:09 Ummm...
00:22:46:22 I think a lot of the reasons we are succesful is it was a much smaller community, so we were one of the first people there. I mean our first video did really well. We got like thirty thousand views on our first video.
00:22:57:03 It was pretty cool. So I just basically became sort of obsessed with YouTube and focused a lot of my spare time. We felt like there is so much opportunity on YouTube. Oh, this could help us transition to mainstream media; maybe we can get a TV show; Lisa can start acting. It was great to get an audience because a lot of time you have a video and it's like you feel so excited if two or three people in a room watching it and suddenly Im like, oh, my God, fifty people watched us in one day. Holy shit!
00:23:21:15 It was just sort odd... me and Danny.... and, you know, it was just an accomplishment for us to be like, OK yeah, people are watching.
00:23:27:17 We knew the power of it immediately.
00:23:39:20 YouTube definitely helped me to put my talent out there, and if somebody was looking for somebody, they would just search Google and my name would come up and my video would come up and at first... well, of course it takes a while to, you know, to people to notice your videos.
00:23:55:29 There are times when I'm like, "Aaah, what video do you want to show me right now?" I know she is all day on YouTube. It's really strange. There is people on there that are, you know, doing ridiculous things they just happen to be taping but then like Mr. Safety. I mean, the songs that he's written about his cat, or whatever it is, it's like, that takes a lot of time. You know what I mean? You can't just do something like that and be like, screw it I'm just going to tape it and see what it turns out. That stuff you have to plan, so you know... I mean people are taking time to make this stuff good, and then you've got the people on there that are just doing stuff to be entertaining and stupid, you know. I think there is the whole spectrum of things. I think as far as whether it's art, it's a complete spectrum. These are people that are gaining celebrity or making careers out of this type of stuff.
00:24:42:26 ... but you will get home sooner or later; it's because of your fingers that you have toilet paper. If you've gotta shit and you're stuck in traffic, your palms will sweat and your ass will twitch, ain't that a bitch. If it starts to come out, just give your cheeks a pinch. Pinchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitch, poop, poop...
00:24:57:14 Make poop was my first song that really took off. And you know it's weird. There was this girl named Emma from Australia. She was my first real fan that didn't know me and didn't give birth to me. She said that the song inspired her so much that she basically stopped herself from commiting a suicide.
00:25:19:07 She was gonna commit suicide and then she saw me, and it just inspired me and then I realized that my poop helped somebody not to commit suicide. But no, it's not about that. It's just a.... It's stupid but I'm kinda getting teary eyed a little bit, but you know, it's kinda good to know that my videos help people. You know that... it's not tears because I'm laughing. It's tears because I'm honestly... happy.
00:25:59:13 I'm Mr. Safety but my real name is Cory. Belive it or not I make poop every morning.
Make poop the people in the USA make poop. The people who live in the UK make poop. The people in the countries of Europe make poop. Everyone around the world just make poop.
00:26:15:29 I eat and I poop and I smoke and I sit just to eat some more to poop some more all the while smoking and wondering how to destroy that rebel base on level five. That's not the way to live.
00:26:26:28 YouTube is a huge part of my life. It really is. To a fault really just because it's not a healthy lifestyle sitting in front of a computer and making videos and obsessing over it and stuff like that. I'm originally from Florida. I grew up there, went to high school there and the day after graduation I went to Huntsville, Alabama. I started recording the videos. I wanted desperately to move out. I didn't like Alabama at all. It just wasn't my kind of place. So I had no money. So I asked all my subscribers if they wanted to send in some money, it would be awesome. This would take me out there you know, and overnight they donated over a thousand dollars to get me out here. Just overnight we're talking twelve sixteen hours. If there was no YouTube, I'd be probably still a waiter. I'd probably be still in Alabama.
00:27:19:14 Before it was just like, "I make videos on YouTube." And now it's like, "Hey! I make videos! Check them out! It's cool." So it's definitely changed my life over the past two years. I found out Lucky had a heart disease about a year ago. She was thirteen and she had so much life in her. I didn't know what to do, and I made this video on YouTube asking people what they think I should do. Should I, you know, go to a doctor, should I put her down? It was just getting really, really bad. And I also said I couldn't afford all of her bills because getting x-rays and echo-kardiograms and bloodwork it just.... I just couldn't afford it. And so many people came to me and said that they would donate and they want to help and they loved Lucky, and it's crazy to know that people care so much about you.
00:28:12:23 So I actually raised enough money to take her to the doctor. And I posted a video, the next day I raised all the money, took her to the specialist. She was there for three hours. She was there for so long. I got her back and the doctor said, "She is really, really, really bad. If we change her medicine, she has good three six months." So I was like, "Oh, that's great; we'll change her medicine." She came out of the animal hospital and she was running around. She was such a bull. She was just full of life. The overwhelming response I got from people from strangers, people I knew: don't worry, your dog is sick but try this, try this doctor, try this remedy, try herbal medicine. Tons of information flew in from people I've never spoke to. YouTube, it's part of my life.
00:28:57:25 I'm gonna get my head shaved.
00:28:59:26 Here you go, honey.
00:29:03:24 Alright.
00:29:04:07 Go ahead and stand behind me, honey.
00:29:08:19 Alright.
00:29:10:05 So here we go.
00:29:20:27 "Will you marry me?"
00:29:23:07 When I was filming that proposal, I... just watching it you feel it over and over and over and over.
00:29:33:24 Stephanie Roby, will you marry me?
00:29:37:20 Yeah!!!
00:29:44:06 Proposing to her was my best video I've ever done.
00:29:48:11 I was really nervous because I get nervous on camera a lot.
00:29:52:25 I don't think I even noticed the camera.
00:29:55:17 I was really happy when he pulled off his hat. That's really what I wanted.
00:30:00:24 I wouldn't choose any other way. I love the way I did it because that was my way.
00:30:06:08 Really, I couldn't see anything other than right there in front of me what was going on. I completely forgot everybody else was in the room.
00:30:13:16 The fact that he was able to pull it off in the end and go back into remembering to talk to the camera and finish that story was beyond what I could have done.
00:30:29:12 Lucky got really, really sick the last month or two. She just kind of fell out of her doggie bed, and it was weird. She just laid right over her doggie bed and was just in this state shock. I went over to her and she was just laying there.
00:30:52:14 I was like, "Lucky, are you ok?"
00:30:56:07 I had called the animal hospital because I didn't know what to do, and they said to bring her right back over. Lucky is about forty pounds or so. So I picked her up and I took her into the car. And so many people were telling me that, "You will know when your dog wants to go."
00:31:16:08 Her constant coughing and...
00:31:24:21 And I had her in a towel and she was laying on me. So I kind of felt she knew that...
00:31:31:11 She knew that was her time, so it was really... good moment in the car.
00:31:54:10 So we got to the animal hospital and... the doctor said they couldn't do anything else. And that was the decision.
00:32:07:09 So I had seen her; they brought her back out for like thirty minutes, and she had IV's, so she was on something. I don't even know. But she was running around the little hospital room like nothing happened.
00:32:30:09 And I just kept thinking I have to make a video telling people that don't know her that she is gone because she was such a huge, huge character in my videos.
00:32:44:06 So posting a video was probably one of the hardest things to do, but I wanted to show not to be sad that she left but to be really happy that she had a great life.
00:33:17:29 "It is in collaboration that the nature of arts is revealed." -Steve Lacy
00:33:21:28 I have to do a video today.
00:33:24:03 OK.
00:33:24:18 And I really need you for the video.
00:33:27:04 Alright.
00:33:27:19 I'm always going to be into collaborating with people.
00:33:30:16 One of the YouTubers that I'm actually helping out right now, because they are kind of... I think they're kind of lost a bit in where they are going, is Ben, Boheme, a really good friend of mine.
00:33:39:09 He is up in Thousand Oaks, you know, and I'm down here in Torrance. That's a good fifty miles of driving on a motocycle in LA traffic or in the middle of the night when it's cold or in the afternoon when it's hot. You know, it kind of sucks that way.
00:33:51:23 I think it's fun doing collabs and people email me asking for collabs. I do a few of them but that's what's fun about collabs- you can do whatever you want. I'm excited to do them with LisaNova for sure.
00:34:00:07 Collaboration videos on YouTube... seems like everybody was doing them.
00:34:05:05 Tons of people are always asking Lisa to collab and it's just overwhelming because you can't do it with everyone.
00:34:09:22 Oh, I love collaborations. Collaboration videoes are key. When you first start on YouTube, it's almost impossible now to get subscribtions unless you kind of network your way around.
00:34:19:09 "Friendship is born when one person says to another: What? You too? Thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
00:34:23:01 We have more friends, more close-built connection with YouTube friends than our real life friends because we have the same ideas in a way. So we just become such close friends because of this website.
00:34:35:27 A lot of times the real life friends, not everyone but a lot of them, don't understand what you are doing. They laugh at you when you say you are on YouTube. They don't understand why you would spend that much time on it.
00:34:45:28 I remember the first time I met someone from YouTube. I said, "Hey, I'm gonna go meet this person."
And they are like, "You are crazy, what if they kill you, " and "they are strangers and it's the internet."
Every single person I've ever met that I saw on YouTube, meeting them in person was exactly like knowing them.
00:35:01:16 LisaNova is a big celebrity on YouTube. LisaNova subscribed to my videos, and it made me so happy. I thought, well, if LisaNova subscribed to my videos, I'm probably doing the right thing. And you know, I've never talked to Lisa before; we emailed before back and forth and stuff. And she is like, "Yeah, why don't you come to my house tomorrow." Next thing I know the next day I'm in her house, and we never talked so it's a little awkward when you don't have the relationship built on the internet before you start in real life talking.
00:35:28:05 So it's really weird. But it was great. She was so welcoming and we did this her first live show ever. We are together and everyone's like, "Oh my God, OlgaKay at LisaNova's house! That's crazy!"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I know!"
And they are like, "We didn't even know you were friends."
And I'm like, "Me neither."
00:35:45:16 It's always funny when you meet someone who you know online, and they are as famous to you as a big movie star or something because of how much time you spend in that area being YouTube.
00:35:54:26 There are people out there like you. Having these gatherings that I do that was the main thing. YouTubers together? There was no community when I started. The site was a few thousand users. I felt like these people had something in common with me.
00:36:07:08 I want to get in on this. When I first had the As One gathering, I just made a video saying, "Hey, I'm coming to Los Angeles. If anybody is going to be out there, come hang out because it would be cool."
00:36:28:08 These gatherings are really good for the community, and yeah, community is nothing more than a bunch of people that have common interests.
00:36:35:27 YouTube is one of the best communities I've ever been involved with just because it's dynamic. I mean you have those moments where people are so one way or the other: either they are really nice, really cool or they are gunning for you; I mean, they don't like you whatsoever. And it's that dynamic that allows people to really be who they are. You really get to know who people are without, you know, just a regular blogs.
00:36:55:29 I'm just happy to be a part of this, man. I'm just looking at all these people, I'm sorry, I'm kind of distracted by the... it's very euphoric. So days like this it's very hard for me to talk because here I am; I'm a YouTube community member. I have more friends, I mean, all of these people know who I am. I know who most of these people are. There are a lot of people here. It's just gonna get bigger.
00:37:34:23 I'm in Toronto for the 888 gathering. I took a bus. I took it from Philly to New York City which was two hours then New York City to Toronto which was like ten. And I had to cross the border and when I got there, they smeared all the stuff around me I guess looking for drugs. They questioned me, "Why are you here?"
I was like, "I'm here for the gathering."
And they were like, "OK, are you under eighteen?
I was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Do you have note from your mom?"
I was like, "What???"
Am I in the middle school or something? I don't know.
I was like, "No."
Then I had to call my mom at like five a.m. And they started questioning me, "Why are you going to the gathering? Who is KevJumba?" I was staying with KevJumba and they were like, "Who is KevJumba?" And they looked at me like, who is this KevJumba guy? Have you ever met him?
00:37:53:07 We slept... oh, we shouldn't tell them. That's bad.
00:37:56:20 We shared a bed.
00:37:57:22 Oh, why did you...
00:37:59:25 That's why they called my mom because they didn't believe me.
They were like, "So he is here for a YouTube gathering with internet people?"
And my mom was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Oh, ok, ok."
Because I didn't have a note.
00:38:06:27 DaveDays is definitely one of my favorites. It's cool to come to the gatherings and to hang out with these people whose videos you watch all the time, you know? And then all of a sudden you are touching them. I saw the Winekone and I was like, "Are you real?" And trying to touch him. It's cool because all these people on there are amazing. Everybody has an amazing talent. I think everyone there has something to offer.
00:38:55:20 I'm here with Kicesie at the YouTube Live. Bunch of YouTube popular people.
00:39:01:01 I've had offers to go into television, and I kind of almost thought that would be taking a step backwards. YouTube is just gonna grow and grow until... I think it's going to overtake TV. I'm sticking with the internet because I really do think that is the future.
00:39:19:04 What got me started? Boredom. Really just boredom and then greed. And then boredom again. This is my job now. That's all I really have to do. I work two hours a day and that's it. I feel like a douche every time I explain that. I'm doing something I like and I'm getting paid for it.
00:39:37:10 It's only going to get bigger.
00:39:38:14 Do you know who I am? Michael Buckley! Thank you! What is your YouTube channel?
00:39:43:26 -Michael Buckley! Michael Buckley!
-Right here, right here!
00:39:46:14 The worst thing any of us can do as internet personalities is be like screw you internet. I'm gonna go be a TV or a movie star. This is what launched us and this is what gave us the opportunity.
00:39:55:22 You know YouTube is only less than three years old. Celebrity is kind of thrown out of the window in the world of YouTube. YouTube celebrities are fans of YouTube celebrities.
00:40:02:15 I do watch YouTube. I favorite a lots of videos from Fred to Daxflame to Tay Zonday. They are the best.
00:40:08:03 I was really excited to see Katy Perry.
00:40:10:10 I got to meet Katy Perry. She is nice. I didn't know she had videos but I will... I will see them.
00:40:17:04 It's crazy. You look around and everyone from YouTube is here basically. So far I haven't met Fred yet. He is the only guy I haven't met.
00:40:23:05 ... and Esmée Denters...
00:40:24:09 I started singing covers on YouTube, and that's how I got signed. So it's an amazing experience to be here and to let people hear my original song.
00:40:34:26 I'm at YouTube Live right now. It's a big event where all the YouTubers and all their friends, everybody just comes out together, and we all have a good time, and there is a show and everything. It's a big event.
00:40:42:29 I put the plane ticket on my mom's credit card, and I don't know if I'll pay her back for that. I don't know.
00:40:47:10 Where do the VIP's go?
00:40:48:27 My phone is just going off the hook.
00:40:50:28 I've been to a number of YouTube gatherings at this point.
She is like, "Oh, it will be fun, it's something we can do together."
And I'm like, "Olga, this is a YouTube trip. This is not about you and me."
00:41:00:05 I don't get it, no. I'm not so much into the whole YouTube scene. It's interesting going to the gatherings because you can see that there is a community there.
00:41:07:27 But who these people are... I don't get it... there is a celebrity community within YouTube.
00:41:13:29 It's like being a secret celebrity in a way 'cause you can be online and people are like, "Ooh, it's Paperlilies." But in real life, you know, nobody has ever recognized me in the street or came up to me and spoken to me or anything like that.
00:41:25:07 I wouldn't say there any real fame to it, I mean, I do get recognized places...
00:41:31:22 I don't know. There is no celebrity status to it right now.
00:41:34:15 Olga gets excited to see these people and I'm like, I don't understand what the fuss is about. You know what I mean?
00:41:38:24 Oh my God, there is Fred! Fred over there!
00:41:41:25 It's unbelievable! I will get to meet Fred right now!
00:41:44:22 - Lucas! Hi. I'm Olga.
- Hey, hey.
00:41:47:16 I'm watching your videos. I love it.
00:41:52:00 Yeah, Fred is here!!!
00:41:53:08 It was weird initially going to these gatherings and just not really getting it, you know. I was definitely on the sidelines and kind of like, this is strange. But I'm definitely starting, I guess, to understand or see how these people do have followings, and they are impacting or affecting different people, you know? There are a lot of people that look up to these YouTube personalities.
00:42:29:04 As much as you are friends with everybody on the internet when you part of the community, you are friends with all the people who are on the Most Subscribed list. Yes, there is definitely, definitely a competition.
00:42:40:29 There is really not a competitiveness there when you are speaking with someone, but after you get home, it's like a big video game all over again. You are like, OK well, I'm gonna try to outdo them now. No matter how friend you are with the guy, you still want to try to do that.
00:42:52:28 Passing somebody on the list is...
00:42:55:19 It's a good feeling.
00:42:56:14 Can you imagine how many people every minute uploading videos? Ten hours of footage uploaded on YouTube every minute.
00:43:04:00 Everyone is trying to act and everyone just looks so much better than you and they are maybe so much more talented.
00:43:10:20 "The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed." -Nelson Boswell
00:43:14:03 Because Whatthebuck was in one of my videos, I got more subscribers.
00:43:18:04 I'll say it. At one of the gatherings I met Mr. Safety, and he is such a creative guy and so fun, and I always wanted to get to know him better.
00:43:21:11 He has this cat, Sparta, that is... I swear Sparta is more famous that I am on the internet. He said, "Olga, you've never been at my place. Come over and hang out with my cat Sparta, and maybe we can make videos together. Mr. Safety is just so powerful on YouTube. Because of that video I got like, I don't know, a thousand of subscribers. Just because I played with his cat.
00:43:39:24 At one of the gatherings I also met Sxephil who is so dominant on YouTube right now.
00:43:44:13 Everyone is like, "He is a YouTube celebrity," which I think is the most ridiculous thing to say ever 'cause we are all just people on the internet.
00:43:50:08 So he promoted me and the next day I got over five thousand subscribers. And I was like, oh my God. I've been working for two and a half years and I got thirty five hundred subscribers and then over night I just got extra five thousand. And from that day it just kept growing and growing and growing.
00:44:20:21 "There are many things we hate in others in order not to have to hate them in ourselves." -Anonymous
00:44:25:17 On YouTube there is a lot of positivity. But with that positivity does come negativity.
00:44:31:14 "I hope you die."
"You wasted three minutes out of my life."
And "I hope your house burns down," and, "You are so gay," and, "You're so... " Oh, such stupid comments.
00:44:42:17 First stalker that I can remember was named Kerri Ann. She was in New York and she was about thirty four and she was sending me messages. She started to get pretty hot and heavy and creepy like, "I love you," and, "I want to be with you. I'm going to move out there next month," kind of stuff.
00:44:57:09 And I am just being friendly. I'm just talking to you and you are going to a whole new level of creepytude. So I stopped talking to her. You know, I sent her that message and I didn't read anything. So by email, by MySpace, by YouTube messaging, anywhere I popped up online or at least logged in, she would send me a message. All day, every day for like months.
00:45:15:23 One thing about the internet is putting yourself out there. You're really putting yourself out there. I mean everything: your personality, your feelings, everything that makes you you.
00:45:25:26 Haters... I just ignore them. I don't mind them at all because the more haters the more popular you are. So, I don't mind them at all.
00:45:32:06 You know, controversy is not the worst thing and haters aren't really the worse thing. It's all part of the course.
00:45:37:18 There was a guy who commented all the time who seemed obsessed, and somehow we corresponded. His name is DaveDays, and he was just constantly contacting us. He was telling Lisa how much he loved her and it was actually me responding to him, and he didn't realize it. And it just got really awkward. He was saying sexual things to me thinking it was Lisa, but it was really inappropriate.
00:46:00:28 -It was you the whole time?
-It was me the whole time.
00:46:03:21 -Really?
-Yeah.
00:46:05:02 That's weird. That changes everything.
00:46:09:20 One time I was in the mall and this fourteen fifteen year old girl screams, "Oh my God! Is that Boheme?"
00:46:15:10 I'm like, "Do I know you? How drunk was I?" I really didn't know what was going on, and then she mentioned she knew me through YouTube.
00:46:21:17 I guess I've hit another level of something, you know? Very strange.
00:46:26:28 Dealing with bad comments is something that I'm continuously working on because it's... digs on you. It's bad because they are attacking something you put time and effort into. Something that you think is awesome and people are going to enjoy. And they are like, no, it's bad." And you are like, aaaah.
00:46:44:05 It's never that civil either. They say the worst things, and always in the most cutting way that they can.
00:46:50:17 It gets overwhelming or you can get burned out and you just feel like being creative and so that causes more stress and pressure to keep putting out quality videos. Right out of the gate we had success, and we kind of just expected big things and so... you know, we work on a lot of different things and if something falls through, you have a tendency to get upset or disappointed. It demotivates you like is this ever going to happen or are we crazy?
00:47:14:00 The YouTube has become very consuming. You are working together, living together so... I try to be a motivator.
00:47:19:18 What should I do? Do you need help with anything?
00:47:21:29 Why don't you just come back here?
00:47:24:01 We just take breaks when we need to. Trying to get that balance where it's not affecting your relationship is definitely tough, but we've managed to do great so far, so I think it's testament for how much we love each other.
00:47:36:28 I had forty or fifty thousand views on a bunch of sequential videos, and then it plummeted to like 15K. Just like half the audience or three quarters of the audience just gone.
00:47:46:16 Initially loosing views really made me want to do good videos, get more views, get it back, get my place, and then I just stopped really caring about placement and viewership.
00:47:57:07 I'm probably going to quit.
00:48:01:01 My friend Boheme... he know where he wants to go. He just wants to be in an entertainment. He just doesn't want to go in the same direction that I'm in as far as product placement. That happens.
00:48:12:27 Mr. Safety is cheesy. YouTube is so... YouTube and video making is so much of a part of his life. I'm slightly jealous just because I would like that.
00:48:21:24 I realize that it is a huge drop, and those people were in a way giving me exposure and money through ads and stuff like that. I have an animosity towards advertising and the capitalist consumption machine where you have to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Buy this and not that. This is better. These guys suck. And seeing ads everywhere you go...
00:48:45:18 I actually think being a waiter is going to be better for me anyway. You know, less responsibility, go flirt with the host stand, you get five hours of work and sometimes you walk out with two hundred bucks.
00:48:54:27 It seems some people have been waiting tables twenty years and they are happy as pig in shit. I mean, they do it every day with a big old shitty little grin. They are just happy.
00:49:03:29 That seems to be the way for me.
00:49:14:29 "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." -Richard Bach
00:49:33:10 So funny how the internet allows one guy who just works all this stuff by himself without any knowledge or training whatsoever and I can go out here and do this.
00:49:46:08 It's weird. Internet is so weird. But I love it.
00:49:50:18 If I can do YouTube and do music and do all that, I'd definitely do that. But I should go to college just because... to get it out of the way in case YouTube fails in the end.
049:59:28 Our goals are, of course, to stay on YouTube and stay as relevant on YouTube, and I think that we, both Danny and I, believe that the future is in the internet and that the mediums are just going to merge at some point. TV will be internet and internet will be TV, and so we want to stay as relevant on the internet as possible.
00:50:18:21 YouTube is the starting point. I'm so happy to be on the internet and be making friends and videos because without it, I'd probably feel a little bit lost. So it definitely completes my life.
00:50:30:16 Traditional media isn't something I want to do. My foot is so well planted in a new media. The money is here; it's that people don't know how to get it yet. I don't wanna have to follow other people's rules. I wanna just do what I wanna do and be an artist.
00:50:44:09 People who are becoming popular on internet right now they are going to be Tom Cruises of internet. Those are the people who we are going to watch ten years from now and say, "Oh my gosh, I remember when he started on the internet and we thought it was a crazy idea."
00:51:01:09 Yeah, I don't know if you are going to replace your Tom Cruises or Brad Pitts, but...
00:51:17:17 I'm addicted. I don't know about you but I don't even watch TV anymore. I can't wait to get home. How many subscribers we've got? Oh my God, this guy said we suck!
00:51:30:13 We're just standing around, you know. The 2009 juggling competition is a big thing, and we've all been practicing all year. He's got a new six-ball routine that he's been working on. I still only have two small balls.
Butterflies
Transcript 52 minutes

00:00:00:00 "The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity." -George Carlin
00:00:17:17 My name is Jill. I am thirty and ...what are you asking me? And my screen name on YouTube is XgobobeanX.
00:00:28:09 People ask me, "Do you ever get recognized in public?" They were all calling me Boheme. I had to sign autographs. I signed my screen name. I mean… who does that?
00:00:37:16 When I meet people, I go, "Hey, are you on YouTube?" And that’s how I socialize these days. When I am not on YouTube I…I edit the videos for YouTube.
00:00:49:13 Being famous on the Internet is a lot more appealing to me. Television is going downhill. They are trying to go reality but how much more real can you get than YouTube?
00:00:57:22 At school, yeah, I feel like everybody now knows that I am like the YouTube guy. They’re like, "Oh, that’s the kid that makes videos." So it gives me a greater sense of confidence but it’s kind of weird knowing that everybody knows who you are. But it’s been really cool I like it.
00:01:10:08 Life is great. If we didn’t have YouTube, we don’t have the audience, we don’t have the views, we don’t have all these things that it has awarded us. So I think we'd just be struggling a bit more.
00:01:34:05 How do you find the entertainment from people being themselves? What Hollywood has to do is figure out the distinction between being an actor and a celebrity. They have to be extreme personalities, people that have some flamboyant persona.
00:01:46:23 The traditional media is always trying to figure it out. But it’s like we’ve already figured it out. Like the new…. we've already figured it out. And all these TV shows they are driving traffic to their websites. Go to NBC dot com. We are already there!
00:01:58:00 YouTube is about keeping it real. Youtube is about vlogging. Youtube is not about big old fancy cameras, crazy cool microphones and sound guys. If you really want to know what YouTube is about, you got to get in YouTube.
00:02:10:21 We look up the sketches on YouTube and for us it's a great resource.
00:02:13:19 The first stop in making it is just to get people to see what you do. YouTube is just the newest coolest platform.
00:02:22:01 It's just a new world, man.
00:02:37:00 YouTube was launched in 2005 and allowed users to upload videos and share them with the world wide audience. Today, YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the Internet with more than 5 billion videos viewed a month.
00:02:48:02 The more creative users developed a strong following and their celebrity grew with the number of views on their videos. Their YouTube channels attract the attention of sponsors and they are being offered appearances in traditional media on daily basis. This is the story of six of them.
00:03:04:13 Being famous on YouTube is such an interesting thing. Because of what I do, the videos that I post, people feel like they know me.
00:03:13:10 I got this little kitty about two months back. He was the nicest little kitty now a pain in my crack. This little kitty....
00:03:18:11 When you are known on the Internet or when you are famous or popular or whatever it may be, it's a different world. I mean, if you are not famous, if you are not popular and all that good stuff, you think about things like that. You think a little bit too much about what you would do if you were in a situation but when you are actually here, it's... it's like... it's a same thing except people know who you are.
00:03:39:26 ... in the closet and you just won't care. Kitty chews on my shoes and he licks up my hair always scratching on my favorite chair and jumping on the couch, playing on the window sills and tearing through the house. He is so full of energy and easily amused; kitty will attack anything that moves causing troubles starting battles....
00:03:58:09 When I started, it was such an odd thing. You have to understand at the time we started, it was just something that... I've never even heard of YouTube. Nobody was talking about it; it didn't really quite make sense... people were making videos. It wasn't something that was just common knowledge. So it was this really odd thing and just getting submersed in the world was just fascinating... looking at all these videos. Putting one up was sort of challenging because it was such an odd thing to me.
00:04:21:07 Welcome, George Bush.
00:04:22:19 Thank you for having me, Ashley. I love... I love Orange County.
00:04:25:14 People love to trash you. They are like, "George Bush, he is the worst president of all time. His approval ratings are abysmal. He is stupid and incompetent." When you really think about it, you are like the smartest, greatest president of all time.
00:04:36:23 -Yeah.
-Because you've got everything you've ever wanted. I mean, the Iraq War, you wanted that from day one. And like it took you a few years to get it but you've got it.
00:04:43:21 I don't.... I don't worry about anything because.... ummm... because I am already President, you know, and...ummm... there isn't gonna be any...ummm.... percussions.... um.... there isn't gonna be any persussion at this...um.... you know, I mean... there... anyway, there is nothing anyone can do about it at this point... is my point. That's what I'm trying to say, so... yeah... I mean, we are good. I'm golden. So, yeah... I feel fine.
00:05:08:26 It was such an exciting experience putting something out there and having somebody reply to it immediately and just comment. And I was able to comment every single person that commented me at the time. And to get instant feedback it was so exciting, you know, and especially 'cause we've been shooting things and doing things we couldn't get anybody to look at it... to have people care about some small little video you did was just so exciting.
00:05:31:24 Hi Johny, how are you doing? Isn't it so great that we get to make more and more Pirates of the Caribean? But what if they don't want to make more? Then what sequal are we going to do together? You know, I've been thinking and I have some ideas. What if we did Fear and Loathing Brooklyn? You know, a sequal to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Except this time I'm a girl that's hooked on LSD, but my family is in the Mafia, you know, and we are in Blooklyn all the time like, "Whatcha doing? Forget about it. Forget about it." Is that a great idea, Johny?
00:06:09:08 That's a terrible idea.
00:06:11:19 Most people didn't know YouTube at the time so for us... I wasn't really telling anybody, "Hey, check out this site." It was a fun place to sort of try these fun zany little videos, and I didn't know at the time where it would go and how big it would get. Like I said it sort of, you know, just... word of mouth it spread, and then in just became more and more natural, and it was just.... it was very excting.
00:06:37:13 I made some of my first videos about LisaNova. So then she favorited it and helped promote them which definitely got me views and more subscribers.
00:06:45:05 I record the music all by myself...
00:06:47:08 Because we are eight years apart, I should have known from the start it won't work out it won't work out.
00:06:59:13 It definitely has been overwhelming but I guess... it is overwhelming but I try to keep cool about it and I think it's.... I think it's pretty cool. I don't get too overwhelmed by the popularity but it definitely has changed my whole life and my perspective on a lot of things.
00:07:13:14 I get a lot of fan mail which is really cool. I try to respond to most of it, but I like the fans a lot, yeah, but it gets overwhelming when I get too many; it's hard to reply. But, I mean, they're the reason why I still make videos and why I keep doing music. So without the fans, I mean, I wouldn't even be here so...
00:07:28:20 I won't let them arrest you I'll always protect you. The older guys don't treat you right. You're searching for someone, but you have found no one I can be there tonight. She said, "Are you really eighteen? I need to see some ID on that one."
00:07:46:29 I mean it's really cool to have a lot of girls all over you but... I think it's really cool. I'm happy I like it.
00:07:53:15 ... almost nineteen. You're leading me on. Girl, you are leading me on. And I'm not that strong. No, I'm not that strong.
00:08:10:04 Olga is the YouTuber. She is OlgaKay. Some of the videos that she puts up I...
00:08:18:23 Just say it...
00:08:19:22 Well, I mean, it's not that bad. It's just... some of them, I guess, I don't necesarilly understand or get.
00:08:26:00 Oh, I'm so nervous, you know. I've never done this. What? We are live already? Oh, oh, oh...
00:08:46:16 Give me my shrink.
00:08:48:02 Hello, my dear viewers. Thank you so much for joining this program. I'm starting my new session here on YouTube and today is the first shrinkingsation with one of your favorite YouTubers out there. You all know her. You all call her YouTube celebrity. But she's still a real person, therefore, she is crazy. Therefore... I didn't even know I knew that word.
00:09:13:21 I think Olga sees probably the potential on it more than I do. That's not to take anything away from you or YouTube but, you know, for me it's something fun. I just I like to post up there just to, I guess, get stuff out. I think YouTube's been such a part of Olga's life at this point it's hard for me to remember life without YouTube. Her life is YouTube right now.
00:09:34:29 Once you realize that there is more opportunities into it, you get into this...
00:09:52:22 -Yeah.
-Oh, wow, YouTube is a huge community that you can make whatever you want out of it.
00:09:56:21 I guess I didn't get it. I didn't understand, you know, what it was all about and I'm starting to see a little bit more the potential that is there for YouTube.
00:10:04:13 YouTube has definitely opened up so many doors and jobs. It's a big part of my life. At first I didn't know YouTube had vloggers on it. I thought it was just movies and cartoons and all that other stuff.
00:10:17:18 But then I saw a couple of people on there, normal people talking, making silly videos and I said: "If they can do that, I can do that." And I just sat in my bedroom, recorded, put it out there, got a subcriber and I was like, "Holy shit! One subscriber is amazing!" And then I just became addicted.
00:10:41:00 The dogie diper.
00:10:43:18 Through rain...
00:10:45:23 Earhquakes...
00:10:48:11 Trippy effects...
00:10:50:05 Electricity...
00:10:51:20 Very easy to apply as you can see here.
00:10:56:16 Dogie dipers... there are for the rescue.
00:11:00:25 And sleep like you did... before your dog was a peeing machine.
00:11:05:23 I've had Lucky for about two years. She is usually in my videos and my subscribers love her. So many people I've never met have been so in love with her. I'm waiting for her to get famous like when I'm walking here, "Hey, that's Lucky!"
00:11:21:29 People watched my videos for me and for her. It's really funny. Two years ago I would have never thought I'd be here. I was in a crappy job, completely depressed out of my life, broke up with a boyfriend. It was just hard. And just uploading that first video and just realizing that the community is there and friends you can make. It completely has transformed me.
00:11:50:11 And it just feels like, you know, some sort of either a flower that's budding or a little catapilar that's just waiting for it's wings to expand to a butterfly.
00:12:22:21 The reason I started making videos was for Steve-O in Jackass. He was casting a new show that was... I think it was set to film that year. This was about two years ago. So I did firebreathing and juggling and magic tricks and stuff like that for the camera, you know, and I've never really done a recording before. But I've never heard back from him, so I wanted to show my family that, you know, look at me kinda thing. Then I started noticing there were video bloggers on YouTube.
00:12:51:08 I'm an opinionated guy so I had to go and say my thing about it. I just sit there and think of stuff and just kind of roll it there as much as I can. Everything is by the seat of my pants. I just riff on whatever I want to talk about.
00:13:01:29 Greetings from the frozen south. This needs some explanation. I'd like to previse this by saying I'm a complete and total pussy when it comes down to the cold.
00:13:12:05 I know a lot of you are going to be like, "Uhuhuh, he is a pussy when it comes to everything." But I'm a Florida boy. Specificaly cold... it just kicks my ass.
00:13:22:10 Ahhh, God!
00:13:25:01 So this is Boheme, being a complete and total pansy in Alabama, signing off.
00:13:30:13 I pretty much started out with some family watching videos but making video logs and doing them regularly was really kind of a weird leap for me. I've never been one to promote myself. I just kind of did videos until I saw people getting the momentum, and then they would tell people.
00:13:58:04 "Money never starts an idea. It is always the idea that starts the money." -Owen Laughlin
00:19:56:04 I do care about how many subscribers I have. I do care about how many views I get.
00:14:07:01 I have over 17,000.
00:14:11:02 About 42,000.
00:14:13:25 I have around 87,000 I think...
00:14:17:06 I have 111,000 subscribers and like 50 million views.
00:14:22:00 I can do this for a living, you know. I'm at the point now to where I'll make enough money to where I don't have to work anymore.
00:14:28:09 I do make some income with YouTube and the partnership program. Partnership on YouTube is just a program; they allow ads to pop up on your videos. You get a portion of people that click on the ads. But only really make any money if you get a lot of views on your videos.
00:14:48:17 I've had a lot of sponsorship opportunities. Product placements stuff right now is huge.
00:14:54:17 I'm not gonna go out and say drink Pepsi, you know, it's just having it in there.
00:59:08 It's pretty good money, I think. I'm reallly happy with it. It's pretty good money, yeah.
00:15:04:00 I don't think it's inconceivable to see a full time video bloggers within the next six months being a regular thing.
00:15:11:15 I just think it would be such a pretty world if we didn't have fucking airplanes dragging, you know, their little.. whatever it is... the little banner behind it and didn't see ads on the sides of buses and the bus stops and everywhere you go you see some ads, some dot com, some service or product. It's irritating. So for me to cross the line and say, "Drink Coors Light it's the best" really, really puts a thorn in my underwear. It's not good.
00:15:36:16 Hey, if I can get money for it to help promote my.. not necessarily myself but my art, then that's good.
00:15:45:09 For the last two three months or so I've actually been bringing in anywhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars a month. It looks like I'm possibly going to be bringing in probably about sixty thousand this next month.
00:15:57:25 It's been a big lifestyle change. Of course I bought all the stuff I've been wanting like the better camera, the audio, the... you know, whatever I wanted. And now all the money that we have is just being put away because we're looking to get a house.
00:16:11:01 All of a sudeen he is huge and Mr. Fabulous and everybody was crazy.
00:16:16:11 It's not really a big deal to me. He does everything that you want a guy to do. Except do the dishes.
00:16:24:01 "I won't be happy till I'm as famous as God." -Madonna
00:16:29:23 Everyone who is on YouTube they either want to get famous they want attention. Oh, people who say, "Oh, we don't care about attention." I'm like, "Why are you putting yourself out there?" You're putting such a personal information out there. People make videos, really creative videos, really putting so much energy because people are realizing that if one right person sees you on YouTube, they can change your life forever. A lot of popular YouTubers go on and say, "You know, we're on YouTube not because of the popularity."
"We don't care about getting famous."
"We don't care about getting discovered."
"We don't care about making money."
Or, "We don't care about if people watch us or not. If nobody watched us, we would still be making videos."
00:17:01:29 And I have to disagree with that because when you spend like six hours a day trying to come up with an idea, film it, edit it, promote it so at least a thousand people see your video... I think people lie when they just say, "Oh, we really don't care. We do it just for fun." I don't really believe that. It's just... nah.
00:17:23:19 You know, I've never been concerned about, "Ooh, did they recognize me?" I honestly don't care. I just put that video out there because I was having fun. I'm not trying to be famous but it is nice to be known for my work.
00:17:35:20 I got an email from a casting director at MADtv and she is like, "I like your videos," and, "Do you do characters and impersonations?" It was a kind of a shock to hear that they wanted me to be acting and I just said, "Oh, of course I do." They just hired me for the last part of the season. It was just interesting seeing that world and... versus the YouTube world where you have all this control and then at MADtv you don't really have control. There's all these producers and everybody telling you what to do and what to say and how to say it.
00:18:01:04 Celebrities are just normal people just like we are. The difference between a new media personality and a Hollywood celebrity is the fact that a Hollywood celebrity is paid to be famous, and we just aren't. They do watch YouTube. They watch it, and I think that a lot of them actually take their ideas from YouTube. They find people who are creative and funny, but a lot of them won't admit it because they don't want to push their viewers to the internet because that's not where they are at.
00:18:32:08 VH1 gave me a call and they said, "Hey, we want you to come to a casting call for one of the shows that we have. We think you'd be really good for it."
00:18:41:01 And it was... it was a stripper show about male strippers. So I drove all the way to LA. I had no money but I was like, "I'm gonna do this," and, "This is my future." I'm gonna be famous now. So I went to LA and sure enough I did the casting thing. And they looked at me and they said, "You know you sure as hell are not sexy but you look stupid doing it and it was funny."
00:19:08:14 And the whole time they are laughing at me. I was like, "What? I'm being serious," and I was trying to do these sexy moves. I did really good. I did really, really good. And yeah, I failed that casting call so bad I promised myself I'd never go back to another casting call like that again.
00:19:45:25 It's really hard for me to get subscribers. I don't know why, but I'd say I worked really hard to get those subscribers. I created these business cards where I put my YouTube link only and some pictures. I make thousands of those cards and I would go around town and I would just drop them everywhere. Like whoever I meet I just give it to them.
00:20:06:02 I had to work so hard to be here and to prove myself. And people are disciplined in Russia which is hard discipline... smack... you can't do that, you have to show up, you have to do stuff, you can't give up, you have to practice. If you don't practice, you're not going to get anywhere.
00:20:21:21 -Don't cover my face!
-I'm sorry.
00:20:23:29 -Well, I actually liked your arm better up here.
-Up here?
-Yeah.
-OK.
00:20:28:06 -Stop picking on me.
-Sorry.
00:20:30:12 When I told my mom I was dating a girl from Russia that used to be in A circus and she joggles, my mom was like, "Ok... interesting."
00:20:37:19 I always wanted to be an entertainer ever since I was five years old. I started travelling with a circus when I was twelve thirteen years old and two years after that I came to America.
00:20:49:20 Olga is a performer. You know what I mean? I do think that's what she was born to do-to perform and entertain in some avenue.
00:21:05:19 We were both at a party. I saw this flicker of a lighter behind me and when I turned around it Cory playing with a lighter. I stole it from him and we started talking and he was like, "Come here!" and he drags me into the back yard and he has a can of Pam cooking spray in his hand. And he grabs a lighter and he sprays the Pam on his leg and lights it on fire. It was really funny so I started laughing.
00:21:34:00 And ever since we've been... we don't leave each other.
00:21:38:13 This is where I belong. Everything would be OK as long as I was with him.
00:21:44:23 Lisa and I met five or six years ago and we just had a lot in common. We didn't start dating or anything right away but we ended up going out a couple of years later.
00:21:57:05 He'd been doing production for years and we got together and joined forces and he found YouTube and he started posting videos and he is like, "You should post some videos."
00:22:05:00 I was always interested in films and acting in them. It was kind of hard thing to explain; there is a site and you put up videos...
00:22:11:23 And then there the whole commenting and interaction and feedback from people...
00:22:15:11 It's a lot of comedy spoofs and parodies of political things, entertainment...
00:22:21:00 Do you mind if we talk a little bit about your album?
00:22:24:09 Totally. That's what it's about. It's always about the music. Um, this album I've entitled it Raw Flesh... um, basically it's... I'm exposing myself. I'm opening up. It's raw. And it's my flesh.
00:22:42:09 Ummm...
00:22:46:22 I think a lot of the reasons we are succesful is it was a much smaller community, so we were one of the first people there. I mean our first video did really well. We got like thirty thousand views on our first video.
00:22:57:03 It was pretty cool. So I just basically became sort of obsessed with YouTube and focused a lot of my spare time. We felt like there is so much opportunity on YouTube. Oh, this could help us transition to mainstream media; maybe we can get a TV show; Lisa can start acting. It was great to get an audience because a lot of time you have a video and it's like you feel so excited if two or three people in a room watching it and suddenly Im like, oh, my God, fifty people watched us in one day. Holy shit!
00:23:21:15 It was just sort odd... me and Danny.... and, you know, it was just an accomplishment for us to be like, OK yeah, people are watching.
00:23:27:17 We knew the power of it immediately.
00:23:39:20 YouTube definitely helped me to put my talent out there, and if somebody was looking for somebody, they would just search Google and my name would come up and my video would come up and at first... well, of course it takes a while to, you know, to people to notice your videos.
00:23:55:29 There are times when I'm like, "Aaah, what video do you want to show me right now?" I know she is all day on YouTube. It's really strange. There is people on there that are, you know, doing ridiculous things they just happen to be taping but then like Mr. Safety. I mean, the songs that he's written about his cat, or whatever it is, it's like, that takes a lot of time. You know what I mean? You can't just do something like that and be like, screw it I'm just going to tape it and see what it turns out. That stuff you have to plan, so you know... I mean people are taking time to make this stuff good, and then you've got the people on there that are just doing stuff to be entertaining and stupid, you know. I think there is the whole spectrum of things. I think as far as whether it's art, it's a complete spectrum. These are people that are gaining celebrity or making careers out of this type of stuff.
00:24:42:26 ... but you will get home sooner or later; it's because of your fingers that you have toilet paper. If you've gotta shit and you're stuck in traffic, your palms will sweat and your ass will twitch, ain't that a bitch. If it starts to come out, just give your cheeks a pinch. Pinchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitchy, pitch, poop, poop...
00:24:57:14 Make poop was my first song that really took off. And you know it's weird. There was this girl named Emma from Australia. She was my first real fan that didn't know me and didn't give birth to me. She said that the song inspired her so much that she basically stopped herself from commiting a suicide.
00:25:19:07 She was gonna commit suicide and then she saw me, and it just inspired me and then I realized that my poop helped somebody not to commit suicide. But no, it's not about that. It's just a.... It's stupid but I'm kinda getting teary eyed a little bit, but you know, it's kinda good to know that my videos help people. You know that... it's not tears because I'm laughing. It's tears because I'm honestly... happy.
00:25:59:13 I'm Mr. Safety but my real name is Cory. Belive it or not I make poop every morning.
Make poop the people in the USA make poop. The people who live in the UK make poop. The people in the countries of Europe make poop. Everyone around the world just make poop.
00:26:15:29 I eat and I poop and I smoke and I sit just to eat some more to poop some more all the while smoking and wondering how to destroy that rebel base on level five. That's not the way to live.
00:26:26:28 YouTube is a huge part of my life. It really is. To a fault really just because it's not a healthy lifestyle sitting in front of a computer and making videos and obsessing over it and stuff like that. I'm originally from Florida. I grew up there, went to high school there and the day after graduation I went to Huntsville, Alabama. I started recording the videos. I wanted desperately to move out. I didn't like Alabama at all. It just wasn't my kind of place. So I had no money. So I asked all my subscribers if they wanted to send in some money, it would be awesome. This would take me out there you know, and overnight they donated over a thousand dollars to get me out here. Just overnight we're talking twelve sixteen hours. If there was no YouTube, I'd be probably still a waiter. I'd probably be still in Alabama.
00:27:19:14 Before it was just like, "I make videos on YouTube." And now it's like, "Hey! I make videos! Check them out! It's cool." So it's definitely changed my life over the past two years. I found out Lucky had a heart disease about a year ago. She was thirteen and she had so much life in her. I didn't know what to do, and I made this video on YouTube asking people what they think I should do. Should I, you know, go to a doctor, should I put her down? It was just getting really, really bad. And I also said I couldn't afford all of her bills because getting x-rays and echo-kardiograms and bloodwork it just.... I just couldn't afford it. And so many people came to me and said that they would donate and they want to help and they loved Lucky, and it's crazy to know that people care so much about you.
00:28:12:23 So I actually raised enough money to take her to the doctor. And I posted a video, the next day I raised all the money, took her to the specialist. She was there for three hours. She was there for so long. I got her back and the doctor said, "She is really, really, really bad. If we change her medicine, she has good three six months." So I was like, "Oh, that's great; we'll change her medicine." She came out of the animal hospital and she was running around. She was such a bull. She was just full of life. The overwhelming response I got from people from strangers, people I knew: don't worry, your dog is sick but try this, try this doctor, try this remedy, try herbal medicine. Tons of information flew in from people I've never spoke to. YouTube, it's part of my life.
00:28:57:25 I'm gonna get my head shaved.
00:28:59:26 Here you go, honey.
00:29:03:24 Alright.
00:29:04:07 Go ahead and stand behind me, honey.
00:29:08:19 Alright.
00:29:10:05 So here we go.
00:29:20:27 "Will you marry me?"
00:29:23:07 When I was filming that proposal, I... just watching it you feel it over and over and over and over.
00:29:33:24 Stephanie Roby, will you marry me?
00:29:37:20 Yeah!!!
00:29:44:06 Proposing to her was my best video I've ever done.
00:29:48:11 I was really nervous because I get nervous on camera a lot.
00:29:52:25 I don't think I even noticed the camera.
00:29:55:17 I was really happy when he pulled off his hat. That's really what I wanted.
00:30:00:24 I wouldn't choose any other way. I love the way I did it because that was my way.
00:30:06:08 Really, I couldn't see anything other than right there in front of me what was going on. I completely forgot everybody else was in the room.
00:30:13:16 The fact that he was able to pull it off in the end and go back into remembering to talk to the camera and finish that story was beyond what I could have done.
00:30:29:12 Lucky got really, really sick the last month or two. She just kind of fell out of her doggie bed, and it was weird. She just laid right over her doggie bed and was just in this state shock. I went over to her and she was just laying there.
00:30:52:14 I was like, "Lucky, are you ok?"
00:30:56:07 I had called the animal hospital because I didn't know what to do, and they said to bring her right back over. Lucky is about forty pounds or so. So I picked her up and I took her into the car. And so many people were telling me that, "You will know when your dog wants to go."
00:31:16:08 Her constant coughing and...
00:31:24:21 And I had her in a towel and she was laying on me. So I kind of felt she knew that...
00:31:31:11 She knew that was her time, so it was really... good moment in the car.
00:31:54:10 So we got to the animal hospital and... the doctor said they couldn't do anything else. And that was the decision.
00:32:07:09 So I had seen her; they brought her back out for like thirty minutes, and she had IV's, so she was on something. I don't even know. But she was running around the little hospital room like nothing happened.
00:32:30:09 And I just kept thinking I have to make a video telling people that don't know her that she is gone because she was such a huge, huge character in my videos.
00:32:44:06 So posting a video was probably one of the hardest things to do, but I wanted to show not to be sad that she left but to be really happy that she had a great life.
00:33:17:29 "It is in collaboration that the nature of arts is revealed." -Steve Lacy
00:33:21:28 I have to do a video today.
00:33:24:03 OK.
00:33:24:18 And I really need you for the video.
00:33:27:04 Alright.
00:33:27:19 I'm always going to be into collaborating with people.
00:33:30:16 One of the YouTubers that I'm actually helping out right now, because they are kind of... I think they're kind of lost a bit in where they are going, is Ben, Boheme, a really good friend of mine.
00:33:39:09 He is up in Thousand Oaks, you know, and I'm down here in Torrance. That's a good fifty miles of driving on a motocycle in LA traffic or in the middle of the night when it's cold or in the afternoon when it's hot. You know, it kind of sucks that way.
00:33:51:23 I think it's fun doing collabs and people email me asking for collabs. I do a few of them but that's what's fun about collabs- you can do whatever you want. I'm excited to do them with LisaNova for sure.
00:34:00:07 Collaboration videos on YouTube... seems like everybody was doing them.
00:34:05:05 Tons of people are always asking Lisa to collab and it's just overwhelming because you can't do it with everyone.
00:34:09:22 Oh, I love collaborations. Collaboration videoes are key. When you first start on YouTube, it's almost impossible now to get subscribtions unless you kind of network your way around.
00:34:19:09 "Friendship is born when one person says to another: What? You too? Thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
00:34:23:01 We have more friends, more close-built connection with YouTube friends than our real life friends because we have the same ideas in a way. So we just become such close friends because of this website.
00:34:35:27 A lot of times the real life friends, not everyone but a lot of them, don't understand what you are doing. They laugh at you when you say you are on YouTube. They don't understand why you would spend that much time on it.
00:34:45:28 I remember the first time I met someone from YouTube. I said, "Hey, I'm gonna go meet this person."
And they are like, "You are crazy, what if they kill you, " and "they are strangers and it's the internet."
Every single person I've ever met that I saw on YouTube, meeting them in person was exactly like knowing them.
00:35:01:16 LisaNova is a big celebrity on YouTube. LisaNova subscribed to my videos, and it made me so happy. I thought, well, if LisaNova subscribed to my videos, I'm probably doing the right thing. And you know, I've never talked to Lisa before; we emailed before back and forth and stuff. And she is like, "Yeah, why don't you come to my house tomorrow." Next thing I know the next day I'm in her house, and we never talked so it's a little awkward when you don't have the relationship built on the internet before you start in real life talking.
00:35:28:05 So it's really weird. But it was great. She was so welcoming and we did this her first live show ever. We are together and everyone's like, "Oh my God, OlgaKay at LisaNova's house! That's crazy!"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I know!"
And they are like, "We didn't even know you were friends."
And I'm like, "Me neither."
00:35:45:16 It's always funny when you meet someone who you know online, and they are as famous to you as a big movie star or something because of how much time you spend in that area being YouTube.
00:35:54:26 There are people out there like you. Having these gatherings that I do that was the main thing. YouTubers together? There was no community when I started. The site was a few thousand users. I felt like these people had something in common with me.
00:36:07:08 I want to get in on this. When I first had the As One gathering, I just made a video saying, "Hey, I'm coming to Los Angeles. If anybody is going to be out there, come hang out because it would be cool."
00:36:28:08 These gatherings are really good for the community, and yeah, community is nothing more than a bunch of people that have common interests.
00:36:35:27 YouTube is one of the best communities I've ever been involved with just because it's dynamic. I mean you have those moments where people are so one way or the other: either they are really nice, really cool or they are gunning for you; I mean, they don't like you whatsoever. And it's that dynamic that allows people to really be who they are. You really get to know who people are without, you know, just a regular blogs.
00:36:55:29 I'm just happy to be a part of this, man. I'm just looking at all these people, I'm sorry, I'm kind of distracted by the... it's very euphoric. So days like this it's very hard for me to talk because here I am; I'm a YouTube community member. I have more friends, I mean, all of these people know who I am. I know who most of these people are. There are a lot of people here. It's just gonna get bigger.
00:37:34:23 I'm in Toronto for the 888 gathering. I took a bus. I took it from Philly to New York City which was two hours then New York City to Toronto which was like ten. And I had to cross the border and when I got there, they smeared all the stuff around me I guess looking for drugs. They questioned me, "Why are you here?"
I was like, "I'm here for the gathering."
And they were like, "OK, are you under eighteen?
I was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Do you have note from your mom?"
I was like, "What???"
Am I in the middle school or something? I don't know.
I was like, "No."
Then I had to call my mom at like five a.m. And they started questioning me, "Why are you going to the gathering? Who is KevJumba?" I was staying with KevJumba and they were like, "Who is KevJumba?" And they looked at me like, who is this KevJumba guy? Have you ever met him?
00:37:53:07 We slept... oh, we shouldn't tell them. That's bad.
00:37:56:20 We shared a bed.
00:37:57:22 Oh, why did you...
00:37:59:25 That's why they called my mom because they didn't believe me.
They were like, "So he is here for a YouTube gathering with internet people?"
And my mom was like, "Yeah."
And they were like, "Oh, ok, ok."
Because I didn't have a note.
00:38:06:27 DaveDays is definitely one of my favorites. It's cool to come to the gatherings and to hang out with these people whose videos you watch all the time, you know? And then all of a sudden you are touching them. I saw the Winekone and I was like, "Are you real?" And trying to touch him. It's cool because all these people on there are amazing. Everybody has an amazing talent. I think everyone there has something to offer.
00:38:55:20 I'm here with Kicesie at the YouTube Live. Bunch of YouTube popular people.
00:39:01:01 I've had offers to go into television, and I kind of almost thought that would be taking a step backwards. YouTube is just gonna grow and grow until... I think it's going to overtake TV. I'm sticking with the internet because I really do think that is the future.
00:39:19:04 What got me started? Boredom. Really just boredom and then greed. And then boredom again. This is my job now. That's all I really have to do. I work two hours a day and that's it. I feel like a douche every time I explain that. I'm doing something I like and I'm getting paid for it.
00:39:37:10 It's only going to get bigger.
00:39:38:14 Do you know who I am? Michael Buckley! Thank you! What is your YouTube channel?
00:39:43:26 -Michael Buckley! Michael Buckley!
-Right here, right here!
00:39:46:14 The worst thing any of us can do as internet personalities is be like screw you internet. I'm gonna go be a TV or a movie star. This is what launched us and this is what gave us the opportunity.
00:39:55:22 You know YouTube is only less than three years old. Celebrity is kind of thrown out of the window in the world of YouTube. YouTube celebrities are fans of YouTube celebrities.
00:40:02:15 I do watch YouTube. I favorite a lots of videos from Fred to Daxflame to Tay Zonday. They are the best.
00:40:08:03 I was really excited to see Katy Perry.
00:40:10:10 I got to meet Katy Perry. She is nice. I didn't know she had videos but I will... I will see them.
00:40:17:04 It's crazy. You look around and everyone from YouTube is here basically. So far I haven't met Fred yet. He is the only guy I haven't met.
00:40:23:05 ... and Esmée Denters...
00:40:24:09 I started singing covers on YouTube, and that's how I got signed. So it's an amazing experience to be here and to let people hear my original song.
00:40:34:26 I'm at YouTube Live right now. It's a big event where all the YouTubers and all their friends, everybody just comes out together, and we all have a good time, and there is a show and everything. It's a big event.
00:40:42:29 I put the plane ticket on my mom's credit card, and I don't know if I'll pay her back for that. I don't know.
00:40:47:10 Where do the VIP's go?
00:40:48:27 My phone is just going off the hook.
00:40:50:28 I've been to a number of YouTube gatherings at this point.
She is like, "Oh, it will be fun, it's something we can do together."
And I'm like, "Olga, this is a YouTube trip. This is not about you and me."
00:41:00:05 I don't get it, no. I'm not so much into the whole YouTube scene. It's interesting going to the gatherings because you can see that there is a community there.
00:41:07:27 But who these people are... I don't get it... there is a celebrity community within YouTube.
00:41:13:29 It's like being a secret celebrity in a way 'cause you can be online and people are like, "Ooh, it's Paperlilies." But in real life, you know, nobody has ever recognized me in the street or came up to me and spoken to me or anything like that.
00:41:25:07 I wouldn't say there any real fame to it, I mean, I do get recognized places...
00:41:31:22 I don't know. There is no celebrity status to it right now.
00:41:34:15 Olga gets excited to see these people and I'm like, I don't understand what the fuss is about. You know what I mean?
00:41:38:24 Oh my God, there is Fred! Fred over there!
00:41:41:25 It's unbelievable! I will get to meet Fred right now!
00:41:44:22 - Lucas! Hi. I'm Olga.
- Hey, hey.
00:41:47:16 I'm watching your videos. I love it.
00:41:52:00 Yeah, Fred is here!!!
00:41:53:08 It was weird initially going to these gatherings and just not really getting it, you know. I was definitely on the sidelines and kind of like, this is strange. But I'm definitely starting, I guess, to understand or see how these people do have followings, and they are impacting or affecting different people, you know? There are a lot of people that look up to these YouTube personalities.
00:42:29:04 As much as you are friends with everybody on the internet when you part of the community, you are friends with all the people who are on the Most Subscribed list. Yes, there is definitely, definitely a competition.
00:42:40:29 There is really not a competitiveness there when you are speaking with someone, but after you get home, it's like a big video game all over again. You are like, OK well, I'm gonna try to outdo them now. No matter how friend you are with the guy, you still want to try to do that.
00:42:52:28 Passing somebody on the list is...
00:42:55:19 It's a good feeling.
00:42:56:14 Can you imagine how many people every minute uploading videos? Ten hours of footage uploaded on YouTube every minute.
00:43:04:00 Everyone is trying to act and everyone just looks so much better than you and they are maybe so much more talented.
00:43:10:20 "The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed." -Nelson Boswell
00:43:14:03 Because Whatthebuck was in one of my videos, I got more subscribers.
00:43:18:04 I'll say it. At one of the gatherings I met Mr. Safety, and he is such a creative guy and so fun, and I always wanted to get to know him better.
00:43:21:11 He has this cat, Sparta, that is... I swear Sparta is more famous that I am on the internet. He said, "Olga, you've never been at my place. Come over and hang out with my cat Sparta, and maybe we can make videos together. Mr. Safety is just so powerful on YouTube. Because of that video I got like, I don't know, a thousand of subscribers. Just because I played with his cat.
00:43:39:24 At one of the gatherings I also met Sxephil who is so dominant on YouTube right now.
00:43:44:13 Everyone is like, "He is a YouTube celebrity," which I think is the most ridiculous thing to say ever 'cause we are all just people on the internet.
00:43:50:08 So he promoted me and the next day I got over five thousand subscribers. And I was like, oh my God. I've been working for two and a half years and I got thirty five hundred subscribers and then over night I just got extra five thousand. And from that day it just kept growing and growing and growing.
00:44:20:21 "There are many things we hate in others in order not to have to hate them in ourselves." -Anonymous
00:44:25:17 On YouTube there is a lot of positivity. But with that positivity does come negativity.
00:44:31:14 "I hope you die."
"You wasted three minutes out of my life."
And "I hope your house burns down," and, "You are so gay," and, "You're so... " Oh, such stupid comments.
00:44:42:17 First stalker that I can remember was named Kerri Ann. She was in New York and she was about thirty four and she was sending me messages. She started to get pretty hot and heavy and creepy like, "I love you," and, "I want to be with you. I'm going to move out there next month," kind of stuff.
00:44:57:09 And I am just being friendly. I'm just talking to you and you are going to a whole new level of creepytude. So I stopped talking to her. You know, I sent her that message and I didn't read anything. So by email, by MySpace, by YouTube messaging, anywhere I popped up online or at least logged in, she would send me a message. All day, every day for like months.
00:45:15:23 One thing about the internet is putting yourself out there. You're really putting yourself out there. I mean everything: your personality, your feelings, everything that makes you you.
00:45:25:26 Haters... I just ignore them. I don't mind them at all because the more haters the more popular you are. So, I don't mind them at all.
00:45:32:06 You know, controversy is not the worst thing and haters aren't really the worse thing. It's all part of the course.
00:45:37:18 There was a guy who commented all the time who seemed obsessed, and somehow we corresponded. His name is DaveDays, and he was just constantly contacting us. He was telling Lisa how much he loved her and it was actually me responding to him, and he didn't realize it. And it just got really awkward. He was saying sexual things to me thinking it was Lisa, but it was really inappropriate.
00:46:00:28 -It was you the whole time?
-It was me the whole time.
00:46:03:21 -Really?
-Yeah.
00:46:05:02 That's weird. That changes everything.
00:46:09:20 One time I was in the mall and this fourteen fifteen year old girl screams, "Oh my God! Is that Boheme?"
00:46:15:10 I'm like, "Do I know you? How drunk was I?" I really didn't know what was going on, and then she mentioned she knew me through YouTube.
00:46:21:17 I guess I've hit another level of something, you know? Very strange.
00:46:26:28 Dealing with bad comments is something that I'm continuously working on because it's... digs on you. It's bad because they are attacking something you put time and effort into. Something that you think is awesome and people are going to enjoy. And they are like, no, it's bad." And you are like, aaaah.
00:46:44:05 It's never that civil either. They say the worst things, and always in the most cutting way that they can.
00:46:50:17 It gets overwhelming or you can get burned out and you just feel like being creative and so that causes more stress and pressure to keep putting out quality videos. Right out of the gate we had success, and we kind of just expected big things and so... you know, we work on a lot of different things and if something falls through, you have a tendency to get upset or disappointed. It demotivates you like is this ever going to happen or are we crazy?
00:47:14:00 The YouTube has become very consuming. You are working together, living together so... I try to be a motivator.
00:47:19:18 What should I do? Do you need help with anything?
00:47:21:29 Why don't you just come back here?
00:47:24:01 We just take breaks when we need to. Trying to get that balance where it's not affecting your relationship is definitely tough, but we've managed to do great so far, so I think it's testament for how much we love each other.
00:47:36:28 I had forty or fifty thousand views on a bunch of sequential videos, and then it plummeted to like 15K. Just like half the audience or three quarters of the audience just gone.
00:47:46:16 Initially loosing views really made me want to do good videos, get more views, get it back, get my place, and then I just stopped really caring about placement and viewership.
00:47:57:07 I'm probably going to quit.
00:48:01:01 My friend Boheme... he know where he wants to go. He just wants to be in an entertainment. He just doesn't want to go in the same direction that I'm in as far as product placement. That happens.
00:48:12:27 Mr. Safety is cheesy. YouTube is so... YouTube and video making is so much of a part of his life. I'm slightly jealous just because I would like that.
00:48:21:24 I realize that it is a huge drop, and those people were in a way giving me exposure and money through ads and stuff like that. I have an animosity towards advertising and the capitalist consumption machine where you have to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. Buy this and not that. This is better. These guys suck. And seeing ads everywhere you go...
00:48:45:18 I actually think being a waiter is going to be better for me anyway. You know, less responsibility, go flirt with the host stand, you get five hours of work and sometimes you walk out with two hundred bucks.
00:48:54:27 It seems some people have been waiting tables twenty years and they are happy as pig in shit. I mean, they do it every day with a big old shitty little grin. They are just happy.
00:49:03:29 That seems to be the way for me.
00:49:14:29 "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." -Richard Bach
00:49:33:10 So funny how the internet allows one guy who just works all this stuff by himself without any knowledge or training whatsoever and I can go out here and do this.
00:49:46:08 It's weird. Internet is so weird. But I love it.
00:49:50:18 If I can do YouTube and do music and do all that, I'd definitely do that. But I should go to college just because... to get it out of the way in case YouTube fails in the end.
049:59:28 Our goals are, of course, to stay on YouTube and stay as relevant on YouTube, and I think that we, both Danny and I, believe that the future is in the internet and that the mediums are just going to merge at some point. TV will be internet and internet will be TV, and so we want to stay as relevant on the internet as possible.
00:50:18:21 YouTube is the starting point. I'm so happy to be on the internet and be making friends and videos because without it, I'd probably feel a little bit lost. So it definitely completes my life.
00:50:30:16 Traditional media isn't something I want to do. My foot is so well planted in a new media. The money is here; it's that people don't know how to get it yet. I don't wanna have to follow other people's rules. I wanna just do what I wanna do and be an artist.
00:50:44:09 People who are becoming popular on internet right now they are going to be Tom Cruises of internet. Those are the people who we are going to watch ten years from now and say, "Oh my gosh, I remember when he started on the internet and we thought it was a crazy idea."
00:51:01:09 Yeah, I don't know if you are going to replace your Tom Cruises or Brad Pitts, but...
00:51:17:17 I'm addicted. I don't know about you but I don't even watch TV anymore. I can't wait to get home. How many subscribers we've got? Oh my God, this guy said we suck!
00:51:30:13 We're just standing around, you know. The 2009 juggling competition is a big thing, and we've all been practicing all year. He's got a new six-ball routine that he's been working on. I still only have two small balls.