Good morning Hank it’s Tuesday.
Happy New Year! It’s January 2nd, 2024. Which means that 17 years ago today,
I uploaded my first Brotherhood 2.0 video. That’s right, Hank - the year was 2007.
George W. Bush was President. AFC Wimbledon were plying their trade
in the lowly seventh tier of English football. And most astonishingly, you couldn’t check
Instagram on your iPhone because Instagram didn’t exist, and neither did
the iPhone. Hank, there are so many Youtubers who are not just younger than us,
they’re younger than us on YouTube. That we’re still making videos is mostly
a testament to our community of viewers who have remained astonishingly loyal
over the years and grown and changed with us. I mean, once upon a time,
I was a guy who threw himself against a wall to prove that he
wasn't an octopus. And then later, I was a guy who gave a speech at
the United Nations. And in both cases, Nerdfighteria was like, “Oh, yeah, that tracks.
I'm just happy to be on the road with these brothers.” And because of that, Hank,
this public conversation between you and me has now lasted for over a third
of both of our lives. We've each uploaded over 1,100 videos that have been viewed,
in total, more than 980,000,000 times, which is a lot in some ways, but it is less
than one fifth of the views just for size video for “Gangnam Style”, which points at
something important. We've been very successful.
We've been able to do this for an astonishingly long period of time with
so many wonderful people. But at the same time, we've never been,
like, that successful. We've never gotten close to the center of YouTube or culture
or whatever. For me, anyway, this is where I'm happiest. I get to make stuff with
awesome people I like, while never amassing, even over 17 years,
as many views as Maroon 5’s song, “Girls Like You”. In short, Hank,
I'm not old yet, but I am old on YouTube. And there are downsides of being old,
of course. Like, I don't understand all these newfangled Youtuber techniques,
like custom thumbnails. But of course, there are also upsides
to being old. Like, I can genuinely say about YouTube, “Do not cite the
deep magic to me. I was there when it was written.” These eyes have seen
a lot of stuff, Hank, from reply guys to prank houses. And over the years,
I've had the opportunity to see many different ways of being a Youtuber.
And, you know, all in all, I like our way of being a Youtuber. Like, I never expected
to be making YouTube videos when I was 46. I don't know if I'll be making them
when I'm 50 or 56, but I like the job. I like writing, and I like editing, and I like
that there are so many lovely people on the other side of the camera lens.
How do they fit all of you in there? Such a stupid joke. That's such a dad joke.
I said before that I'm not old yet, but I am old, right? So I like the job,
but I do want to make a change. Over the last 17 years, there have been
many weeks, maybe four or five a year, where I just don't want to make a video.
Sometimes it's a mental health thing that's been quite present for me lately.
Other times I just want to hang out with my family or I have a writing deadline
or whatever. I just don't want to make a video that week. And in the past, I've always
made a video that week. Or at least almost always, unless I was hospitalized or
simply couldn't upload because I was in a place without Internet. I've found a way
to make a video, and usually I'm glad that I did. There's a lot to recommend having a
schedule and sticking to it. And I'm a big believer in discipline
when it comes to creativity. Sitting down, being available to the work,
rather than waiting to be inspired or whatever. But I think after 17 years, I know all that.
I know how to have the discipline, I know how to show up for the work.
And there are still going to be some weeks where I just don't want to or I have
something else that's really important. If there are weeks I don't want to make a video,
I'm not going to, which may hurt like subscriber count or view growth or whatever.
But at this point, I'm not overly concerned about that stuff. As long as Nerdfighteria
stays strong. And I suspect that Nerdfighteria will stick around because somehow they have,
even amid an ocean of higher-res, algorithm optimized content showing people
living in a bunker for 100 days or whatever, over 100,000 human souls still
show up to watch these videos, which is just a amazing to me.
So thank you for spending part of your week with me and for letting me do this
for the last 17 years. It really has been the great privilege
of my professional life. Hank, I'll see you on Friday.