Ethan and Hila from h3h3 are basically the South Park of YouTube.
They parody the most outrageous things going on in the community
and despite the fact that they are primarily a comedy channel,
they often manage to make a point about the way that we ought to behave.
In this video, we're going to look at what has made h3h3 so popular
and we'll focus on Ethan in particular because he's on camera far more than Hila is.
To start off, let's begin with the most obvious thing that you'll notice when watching h3h3.
They often get their point across using parody.
Two-handed great sword is the biggest sword we make
but don't let its size fool you
as there's nothing awkward or clumsy about this awesome sword.
So my Ethan Kline and I'm the CEO of Vape Nation.
I appreciate vapes just because, you know, it's healthier.
# I'll do anything that you want me to #
A parody that h3h3 does is that like South Park's, it's often in service of a moral point.
For instance, sometimes h3 mocks people who beg for likes on YouTube
showing how ridiculous it is to insist that someone likes a video before even watching it.
So I am challenging you guys — I want to hit to 200,000 likes on this video.
"Can we get a..." yes, you guys should definitely go to the Like button right now.
It's now because it's going to blow your mind.
So hit the Like button and let's get into the video.
I'm challenging you guys right now.
Can we please get 500,000 Likes on this video?
If I shout louder and beg for Likes harder, you too will be sure to promote my video.
Other times, they parody people who overact emotions to get more views on Youtube.
(Ethan inhaling and exhaling loudly)
(gasping)
(overacted crying)
Oh, my god!
(Ethan screaming)
I can't believe I've been missing this all these years.
It's okay.
The thing is that, um...
...I could red this whole time, actually.
The power of parody is that it lets people come to their own conclusions without direct commentary.
So all you have to do is re-enact something in a more absurd way
and it forces the person watching to change their perspective
on something that they might have taken for granted before.
For instance, in their video Vape Nation,
h3 took the stereotype of a vaper stoner character to the extreme
and it was so popular because a lot of us actually know someone like that
but what makes h3h3's parodies not just funny but culturally relevant
are the targets that they pick.
They often choose manipulators, hypocrites, or people in power
that are taking advantage of those not in power.
For instance, SoFlo Antonio was basically stealing people's videos on Facebook and YouTube.
He'd find a video on a smaller page, put it on his own,
and repeat that process about a hundred times
then reap the benefits of the gross and, potentially, even ad revenue.
The problem was that these little creators who were having their contents stolen
without seeing a dime had no recourse until h3h3's video came along.
...when he first uploaded this video, he realized that there's a lot of trouble.
Now, if you look closely here, there's a download button plugin.
Is that not the most hilariously incriminating thing you've ever seen?
SoFlo is the one person that would have a download plugin.
I steal this video and I steal this video
and I'll sue you for defamation for saying I've ever stolen a video.
Outrageous.
He's started crediting any collaborations that he's done
and he has even shared other people's videos rather than outright reposting them.
Now there's no way to go back and give the original creators
the exposure that they deserve from the videos that were stolen
but at least it stopped going forward.
Now, h3 has done a number of expose style videos in the past —
exposing a scammy Counter Strike gambling site,
and standing up for a Hugh Mungus and Ken Bone
when the entire internet seem to vilify them.
I bring this up because there is a charisma point here.
When you stand up for the little guy,
when you use your voice to call out manipulation or abuse where you see it,
people look up to you and it's usually not easy to do.
In high school, it's nerve-racking to stand up for the kid being bullied.
In the workplace, it's scary to tell the boss that he shouldn't yell at a colleague.
When you have the courage to say, "What you're doing is wrong," to someone who's in power,
you become a hero to everyone who was thinking the same thing
but didn't have the guts or the platform to say it themselves
and the reason that most of us don't always call out the things that are wrong when we see them
is that we're scared of the blowback.
When you stick your neck out to do what's right, you become a target yourself.
Whether it's the bully in school, the boss at work, or even the media
and that's kind of what happened to h3h3 —
they got sued for copyright infringement and threatened with a two-year court proceeding
that was going to cost a lot of money.
Then, the plaintiff offered to drop the case if h3h3 paid $4,000
and never spoke about the case again —
now that would have been the easy route to take.
Instead, h3 fought it — here's why in their own words.
...it was $4,000 and we're like, "This is horrible. This is bad precedent.
This lawyer is going to run a month not just with us but anyone on Youtube."
He's going to just hit up, like...
He can hit up Leafy and be like, "Oh, I saw you made a video about Joey Salads. Perfect."
Joey Salad's be like, "Hey, I got h3 to pay up so I'm going to get Leafy to pay $10,000 easy."
It's like this whole thing has always been bigger than us, in my mind.
To be clear, refusing to pay $4,000 was not in h3h3's best interest.
Paying up and shutting up would have saved him two years of legal headache
but the moral compass of both Ethan and Hila told them that it was wrong to give in.
Live in accordance with your principles even when it isn't convenient.
Sometimes it's a big deal like fighting a drawn-out lawsuit to protect fair use.
Other times it's a smaller deal like not lying about bad traffic
or your alarm not going off when you're late for work.
It comes down to integrity —
making sure that your beliefs, your words, and your actions
match throughout all areas of your life
and that means that there will be some uncomfortable situations sometimes.
For instance, it's very easy to call someone out on Youtube
or to talk crap behind their back.
...and Joey Salads, you are pretty much
the worst person in America right now as far as I'm concerned.
What's much more difficult is to have that same level of honesty
when you're face-to-face with that person.
In his 20-minute interview with Joey Salads though after he made this video,
Ethan kept that same level of criticism up and he laid some pretty heavy charges on Joey
without getting enraged or overly emotional.
He was the same guy to Joey's face as he was when Joey was thousands of miles away
and that is, quite frankly, a very rare trait.
This is probably the most fucked up thing that I've ever seen on Youtube
and probably the most fucked up thing you've done
and even worse than when Hakim starts saying the n-word.
You're actually creating hate and spite and real racism in the world.
You see the impact you're having on the world which is clearly a negative impact.
You are having a negative impact on the world, Joey.
You are having a negative impact on this world, Joey.
How does that make you feel that you're selling fucking hate?
You're basically selling hate.
Is that cool?
...like, shit.
But you keep doing it.
In the end, that direct honest approach got Ethan to what we all wanted — the truth.
Your newest prank has been proven to be fake.
Are all of your pranks fake?
No.
How many of them are fake?
I would say the old pranks — a lot of the older pranks. But when I—
So only this new one? The new one right now that just got proven fake —
that's the only one of the new ones that are fake?
No, that wouldn't be the only one.
Which other ones are fake?
I'm not going to tell you but let's—
Joey, let me be frank with you.
Everybody knows that shit's fake.
The only people who don't know it's fake are people who are not going to watch this video to begin with.
You have nothing to lose by coming clean.
I'll admit to you The Black Lives Matter one was fake. There you go.
That's really the key message of this video.
h3h3 does a great job of telling the truth.
Their parody shows the absurd truth of the subjects that they pick.
Their expose show us the truth of the powerful preying on the less powerful
so that we can do something about it.
Ethan even tells the truth about his own shortcomings as we all should.
This feeling's weird. I was planning for this to be funnier.
Let's just wrap it up.
I'm a bit goof on people.
But, like, the way I handled the Leafy thing was stupid.
Guys, excuse me for this goofy-ass pedo mustache.
Do you not have something better to do with your time?
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go talk shit about somebody's Youtube video
which is clearly a much better use of my time.
I'm already losing weight.
I'm up to a 4 I think right now.
Did I go up? Has my attractive scale gone up since we started?
Uh, it's going to take time.
It's going to take some time?
And some process.
Okay, 3.6, let's say.
...the final rap battle in 8 Mile.
Ethan is aware of his shortcomings and since he demonstrates
a high level of both self-awareness and honesty in calling himself out first,
he becomes more trustworthy.
...living in line with your principles when it costs you money
and time and, potentially, your career is another.
And like I said, that is called integrity and it's in the situations
where you stand to lose something important that integrity is truly tested.
That's where the people that h3h3 calls out fall short —
they cut corners to make money with fake videos,
they steal other people's videos for easy cash
or they create sites that basically allows thirteen-year-olds to gamble to make a quick buck.
h3h3 is different because they refused to do the wrong easy thing.
We had a month like six months ago, we worked all month non-stop, okay?
We killed ourselves this month, we made three reaction videos
almost to completion and we scraped all of them.
Were like, "This is stupid. This is shit. These people don't deserve it.
This reaction is not good. There's not much in it," we killed it all.
I feel like, as a responsible person, you need to be like,
"Okay, we can make a video about this. We can make a great video about this.
This is going to get millions of views but does this person really deserve this?"
You know?
And do I really need to live with the fact that I did this to that person?
A lot of times, the answer is a no.
We all like to get mad at hypocrites and thieves — we get fired up about it.
But with the pressure on, with money or reputation on the line,
it's far too common that we become the very types of people that we despise
and that's why we see someone who lives by their own principles at personal cost,
we get inspired — we trust them.
And in a sea of fakers and cheaters, we gravitate to those people — that is charisma.
Now you might not have a Youtube channel
but every now and then, your integrity will be seriously tested
and the only way to do the right thing is to prepare yourself in advance,
to know your values and stick to them even when it would be so easy to cave in the moment.
So I invite you now to think
if there's some way in which you are currently damaging your integrity or
in which you're going to be tempted to damage that integrity in the future —
maybe for instance, you're not being honest with your significant other,
maybe you're a sweetheart to someone's face and horrible behind their back,
maybe your friend group or your company
is involved in some shady dealings that you're not comfortable with
but you haven't spoken up about it.
Whatever it is, consider doing the thing that you know is right —
the thing that is scary to even think about doing.
And while the short-term pain might seem like too much to bear,
just remember that you're setting an example for everyone around you
and the ripple effects from that are bound to make the world a better place.
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The whole goal of these videos is to help you become your most confident and charismatic self
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