- I don't watch TikTok. - Life hacks!
Useless life hacks.
- What he's gonna do? - This guy's crazy.
- Oh, I know what this is. He's gonna like come over
and he's just gonna pick up the cup and then, yeah.
- Whaaat?
- Silly dude.
- (laughs) - Okay. And? Like, okay. What?
I don't care. - (React) He's not wrong.
- He's not wrong. - (React) Do you know who that is?
- No. - I don't even watch TikTok
and I've seen him , so... - Bro, there's no way people
in the first clip exist. They gotta be be trolling.
- (React) This is Italian TikTok Khaby Lame.
He's quickly risen to insane levels of fame.
So today, we're going to take a look at his wild ride to fame
and how he became the king of TikTok. - Huh.
- Okay, I'm trying to guess what he's doing before.
- These videos are so good.
That's what it's for? - (laughs) There's no way
that's a thing! - It's his face. He's so adorable.
- Like, what? What's wrong with people?
- (snickers) - Simple.
- The substance is really not hitting me.
- He give be very older parent disappointed in you vibes.
♪ (upbeat electro music) ♪
- Oh, I've seen this one too. - This music is so weird.
- It's actually insane. Who did that?
Who made that first video anyways? - Wow.
- (snickers)
So easy. - (laughs) Okay.
- He doesn't have to say anything.
It's just— that's it. Like, what are you doing?
Come on. - (React) What is there to say?
- Come on. - (React) Why do people make it
so complicated? - Good point.
- (React) Do you find any comedy in it at all or no?
- No. I'm just like, okaaay.
♪ (percussion music) ♪
- Oh, I haven't seen this one actually.
- The side mirror?
♪ (playful music) ♪ - The most minimal effort, like okay.
- Never trust a mirror. Yeah, always gotta
check blind spots physically. - (React) Mm-hmm.
- I don't think it's a terrible invention,
'cause usually, the car is off. You don't roll down the window.
- He's a fan of physically checking the blind spot.
What a safe king. - (React) As you can see,
Khaby has become known for this sarcastic style of video,
where he basically makes fun of people who over complicate
simple tasks. Let's take a look at his first TikTok ever.
- Okay, this is gonna be fun. Everyone's first TikTok is very weird.
♪ (upbeat hip-hop music) ♪
- (chuckles) - The old cringy past.
- Okay.
- What on earth? - I like the energy.
You know, I appreciate what he was doing.
He was just feeling himself, you know? - (React) A lot of his older content
was actually comedy skits in Italian.
You might not know what's going on, but just to get the feel for him.
- Silencio, Bruno. - Fortnite. That's all I saw.
- "Gia, tu hai fatto!"
- PlayStation. - "Regazzo silentio."
- (React) So, what do you think about these kind of old skits?
- I think it's cool, you know? He's feeling himself.
It kind of sucks that he has to be stuck with this one thing now.
(laughs) - If I could understand them,
I'm sure they would be a little bit better.
- (React) So, he actually became pretty popular posting
that type of content, these old skits. - Oh, really?
- (React) He reached 700,000 followers
in November of 2020. But when he started posting
the types of videos that he's now known for,
that's when his page really began to blow up.
So, this is one of the first ones of that style video.
We're gonna watch it right now.
- People are so-- (laughs)
- Yeah.
- Ohhhh!
- So easy. - That was a helpful one, actually.
- (React) So that was one of the first ones that blew up.
What do you think about that? Why do you think people liked it?
- Because it's so simple. She's just so stupid.
- Some people don't know how stupid they are. (laughs)
So they need to be freaking violated
all over the internet. (chuckles) - (React) So, Khaby's growth
happened rapidly. In May of 2021,
Khaby's follower count surpassed TikTok itself.
And he didn't seem to be slowing down. Within months, he was officially
beating out some of the top TikTokers on the app.
- Okay. ♪ (light hip-hop beat) ♪
- Oh, I didn't even know. - (chuckles)
- Good for him. - Good for him!
- I literally have never heard of this person in my life.
- He seemed happy. He seemed genuinely happy there.
- He has 7-- I literally never heard of this person.
I'm like... - i mean, who follows TikTok
on TikTok? - (React) That's a great question.
- It's like subscribing to YouTube on YouTube.
- (React) Literally months later, he starts passing up some
of the biggest people, so let's take a look at that.
- (reporter) Addison Rae is no longer the second
most followed person on TikTok. - What?
- (reporter) That title now belongs to Khaby Lame.
- That is so funny. - (reporter) Khaby has been
quickly growing in followers, and at this rate--
— No way he passed Addison. - (reporter) ...on TikTok,
Charli D'Amelio. - (laughs)
- (React) Why are you laughing? - Khaby probably spends
like five minutes making each video. She spends like probably like a week,
and then she's just like, "Oh." - (React) Yeah, and he's blowing her
out of the water right now. - (reporter) Can you believe
that the guy you're looking at right now is the most famous man
on TikTok?
Yup. This guy has more than twice the followers
of K-pop giant BTS. - What?!
- (laughs) Bigger than BTS?! Yo! - (reporter) ...Will Smith
or even TikTok itself. He never danced.
He never sang. - Never dance.
- (reporter) He never even said... - This guy's a genius!
- (reporter) And gets even the Rock. Billie Eilish and Selena Gomez
have nothing compared to his TikTok reach.
Khaby Lame was born in Senegal, Africa,
but spent most of his life in Italy. Before the world knew him...
- So inspirational. - (reporter) ...he was just
a 20-year-old factory worker who lost his job
because of the pandemic. - Wow.
- (reporter) Unemployed and struggling, Khaby moved back
with his parents, who thought he would soon
start applying for new work. But instead of looking for jobs,
Khaby took a risk and spends hours... - Oh, that's cool.
- (reporter) ...each day posting TikToks.
- Instead, he kept making TikToks. He's just like me!
20-year-old unemployed, making videos when my parents want me
to get a job. - (reporter) Today,
at just 21 years old, with 83 million followers
and counting with an estimated net worth of up to
two million US dollars, it's hard to believe...
- And I've never heard of this person in my life. What?
- (reporter) This guy may one day have more followers than anyone else
in this world. - Deserved.
You know, well deserved. - Why do so many people follow up?
Dude, I have seen his videos on my For You page.
And I liked him, but I don't think I followed him.
- In his case, it worked. But i don't think it's usually
the smartest decision to just— "I'm not gonna look for a new job.
I'm gonna do TikTok." - (React) So, Khaby Lame is officially
the second most followed person on TikTok with only Charli D'Amelio
ahead of him. - Charli, you're next.
- (React) But as you can see, he is catching up quickly.
This is the-- - (laughs)
- (React) This is the live count of their followers.
Do you think that he'll catch her? - Yeah, I think he will.
- No, I don't think so. 20 million people's a lot of people.
- I don't think so, but I hope so.
I really really want him to. - (React) If you were to speak
directly to Khaby, how would you tell him
that he may be changing the game when it comes to TikTok?
- The sole point of your content is pointing out
other people's stupidity, so keep going so we have
no more stupid pe-- it's like math. Take out all the stupid people,
and then we just have a perfect world.
You just solved everything.
- (React) All right, is there anything else
that you would want to say to him? in the event that he maybe sees this?
- Hi, Khaby. (laughs)
- As an unemployed 20-year-old, I wanna be you.
- What is your secret? Who did you pay to get you
this algorithm boost? - You're famous...
Good job.