the left wind when do I begin here's
right vagin when people say it's a
character I reject that I think it's one
of the great performance pieces of all
time
it just fizzle out and now I don't
really have a career in Hollywood
anymore yeah it could be a sight thing
it could be a huge opportunity just
watch I used to be extremely famous on
YouTube 16th most subscribed of all time
somewhere along the way something went
wrong my career dried up and now I'm 27
and working as an ice-cream man I wrote
a book about working at an ice cream
shop which is this place right here but
now it's closed down and I just started
a job at a sushi place down the street
it's December 6 2006 and well let me
just start by saying I'm happy to see
you um yeah I don't remember exactly how
I discovered YouTube but once I
discovered that people were making video
blogs and like talking about their life
and stuff it just sounded appealing to
me like if I was frustrated about
something I would come home and I would
say like I get all angry and talk about
it all of a sudden one day one of them
went viral overnight
I was fifteen years old and not that
cool then all of a sudden there's this
group of very supportive people amongst
a massive angry people also so I
remember I I mess it I just sent him a
message on YouTube thinking you know I
don't know what the business case is
here but like clearly this person is
talented clearly they have an enormous
audience it was this kind of crazy
period where on the one hand everyone
was using this thing at the same time no
one knew what it was for
I didn't YouTube videos very intensely
for like a year and a half maybe I think
I made a hundred and fifty videos in
that period of time and I was getting
for a while maybe a million views a week
or something there's just a whole lot
back then and then I stopped after a
while because it just felt like a lot of
pressure and felt weird in a way it felt
like there were as making making friends
and connecting with people but then you
don't stay in touch with you know if
they're not there in your room then
after I turned 18 I got into a movie
called Project X through open casting
call
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project X and 21 Jump Street both
premiered within two weeks of each other
I think in February 2012 you walk on a
red carpet which is really weird but
kind of fun and then you go back to your
hotel and sleep yeah I thought I thought
yeah can only go up from here let's see
let's see where this rocket flies I got
really close to landing some really big
rolls in some really big movies but then
they didn't pan out
so then it just fizzled out and now I
don't really have a career in Hollywood
anymore
my agent eventually dropped me but I
just got a new agent a week ago and he
wants me to take some headshots and see
if he can revive my career
you look back at the kinds of numbers
that Dax was doing in 2007 and 2008 and
they're still pretty impressive so it
gives you a sense of just like how big
he was in a relatively small pond it
easily I never lived off to money it
didn't have the same pay rate that it
does now being a YouTube celebrity
wasn't a real celebrity back then but
nowadays it is now you're a real
celebrity if your YouTube celebrity I
would say 100% real definitely once I
started to get attention on me and stuff
I would like exaggerate in a way that
felt like once you start to notice what
gets attention you might lean into that
more when people say it's a character I
reject that because then it applies that
the things I say happened did it happen
but yeah you still have a lot of people
who really like your stuff
good yeah good but maybe they leave if I
started posting about things so I have
to keep it good the reason I'm going to
meet up with the inventor tonight is
because I might potentially be able to
make money
yeah it could be a side gig it could be
a huge opportunity or it could just mean
some fun time with a new person I don't
I don't want to take money from someone
if I can't offer results but at the same
time I don't want to undersell my value
hello Amit I said that I knew what this
would be your garage because it just
looked like a inventories garage these
look like they're prototypes this is the
working stages yeah these are the
working stages so what is that so that's
a robot there what did you need 24 years
of my life I've done is engineering this
is what what I've done is build stuff
but I've never interacted with people
that at a level that you have so I don't
know if any right now I'd have a good
idea but then we'll just talk about it
in brainstorm and then see if anything
sounds right and like if it would work
so this is what I don't get you have
this skill set why are you unsure of way
of delivering a video oh um so I never
know what I'm gonna do or not which is
why I don't get paid to do it because I
can't really tell people if I'm gonna do
it or not do you want me to autograph
any of them it's up to you how about you
autograph a couple of these or at least
three of these
I'll just try to see I'll just think
about it and see what I can do I always
like making things but I don't know when
when I'm gonna make something good or
not
I think I wanted to do it for the money
but I don't have any ideas call your
documentary the rise and fall attacks
late the rise and rise and fall life
after YouTube fame and then rise if I'm
able if I think I'm confident that I can
make something funny then I'll try to do
it I usually am more funny
unintentionally I would say it makes me
think people like me you know that what
does anyone like about making someone
laugh I guess and it makes them happy
too
there's a video I think it's one of the
great performance pieces of all time
it's almost like if you could put it in
a time capsule from from the early days
of YouTube he covers his face and scotch
tape and then he rips the scotch tape
off and he just has this look of like
cheer like it was like he thought it
would be funny and didn't realize how
horrific aliy painful it would be it
certainly only adds to the humor to not
know whether it's real or not i sat
there and I made videos Diaries about
this time of my life and now that I'm
older looking back at them
they're a bit awkward but I also think
that they're sweet and people tell me
that they like them and so I don't
delete them because people tell me that
they like them
III think oh that I was just a sweet
young man and I did some foolish looking
things that people thought was funny a
kid fifteen old kid
life was very very wild here for a
couple months and now here I sit and I
don't know I think that I'll get enough
shifts at the sushi place to not have to
look for a job for another little while
yeah I have no plans right now I have no
plans but we'll see and I think the
future will be very bright and fun and
you can never predict anything my name
is Amit Tandon and I invented slicing
fun
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you