The Create Unknown - podcast cover

The Create Unknown

Unknown Media & Studio71www.studio71.com
The Create Unknown interviews the most successful online creators to reveal how they got started and how they keep going. iDubbbz. Vsauce. Casey Neistat. iJustine. PsychicPebbles. We talk to the YouTubers, artists, and streamers who exemplify our mantra of “Make Something. Mean Something.” Part high-level analysis, part hopelessly stupid, Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor from Vsauce2 dissect the complex business, the unpredictable drama, and the uncertain future of creating online. We’ll see you in The Create Unknown, Space Cowboys. For advertising opportunities please email [email protected]   We wanna make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4  Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/us/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20Policy

Episodes

Laterment Saves The Create Unknown

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Sign up for a chance to join The Later Network: https://later.gg/ Nearly 2 years ago, Laterment tweeted to us that he was going to be a guest on The Create Unknown someday, and that the podcast inspired him to start a channel. At that time Laterment had 0 subscribers. Now he has 13,000, and in one of the stra...

Mar 08, 20222 hr 26 min

Kevin’s Very Personal Advice for Creators

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Successful people give a lot of terrible advice. They don’t mean to, but they do. It’s extremely difficult to analyze yourself and your own path, so it’s natural for a successful person to see patterns that aren’t there and to cherrypick important moments… and then try to apply that advice to you. As Kevin de...

Mar 01, 20221 hr 50 min

A Romantic Date with Alternate History Hub

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Our long-awaited Valentine’s Date with Alternate History Hub is FINALLY HERE! Getting a clear picture of history is hard enough, but Alternate History Hub somehow manages to imagine how things *could* have been with a highly-knowledgeable, entertaining realism. His favorite website in the world? Well, we star...

Feb 21, 20222 hr 9 min

Punting Koalas with I Did a Thing

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ It’s time to do things, and we’re talking to the world’s expert on… doing things. Grab your hammer guns and grill a kangaroo steak, because I Did a Thing is here and he has absolutely no limits. Literally, we start off by talking about what he won’t do, and that list is not long. Australia is a running theme ...

Feb 14, 20221 hr 59 min

The Infinite Talent of Gabriel Brown

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Gabriel Brown might be the most broadly-talented guest we’ve ever had. He not only sings, he’s ever singer. He’s got a deep, highly-knowledgeable interest in all things science. He knows ballistics. He’s a voice actor, a paraglider… it’s incredible, and 90 minutes with him wasn’t nearly enough. Songs, and esp...

Feb 07, 20221 hr 48 min

PsychicPebbles & Michael Cusack Talk Smiling Friends

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknown Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ We’ve all waited years for this. The Create Unknown co...

Jan 31, 20222 hr 57 min

The Music of Smiling Friends with Brendan Caulfield

Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Brendan Caulfield is the composer for Smiling Friends, YOLO Crystal Fantasy, Koala Man, Bushworld Adventures… and that’s just the beginning. He’s developed a long-term collaborative partnership with Michael Cusack, and the release of Smiling Friends gives us a perfect opportunity to talk to Brendan about the process of setting deranged art to music. That includes setting the Mr. Boss breastfeeding scene to song. The nature of animation li...

Jan 22, 20221 hr 26 min

Why Vsauce2 Became True Crime

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknown Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ For the first time in about 100 episodes, we had a series of technical problems (both with us and the guest) that necessitated rescheduling Alternate History Hub to Tuesday, February 15t...

Jan 20, 20221 hr 21 min

Chinese Social Credit & Waifus with SumitoMedia

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknown Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ 2021 was the Year of SumitoMedia – and just 12 months after we first talked to Sumit, his meme-culture YouTube channel popped from averaging about 50,000 views a month to nearly 600,000....

Jan 13, 20221 hr 56 min

Reflecting on 250 Hours of The Create Unknown

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknown We’re going to end the year with some good news: Smiling Friends is COMING SOON. Like, really soon. The trailer’s out and we’re excited – and we’ll have PsychicPebbles and Michael Cusack on to talk about it once the show is out. Watch here: htt...

Dec 23, 20211 hr 27 min

The Gospel According to Weird Paul

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknown When we first started planning the opening batch of episodes for The Create Unknown, we wanted Weird Paul Petroskey – and now we’ve finally got him. He’s a musician. He’s an archivist. He’s the subject of an excellent documentary. And yes, he’s...

Dec 16, 20211 hr 39 min

YourMovieSucks talks Hollywood, Indies and YouTube Thieves

Few in YouTube’s burgeoning film review scene have the biting, quick wit of YourMovieSucks -- and if your cinematic masterpiece has flaws, Adum’s going to lay them bare. The good news, at least for us, is that he’s going to be outrageously funny doing it. After exposing Adum’s undying love for Nikocado Avocado, he jumps straight into detailing a crazy exploit on YouTube that’s causing him a fair bit of stress. And it makes sense, too, since other people are co-opting a subscriber base specifical...

Dec 09, 20211 hr 46 min

2nd Annual TCU Friendsgiving Celebration

It’s The Create Unknown’s Second Annual Friendsgiving, which means it’s time to hang out with babies, tots, and assorted TCU miscreants and express our thanks for a few things -- from our incredible community to the fact that things aren’t worse. Because… they totally could be. Kevin kicks off detail about Vsauce2’s content direction and how thankful he is that subscribers seem to like it, and that makes a big difference in terms of making more of it. Matt loves everyone’s quirks and hobbies, fr...

Dec 02, 20211 hr 39 min

The Rittenhouse Trial Changed YouTube

Something unique and amazing is happening on YouTube, and oddly enough, it was revealed by Rekieta Media and the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. It’s a contentious, complex event in the public interest, and Rekieta and his guests have democratized expertise. And they’ve obliterated the traditional networks in the process. Media companies are beholden to many, many people and organizations. Streamers aren’t. And this mirrors what we’re seeing in sports commentary, where the future probably suggests that ...

Nov 25, 20211 hr 18 min

Jose Arroyo: Conan, Comedy, and Breeding Aquaman

Jose Arroyo has almost certainly made you laugh even if you don’t know it -- and he’s bringing decades of experience as one of Conan O’Brien’s writers into The Create Unknown to put on an absolute masterclass in creativity. The first lesson? Outwait your impatience. Kevin’s got a unique perspective on all this, since he interned for Conan a lifetime ago (which is how he met Jose). Jokes are little, fleeting moments, and Jose describes what it’s like to juggle so many potential projects, especial...

Nov 18, 20211 hr 44 min

The Story of Key of Awesome

Mark Douglas’s pioneering work on Barely Political and Key of Awesome is one of YouTube’s most unique stories -- and Mark’s going through every detail with us. He’s been on a break for a few years now, and that’ll probably stop when he commits himself to being in a jam. Mark’s passions have changed a bit over time, but now Kevin’s going to threaten harm to get Mark’s album done. What could go wrong? Kevin realized the difference between hanging out with funny friends and actual professional come...

Nov 11, 20211 hr 38 min

William Osman is Done. We Discuss Negative Comments

William Osman, I'm Done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVCpKfedfok After too many negative comments, TCU alumnus William Osman has announced that he’s had enough. He’s done despite continued success with his content, and he detailed why in a recent 20-minute video. Every large channel has some form of this problem, and Kevin is no stranger to mean comments about his appearance, style, and content. So, what does a creator do when a tiny percentage of people are criticizing them in a way that hi...

Nov 04, 20211 hr 55 min

Is Stolen Content Ever a Good Thing?

It seems obvious that someone stealing your content is a bad thing. After all, they’re getting the views, the revenue, and the subscriptions. Most of the time that’s true. But after Kevin had his Vsauce2 YouTube content ripped and re-uploaded on TikTok, it got more complex. Vsauce3 Jake and several of the Baby Gang alerted Kevin to the theft, and… then there was a surge in YouTube views. The other guy got 17 million views from stolen content, but Kevin’s seeing it as a glass half-full scenario. ...

Oct 28, 20211 hr 21 min

Does Twitch Therapy Exploit Trauma?

Is it possible to have public therapy chats watched by up to 70,000 people that are actually effective? If so, is that even ethical? And if there’s any harm done, does the overall good outweigh it? Is “Twitch therapy” just self-help information, or is it actual therapy? These are the big questions about what Dr. K does on Twitter. His ‘Healthy Gamer’ brand is designed to offer resources and information via social media platforms in an effort to get everyone living happy, healthy online lives. Th...

Oct 21, 20211 hr 33 min

The Death of YouTube Rewind Means More Than You Think

YouTube Rewind is officially dead after a near-decade run, and it absolutely felt like giving up in Saigon or Afghanistan. It started slow, exploded, and plummeted faster than... anything else we can think of. It's not common to rise to such heights so quickly and then become the #1 most hated thing on the platform, and it's actually quite a feat. Kevin, a veteran of Rewind himself, has serious thoughts on why this happened and what it means for YouTube's commitment to itself and audiences. Ther...

Oct 14, 20211 hr 27 min

Thoughts on Norm Macdonald and Cancelling Comedians

The softest t-shirts ever: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ It might sound simplistic to say that Norm Macdonald was a guy who *loved* jokes, but that actually has pretty deep meaning. Jokes are some of the most complex, intricate, delicate ways we communicate ideas, and Norm Macdonald was one of the best ever. And as legendary as Norm Macdonald was, some people not only don’t get him, but they don’t get humor at all. Seriously. Comedians have a language of joke-telling, and if you don’t ...

Oct 07, 20211 hr 27 min

Vsauce2 Gets Demonetized

The softest t-shirts ever: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ We’ve talked to a range of creators about their struggles with demonetization, and we’ve always pointed out how nice it is that educational content is safe. Well… not anymore. Kevin’s latest Vsauce2 video about a very public crime in Britain has been smacked down to the point where AdSense doesn’t even begin to cover the cost of editing. Oh, and the video has been totally throttled. So, what’s actually happening here? But we’re n...

Sep 30, 20211 hr 21 min

Archspire's Dean Lamb on Fast Guitars and Smelly Vans

When Dean Lamb auditioned for Archspire, he didn’t feel that he was good enough to play with the band -- it took him weeks of pure practice to get up to match Archspire’s incredible speed that pushes the boundaries of how fast humans can play music. And now Dean is not only an integral part of Archspire’s success, but he’s got a YouTube channel that’s its own standalone enterprise. He knows how to “Stay Tech,” but what he doesn’t know is how to fix a touring van that doesn’t beep incessantly eve...

Sep 23, 20211 hr 57 min

The Kino Corner, or 120 Minutes of Salo

When we met The Kino Corner, he was just getting started on YouTube -- and in the years since, he’s become one of the go-to experts on YouTube when it comes to evaluating films. Just... not superhero movies. And there are a few reasons for that, including connected films and a larger ecosystem that affects how individual movies are made. Kino isn’t just a film critic. He’s a filmmaker as well. So who does more work, the creator or the critic? Yes, that’s a real question before we get a recipe fo...

Sep 16, 20211 hr 51 min

Eternal Sunshine of Hans Van Harken’s Mind

It’s official: Hans Van Harken is one of our favorite guests ever, and it isn’t even because he met Pebbles via Newgrounds when they were both teenagers. When drought hit California, Hans saw a blank canvas on which he could paint a movie. That’s when Mutt and Chopps became a reality. Oh, and it’s incredible, from the writing to the makeup to the cinematography and score. But one of the most remarkable elements is how many genres it seems to combine into one unified thing -- including silent com...

Sep 09, 20211 hr 31 min

Kyle Hill is Serious About Science

Kyle Hill has a creative track that’s pretty unique -- from graduate study to hosting Mythbusters: The Search, to running Nerdist’s science content for years, and now working on his own project, The Facility. He started in the skeptic community debunking bad science information, and eventually started playing around with Chernobyl and superheroes. But how do you figure out when it’s time to intervene? And when you do, who exactly are you? Are you YOU, or are you a specific persona unique to your...

Sep 02, 20211 hr 51 min

Marques Brownlee Does Everything. EVERYTHING.

Marques Brownlee may very well be the top YouTuber of the last decade -- so of course, Kevin wants to distill his life force into a sippable drink. Between well over 1,000 videos, a new Studio channel, a successful podcast, and a YouTube Original series -- oh, and being a professional athlete -- how does he actually do it all? Seriously, does he sleep? It really is important to take care of yourself, and basic things like sleep and food go a long way. And creatives don’t think nearly enough abou...

Aug 26, 20211 hr 27 min

Slimecicle: The Meat in Our Chuckle Sandwich

Slimecicle is here to complete our Chuckle Sandwich trifecta, and we start with a hard-to-answer “would you rather?” and wise words about love. But he and the CS boys are doing quite well with their podcast, which is pretty rare in a world of supergroup e-projects that almost never seem to last. What are they doing right? What makes it toughest is dealing with the ‘reactionary brain’ of the YouTuber, and that’s even harder now that we’re past the simpler days of ElderTube. We talk about the impo...

Aug 19, 20212 hr 19 min

3 Hours of Furries and Jenkum with Mutahar

We’ve never had an episode quite like this one -- Mutahar’s got a lot to talk about, and there’s nothing ordinary about him. Chris-Chan? Blizzard’s “Bill Cosby Suite?” His desperate wish to go to a furry convention’s “after party” before he dies? Yeah, for better or worse, it’s all here. We start by speculating on what’s going to get Muta cancelled in 7 years and what on earth is going on with everyone else’s bad behavior. And we’d like to see the solid creators rewarded a bit more by YouTube, b...

Aug 12, 20212 hr 50 min

UrAvgConsumer is Normal in a Sea of Tech Nerds

Judner’s UrAvgConsumer channel is one of the leading tech channels on YouTube, and it all started because he didn’t want to stand out. That mentality of delivering valuable information to normal people -- not just the tech-obsessed -- has driven millions of subscribers and an enduring fan base. So what’s the deal with tech YouTubers and not having phone cases?!? Tech isn’t necessarily mind-blowing right now, and Judner points out that we’re in an age of refinement rather than pure crazy inventio...

Aug 05, 20211 hr 26 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android
Open in Metacast