Frankie LaPenna: Why YouTube Shorts Don’t Pay & The Stunts That Cost Him Everything | DSH #1527

Summary

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Digital Social Hour #1527

Guest: Frankie LaPenna

Host: Sean Kelly

Episode Title: Frankie LaPenna: Why YouTube Shorts Don’t Pay & The Stunts That Cost Him Everything
Date: September 8, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lively and unfiltered conversation, Sean Kelly sits down with viral stunt creator and meme king Frankie LaPenna. The pair tackle the harsh realities behind social media fame, focusing on the economics (and dangers) of stunt content, the breakdown between YouTube Shorts and long-form revenue, and the societal quirks shaping digital celebrity. Frankie shares behind-the-scenes stories about his wildest stunts, challenges with platform monetization, the cost of going viral, and why today's internet rewards spectacle over substance. The episode veers into viral culture, creative burnout, influencer economics, and a dash of conspiracy talk—for a candid glimpse into the business and hazards of being "the big butt guy" online.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Real Cost & Rewards of Viral Stunt Content

Timestamps: 00:00–04:53 / 07:29–09:21

• Frankie's Signature Content: Frankie shares how his stunts and physical comedy (including his "big butt guy" persona) put him at physical risk, much to viewers’ delight—he's been denied disability insurance four times because insurers see how often he almost gets hurt in videos.[00:00, 13:13]
  • “I got denied disability insurance four times and still don't have any. Just because they'll do one Google search and see that I'm almost getting hurt in every video.” — Frankie [00:13]
• Financial Reality: Despite billions of views, YouTube Shorts earnings are shockingly low.
  • “My total YouTube shorts revenue of all time, it's like 7 or 8 billion [views]... $260,000 from 7 or 8 billion views.” — Frankie [02:58]
  • “That's four years and billions of views. So you gotta get a trillion views to make substantial money.” — Frankie [03:22]
• Stunt-Related Expenses: Frankie often loses money on elaborate content trips due to high production costs.
  • “The annual cost to run the video business is way more than that.” — Frankie [03:38]
• Snapchat & Monetization Alternatives: Attractive influencers (especially women) make significantly more on platforms like Snapchat.
  • "Attractive, hot girl[s] succeed in that space... the market for attractive girls will just never not be so massive." — Frankie [04:26, 04:44]
  • Grace Charis, for example, reportedly earned up to $60,000/month from Snapchat and even more from OnlyFans before quitting to focus on social media.[05:22–05:39]

2. Content Creation: The Grind & the Burnout

Timestamps: 16:47–21:06 / 19:50–21:00

• Creative Process: Frankie explains the challenge of constantly topping himself after four years, and how creative ideation gets harder as stunts escalate in danger and scale.
  • “Every time I do a stunt ... then it's crossed off the list. So there's not really a methodical formula. ... Now it's just getting crazier and crazier.” — Frankie [20:57]
  • “That's the one issue with chasing viewership: it gets crazier and crazier as people get more and more numb to content.” — Sean [21:00]
• Social Media Desensitization: Both discuss the numbing effect of endless extreme content and viral clips depicting real violence or accidents.
  • "Yesterday I saw like, eight people die on Instagram Reels and didn't even blink twice." — Frankie [21:06]

3. The Stunt World: Pain, Stunts, and Going Viral

Timestamps: 07:29–09:21

• No Hospital Visits (Yet): Despite painful falls (e.g., a 44-foot mega ramp jump with a “baseball-sized blood clot”), Frankie boasts no hospitalizations so far.
  • "Never ended up in the hospital—should have ... after the Nitro Circus mega ramp fall." — Frankie [07:38]
• Behind-the-Scenes Injury: Pain is real; the spectacle isn’t always as easy as it looks. Frankie marvels at pro stunt crews’ durability and minimal instruction.
  • “I had zero instruction... you just have to try it.” — Frankie [08:54–09:18]

4. Audience and Platform Algorithms

Timestamps: 02:00–04:53 / 28:00–29:45

• YouTube Shorts vs. Long Form: Both host and guest lament that Shorts reach massive audiences, but do not convert fans to long-form content or dollars.
  • “The YouTube shorts audience versus the full length YouTube audience... is tremendously different.” — Frankie [02:00]
  • “Paid ads on the shorts, paid ads on the long, doesn’t really convert.” — Sean [02:42]
• The Platform Game: Snapchat pays more per view than YouTube or TikTok but seems to favor a specific demographic.
• Changing Algorithms: Views were easier to rack up in TikTok’s early days; now U.S. viewers are harder to reach, and algorithms tend to favor short-term novelty over lasting engagement.
  • "Just posting the things I post now in 2020, the videos have been going nuclear. The algorithms are always changing." — Frankie [28:00]

5. Rage-Baiting, Pranks, and Staying Authentic

Timestamps: 11:34–12:55 / 12:25–13:13

• Frankie distances himself from mean-spirited or “rage bait” content.
  • “I try to never, like, interfere or bother people... I don't ever do pranks that would interfere with somebody in a crowd.” — Frankie [12:25]
• Authentic presence is crucial—even in extreme scenarios.
  • Frankie’s most viral videos often look like “someone was in the right place at the right time” rather than orchestrated setups [26:33]

6. Collaborations, Celebrities, and the Misdirection of Clout

Timestamps: 14:00–15:22

• Collaborating with celebrities isn't a magic formula; subtler cameos fare better.
  • “It needs to be done in like a super strategic way where they almost appear as a cameo in it, and it’s not overtly flaunting 'look, I have a celebrity’.” — Frankie [14:25, 14:41]
• For both Frankie and Sean, "viral" comes down to execution, not starpower.

7. Crypto & Meme Coins: The Wild West for Influencers

Timestamps: 32:19–36:44

• Frankie’s foray into meme coins like “G Coin” is as much about showmanship as finance; he reflects on the tough regulatory environment and the struggle to maintain legitimacy in a scam-prone corner of the web.
  • "It's just a matter of time before web3 gets bigger—future influencers will launch their meme coins, and it'd be cool if there wasn't negativity tied to it." — Frankie [33:34]
• Platform regulation, influencer sustainability, and the quick fizzle of viral coins are discussed.
  • "People just... their attention spans are so short, they'll invest in a coin. Ten hours later, they're out." — Sean [34:13]

8. Conspiracies, Aliens, and Thought Experiments

Timestamps: 37:01–39:44

• Frankie entertains ideas about aliens and interdimensional realities, topping it off with his most "researched" conspiracy: the Epstein case.
  • “I think [aliens] are interdimensionally real, like fourth, fifth dimension...there has to be aliens in the other dimensions.” — Frankie [37:04]
  • “Most convinced? Probably the Epstein stuff. I mean, that’s pretty debunked and obvious … it makes sense, you want to control the most powerful people, you have to have leverage over them.” — Frankie [38:28]
• Both agree “Epstein didn’t kill himself” is barely a conspiracy anymore, based on available evidence.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Monetizing Extreme Content:
  “You gotta get a trillion views to make substantial money on YouTube Shorts.” — Frankie [03:22]
• On Authenticity and Viral Success:
  "It looks like somebody was in the right place at the right time and they pulled out their phone and recorded something ridiculous...then it goes way more viral because it looks unintentional." — Frankie [26:20]
• On the Internet’s Appetite for Pain:
  “People like seeing other people in pain, which is not good for me.” — Frankie [00:04, 13:13]
• On Platform Power Dynamics:
  “The Snapchat revenue… just having fun, uploading golf clips and daily vlogs. That is raking it in.” — Frankie [05:34]
• On Creative Burnout and Content Escalation:
  "Now it's just getting crazier and crazier. More and more dangerous having to expand." — Frankie [20:57]
• On Why Collaboration Isn't a Cure-All:
  "Celebrities aren’t gonna...make you go viral or make people like you." — Frankie [14:49]
• On Desensitization And Extreme Content:
  "Yesterday I saw like, eight people die on Instagram reels and didn't even blink twice." — Frankie [21:06]

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–05:57 — The perils of making viral stunts and the economics of Shorts revenue
• 07:29–09:21 — Dangerous stunts, real injuries, and chasing Nitro Circus legends
• 12:25–13:13 — Frankie’s philosophy: never prank or harm strangers
• 14:00–15:22 — Why celebrity collabs rarely move the viewership needle
• 16:47–21:06 — Creative burnout, escalation, and internet desensitization
• 26:33–27:09 — Packaging ‘realistic’ content for maximum believability and virality
• 28:00–29:45 — The shifting sands of TikTok and global vs. domestic audiences
• 32:19–36:44 — The influencer meme coin rabbit hole and web3 brand-building
• 37:01–39:44 — Interdimensional aliens, the ‘Epstein didn’t kill himself’ consensus

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Final Thoughts

This episode lays bare the tension between internet virality, authenticity, and physical/financial risk. Frankie LaPenna pulls back the curtain on the cost of internet fame—literal and figurative—while Sean Kelly prompts valuable reflection on influencer ethics, industry trends, and algorithmic incentives. Listeners gain a rare, candid look at what it truly means to be a viral sensation in the modern age, with all the danger, hustle, and digital weirdness that entails.

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Transcript

[A]

Bothering people. Just kind of like doing my own thing and getting beat up here or there and people like seeing other people in pain, which is not good for me. Yeah, I got denied disability insurance four times and still don't have any.

[B]

Are you serious? Because of that video?

[A]

Just because they'll do like one Google search and then see that I'm almost getting hurt in every video.

[B]

No way. Okay, guys, got Frankie here, the biggest ass on the Internet. Let's go.

[A]

Yeah, well, Gracie Bond actually has got me beat by a mile if you know who that is.

[B]

No, I don't.

[A]

You should look.

[B]

I'll have to throw up a side by side. But is it fake though? Did she get a surgery for it?

[A]

There's. There's a lot of controversy. I. I do not know. I saw a video of her claiming to be fully natural. Okay, I will let you look and come to your own conclusion.

[B]

So I think we have to have categories for this. There has to be a natural category. And then.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, the amount of natty or nots on people on the Internet is. Is endless. It's very hotly discussed topic on, I mean, bodybuilders or people with big butts.

[B]

Well, I had a whole guest on Greg Duchet and the whole. And the whole episode was natty or not.

[A]

Yeah, he's excellent at rage baiting and getting people fired up.

[B]

Yeah, no, he's solid. Have there been natty or not videos on you made?

[A]

I'm trying to think. I made one on myself that performed really well. No, I don't think. I'm not really a fitness influencer.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

They haven't came after me yet. Yeah, I mean, if Greg did one, it'd be. It would be over before it even began.

[B]

Yeah, we gotta get you on Greg's next video, man.

[A]

Yeah, he doesn't do podcasts, does he?

[B]

On them? Yeah.

[A]

Full length YouTube videos, right?

[B]

Yeah. That's a tough space to be in.

[A]

Oh my God. Don't get me started on long form views.

[B]

I just saw your recent video. It's like I deleted all my videos.

[A]

Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh. The YouTube shorts audience versus the full length YouTube audience, as you're probably well aware, is. Is tremendously different, bro.

[B]

I struggle with the same thing. Like my full length podcast will get a couple thousand views, but my shorts will get millions.

[A]

Why is that? Why is it so hard to get? Are we just not interesting enough?

[B]

I don't know. I feel like the podcasts are pretty interesting, but I'm obviously biased. I'm the One who's so oversaturated.

[A]

There's so many. How do you compete?

[B]

Yeah, no, there's literally tens of millions. I believe at this point you got.

[A]

All, you got all the brain rot viewers and you got the full length viewers and it's just getting to those full length viewers through short form videos does not seem to be possible in my scenario.

[B]

Doesn't work. I've even tried running paid ads on the shorts. Paid ads on the long. Doesn't really convert.

[A]

Yeah, it's. I'll, I'll. One day, hopefully I'll. We'll figure it out, but for now we'll rage be.

[B]

It sucks though, because the long form is where the money's at.

[A]

Oh my God. Oh, I was telling. This is a fun statistic. My total YouTube shorts revenue of all time. Forget the total total channel views, it's like 7 or 8 billion. Total lifetime YouTube shorts is $260,000 from 7 or 8 billion views.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah. What's that CPM average come out to? I don't know. I don't want to know.

[B]

Yeah, that's scary.

[A]

It's something bad. It's. I mean, $260,000 is a lot of money, but that's four years and that's billions of views. So it's like you got what you got to get a trillion views to make substantial money on YouTube shorts.

[B]

And out of that 260, you got to pay editors, you got to pay your team.

[A]

Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. No, the annual cost that is required to run the video business that I do is way more than that.

[B]

You're probably losing money at that point.

[A]

Oh yeah, we're losing money on this on any trip we go on because I mean, we make, you know, shorts post it, cross post it to the platforms. It's not generating. Daniel Mack just did a really good video. I think he uploaded it yesterday, explaining his top earning shorts videos on each platform. It's really fascinating. You should probably plug that.

[B]

I gotta watch that. Was it more than yours?

[A]

His was it. He did a video with JoJo Siwa or whatever that Snapchat was two minutes and it made 120 grand.

[B]

What?

[A]

Yeah, I was, I was shocked. But he was explaining his TikTok and his YouTube shorts, top earners and they were bad.

[B]

So Snapchat's the move then, huh?

[A]

Yes, well, we've been trying to figure that out too. It's. You got stories and then you got Spotlight and I'm trying to figure figure that out. It seems to be you gotta Be an attractive, hot girl to succeed in that space.

[B]

That's usually how it goes for every platform.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, it's. We have an un. Well, I don't know if it's unfair, but, gosh, the market for attractive girls would just never not be so massive.

[B]

I mean, I see it with my podcast when I have on guests that are attractive females.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Way more views. No matter what they're saying, too. It doesn't even matter down.

[A]

Bad dudes just come out of the.

[B]

Woodwork and they're attractive dudes. Just no one cares.

[A]

No, no, you got to be a hot girl. The. You know Grace Charis, the golf girl that does the price?

[B]

Seen her?

[A]

We got. Well, I don't want to. If I want to say what. She has really nice features.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And she was showing us her Snapchat revenue, and I think she just quit her onlyfans, but she was making a sickening amount there too. She's. Well, actually, she doesn't want. She said, don't tell anyone my age. She's young.

[B]

I've never heard of someone quitting of. To pursue social media. Usually it's the opposite.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, she's regardless, a super nice girl. And she was showing us her Snapchat earnings monthly. It was 40, 50, 60 grand a month. Just having fun, too. Just like uploading golf clips and, you know, daily vlogs. A little vacation here and there and raking it in. That is raking it in. Yeah.

[B]

I gotta look into Snapchat then.

[A]

You gotta. Yeah, you gotta get hot girls around you.

[B]

I have that kind of. On the podcast, I guess, but I wonder if clips do well on Snapchat or if it's mainly just photos and selfies.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it works if you're a hot girl. Works if you're super attractive.

[B]

You're gonna have to add a hot girl to your team, man.

[A]

Oh, I've been told. I've been told that I need to. I just. I don't know how to incorporate because I. I do stunts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, how is the girl gonna be? She gonna do the jump too, and maybe die?

[B]

No.

[A]

Yeah, she's just loitering around while I do a stunt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How do I, you know, how do I incorporate her?

[B]

Would you ever do us actual stunts in movies? Like, be an actual stuntman?

[A]

Yeah. Somebody reached out to me, and I feel like I'm more qualified than most.

[B]

Okay. We just had on Hercules in here, and he was talking about how he had a ton of stuntmen for his movies.

[A]

Oh, Hell yeah. Like stunt doubles.

[B]

Stunt doubles or whatever they're called. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I don't know how different it would be from the stunts that I do now. If it's more risky or if you had to do it like 20.

[B]

The tri light from Therasoge is no joke. Medical grade red and near infrared light with three frequencies per light. Deep healing, real results and totally portable. It's legit photo biomodulation tech in a flexible on body panel. This is the tri light from Therasage and it's next level red light therapy. It's got 118 high powered polychromatic lights, each delivering three healing frequencies. Red and near infrared from 580 to 980 nanometers. It's sleek, portable and honestly, I don't go anywhere without it.

[A]

Many times some of your stunts look.

[B]

Like they heard like, I'm not gonna lie, like I've seen the video.

[A]

Definitely hurt. I've definitely been well, I've never ended up in the hospital.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Never ended up in the hospital. Should have gone after the nitro circus mega ramp fall. Had a giant hematoma plug. A visual of that and like a. It looked like an entire calf developed on my tibia. Like a baseball sized blood clot.

[B]

Jeez.

[A]

And that video was. Or that stunt was. Could have gone very wrong. Yeah. You should plug the clip of what's the rapper's name? He went like a week before me and fell off the down ramp. He didn't even get to the main mega ramp. He fell off the side. Holy crap. It's hard to watch.

[B]

Was it worth it? I would.

[A]

Yeah. I'll do it again. I would. I'll do it again. Now that I kind of know where I need to lean when I go off the ramp.

[B]

So you did a full.

[A]

I just went straight to my. My chest, my face.

[B]

Wow. Oh.

[A]

Like handlebars went like over the handlebars though. I made it to the landing ramp. Just did not land right at all.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah. It was a 44 foot gap.

[B]

Holy crap. 44ft.

[A]

44 foot gap? Yeah.

[B]

That's insane.

[A]

It was. I had been watching nitrous circus guys growing up and they were like role models of mine. So when they reached out, I couldn't not do the mega ramp.

[B]

They make it look easy too.

[A]

Oh my gosh. Yeah, they do. And I had zero instruction.

[B]

And they didn't even guide you.

[A]

No. Well, they're. It's hard to explain. You can't really explain to somebody who's Never done it, where to lean, how to go off it. And so you can't really, really blame them for that. But you kind of just have to, have to try it. Get a baseline of I need to lean here and do this.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Can't really explain to somebody who's never done it.

[B]

Makes sense. Last time you were out here in Vegas, you were at Power Slap, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Gosh, I wish I could go to more of those. The one that I didn't end up going to, of course, Hasbullah was at Super Bummed Out.

[B]

Yeah. They always have someone big at them.

[A]

You go to all of them?

[B]

I go to all the Vegas ones. I didn't go to the Saudi Arabia.

[A]

One because they invited me to that one. They're trying to get influencers to go to that one. That flight's horrific.

[B]

I didn't see the ROI on that one.

[A]

No, no. I don't know if I'd be allowed in Saudi Arabia. Be like, this is weirdly built. American. Get out of our country.

[B]

Yeah. Would you ever partake in it if the money made sense to go to Saudi Arabia? No. Power Slap.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I was, I was asking them, can I do a slap battle with a guy? Oh, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

I would do a. What do you call it? A battle?

[B]

A slap off.

[A]

Yeah, slap, whatever it's called. I would go up against one of them.

[B]

Do you do it on the ass or the face?

[A]

Definitely, yeah, the face. The face. I don't think they would because I would want to do like a real one during their competition when there's a crowd.

[B]

Oh, God.

[A]

Full blown legit. I don't know how much practice you need. I know you're not like, cup your hands.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You close your hand, you get DQ'd.

[B]

They actually are at the stage now where they're training full time for it. I talk. I have on a lot of them on the show and they're quitting their jobs to pursue slapping full time.

[A]

How much money do they make?

[B]

So it depends. If you're first starting out, you get 5k if you lose, 10k if you win.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

But as you build a brand, the money gets better and better.

[A]

Yeah. Maybe I should sign up for one of those. Be better than the shorts revenue.

[B]

10K ain't bad, man. 10k if you win on the first slap, that's not bad. If you take three slaps, though, I don't know if that's worth 10k.

[A]

People are so desensitized to those videos, though, where if I did participate, it Wouldn't even go viral. Be like, here's cool. It's Frankie. It's just another slap. Unless some crazy knockout. Even if there is a crazy knockout, it's like, there's 10 of those. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Your. Your regular videos would probably get more views than if you. You slap someone and knock them out.

[A]

Yeah, it would need to be like, some sort of really clever edit. We'd have to package it in some way that's different from all the others because they just shit post. Am I allowed to curse? Yeah, they just shit post slaps every hour of the day.

[B]

I'd love to see you and Jack Doherty at it, though. That'd be a good matchup.

[A]

Yeah, we just met Jack Doherty actually in Fort Lauderdale. He seemed to be a nice guy. He does a lot of rage baiting, for sure. Just like, I. I respect that. If the people are online rage baiting and they have this formula that works and people are too dumb to realize that it's like a premeditated thing on Jack Doherty's end and, like, good for him.

[B]

I mean, Neon's already admitted it's rage bait and people still hate on him.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, if the formula works, I mean, I guess you're maybe potentially making the Internet more of a negative place by rage baiting. I guess it depends on how you rage bait. Are you pressing people's buttons or are you just trying to generate a response from them innocently? I don't know.

[B]

Yeah. Your form of content is not really rage baity. Right.

[A]

I try to never, like, interfere or bother people, such as me in public doing something weird or falling really hard or getting beat up. I don't ever. I never do pranks that would interfere with somebody in a. In a crowd. There's. There's one clip of me falling down the hill with the drinks, and I like, slightly bump into some girls at the end, but they were totally all right. And they. They were. They were super happy. They got in the video and actually thanked me. Oh, yeah, Thanked me for bumping into them.

[B]

You're not doing the Apple Cash pranks where you hold your phone up and take a hundred bucks from people?

[A]

No, that. That would be. Yeah, I don't like. I don't like bothering people. Just kind of like doing my own thing and getting beat up here or there. And people like seeing other people in pain.

[B]

Yeah, they do like.

[A]

They like that, which is not good for me.

[B]

When you got knocked out, they love.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I got denied disability insurance four times and still don't have Any.

[B]

Are you serious? Because of that video?

[A]

Just because they'll do like one Google search and then see that I'm almost getting hurt in every video.

[B]

No way. Oh, I could see it from a business point of view. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. If you actually get hurt, like one glance at my videos, I mean, I.

[B]

Guess they should just raise it. Like raise the cost.

[A]

I just wouldn't be able to afford it. Then I just take the injury and go broke.

[B]

Damn, man. Michigan's at least affordable to live out though, right?

[A]

Yeah, I mean it's better than here or la.

[B]

Oh, definitely la. Vegas is actually isn't as expensive as you would think, but la? Yeah. Not getting shit up.

[A]

What's the income tax or the state tax here?

[B]

None.

[A]

Oh, it's none in Vegas. Oh yeah. Maybe I should move here. There's not much going on in Vegas, but getting collaborations with the other influencers isn't going to make my videos good. You know what I mean? Like either the videos are good or they're not. If I'm getting a celebrity in the video, it's not going to.

[B]

You haven't seen it impact the viewership when you do the collabs?

[A]

No, I mean it would need to be. It needs to be done in like a super strategic way where they almost appear as a cameo in it and it's not super overtly flaunting. Look, I have a celebrity in my video.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That makes package in like a subtle way. Or then within the comments are saying oh my gosh, was that so and so.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know that's boring conversation to do that. But no, celebrities aren't gonna. They're not gonna like make you go viral or make people like you or.

[B]

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

[A]

Follow. You just gotta make killer videos, dude.

[B]

That's what people don't realize because same thing with podcasts. Just cuz you have on a celebrity guest doesn't mean it's gonna pull views. No.

[A]

Yeah, I mean the podcast market is so oversaturated. So is the short form market. You're competing against the best of the best.

[B]

I'm sure you got the world people copying you and ripping you off, right?

[A]

Not really. Because I mean I've seen a few videos of some guys dressing like me and running around, but they're not gonna go to like 10 out of 10 extreme level of doing a stunt that could harm them. You know, there's not a lot of people in that niche. Cause they don't wanna get hurt or they're scared.

[B]

How'd you come up with the butt stuff, too? That was.

[A]

So the first whole year of my social media was like the green screen virtual call stuff. I don't know if you saw any of those. There's one. One of the fight videos is one of my more viral, where I'm fighting the guy with the computer rig in the octagon. And then after that, I had milked the green screen virtual call skits into oblivion, where there's no more left to do. I couldn't one up myself. So then I developed the big butt guy character and was kind of just. I mean, it's like a reoccurring theme on the Internet. There's extremes. Like, people will follow a super tall guy or like a super buff guy or a super fat person or like a super short person. There's just. They like those weird extremes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So then the big butt guy character is that. And then on top of that, doing wild stuff. They would potentially go viral if I was built regular.

[B]

Yeah. No, it does. I remember the tall guy. Those videos were viral. Him in the grocery store.

[A]

This is my time. Then they'll be like a new tall guy every. Every month.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they're just crazy.

[B]

But no one's doing the butt guy. No one's doing bigger and bigger butts.

[A]

No, I mean. I mean, you're. You're tall as crap.

[B]

How tall are you? Six. Six, six, five, depending on.

[A]

I'm five six.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My license says five seven.

[B]

Damn. Did you cheat? Did you stand on your toes when they took the photo?

[A]

I think they just ask you and I. I might have. Yeah. Might have lied. Five, seven. You're. You're. You're taller when you freshly wake up in the morning.

[B]

I heard that. Yeah. Same with weight. Because I weigh myself a lot, and I'll be like five pounds heavier in the morning. At night, I'll be better.

[A]

Yeah. From eating and whatnot. Water retention.

[B]

Yeah. Because I was £200 the other day. I was like, I haven't been that since college.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I had 200 and 209 the other day.

[B]

Damn, two, five shorter than you. Holy crap.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You like to eat, my man.

[A]

I'm fat, dude. I need to. I need to relax too.

[B]

Yeah, you got to stay thick because if you when went skinny, your videos wouldn't hit the same.

[A]

Yeah. The proportions would look like one of, you know, Cardi B or Nicki Minaj.

[B]

Or anyone on Ozempic.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, maybe. No, I shouldn't get on Ozempic. I do. No, I. I can't be. I can't be shredded. Wouldn't make sense. I kind of need to look thick.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And bulked.

[B]

You're stuck in that Jonah Hill trap.

[A]

Yeah, well, Jonah Hill is, I would like to think, significantly fatter than me. Oh. He goes. He goes skinny, fat, skinny, fat. Like he goes through the phases, you mean?

[B]

Yeah, but then he'll still get asked about being fat, like on interviews. It's like he gets pissed off. It's unfortunate.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I. I don't know much about Jonah hill.

[B]

He's. Yeah. 21 Jump street is a goated movie. That's all.

[A]

I do. I do love. Do you love that wolf Wall street, too? His.

[B]

His role was.

[A]

I just read that earlier today. Actually, he got paid 65 grand only for that role.

[B]

Wow. It's one of the greatest Leo movies of all time.

[A]

Yeah. He really wanted to work with Martin Scorsese.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

As the director. And he's just willing to take that small amount.

[B]

65K. That movie must have made hundreds of millions.

[A]

Oh, yeah. But it elevated him to, like, an insane new level.

[B]

That's true. Sometimes you got to play the long game, right?

[A]

Yeah. The NFL told me that they do not pay a dime to their. Their halftime show performers.

[B]

What?

[A]

They get $0 because it's so much clout.

[B]

Holy crap.

[A]

Yeah. Rihanna, $0. Whoever was every single one of them. It's the biggest marketing opportunity ever.

[B]

Yeah, that makes sense. Some of those guys get paid millions for shows, but I guess if they perform there, they'll get booked on other shows and make 5, 10 mil or whatever after.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. They don't. That'll just increase their future show price.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They have so much clout, so much attention.

[B]

How many video ideas do you have? Like, what's the creative process when you're making these shorts? Do you have just a list that you kind of brainstorm off of?

[A]

Yeah. Gosh. Four years in now, the video concepts are getting harder and harder to make because every time I do a stunt or get beat up or do a feat of strength, a challenge, then it's crossed off the list. You're going to move on to the next. So it's. There's not really a methodical formula to it. Kind of make it up as we go. I'll do some doom scrolling and try to ideate or change an idea that I see on Instagram reels and repackage it. I just have a Million notes that I take mental notes inside of my notes app with ideas, and then we'll try to tailor them, bring them, put together a shot list, and then bring it to life.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Yeah, it's kind of. Kind of boring. There's not. People think there's like, this master grand plan that I have with the video concepts, and it's. Maybe in the beginning, when it was like a fresh slate, it was like, oh, I can do a thousand different things now. They've all been done. So now it's just getting crazier and crazier.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

More and more dangerous having to expand.

[B]

That is the one issue with chasing viewership.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It gets crazier and crazier as people get more and more numb to content.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I mean, yesterday I saw like, eight people die on Instagram reels and didn't even blink twice.

[B]

Dude, it's crazy.

[A]

It's bad.

[B]

There was one day where a bunch of those videos were getting through the algorithm somehow, like shootouts and stabbings. So, yeah, I probably saw like, 50 of those.

[A]

Yeah. And you didn't even, like, feel anything when you saw them, right?

[B]

Not really, to be honest.

[A]

Which is crazy. So that's what I need to compete with people flying out of all my. All my Instagram feed is these freaking people at the takeovers getting hit by the cars. You seen that?

[B]

I've seen those. Yeah.

[A]

It's just literally a million. I mean, I love watching them.

[B]

It's almost like the people want to get hit, though.

[A]

I really want to go to a takeover, even though there. There's. There's good content there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's obviously very illegal. Is he legal to spectate?

[B]

Nah, you'll be good. There's too many people. They're gonna arrest the drivers and the people in the car. I feel like if they come after.

[A]

Me, if I document my being there.

[B]

Would you want to be one of the guys that gets hit by the car?

[A]

I would like to try to, like, jump over one that's coming near, like, jump over the trunk.

[B]

Speed did that.

[A]

And was that he was on live stream. It was real when he jumped over the McLeod.

[B]

That was real. Yeah. He jumped over two, I think.

[A]

Yeah. See, I wouldn't want to jump over it coming at me like that.

[B]

It would.

[A]

When it's going around the pit and the cars drifting, I would want to try to jump over the trunk.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Evade getting hit.

[B]

That's probably safer because I used. You could land on it if you don't make the Full jump.

[A]

Yeah. Or if I get smoked. That's great video. That'd be a great video.

[B]

Yeah, it would be a fun time. I've always wanted to see like an illegal street race or something wild like that in person.

[A]

There's a lot of that in Vegas.

[B]

Yeah, I hear. Hear about it.

[A]

You could find that easily.

[B]

There's also chicken fights in Vegas.

[A]

Oh, cockfights.

[B]

Cockfights, yeah.

[A]

Geez.

[B]

Where? I don't know, but allegedly I know people that go to those and it's interesting. They cut off the arms so they only use their beaks.

[A]

Damn.

[B]

And the beaks attack the other rooster or whatever.

[A]

How much money is on the line?

[B]

They're betting tens of thousands.

[A]

Damn. Yeah, I don't have that much. That much money.

[B]

Well, they bet. I think it's 16 teams. You. Each team bets a thousand. So the winner gets 16k or whatever that.

[A]

That rooster has to win 16 fights.

[B]

It's a bracket. So like starts off with 16, goes to 8, goes to 4, goes to 2, and then that's the finals. Wow.

[A]

It's illegal to. Illegal to go and watch or you are.

[B]

I don't know, never been. But there's all sorts of stuff. There's spider fights.

[A]

Spider fights?

[B]

Yeah. So you train your spider and then they fight each other.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know how you would gather around to watch that. Eight dudes is the maximum viewing of. The spiders are so small.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How do you. You like, televise it on a big, like, prompt so everyone can see these little. They're tiny. It's like a fingernail. Are they big spiders? No, they're kind of big, like tarantulas.

[B]

Yeah. What's the weirdest event you've found yourself at? Sure you've been to some weird places.

[A]

Gosh, I have to think about that weirdest event. What do you think?

[B]

Weirdest event. Damn.

[A]

I really. Dude, I get hit in the head so hard I can't remember what happened last week. Like literally. I tell people that and I mean. Or not even just getting hit in the. Just falling too. And you've had some contagious hits for sure. For sure. Undiagnosed good IQ or memory to begin with.

[B]

Yeah. I'll get you set up with a brain scan if you want.

[A]

Yeah, I probably should probably just have internal, like slow brain bleeding or whatnot. One weird event I do want to go to is we want to do a mosh pit video. Like one of those really greasy, questionable basement mosh pits. I'VE seen videos seen.

[B]

Yeah. People are throwing punches at, at each other.

[A]

Yes. Very concerning crowd, dude.

[B]

It's weird because, like one guy will hit someone and then people team up on that guy.

[A]

Yeah. You know, I want to be that guy. I want to go. It's just. Yeah. I, I appear in weird scenarios online where it's like, what is he doing there? Why is he there? And there's no context. And I think that's, I think it's funny and that's why I do it. Whether I'm appearing in the octagon or a frickin a greasy mosh pit. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

There is that mysterious component to you.

[A]

Yeah. There's never any context as to what led up to or followed the video that happened.

[B]

Yeah. I'm sure the comments are like, why? Who is that guy? What is he doing there?

[A]

Yes. Yeah. I mean, in the beginning, the, some of the people are reaching out to me and asking me, do, are you running these accounts or did you like, hand it off to somebody and they're just recording. Like, one of my most viral tiktoks is one of me on the stretcher where there's two EMTs carrying me past a line of people. And it looks like, and this is how we package them. It looks like somebody was in the right place at the right time and they pulled out their phone and recorded something ridiculous that I was doing. Because then it looks not staged.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it looks, it's relatable because somebody watching it can be thinking to themselves, oh, I could have been there and the right place, right time and pull out my phone to film that. And then it goes way more viral because it looks unintentional.

[B]

No, I agree. It looks so believable. Like there's been videos I've seen of yours that are like that. Did that just happen in real life? You know?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, when you're trying to get attention online, it's kind of cringe when you're just making a video that screams look at me. It turns people off. It's almost as if you need to package it where you look like you do not want attention.

[B]

Agreed. Yeah. It's a new era because back in the day that worked with the TikTok dances, but now people think those are, those are whack, you know?

[A]

Yeah. It's, it's just cringe when somebody is making a video that's very much screaming, I want views. Look at me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

People watching this probably like, that's you, bro. But I, I, I do the video I've been doing the videos long before social media and I'm just obsessed with the art form and the craft and went to film school. I was just religiously tied to a camera ever since 8th grade, making videos of anything and everything. So it wasn't like four years ago I picked up a camera and learned how to edit for the first time. It had been way before that. The social media thing was just started it as a joke for fun, to prove a point to a buddy, to tell him to show him that making viral videos was not hard in 2020.

[B]

And how long did it take to get the first file video once you saw that?

[A]

Like five posts.

[B]

That's it?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow. Over a million views on that.

[A]

I think it was 5 million.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Brand new account too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's impressive.

[A]

Yeah. I mean in 2020, gosh, if I was posting the things that I Post now in 2020, the videos have been going nuclear. The algorithms are always changing, as you're well aware, 100% and especially when TikTok got temporarily banned here in the US. I don't know if you realized how different the algorithm was when they brought it back.

[B]

Oh, it's way different. I don't get as many views as before.

[A]

Everyone. That's the case with everyone. They changed the algorithm so it's way more so us. I would assume that you're getting views now versus for me at least it was a lot more global views, different countries.

[B]

Dude. I rarely crack a mill now on TikTok, which is crazy.

[A]

It's tough. Everyone's. Ever since then and a little bit before then, the views were just way down.

[B]

Yeah. For.

[A]

For all the people that I talked to.

[B]

Yeah. Other TikTok used to be guaranteed millions, like without trying.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, it was. When I look back at the my videos from 2020, I ask myself, how did these even get that many 50, 70, 80 million views or not? Some of them aren't even good, dude.

[B]

My first pod clip got like 10 million on TikTok. Jeez, like literally the first episode.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Two years ago.

[A]

Wish we could go back and then shit, post more, capitalize on those ridiculous views. Then again, how, how when you weigh out the value of those views versus US views today, does it even out where it's like the low cpm global views aren't really.

[B]

That's a good point actually because I'll say I get recognized more now, so.

[A]

They could even out the US audience. Viewership on any platform is always going to be way more valuable than those India views.

[B]

Right.

[A]

India views. None of the advertisers want those.

[B]

Nah. They see your analytics. You got like 20% India. They're like, see ya.

[A]

Yeah, it's. It's tough for. For YouTube. I don't know if I can't. Can you see Your demographic on TikTok who you have?

[B]

Not sure. I think so. Because Instagram. I know you can. So I'd assume tick tock is the same.

[A]

Yeah, I'm not sure. All the analytics talk. You and I are. Are probably, you know, fascinated with it. It's probably boring to listen to.

[B]

Oh yeah. People are like, what the is that?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. They don't know what any of this is. I can talk about it endlessly, but it's probably just gibberish to people listening.

[B]

Yeah. I don't pay as much as attention as I used to on it. I used to really nerd out on it. But you, you can get too much focus on there. For sure.

[A]

Me and Clayton are constantly studying it.

[B]

Oh yeah.

[A]

And looking at. Because I mean you have to. You have to look at it to adapt and change and evolve. Whatever's happening to it. End of the story. Everything will fall in place. If you just make fucking awesome videos. Everything.

[B]

Any funny plans for bitcoin conference? You going to film anything there?

[A]

Yeah, we have. Well, we had. I think I was about to get scammed six dwarves, little people. And I was gonna dress them as me in this khaki outfit and then give them signs that had like yachtcoin related things on them and then have us walk around and like shill the coin to these rich dudes. They would hate that because we can't afford to get in and just troll them and hope there's like one or two whales that think it's funny and buy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so from what I could tell, the Dwarf online agency, it's like rent midges USA I think was a scam. They wanted 4200 bucks.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

And the dude wanted it through Venmo and I. I said, this is very questionable. Skipped out of us. So now we're trying to find an escort service to get six. Do you know any girls in Vegas.

[B]

I can connect you with someone?

[A]

I need only six.

[B]

That's not hard in Vegas.

[A]

Six girls.

[B]

Yeah, I'll connect you afterwards.

[A]

And I have my. I'm just gonna dress them as me and troll people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

On the Strip. Doing a video yesterday and running around the place. And then I did a. We were at Stan at Palm's place and there's a bunch of like, big influencer crypto dudes there. And we're doing a video with them, too. Like a how to buy tutorial video to post to my Instagram to onboard normies, I guess.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Web 2. People that don't care about crypto, that's. That's what they. All these Kol people keep talking about is onboarding non crypto people is very difficult.

[B]

I've heard it for years. It is somewhat difficult, to be honest.

[A]

But yeah, there's. There's like zero Name an influencer who launched a coin who is still super active with the coin. It's like zero.

[B]

Yeah. There was one girl, but I forget her name. She was like a big celebrity, but I don't even know.

[A]

It might be mother Coin.

[B]

Yeah, that one, she's not.

[A]

She's not actively doing. From what I can tell, she's not actively doing anything with it. But she was probably one of, if not the best examples of an influencer coin launch that wasn't a hawk to her.

[B]

She lasted the longest. Yeah. I just feel like it's a tough space, man.

[A]

It is. You even say the words influencer meme, coin and immediately people get turned off. Say scam and say rug pull, which I'm just going to keep going with, putting in the work on G coin, regardless of what happens to it. To try to be like a case study or an example that doesn't have. Doesn't add to that negative sentiment with influencer meme coins. Because it's just a matter of time before with web3 just getting bigger and bigger, there is going to be future influencers that launch their meme coins and it'd be cool if there wasn't all the negativity tied to it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Every single one of them. Just immediately people dismissing it.

[B]

You remember BitCloud?

[A]

Bit clout.

[B]

That was an interesting concept.

[A]

I don't think so. What was that?

[B]

Each creator had their own coin and you can invest in it.

[A]

But it was an app.

[B]

Yeah, it was a site or an app. Yeah. It was a few years ago, but.

[A]

Did it have any traction?

[B]

A bit. And then it died. Like most coins, I just feel like, oh, was it.

[A]

It was a coin or a site?

[B]

I think both. But people just. Their attention spans are so short, they'll invest in a coin. Ten hours later, they're out.

[A]

Yeah. There's never been a giant web2 influencer who's launched a coin that's bridged the gap into the crypto meme coin web3space. Super.

[B]

Well, duh.

[A]

Matter of time, though.

[B]

We'll see.

[A]

See, it's not easy.

[B]

Yeah, people just don't.

[A]

It's complex.

[B]

Well, there was a lot of regulation too.

[A]

People were scared about after the hock to a thing?

[B]

No, before that. When Gary Gensler was at the sec, all the US exchanges were getting audited and Wells notices and all this nerdy stuff.

[A]

But what coins are you most invested in or holding stable coins?

[B]

Ethereum. I fumbled Bitcoin. I sold all mine at 90k. I shouldn't have done that. Solana and Ethereum.

[A]

I don't do memes.

[B]

No, not anymore. I used to. I lost so much.

[A]

Dude, what ones did you.

[B]

Disgusting amounts. You. You wouldn't have even heard of them because they were from years ago.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

That's how fast meme coins cycle.

[A]

Dang. Yeah, that's tough.

[B]

Yeah, it was my fault. I'll take accountability on that.

[A]

Did you use like some of your Bitcoin to fund those Meme Coin purchases?

[B]

I think I used Ethereum. Yeah. Ethereum, which sucks because I technically lost twice. When you think about it that way too. You lost on the Ethereum gains?

[A]

Yeah. Gosh, there's some horror stories with crypto.

[B]

But I do love crypto.

[A]

Yeah, No, I think it's awesome. I mean, the second that I heard that there is a marketplace where you can buy and sell memes, it was. I mean, I immediately had to get involved because I make memes of myself for a living.

[B]

It ties into your world. Well, yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we'll see if. See if I just keep putting in the wraps and actually, you know who Alon is from? Pump Fund. Founder of Pump Fund.

[B]

I've heard of Pump Fun.

[A]

He was just. This is an example of like putting in the wraps even at Gat Coin. Just, it's like trending sideways way far from all time highs. He saw some of my kick streams and then reached out and is offering me a deal to come on to stream on Pump Fun. Pump Fund's trying to make the live stream space bigger on their app. So lucrative, I'm sure. And so, yeah, it's just a matter of continuing putting in work regardless of the outcome and waiting until things like that or people like that recognize it, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So most influencers do merch, which is kind of cringe.

[B]

The margins are us.

[A]

And yeah, this is like my replacement for merch. Yeah, I love that coin.

[B]

We'll link.

[A]

Good ticker.

[B]

Yeah, we'll link it below anything else you want to close off with here.

[A]

You're talking about aliens or something. Crazy.

[B]

Do you believe in aliens?

[A]

Yes. Well, I think. I think that they are interdimensionally real, like fourth, fifth dimension. If what the people, the experts say is true about there being infinite dimensions, then there has to be aliens in the other dimensions. And they might be evil. It might be bad aliens.

[B]

This is probably bad and good. Just like humans, I'd imagine. If they exist.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, if the dimensions thing makes sense when. If you consider that if we didn't have a sense of smell, you'd never smell a fart. If we didn't have a sense of fourth, fifth dimension, whatever that is, it would be there, and we can't. You can't see it. See it.

[B]

I could see that. Are you big on conspiracies?

[A]

Yeah, don't get me started.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

This is why I don't talk.

[B]

What's the one you're most convinced in.

[A]

Out of all the ones most convinced.

[B]

Like, you're 100% sure.

[A]

Say it out loud. Most convinced. I have to be prepared to completely back it up if I say it. There's a lot of people on the Internet that should not even speak about what they think. They're not prepared to defend their idea facts. Most convinced. Conspiracy.

[B]

Yeah. Like, what have you done the most research on? I guess.

[A]

Probably the Epstein stuff. I mean, that's pretty. Pretty debunked and obvious when you look at it and how we just. We still don't have a list. I mean, it makes sense. You blackmail all these powerful people, you have leverage on them and, you know, through those grotesque meme means of bringing the people to the island and whatnot and compromising them. I mean, it makes. Makes sense. You want to control the most powerful people, you have to have leverage over them.

[B]

Yeah. That recent viral video of Kash Patel and Dan Beningo. I don't know if you saw it, but they were denying that it was an assassination, that Epstein did kill himself. Oh, it looked like they were uncomfortable when they were saying that.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Anybody saying that Epstein was. He committed suicide is. Something's. Something's up. When you look at the. The details and the facts of it, and there's somebody that's not literally holding a gun to their head, but there's consequences if they say otherwise.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

They think.

[B]

I don't even consider Epstein a conspiracy at this point. There's just too much evidence and data on that one.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think we should get into it.

[B]

We'll save it for another day.

[A]

Immediately. I don't think the conspiracy talk is good. You'll probably get, like, extra shadow banned if you mention certain words.

[B]

And the V word.

[A]

Yes, the V word. That was another one I didn't want to say.

[B]

All right, man, it's been fun. See you at the bitcoin conference with Six.

[A]

Yeah. You're bringing me, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're driving me.

[B]

Yep. Driving you there. All right, guys. See you.

[A]

Peace.