One-Man YouTube Shows

I remember this scene in the movie Waiting for Guffman, at the end, where Parker Posey is in NYC either teaching a class or doing her own one-woman-show. We're supposed to feel (as with many scenes by this creative team) superior to her, or at least feel sorry for her.

Or, you can take this scene a test to the viewer, to see if the viewer will acknowledge that low-budget entertainment is still legimate entertainment.

But doing a show by yourself is quite difficult. When I think of the type of content on YouTube that I find myself gravitating toward, it's from big budget entertainment companies at least 75% of the time, if not more. If we take ProZD as a counterexample to this, he is still a rigorously tested actor. We're lucky that he takes the time to post content on YouTube. He's so exceptional.

Emma Chamberlain is another freak of nature who has managed to create content that others want to see, all by herself. She was just editing videos by herself for a long time before she got picked up by other mass media entities.

I don't watch either of these creators that often (due in part because at least ProZD rarely releases content). I feel like one-man shows on YouTube, or even one-man nonfiction channels, are really low in their ambition and class. The nonfiction channels, to me, rise no higher than content intended for high schoolers. I don't feel like I'm being informed of anything when I watch them. At least that's the way it was. I've stopped watching nonfiction YouTubers for the most part.

I mostly watch clips from The Office or Parks and Recreation. And I listen to KPop or watch KPop music videos. So YouTube is like just another mass media company for me, like NBC or CBS. The possibility of encountering a rebel on the platform who speaks to me in defiance of mass media norms is gone, because I'm not tuning in to YouTubers anymore.

This post is me realizing that this is a predictable outcome. Making essays by yourself is hard.