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All statements about Four-minute rule

135 statements about Four-minute rule in 94 videos, by upload date.

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2007

Also named in: April 5th: Embarrassing Moment Sock Puppet Theater

2008

  • 2008-02-08 · QUESTION TUESDAYS (On Friday) — John confirms he is still sticking to the four-minute time limit. — 00:03:36
  • 2008-03-27 · PEEPS Eating Contest Is Peepstacular, Painful — In the description John suggests the photo montage lets him go over the usual length, i.e. past the four-minute rule. (playful, hedged) — video description
  • 2008-03-27 · PEEPS Eating Contest Is Peepstacular, Painful — ask: John asks Nerdfighters to suggest in comments what the winner and/or loser of the contest should get. — 00:01:09
  • 2008-04-21 · Belated Book-tacular Questions — John says Hank will be punished too: he lost the Peeps contest without participating and made a video over four minutes without a photo montage, which breaks the rule. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-04-24 · Pills Pills Pills — Hank: Owing a punishment for his infraction, Hank has been reading viewers' punishment ideas and asks for ones not involving death or torture. (playful) — 00:03:11
  • 2008-04-24 · Pills Pills Pills — announcement: Hank: Because the brothers are strict about the four-minute rule, Hank made two versions; the full five-minute one is posted elsewhere on YouTube (channel name unclear). — 00:03:41
  • 2008-05-11 · Nerdfighting IRL — Hank says he went over time but has been granted amnesty because the video had a montage (several). (playful) — 00:04:12
  • 2008-05-16 · Hank's Punishment (ugh...I don't believe uploading this...) — Hank says he is finally doing his punishment, which he learned only yesterday; it was chosen from suggestions by Nerdfighters and John. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-05-16 · Hank's Punishment (ugh...I don't believe uploading this...) — Hank: As the punishment, Hank sings a cover of a ToyBox pop song about a 'World Wide Web girl' chatting online. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • 2008-06-24 · Questions Answered! — announcement: Hank is making a Star Trek song longer than four minutes that he can't shorten, so he invokes the longer-than-four-minutes clause, which requires a Nerdfighting montage. — 00:03:12
  • 2008-06-27 · Marion the Nerdfightarion — announcement: Hank tells Nerdfighters they will see him perform a song about Star Trek in the next week or so. (playful) — 00:02:20
  • 2008-07-10 · What Would Captain Picard Do — Hank: In his song Hank says that when you're confused and the choice is too hard, you should think of what Captain Picard would do. (playful) — 00:03:54
  • 2008-07-18 · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song — Hank pre-empts punishment for going over four minutes: there was a montage, and the montage exception covers it. (playful) — 00:04:36
  • 2008-08-12 · Eight Days of Awesome — Hank admits the video is longer than four minutes and says he will accept whatever punishment John sees fit. — 00:04:09
  • 2008-08-15 · Metric Sabbath — Hank says the punishment he just did turned out worse than expected; someone suggested it, and since most people didn't want him punished at all, he chose it as easy and peculiar. — 00:00:43
  • 2008-09-13 · Hank Vlogs (and a String Quartet) — Hank acknowledges the quartet will make the video too long but says it is okay because it is pretty much a separate video. (playful) — 00:03:30
  • 2008-10-14 · Paper Towns Reading — John says the video will go over four minutes but he will get around the rule with a montage. (playful) — 00:00:56
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — John notes Hank's previous video was 4 minutes 16 seconds long and expects a 'weird semantic argument' against being punished. (playful) — 00:00:36
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — John says Hank's 4:16 video contained no montage, which is clearly against the rules. — 00:02:00
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — Hank: On the phone Hank argues his video was 3 minutes 50 seconds; the rest was black space because the song ran longer than the video track. (playful) — 00:02:32
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — ask: John lets the Nerdfighters decide: he asks them to vote on whether Hank should be punished. — 00:03:09
  • 2008-10-24 · Talking to Myself — Hank: In a phone skit with another Hank, Hank says he can see 'their point' and concedes his video was technically longer than four minutes. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-24 · Talking to Myself — ask: Hank asks everyone to leave punishment suggestions in the comments. — 00:03:44
  • 2008-10-24 · Paper Towns MOVIE1!!!11! — John tells Hank he is being punished by having to do something he once agreed to: dress as Carrie Bradshaw for the Sex and the City movie, at home since it has left theaters. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-30 (said on 2008-10-29, implied) · Hank is Late (dr horrible) — Hank records the video while dressed like Carrie Bradshaw, which he calls embarrassing on its own. (playful) — 00:00:01

Also named in: Live from LAX

2009

  • 2009-03-08 · PEEPS for Bangladesh — announcement: John says he will try to set the Question Tuesday world record on Tuesday, and tells Hank to dress up as Carrie Bradshaw soon to avoid a YouTube mutiny. (playful) — 00:02:42
  • 2009-03-29 · Tiny Chickens Cause Epic Fail — John says Hank has owed a Carrie Bradshaw dress-up for about six months and won't do it, and claims to speak for Nerdfighters in being mad. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:35
  • 2009-03-29 · Tiny Chickens Cause Epic Fail — John reports weeks of discussions on the Ning about boycotting Hank's videos until he does the Carrie Bradshaw punishment. — 00:00:35
  • 2009-03-29 · Tiny Chickens Cause Epic Fail — announcement: John tells Hank to dress up as Carrie Bradshaw and says he is boycotting Hank's videos until he sees it in a video thumbnail. (playful) — 00:01:09
  • 2009-04-01 (said on 2009-03-31, implied) · A Few Of My Favorite Things — announcement: Hank apologises for not yet being dressed as Carrie Bradshaw and says he thinks he will make up for it tomorrow. (hedged) — 00:03:38
  • 2009-04-01 · HANKROLL'd — Hank sings a cover of 'Never Gonna Give You Up', rickrolling viewers; the description says he does it dressed as Carrie Bradshaw. (playful) — 00:00:17
  • 2009-05-08 · Star Trek: The Movie, Review — Hank calls Star Trek one of his primary formative influences, alongside his parents and Jean-Luc Picard, and notes he wrote a song about it. (playful) — 00:01:18
  • 2009-08-04 · Twitter Games and Truth or Fail — announcement: Hank hopes to fit all the sentences in, maybe not given his four minutes, and muses about working them into a song 'written by Twitter'. (hedged) — 00:01:22
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John says Nerdfighteria has long wanted to punish Hank, but Hank keeps the rules: a video every Wednesday, a song every other Wednesday, never more than four minutes. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John says that when Hank does break the rules, as when he briefly uploaded a seven-minute version of his Severed Hands of Star Wars video, he argues he broke the letter but not the spirit of the law. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John: After Hank posted a video of four minutes and two seconds last week (week of 9 November 2009), he called John saying the overrun was only the subscription screen and that he is on tour. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John says that is what happens in a world without enforced rules; he may have to live with it in real life but will not stand for it in Nerdfighteria, and is still mad about the handball. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:28
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — John argues that people, in sports and in life, tend to think breaking the rules isn't really breaking them unless and until they get caught. — 00:01:57
  • 2009-11-22 · Hank in FAMY — announcement: John announces that Hank is getting punished, and says he doesn't mind his own punishment since Hank is being punished too. (playful) — 00:01:57
  • 2009-12-01 · Shaving for Pakistan — John reports a Nerdfighter's calculation that the extra two seconds of Hank's punished video, watched about 55,000 times, cost Nerdfighteria 26 hours; 'we want our 26 hours back'. (playful) (doubtful: 26 hours) — 00:03:03
  • 2009-12-01 · Shaving for Pakistan — announcement: John sets Hank's punishment: be at the Missoula, Montana Target when it opens at 8 a.m. and stay, without leaving, until it closes 15 hours later. (playful) — 00:03:17
  • 2009-12-01 · Shaving for Pakistan — announcement: John: Because the store closes, John adds a second punishment for the missing 11 hours: Hank buys a blender there and publicly blends and eats (or drinks) a meal of his choice in the Target restaurant. (playful) — 00:03:30
  • 2009-12-08 · Announcing the 2009 Project for Awesome!!! — announcement: Hank acknowledges he will have to spend 15 hours inside a Target as his punishment. — 00:03:04

Also named in: Israel. Gaza. PUPPY!, 51 Jokes (in Four Minutes)

2010

  • 2010-01-04 · It Hurts In My Toof: The 2010 Rules — announcement: John announces rule two: videos may not exceed four minutes, with the usual exceptions. — 00:02:09
  • 2010-01-04 · It Hurts In My Toof: The 2010 Rules — announcement: John tells Hank the new rule means he has one week from today to spend 15 hours in a Target. — 00:02:39
  • 2010-01-06 (said on 2010-01-05, implied) · 15 Hours in Target! — Hank, tired and unwell, starts his punishment inside a Target with 15 hours to fill; five hours in, he is really bored. — 00:00:00
  • 2010-01-06 (said on 2010-01-05, implied) · 15 Hours in Target! — Hank says Nerdfighters came to see him in the Target. — 00:00:45
  • 2010-01-06 (said on 2010-01-05, implied) · 15 Hours in Target! — Hank: Near the end of his 15 hours in Target, Hank eats 'one last heaping spoonful', coughs, and calls it a horrible idea. (playful) — 00:03:09
  • 2010-01-08 · GUS HAS NO FUZZ! — John congratulates Hank on spending 15 hours in Target without going insane or getting arrested. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • 2010-11-05 · God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I — ask: John says no punishment is due for going over four minutes, since Nerdfighters allowed longer videos, and asks viewers to say how the brothers are doing. — video description
  • 2010-11-05 · God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I — announcement: John says that, with Nerdfighteria's permission, the brothers have temporarily suspended the four-minute rule to get through the week of educational videos. — 00:05:18
  • 2010-12-07 · Tongue Twisters — Hank tells commenters demanding punishment for a video over four minutes that the 'Nerdfighter montage exception' applies, so he remains punishment-free. (playful) — 00:04:06

2011

2012

Also named in: The Higgs Boson

2013

Also named in: Understand the Sequester (Spoiler: It's Bananas.)

2014

  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank says the brothers created the channel on January 1, 2007 with three rules: a video on your day, no video over four minutes, and no textual communication between them. — 00:00:21
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: After 2007 the brothers abolished the textual communication rule, changed the schedule, and exempted educational videos, montage videos and 4:01 videos (YouTube adds a second) from the time limit. — 00:01:32
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: In April 2008 Hank made a video 14 seconds too long and had to sing 'World Wide Web Girl' with pigtails in his hair. — 00:01:49
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: In October Hank left 30 seconds of nothing at the end of a video and had to dance around his house as Carrie Bradshaw singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up': the infamous Hankroll. — 00:01:59
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: That November Hank made a video two seconds too long and had to spend 15 hours in a Target. — 00:02:19
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: In 2013 Grace Helbig became the first non-brother punished, for a video over four minutes during John's paternity leave; though it was unclear the rules applied to her, she slapped herself. — 00:02:46
  • 2014-07-18 · EVERY VLOGBROTHERS PUNISHMENT! — Hank: In October 2013 John's over-four-minute video was ruled not educational enough, and as punishment he ate slobber carrots made by his son. — 00:02:57
  • 2014-09-09 · Going to College (in Ethiopia) — The description notes that YouTube adds a second to videos and that, by precedent, this is not punishable under the four-minute rule. — video description

Also named in: Racism in the United States: By the Numbers

2015

  • 2015-02-10 · Understanding Boko Haram — video description: In the description John gives the 'standard reminder' that educational videos are allowed to be over four minutes long. — video description
  • 2015-10-16 · Post-NerdCon Haze — Hank says in 2007 the Vlogbrothers imposed an artificial four-minute limit on their videos, as arbitrary as the 24-hour day, and it's great they stuck with it. — 00:03:28
  • 2015-10-23 · Benghazi: Explained — Hank says they have made videos like this since the beginning of Vlogbrothers; he likes being able to go past the time limit, but they are hard and stressful to make. — 00:07:31
  • 2015-12-11 · The Refugee Crises: Project for Awesome 2015 — John says Hank always tells him to make an end screen, and admits the video ran over four minutes, so he will probably be punished and accepts it. (playful, hedged) — 00:04:22
  • 2015-12-29 · How to Give Away Over a Million Dollars — ask: John playfully asks whether Nerdfighteria will really punish him because his video about refugee camps in Ethiopia ran over four minutes, calling them monsters. (playful) — 00:02:22

Also named in: Thoughts from Yachts

2016

2017

  • 2017-01-03 · 10 Years on YouTube (...and MORE GREAT NEWS) — announcement: John: Since Hank's last 2016 video went over four minutes without being educational, there is a vlogbrothers punishment for the first time in years, to take place live on stage at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:59
  • 2017-03-03 · PUNISHED: Blenderized Audience Choice: LIVE! — announcement: Hank says he is at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria about to be punished, and the audience is voting on the things he will blend. — 00:00:00
  • 2017-03-03 · PUNISHED: Blenderized Audience Choice: LIVE! — Hank drinks the blended mixture to chants of chug, still has a little left, and finds it very spicy once the peanut butter stops masking the heat. (playful) — 00:02:44
  • 2017-03-03 · PUNISHED: Blenderized Audience Choice: LIVE! — Hank: In a voice-over Hank tells John he survived the punishment and it was worth it. (hedged) — 00:03:46
  • 2017-08-29 · 40 — John says next week's (week of 4 September 2017) video, his reading of the first chapter of Turtles All the Way Down, will be over four minutes but is not punishable, citing precedents from 2011 and 2008 when he read the first chapters of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. (playful) — 00:02:51

2018

Also named in: Making Bad Decisions with My Dad

2019

  • 2019-01-29 · Do You Believe in Miracles? — In a comment John says the 4:01 runtime is no punishment: YouTube has added a second since 2007, and by precedent 4:01 videos are not punishable. — creator comment
  • 2019-03-22 · How to Get a Colonoscopy — Hank: Editing on the Friday of his colonoscopy, Hank says the video is at least educational and hopefully leads more people to screen for colon cancer, which is why it runs over four minutes. (hedged) — 00:06:55
  • 2019-05-10 · The Worst Product Ever — announcement: Hank says he accidentally uploaded a Hank's Channel video to Vlogbrothers that ran over four minutes, so he has another punishment brewing. — 00:03:24
  • 2019-07-19 · In Which Hank Consumes the Juice of Over 400 Gushers — Hank says that at VidCon he did his punishment for uploading a 4:02 video meant for Hank's channel to Vlogbrothers: drinking the juice of Gushers. — 00:00:29
  • 2019-09-17 · 'end the stigma' — In a comment John says the four-minute rule constrains videos like this one; the brothers have been reluctant to propose eliminating it. — creator comment
  • 2019-12-13 · Is This the Cutest Animal Noise? — Hank: Replying in a channel comment to a viewer who felt the video was setting up a longer lesson, Hank says this is life under the four-minute rule. (playful) — creator comment

2020

2021

  • 2021-02-19 · Bean Meme Review — Hank: For his first ever meme review Hank asked Nerdfighteria whether the video could be long, and they said yes. — 00:00:13
  • 2021-08-13 · How We Fix the Climate — Hank closes with a reminder that education videos are allowed to be over four minutes. (playful) — 00:16:14
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says this very long video is educational, which exempts it from the vlogbrothers four-minute rule. — 00:01:27

2022

2023

  • 2023-01-13 · Why is There an Egg Shortage (And More) — In a comment, Hank says he very occasionally hits the length exactly, but usually records 4 to 4:30 minutes and cuts down; over 5 minutes is a big problem. — creator comment
  • 2023-02-24 · The P4A 2023 is The Hottest Club on the Internet — Hank opens his Project for Awesome 2023 meme review of things people made and submitted to the P4A art folder, again taking an extra-long video. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-06-20 · Reflections from a Terrible CEO — announcement: In a channel comment John says the four-minute rule is off at least until Hank gets better, since 4-minute videos take too long with the current workload. — creator comment
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — John explains that since 2007, with a few exceptions, their videos must be under four minutes, a rule to force concision and intentional use of people's attention. — 00:02:55
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — John likes the four-minute rule: it helped him become a better writer, and without it The Fault in Our Stars would have been about a hundred pages longer and not as good. — 00:02:55
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — announcement: John says that since Hank's diagnosis they have suspended the four-minute rule for more flexibility, which he kind of loves; this video will run over four minutes. — 00:03:42
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — John is a little conflicted: he understands the rule is important and long-standing, and one reason they have been able to make things for so many people for so long. — 00:03:42
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — ask: John asks viewers to decide, via a poll linked in the description, whether the brothers should continue the four-minute rule. — 00:04:11
  • 2023-11-07 · NaFaDoYBIMSCoM — John: In a later channel comment, John says he thought about cutting the video to four minutes but concluded it would have made it worse. — creator comment

2024

2025

  • 2025-05-02 · I Found the Dumbest Time Zone — The description says Hank wanted a normal 4-minute Vlogbrothers video but feels he has lost that skill: it is hard to tell a story that fast and cut good material. — video description
  • 2025-09-19 · Let's Just Be Stupid For a Moment — Hank thanks Milo for editing and Nerdfighteria for letting the brothers publish longer videos, since the Quadragocon was fun to do in more than four minutes. (playful) — 00:08:42

2026

  • 2026-10-13 · My Lungs Are on the Outside of the Body — Hank: Asked his favorite part of his day of punishment in Target, Hank recalls a nerdfighter coming to the Target's Starbucks (not yet a Starbucks then) with little penguin art (as heard) for him: a nerdfighter gathering of three. — 00:02:22