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All statements about Harry Potter (book series)

128 statements about Harry Potter (book series) in 70 videos, by upload date.

Back to Harry Potter (book series).

2007

  • 2007-06-04 · Brotherhood 2.0: June 4th: The First Nerdfighter Wedding! — John: At Book Expo John collected manga, a poster and a Harry Potter bag for Hank; Maureen Johnson and Scott Westerfeld's hand make cameos. (playful) — 00:00:34
  • 2007-07-12 · July 12: Pizza, Punishments and Potter — Hank and Katherine are about to see Harry Potter at a 5 o'clock matinee, the only time they go to movies anymore. — 00:01:36
  • 2007-07-12 · July 12: Pizza, Punishments and Potter — Hank is excited about the next Harry Potter book, which he thinks comes out in 12 or 13 days. (hedged) (slip of the tongue: 12 days; slip of the tongue: 13 days) — 00:01:36
  • 2007-07-12 · July 12: Pizza, Punishments and Potter — Hank hopes he won't have to make a video on the book's release day, because he will be reading Harry Potter. (hedged) — 00:02:20
  • 2007-07-18 · July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows (no spoilers) — Hank sings that he needs Harry Potter like a grindylow needs water, and his need grows as Saturday (the release) approaches. (playful) — 00:00:43
  • 2007-07-18 · July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows (no spoilers) — Hank: Mostly Hank feels sad: he knows the story could end badly, but he wishes it did not have to end at all. — 00:02:36
  • 2007-07-19 · July 19: A Day in the Life of a Writer (Who Has No Friends) — John hopes the new Harry Potter book lives up to Hank's every expectation; if it is as good as Hank's song, it will be one heck of a book. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:26
  • 2007-07-20 · July 20: Green Mohawk — Hank says people liked his Harry Potter song a lot; he likes it too, catches himself singing it, and sometimes sings it in different styles. — 00:01:09
  • 2007-07-20 · July 20: Green Mohawk — Hank credits Katherine with helping write the song on the porch: when he complained that nothing rhymed, she suggested 'spell' as a good word for a Harry Potter song. — 00:01:34
  • 2007-07-20 · July 20: Green Mohawk — Hank says he currently has the number five top-rated song on YouTube, a dream come true that makes him feel like a small-time rock star. — 00:02:03
  • 2007-07-20 · July 20: Green Mohawk — ask: Hank asks viewers to avoid spoilers, which are appearing everywhere; Brotherhood 2.0 tries to keep them out but cannot watch everything. — 00:02:39
  • 2007-07-24 · July 24: More Harry Potter?! — Hank has spent the last three days almost entirely sleeping or reading Harry Potter; the book arrived by UPS at about 9 a.m. — 00:00:11
  • 2007-07-24 · July 24: More Harry Potter?! — recommendation: Hank: In a letter to nerdfighters who don't care about Harry Potter, Hank apologises for continuing and suggests the solution is to read Harry Potter and join the club. (playful) — 00:01:05
  • 2007-07-24 · July 24: More Harry Potter?! — Hank: The New York Times contacted John to answer a question about Harry Potter; John passed on Hank's name, so Hank is kind of contributing 200 words on why Harry Potter is special. (hedged) — 00:01:05
  • 2007-07-24 · July 24: More Harry Potter?! — Hank argues Harry Potter is not just another children's fantasy adventure; something very different is going on, the biggest thing in publishing since (jokingly) the Bible. — 00:01:41
  • 2007-07-24 · July 24: More Harry Potter?! — ask: Hank invites nerdfighters 'into my pants' to give their opinion on why Harry Potter is such a gigantic phenomenon. — 00:02:05
  • 2007-07-25 · Re: July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows — Hank reports that, for the first time after about 150 videos, a Brotherhood 2.0 video is on the front page of YouTube. — 00:00:08
  • 2007-07-25 · July 25: Brotherhood 2.0's Youtube Comments Are Answered! — John finds Hank's face on the YouTube front page: the brothers' video has been featured. — 00:00:10
  • 2007-07-26 · July 26: The Price of Fame — Hank's song 'Accio Deathly Hallows' has been featured on the front page of YouTube and watched over 200,000 times. — 00:00:51
  • 2007-07-30 · July 30: Mystery Lyrics and Paying Rent — Hank says viewers' ideas for song topics are helpful: writing a song about Harry Potter was not his idea but a commenter's or forum member's, whom he thanks. — 00:02:50
  • 2007-07-31 · July 31: HP, Secret Siblings, and Books — John: For Harry Potter's birthday John sets off a champagne popper he got free with green hairspray at a party store's eccentric sale. (playful) — 00:00:10
  • 2007-08-06 · August 6th: JK Rowling and I Will ... Be Punished — John tells Hank that their cousin and her husband, author Lisa Yee, and Arthur Levine, who edited the Harry Potter books, just said hello to Hank. — 00:00:00
  • 2007-08-15 · August 15: Getting Featured on YouTube — Hank says his song is about something that happened to him a few weeks ago that sort of changed his life; he started it then and has now finished it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:03
  • 2007-08-15 · August 15: Getting Featured on YouTube — Hank: In the song, John phones Hank in bed shouting 'front page'; Hank wants to nap, then realises, runs to his laptop and finds himself featured on YouTube. (playful) — 00:00:52
  • 2007-08-15 · August 15: Getting Featured on YouTube — Hank: The song says the featured video was highly rated, its pronunciation debated, 30,000 people watched Hank's happy dance and it was watched 700,000 times, reaching the most-discussed page. (playful) — 00:01:23
  • 2007-08-22 · August 22nd: Um. Uh. IN YOUR PANTS — John: Calling Harry Potter jokes 'so... jokes', John notes that using 'jokes' as an adjective makes calling a joke 'jokes' grammatically confusing, though English has precedents. (playful) — 00:01:02
  • 2007-10-05 · October 5th: Feuding, Goonies and Politics — recommendation: Hank urges young Nerdfighters who have never seen The Goonies to rent it: like Harry Potter with pirates in the real world of 1985, about friendship and social-outcast underdogs. — 00:02:11
  • 2007-10-10 · October 10th: A Spoilerific Attack on Unicorns — John says Hank will never win the zombies-versus-unicorns part of the feud, and offers a 'foolproof' argument against unicorns only for those who have read Harry Potter 7. (playful) — 00:01:24
  • 2007-10-10 · October 10th: A Spoilerific Attack on Unicorns — John's argument 'Why do you guys hate Tonks so much?': Voldemort survives by drinking unicorn blood, so unicorns saved him, and his war killed Tonks; if you like unicorns, you killed Tonks, and Hedwig. (playful) — 00:01:53
  • 2007-10-10 · October 10th: A Spoilerific Attack on Unicorns — John is not defending zombies, which are disgusting, but zombies didn't kill Tonks; in Narnia unicorns only impale people and in Harry Potter they save villains, so unicorns kill while zombies only make people undead. (playful) — 00:02:22
  • 2007-10-15 · Oct 15th: Happy 16th Birthday B20 — Hank qualifies his recent claim that video blogs can transmit ideas better than books: not always; Harry Potter would make a horrible video blog. — 00:02:23
  • 2007-11-21 · November 21st: What I'm Grateful For — John is thankful to Hank for the amazing year of getting to know each other as grown-up siblings, though they spent much of it putting stuff on their heads and singing about Harry Potter. — 00:01:11

Also named in: Brotherhood 2.0: January 15th

2008

  • 2008-07-18 · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song — announcement: Hank says that a year ago today (18 July 2007) he recorded a Harry Potter song that pretty much changed his life, and celebrates the anniversary with another Harry Potter song. — 00:00:30
  • 2008-07-18 · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song — Hank thanks the Nerdfighters for working together to get Accio Deathly Hallows up to 1 million views. — 00:00:30
  • 2008-07-18 · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song — Hank: In the song Hank says he wants a Book 8: he thinks there's an unwritten story and it's time to put fingers to keys. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:14
  • 2008-07-18 · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song — Hank proposes joke titles for Book 8, such as 'Harry Potter and the Paper Towns' and 'Harry Potter and the nerdfighters'. (joke) — 00:02:57
  • 2008-08-12 · Eight Days of Awesome — Hank says eight days earlier he was in the studio recording an actual studio version of Accio Deathly Hallows, to be discussed later. — 00:00:40
  • 2008-11-24 · DFTBA Records — announcement: Hank says the label's first release is his own album (joking about a 'promising young artist' with songs about Harry Potter, Barack Obama and Helen Hunt); the digital version is on sale now. — 00:00:53

Also named in: Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow

2009

  • 2009-04-28 · 10 Book Reviews in 4 Minutes — recommendation: Hank calls Sorcery and Cecilia adorable, like Harry Potter meets Pride and Prejudice: two young women in a dangerous magical mystery, really about infuriating boys in marvelous outfits. (playful) — 00:01:29
  • 2009-05-06 · Dead Boy's Girlfriend — Hank hopes even the non-Harry Potter Nerdfighters enjoyed the song. (hedged) — 00:03:46
  • 2009-05-24 · WROCK! — John says he and Hank just had two extraordinary days at LeakyCon, a Harry Potter conference. — 00:00:00
  • 2009-05-27 · Open Letters — Hank tells J. K. Rowling her work is the best, but not even she deserves a fan community as awesome as Harry Potter nerds, and she should know how lucky she is. (playful) — 00:02:01
  • 2009-07-15 · This Isn't Hogwarts! A Harry Potter Song — announcement: Hank notes the song marks the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince today. — 00:03:02
  • 2009-07-15 · This Isn't Hogwarts! A Harry Potter Song — Hank says it is nearly the third anniversary of 'Accio Deathly Hallows', the song that kicked the Vlogbrothers into the mainstream. — 00:03:02
  • 2009-07-15 · This Isn't Hogwarts! A Harry Potter Song — announcement: Hank announces a Harry Potter Truth or Fail today, guest hosted by Kristina Horner of the Parselmouths and the Five Awesome Girls. — 00:03:02
  • 2009-07-19 · Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life — John says he saw the Harry Potter movie last night with the Yeti rather than at midnight on opening day as Hank did. — 00:00:38
  • 2009-07-19 · Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life — John says he really liked the Harry Potter movie because it was funny but also sad and didn't tell destructive lies about teenage sexuality like some other recent movies. — 00:00:38
  • 2009-08-18 (said on 2009-08-19, implied) · So Jokes: Video EP — Hank: The song lists stories Hank wants told (Harry's sons, Grindelwald and Dumbledore, the veil, Hagrid's parents) and proposes joke titles such as 'Harry Potter and the Nerdfighters'. (joke) — 00:00:10
  • 2009-08-18 (said on 2009-08-19, implied) · So Jokes: Video EP — Hank: In the song 'Book Eight', Hank sings that he wants J.K. Rowling to write an eighth Harry Potter book; he thinks there is an unwritten story to tell. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:31
  • 2009-11-29 · John Reviews Twilight and New Moon — John thinks whether Harry Potter or Twilight is better is "a question wrongly asked", as the series pursue different goals and readers can read broadly enough for both and more. (hedged) — 00:02:48

Also named in: Ulcerative Colitis: A Song, I Will Call Him Louis: Australia Rocks!

2010

  • 2010-02-03 (said on 2010-02-04, implied) · Win The Awesomest Prizes EVAR! — announcement: Hank says the Harry Potter Alliance, a non-profit built on the Harry Potter fan community, is raffling remarkable prizes for Haiti, with all the money going to Haiti. — 00:00:29
  • 2010-02-03 (said on 2010-02-04, implied) · Win The Awesomest Prizes EVAR! — announcement: Hank: Prizes listed include Harry Potter books signed by J. K. Rowling with a thank-you note, a guitar signed and used by Tom Felton, a cast-signed Deathly Hallows, signed Gaiman, Pratchett and John Green books, and Where the Wild Things Are artwork. — 00:01:17
  • 2010-02-03 (said on 2010-02-04, implied) · Win The Awesomest Prizes EVAR! — Hank says the Harry Potter Alliance, the Harry Potter community and the Nerdfighter community have together raised $86,000, enough to charter two cargo planes of aid to Haiti. — 00:02:15
  • 2010-02-10 · HOW TO GET AN AGENT — recommendation: Maureen Johnson: Relaying her agent, Maureen says not to claim your book will be a big movie or the next Twilight, Harry Potter or Wimpy Kid: it is presumptuous and seems arrogant; agents want a clear letter about the story. — 00:02:31
  • 2010-02-12 · Google Search Stories: Harry Potter — Hank says that as soon as he saw the Super Bowl ad he felt there had to be a Harry Potter version of a Google search story; there wasn't, so he made one. — 00:01:46
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — John: They wrote silly questions on a volleyball to throw and answer, picked a Harry Potter character for Esther, had a puff fight, and hunted Boston for espresso and gelato. (playful) — 00:00:31
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — Esther Earl: Esther doesn't know which Harry Potter character she'd be, maybe a mix of Luna and someone else; she agrees half Luna, half Dumbledore would be very beautiful. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:00
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — John's first 'amazing night of amazing' with Esther was at LeakyCon, a Harry Potter conference. — 00:01:45
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — John: Without Harry Potter John would have no Esther, and there probably would not be a Nerdfighteria. (hedged) — 00:01:51
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — John: Esther is a big supporter of the Harry Potter Alliance, a charity Nerdfighteria often partners with; together they raised $123,000 to help Haiti and sent the SS DFTBA there. — 00:01:57
  • 2010-07-05 · With Esther — ask: John asks viewers to vote for the Harry Potter Alliance via the link in the description and to get their friends to vote. — 00:02:22
  • 2010-07-21 · I Hung out with Snookie...Accidentally — Hank marks roughly three years since Accio Deathly Hallows was featured on YouTube's front page, the first time many people watched the brothers' videos. — 00:00:52
  • 2010-07-21 · I Hung out with Snookie...Accidentally — Hank: Every year on the Deathly Hallows anniversary Hank writes another Harry Potter song; he has written this year's (2010) but plays only the chorus for lack of time. — 00:02:04
  • 2010-07-21 · I Hung out with Snookie...Accidentally — Hank: The chorus laments that however much young adult fiction Hank reads, he keeps coming up dry: whatever he reads, it is not Harry Potter. (playful) — 00:02:04
  • 2010-08-24 · FRENCH THE LLAMA! John is 33! — Hank: Showing his favourite book, Hank hopes the crowd shows many Harry Potters and some John Green books, and not so many Stephenie Meyer books. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:29
  • 2010-11-17 · HARRY POTTER SONG! — announcement: Hank says the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out tomorrow night, he is very excited, and it's Song Wednesday. — 00:00:00
  • 2010-11-17 · HARRY POTTER SONG! — Hank sings that, no joke, he also reads books his own brother wrote, and they too are not Harry Potter. (playful) — 00:01:22
  • 2010-11-17 · HARRY POTTER SONG! — Hank sings that Diagon Alley beats Ankh-Morpork, President Snow is no Voldemort, and Lyra's parentage is a good plot twist, but none of it is Harry Potter. (playful) — 00:03:02

Also named in: Hello Baby!!

2011

  • 2011-03-28 · Participatory Geometry — John argues sports matter: as a Harry Potter fan would treasure an email from J.K. Rowling, others treasure the Cubs winning the World Series or an Indiana college reaching the Final Four. — 00:02:29
  • 2011-03-28 · Participatory Geometry — John says we choose what we care about, and caring about sports is ultimately about community, like caring about Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons or Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:49
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — Hank says he is at LeakyCon but pre-recorded this video along with his new Harry Potter posters. — 00:00:00
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — Hank says four years ago he wrote a song about the book Deathly Hallows and how he wanted it to come out, and has written another Harry Potter song every year since. — 00:00:04
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — Hank says the brothers are lucky to have been welcomed into the Harry Potter community. — 00:00:14
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — Hank: In the song Hank asks Harry Potter whether the final film is 'it', the last piece of a pie most fans have eaten all their adult lives. — 00:00:46
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — Hank sings that Harry Potter helped him learn guitar and launched his whole career, so he is hugely in its debt. — 00:01:10
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — announcement: Hank announces two Harry Potter Alliance competitions (art and ideas) at ImagineBetter.org, $1,000 first prizes, top 20 judged by a panel including him, Jason Alexander, Anthony Head and Evanna Lynch. — 00:03:06
  • 2011-07-15 · Harry Freaking Potter — recommendation: Hank recommends a beautiful book of Harry Potter community reminiscences (Dear Mr. Potter, per the description) whose thesis his song borrowed; all proceeds fund HPA literacy work. — 00:03:24
  • 2011-11-09 · 27 Part Video — ask: Hank says Harry Potter fans play actual Quidditch in New York every year, this weekend, and urges viewers who are around to go; details in the description. — 00:02:02

Also named in: 31 Jokes for NERDS!, Defying Wadsworth!

2012

  • 2012-01-10 (said on 2012-01-09, implied) · The Fault in Our Stars — John says readers won't feel out of the loop without Looking for Alaska: unlike Harry Potter, his books have nothing to do with each other. — 00:01:30
  • 2012-04-20 · Thoughts on Growing up — recommendation: Hank: For a social life on a budget Hank recommends fun, silly parties at home, like watching Harry Potter or writing fake wills, and never buying alcohol at bars. (playful) — 00:01:25
  • 2012-08-14 · To Be Anything At All: Thoughts from Places, Chicago and LeakyCon 2012 — John says that day he first found that other people knew the words to Hank's songs and began to understand how awesome Nerdfighters and Harry Potter fans are in real life. — 00:01:55
  • 2012-08-17 · Open Letter to the Wizards — The description thanks Harry and the Potters and Neil Cicierega for helping inspire the song. — video description
  • 2012-08-17 · Open Letter to the Wizards — Hank says a Harry Potter song he wrote in 2007 changed his life, so he promised himself to write another Harry Potter song every year on that video's anniversary, and has. — 00:00:15
  • 2012-08-17 · Open Letter to the Wizards — announcement: Hank: This year (2012) Hank saved his song to premiere it on stage at LeakyCon, and now releases it to everyone. — 00:00:24
  • 2012-09-14 · 1000 VIDEOS!!! — Hank: Since then John has had a baby and Hank got a dog, while the world got the last Harry Potter book, a new president and a new fundamental particle; video went from 240p to 1080p. — 00:00:12
  • 2012-09-14 · 1000 VIDEOS!!! — Hank lists his songs about quarks, ponies, Harry Potter and Helen Hunt, notes Helen Hunt tweeted him about hers, and recalls inventing 2D glasses and turning Pride and Prejudice into a video blog. (playful) — 00:01:36
  • 2012-10-02 · What To Do With Your Life — John's college self would be surprised he became a novelist whose mustachioed face is on strangers' shirts, and Hank studied chemistry before writing Harry Potter songs. (playful) — 00:02:32
  • 2012-11-27 · Nerdfighter Book Recommendations: A Gift Giving Guide for Nerdfightastic Readers — recommendation: John: For Harry Potter fans, John says to reread the books, which stand up to rereading, and recommends Lev Grossman's Magicians series and Melissa Anelli's Harry, A History about the fandom. — 00:01:27

2013

  • 2013-01-11 · On the Ownership of Ideas — Hank recalls Harry Potter's publishers objecting to derivative works like wizard rock songs when the genre began; he says you can make them and asks why anyone would stop fans' enthusiasm. — 00:02:21
  • 2013-01-15 · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall — Hank says he didn't know a whole community wrote Harry Potter songs; getting hooked up with them was one of the best things creating for the internet brought him. — 01:05:48
  • 2013-01-15 · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall — Hank says before the last Harry Potter book he emailed YouTube suggesting a front-page feature and a video; they did, the brothers' first real traction on YouTube. — 01:06:09
  • 2013-01-15 · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall — Hank: After 'Accio Deathly Hallows', Hank says its success made him decide to write a Harry Potter song every year on its anniversary, and sings 'Book 8', about a book that doesn't exist. (playful) — 01:10:25
  • 2013-01-15 · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall — Hank says he met Kimya Dawson at a tiny warehouse show while on tour with Harry and the Potters; she liked his music, found Nerdfighteria and immediately became a Nerdfighter. — 02:18:10
  • 2013-07-09 · The World Needs More Magic — MagicTurtle643: Since we can't decrease world suck with Harry Potter spells, he says all we can do is demand more Harry Potter, which still captivates people. (playful) — 00:01:52
  • 2013-07-09 · The World Needs More Magic — MagicTurtle643: He thinks JK Rowling got one thing wrong: non-magic folk don't hate or deny magic; people love blaming lost keys on ghosts, gnomes or fairies because it's more fun. (hedged) — 00:02:28
  • 2013-07-12 · Oh, JK Rowling - A Harry Potter Song — announcement: Hank's description says that every year around the anniversary of Accio Deathly Hallows he releases another Harry Potter song, and this is that song. — video description
  • 2013-07-12 · Oh, JK Rowling - A Harry Potter Song — recommendation: Hank's description points viewers to the Harry Potter Alliance's website to learn more, calling the HPA 'frikkin great'. — video description
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank says the two must-dos of his UK trip blew his mind: the Natural History Museum, where he and Katherine got up early to be first in line, and the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford. — 00:00:32
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank says science versus Harry Potter is 'my brain': an easy choice for most people, but not for him, so he sorts it out with superlatives. (playful) — 00:00:42
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank: Most inspirational: the detail of the Harry Potter universe inspires Hank, but less than Darwin's pigeons, Wallace's collections and Linnaeus's pressings, which connect him to the history of life. — 00:01:31
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank says Harry Potter is also collaborative, through screenwriters, actors and its fan community, including unintended collaborators like himself and Harry and the Potters; more so than most art, so a tie. (hedged) — 00:02:45
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank cannot choose: it is like choosing between his parents, since science and Harry Potter did not just shape how he understands the world but built him as a person. — 00:03:03
  • 2013-08-16 · Harry Potter vs. Science! — Hank loves science's drive toward objective truth and Harry Potter's unironic drive toward objective goodness: loyalty, love, building something greater; both guide his life, so he won't pick. — 00:03:13
  • 2013-10-11 · TFiOS Movie, Emma Approved, Subbable Update, etc — announcement: Hank says he and John are helping the Harry Potter Alliance's Equality for the Win Indiegogo campaign, which has many great perks. — 00:02:17
  • 2013-10-11 · TFiOS Movie, Emma Approved, Subbable Update, etc — announcement: Hank: Another perk: Hank's Harry Potter fanfic 'The Womb of Requirement', an origin story for the Room of Requirement, read as an audiobook by Evanna Lynch. — 00:02:28
  • 2013-10-15 · Thoughts for Nerdfighteria — John: Bigger need not mean less important: Harry Potter reached a large audience, yet its core fans, who listened to Wizard Rock and started the Harry Potter Alliance, made lasting changes in the world. — 00:01:52
  • 2013-10-15 · Thoughts for Nerdfighteria — John: If Nerdfighteria keeps growing, John wants to make sure it grows like the core Harry Potter community. — 00:02:05
  • 2013-11-29 · REUNION! Arm Wrestling, Drawing, and Questions with Hank and John! — John says his favorite book series will always be Harry Potter, though he likes Divergent a lot. — 00:00:24

2014

  • 2014-05-20 · Deserving — John: The luck goes further back, John says: he is lucky to have Hank as brother and collaborator, and lucky that Hank's 2007 Harry Potter song gave them a whole new audience. — 00:00:50
  • 2014-07-25 · Towering Mountains of Ignorance — Hank's example: explaining Harry Potter's popularity by its school setting, good writing and a desire for wizards amounts to saying it is popular because it's Harry Potter. (playful) — 00:00:44

Also named in: It's Question Tuesday! Cheesy Jokes, Paper Towns Movie, and Dinosaur Butt Brains

2016

2017

  • 2017-02-28 · You Are Here — John argues fandoms are made interesting not by the content but by people who build communities around it: Harry Potter is special not because of J.K. Rowling but because readers respond deeply, enthusiastically and without embarrassment or apology, by dressing up, fanfiction, or singing. — 00:01:33
  • 2017-07-18 · Accio Decade Hallows — John: Ten years ago today (18 July 2007) Hank uploaded Accio Deathly Hallows, a song about his excitement for the publication of the last Harry Potter book. — 00:02:31
  • 2017-07-18 · Accio Decade Hallows — John: The song was picked up on Harry Potter fan forums, so the project was discovered by passionate people who know how to build internet communities. — 00:03:05
  • 2017-11-03 · Because We're Here — John recalls other nights of Hank's music: Edinburgh, the first VidCon, and 8/8/08 in Chicago, when Harry Potter fans sang his songs louder than his voice. — 00:00:18

2018

  • 2018-04-24 · This Video is about Red Eyed Tree Frogs? — recommendation: John has been listening a lot to Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, in which two scholars of religion read Harry Potter as a sacred text; it is just brilliant, whatever you think of religion or Harry Potter. — 00:00:04
  • 2018-04-24 · This Video is about Red Eyed Tree Frogs? — John: It does help to be interested in Harry Potter. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:16
  • 2018-04-24 · This Video is about Red Eyed Tree Frogs? — John always thought the Harry Potter books lend themselves to critical reading, but until this podcast he had no idea how deep they could be. — 00:00:19
  • 2018-05-01 · How to Win — John often thinks that if Hank's Harry Potter song hadn't been featured by YouTube in July 2007, none of this would exist, though countless other things had to happen too. — 00:01:00
  • 2018-11-05 · Reading Mean Comments with John — both: Discussing a comment, the brothers note that James Potter died at 21 and was never middle-aged in the Harry Potter books. (playful) — 00:01:34

2019

  • 2019-01-29 · Do You Believe in Miracles? — John: West Ham play in the Premier League and are the only football club named in the Harry Potter books. — 00:02:25
  • 2019-02-12 · Are Textbooks Obsolete? — John says Americans spent over ten billion dollars last year (2018) on textbooks, significantly more than on all fiction, every Harry Potter, Gatsby and Goodnight Moon included. — 00:00:00

2020

  • 2020-11-13 · How We Teach: Individualist Stories — The description says luck, for Hank, was writing a Harry Potter song that got him invited to a Harry Potter convention, where he met a conference organizer who helped him build VidCon. — video description

2023