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On YouTuber Retirement

2024-01-26 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:08 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Projects, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Back from eight days of stand-up shows in Southern California that ended with recording his cancer comedy special, Hank contrasts formats that finish (books, songs, specials) with a YouTube channel, which is like one song that never ends; he argues a YouTuber 'retiring' is really a person finishing something, that the channel has become a decades-long unit of creation, and that 'retirement' is the wrong word.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's run-on recap: cancer, writing a 90-minute stand-up show, seven rehearsal shows and creator collaborations in Southern California

  • ★★ After cancer treatment Hank wrote 90 minutes of stand-up about cancer to prove he can still do hard things and his brain still works, and to get something good out of the bad. (playful) — 00:00:00 · cancer
  • ★★ To rehearse before recording the special, Hank booked seven shows in Southern California and filled his days making content with other creators and seeing friends, admitting it may not have been wise. (playful) — 00:00:13

00:00:29 — Eight days of shows, recording the special as a deadline, and how books, songs and specials finish while YouTube does not

  • ★★ It turned out surprisingly well: Hank was booked solid for eight days, ending each with 60 to 90 minutes of stand-up, doing two shows a night on the last two nights. — 00:00:29
  • ★ Hank has been thinking about YouTuber retirement partly because many people asked him about it while he toured podcasts. — 00:00:35 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank notes that comedians who film a special tend never to do that show again after its release, because people have seen the jokes. — 00:00:50 · Los Angeles
  • ★★★ Hank was relieved to get the special recorded because he needed the deadline to finish the show; two shows were recorded to be cut together, and he wrote the last words only as he said them on stage. — 00:01:05
  • ★★★ Hank says other formats end: a finished book is finished, a song locks in place, a recorded special lets you move on; YouTube isn't like that. — 00:01:35 · YouTube

00:01:53 — The channel as one song that doesn't end: Tom Scott versus Theorist, and why Vlogbrothers continues

  • ★★★ Hank likens a YouTube channel to one song that never ends. — 00:01:58 · YouTube

    “The entire channel is one song and the song doesn't end.”

  • ★★ Hank says Tom Scott and Matt and Stephanie represent two versions of this; Tom Scott ended the song, leaving a whole body of work. — 00:02:05

  • ★★ Hank, who knows Tom Scott, says he won't stop being creative and will make other things. — 00:02:15
  • ★★ Hank says Theorist is the other way: the song keeps going without its creator. — 00:02:22
  • ★★★ Hank says the brothers are still doing Vlogbrothers because the song isn't over and is still delivering. — 00:02:28 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank thinks many people make YouTube videos mainly because it rewards them, often as income; Vlogbrothers used to be like that but isn't anymore. — 00:02:35 · Vlogbrothers, YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says they now make Vlogbrothers because it is creatively rewarding, though the inspiring part is creating the project and the community, not the videos. — 00:02:45 · Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria

00:03:00 — YouTuber retirement as a person finishing something; the channel as a decades-long unit; 'retirement' is the wrong word; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says a YouTuber retiring is really a person who has finished doing something. — 00:03:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says it is good that more creators have the economic freedom, and the social freedom and grace from their audience, to do it. — 00:03:05
  • ★★ Because channels like Tom Scott's and Theorist have a relationship with an audience, creators must explain their choice; Hank asks for respect for a person's choice about their life, since a channel is not a person or a person's life. — 00:03:15
  • ★★★ Hank says creative works used to be discrete units; the real unit of a YouTuber's body of work is the channel, and a decades-long unit of creation is historically weird. — 00:03:34 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank understands why moving away from a channel is a big deal but thinks retirement is the wrong word for it. — 00:03:50
  • ★★ Hank says we don't yet have the right way to talk about it and hopes people keep thinking about it. — 00:04:00

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says what makes this kind of creation special is that it is done in collaboration with an audience; a TV show that feels that way feels like a betrayal when cancelled, but an executive can be blamed. — video description
  • ★★ The description says a creator announcing a break after a long collaboration is a big deal, and there must be structures that allow it. — video description
  • ★★ The description says Hank wants to keep doing this, but not after he stops wanting to. — video description · Vlogbrothers

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: retirement · Tom Scott · YouTube

Also: cancer · Los Angeles · MatPat · Southern California · stand-up comedy · Stephanie Patrick · Theorist Media

Also centred on retirement: How Vlogbrothers Will End · Is It Time to Retire?

Also centred on Tom Scott: How Vlogbrothers Will End

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