Watcher Entertainment is a vibrant production company founded by Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej. The studio was launched in January of 2020 and has put out hundreds of videos, all varying in style, content, and comedy. With an inclusive staff, Watcher continues to bring comfort to all groups of people; inspiring new interests, trips, and ideas.
Steven, Ryan, and Shane all got their start in the company BuzzFeed; their most notable work being “Worth It” and “Buzzfeed Unsolved”. Following these men in their journey of creating and sharing work that showed their authentic selves has been a pleasure.
I decided to rank my favorite videos of theirs, chosen with little to no thought besides: “I like this one”. All of these opinions are coming from my gut and my love for these three men guiding the way. I am going to present them in reverse chronological order, starting with number seven, just to add a little spice✨
7. “The World’s Greatest/Rudest Samurai – Puppet History”
“Puppet History” is a creation of Shane’s mind. He crafted countless puppets to put on a fun and educational show to teach the audience and special guests about obscure historical happenings. This particular episode is in the second season, and boy let me tell you it is good. The special guest, Garrick Bernard, is hilarious and adds so much character and light to the episode. The main reason it lands on my top seven video lists is because of the puppets. In each episode, Shane creates special puppets to perform a musical number that sums up the episode. (incredible, I know) And, in this episode, he made two gay boat oar puppets. The song they sang was of their forbidden love, not because they were a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, but because one of them was whittled into a sword that the samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, used to kill his opponent. I don’t know about you, but I love some good gay representation, especially if it’s in song form.
6. “Dish Granted” Ryan and Shane’s Episodes
Hosted and created by Steven Lim, “Dish Granted” delivered on the outrageous demands of Steven’s friends and co-workers. Being based on the guest’s favorite food, Steven would take 24 hours to create an extravagant take on the guest’s dish. For Shane’s episode, Steven created a mac’n’cheese pie, and for Ryan’s, he created incredible street tacos in the form of Cheesy Gordita Crunches from TacoBell. Steven takes the backseat in most videos, so I loved getting to watch him produce something he was proud of. He is just the nicest ball of sunshine, and the episodes are calming and pleasant to watch. I also love Cheesy Gordita Crunches now because of Ryan’s episode.
5. “Shane and Ryan Are Bad at Roller Derby – Weird Wonderful World”
“Weird Wonderful World” is a series created by Shane in which he and Ryan visit new places that you wouldn’t usually expect. In this episode, the boys learn how to play roller derby, taught by their wonderful guest Woes from the Derby Dolls team. I love this episode because Ryan and Shane are very supportive of each other, creating a wholesome experience. In many videos, Ryan and Shane are extremely competitive, but in this one, they are very sweet and Woes is a wonderful guest that radiates Miss Honey from Matilda energy.
4. “Westminster Dog Judge Ranks Top 5 Dogs – Top 5 Beatdown”
“Top 5 Beatdown” was created by Ryan, giving a platform to subject matters that don’t seem important, but garner strong opinions. In this episode, Ryan and Shane have Bill Shelton, a critically acclaimed Westminster dog judge, on to list their top 5 dog breeds. This video is a visual representation of comfort. Bill is one of the kindest old men I have ever seen, and he brings a wonderful knowledge of dogs to the table. The conversations within the video are fascinating and made me realize I had a lot of strong opinions about dog breeds. If you’re looking for half an hour of dog pictures and a man discussing his passions, this is the video for you.
3. “Ryan & Shane Get Even Drunker & Read More Ghost Stories – Too Many Spirits”
“Too Many Spirits” is a fairly new series created by Katie LeBlanc, the head of development for the company. Ryan and Shane film four episodes in one night, drinking a different cocktail crafted by Steven, reading fan-submitted ghost stories. This particular episode is the third one in the first season, so the boys were pretty gone at this point. The cocktail Steven made was called the “Slim Reaper”, a spiked matcha latte, and that did a number on Ryan and Shane. The episode is filled with hilarious bits, and the dynamic between everyone who was at the shoot is so funny. Some highlights of the episode include the story about a ghost cat, a user having the handle @boobs_69_420, and Ryan’s love for karaoke bars. What can I say? I love to see some dumb men get drunk and make jokes while reading spooky stories.
2. “Shane vs. Ryan: High-Speed Kart Racing – Weird Wonderful World”
Another “Weird Wonderful World” video, but this time, the boys are the most chaotic and competitive I have ever seen them. The editing, the guest Tyler, the racing suits, the insults, the tears, the disappointment. It all comes together to make one of the funniest videos ever. Any way I describe it will never do the episode justice, so you just have to watch it to experience the full depth of the comedic tragedy displayed by the boys. If I get married, this video will be used as the song for the first dance. I don’t care if my family is disappointed in me.
And we are here!! Number one!!
1. “Shane and Ryan Explore California’s Quaintest Town – Weird Wonderful World”
This episode of “Weird Wonderful World” shows the entire town of Solvang, California. Beginning with an interview of the Mayor, the boys spend the day hitting the “hot spots” of the town. What makes Solvang different is that it is a replica of Danish towns. It has cute cottage core architecture, windmills, pastries, a Hans Christian Andersen museum, cafes, ostriches, and little cars called “mokes” that visitors can drive around on a tour throughout the town. The video is fast-paced because of the sheer amount of things to do and see in the town, so it always keeps my attention. It’s now on my list of trips to go to Solvang because, man, those pastries look so good and I love a cute little car that can take me to feed ostriches. I watch this video about three times a month and I still can’t get enough of it.
So that is my top 7 videos from Watcher! They really are a fantastic company and have recently put up a video to discuss the current Asian American/Asian targeted hate crimes. They truly care about their audience and do whatever they can to create an accepting and comforting space online for absolutely anyone.