If you know me, then you know that I love watching YouTube, and you’ll generally catch me watching YouTube over any other streaming service. With this, I have developed a certain taste for content, so whenever this palette expands, it should be noted. Well, the palette has expanded as I’m starting to watch more content from I did a thing/Boy Boy and FriendlyJordies on YouTube.
I did a thing/Boy Boy is a duo consisting of Australians Alex Apollonov and Aleksa Vulović who run two channels. I did a thing is a showcase of their zany inventions like the world’s largest Beyblade powered by a chainsaw. Their Boy Boy channel basically seeks to do zany things to bust myths while also calling out issues in a palatable, comedic way. One such way is by delivering UberEats deliveries on foot because of Uber not actually checking bicycle conditions while also bringing to light the workers’ strikes in Australia. Personally of the two, I like Boy Boy together due to its absurdity as I did a thing has a common theme of inventions. Boy Boy is more chaotic as there’s no apparent concrete theme besides myth-busting.
The amount of gusto Apollonov and Vulović have for what they do is they always have the potential for being beaten up by their crude humor. An example is when Vulović taunted arms dealers by drinking out an arm, (well it was a leg that he pretended to be an arm) and it looked like he was about to get jumped. If I was in the business of pissing people off like they are, then I wouldn’t make it, but it is entertaining to watch people like them do so.
Another notable YouTuber from the land down under is FriendlyJordies, aka Jordan Shanks, a comedic journalist who has recently been thrown into the spotlight after his home was firebombed by what I think was someone targeting him for his YouTube videos. Shanks is a comedian that aims to bring to light the corruption found in the Australian government in a palatable way, similar to Boy Boy’s style (and he does collaborate with them sometimes), but more sardonic in my opinion. Most notably, his work led to the resignation of the former New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro as Shanks called out his corrupt self-serving ways and did not back down even when facing a lawsuit from Barilaro.
Even when facing multiple lawsuits (I’m not sure how many him and his team have at this point) and threats, Shanks isn’t afraid to continue what he does. This came to a head recently after a second firebombing attempt actually hit his house. The “actually” is used in this sense because the same perpetrators attempted before — but missed and hit his neighbors again. There might be another attempt again too because Shanks wasn’t even home when this happened. If that happened to me, I probably would’ve moved planets out of fear, so props to Shanks on that. Even after this, he stilled pushed on and made a video with his suspicions. Shanks has made a number of enemies which is a tell-tale sign of hard hitting journalism as that means you’re uncovering the uncomfortable truth. In this case, the uncomfortable truth was the corruption he uncovered from local politicians that led to events such as bush fires, the gambling industry targeting whistleblowers, and government officials using their positions to make large sums of money. In my opinion, I like listening to it better than regular news outlets because of the comedic delivery he brings to the table.
Whenever I find YouTubers I like, I try to share it with as many people as possible as it can potentially bring joy to someone. I did this by presenting creators from the land down under. You’ll probably hear more from me soon about my faves, so stay tuned!