Oh, and it’s a really cool Youtube channel full of witty commentary, jokes and observations played over a series of simple sketches. After starting just under a year ago, the channel has quickly become popular and is currently sitting at more than 670 000 subscribers.
We spoke to the brains behind the channel who has chosen to remain anonymous (more about that in the last question of the interview), but we can reveal that they are an ex-engineering student from the Canadian West Coast. Everything else, well, you’ll have to read to find out.
htxt.africa How did the Casually Explained YouTube channel come to be? How did you go from making “Calculus in 20 Seconds” to “Casually Explained: Breaking The Ice“. Casually explain it to us, if you will.
Casually Explained So, the channel basically came about because I was struggling through my first year of engineering at university and needed some kind of activity to help me get through. I was thinking “oh, if I make YouTube videos on the subjects I’m learning, then I’d be motivated to learn the subjects”. Then slowly the content devolved from calculus and magnets to more social stuff and the sex I don’t have.
htxt.africa Those two videos are only 10 months apart and the channel has quickly garnered a substantial following. Did you ever expect it to get this big this fast?
Casually Explained I never really expected the channel to get this big this fast. I think everyone’s had a moment where they thought “these viral videos are so dumb I could do that”, then when their own video gets 5 views they give up. I was super lucky that not only that first one hit, but once there was a bit of following there was enough momentum that if I made a good video it would do really well.
htxt.africa How did you settle on the art style for the videos’ visuals?
Casually Explained It’s just the best that I can do ☹
htxt.africa What do you consider more important in your videos: the writing or the imagery?
Casually Explained I think the writing is definitely way more important and it’s what I spend the most time on and feel most invested in.
htxt.africa How long does a video take to make from inception to posting it online?
Casually Explained Usually takes me about 30-50 hours. Every now and then you start with inspiration and it will take half as long. Sometimes you hit a real roadblock and it can be 60 or 70 with a lot of writing, re-writing, drawing, re-drawing, recording, re-recording, crying and editing.
htxt.africa At this point, do you view video creation as a job or is it still a hobby to you?
Casually Explained I haven’t been in school since the end of Summer, so for the moment it’s a full time exploit. Because your income is dependent on views and what advertisers will pay for those advertising spots, it’s not terribly consistent, but it’s reached a point I’m not too concerned with starving or anything like that.
htxt.africa In your opinion, what is your favourite and least favourite video that you’ve ever made?
Casually Explained Least favourite is the one I had on ageing process because it’s a bit of downer and the ending is super bad. My favourite is the Spectrum of Intelligence because I like most of the jokes and feel if a comedian said “ok kiddo show me your best work” I think that showcases that the best.
htxt.africa YouTube as a content creation platform is not a perfect one. From freebooting to bogus content ID strikes and more. What has your experience with it been?
Casually Explained I have honestly never had a problem with content ID that wasn’t unreasonable. As for stolen content, I haven’t experienced that on YouTube to a significant degree. I know that a lot of people struggle with freebooting on Facebook, so I’ve tried to maintain good relationships with the biggest pages on there and work together with them to grow mine. I think it’s a pretty grimy to poach videos as a business model, but I try to make the best of it if nothing can be done.
htxt.africa Like Simone Giertz and Lauri Vuohensilta from the Hydraulic Press Channel, your videos are popular on Reddit. Giertz described it as “being friends with a tiger” and you’ve even mentioned the site before in your video “Casually Explained: Evolution II – The Tier List”. What’s your relationship with the site at the moment?
Casually Explained I mean, I love Reddit and I’ve been going on there every day for a good 5 years and introduced my friends to it back then too (for better or for worse). I think my relationship with the site is pretty good, and at least for the moment I think my experiences and videos mesh really well with a big part of the demographic. I totally acknowledge that that might run its course, but hopefully if I have something good to say it will earn its worth over there. I will say if you make one mistake they’ll hate you forever, but that’s ok I don’t make mitsakes.
htxt.africa Can we expect any collaborations with other YouTubers in the future?
Casually Explained Probably no collaborations any time soon. I’m not super convinced it’s all that helpful for anyone because if two channels are really compatible, they tend to have a similar audiences and there’s a ton of overlap. With that said, if it meant we would could create content that was better than what either of us otherwise could have made individually I’m all for it. This is a bit of a reach, but I’d really like to work with some more mainstream comedians like Louis C.K. etc. but that might be very far down the road.
htxt.africa Are there any sensitive topics you’ve wanted to cover in a video but haven’t been able to out of fear of backlash or some other reason?
Casually Explained Yes
htxt.africa Can we expect a “face reveal” or something akin to that in the future or do you prefer to be anonymous?
Casually Explained Anonymous for the moment. I don’t think there’s ever been a YouTube face reveal where it actually enhanced anyone’s viewing experience; although, when I reach the YouTube endgame of making vlogs or when I get a call from Ellen it might happen, so stay tuned.
