Going For Broke

Meet David So, a veteran youtuber who was introduced to me by a close friend around seven years ago through a comedy skit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpH4hrV38J0) (Warning: He does use strong language). At first, I had no real opinion; it was kind of funny, but it didn’t have me bent over in laughter. Naturally though, I got curious.

I took a look at a related skit, then another. Very quickly, I slipped and fell down the rabbit hole. Looking through his channel, I loved how funny and candid this guy was! He was straightforward, had great delivery, and just didn’t seem fake, even to a young mind like my own. Soon, I was hardcore binging on his channel.

He had his skits and collaborations with other youtubers, but I loved watching his vlogs more than anything. He would talk about seemingly random topics, but the way he’d make fun of certain aspects, always either had me laughing from my belly, or blowing a little extra air through my nose, neither reaction being something I could find with any other youtuber at the time. Even the way he interacted with friends of his, roasting them like marshmallows on a flame, seemed to make me laugh. He seemed like someone I would’ve liked to be friends with. Therefore, my loyalty to his channel quickly made substantial growth, even though he didn’t seem to upload often enough for my liking.

Soon, he began to make other series of videos: Funny Fat Fit, where he’d show transparency of his weight loss experience, Living Out Loud, which were more of lifestyle vlogs than anything, and even singing covers, which surprised me at first, because I’d appreciated his voice since I’d first heard it through his early vlogs, but once I heard him really singing, I was almost disappointed that he’d never really gone down the road of making his own music. What really did it for me was his cover of Ariana Grande’s Honeymoon Avenue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_WGa41xr3Q).

At this point, I began watching more of his collabs, eventually coming across a channel called Just Kidding Films, where he seemed to show up a lot, enough to even join onto their side channel, Just Kidding News. I added both channels to my daily playlist, turning to one when the other had slowed down. Even as background noise, nothing really caught my attention the same way since.

The peak of my time as a fan came a few years ago. I was chatting with a friend from my dance team at the time. As it turned out, she was part of an association that was hosting David during an apparent tour that he was doing. Then and there, I was set to attend. When the time came, I was able to get in to watch some of his stand up, though I had to leave toward the end due to a prior commitment. As it turned out, a few minutes after I left, he had done some singing, something that I wouldn’t have even known if my friend hadn’t sent me a snap of it.

For some time after that, David had taken a mental health break from youtube, leaving me to JK for a period of time. When he came back, he had started a small clothing brand, and made a movie, which made it to Sundance (I believe), and was later picked up by Netflix. He now hosts a series called Send Foods with Tim Chatarangsu, and hosts a podcast called Genius Brain.

Throughout all of this, after seeing someone really commit to being themselves, as well as often working on bettering themselves, I am more inspired to do so myself. Following him reassures me how okay it is to sometimes take time for myself, whether for my own sanity, or to reevaluate my intentions. In the end, as long as I’m happy with what I'm doing, pleased with my results, and take the initiative to balance myself out, what happens around me won’t really matter. Whether or not that’s what David’s intentions were to show, it’s something that I have interpreted for myself, and I’m willing to put into practice.

In my mind, if you appreciate candid honesty mixed with some almost-aggressive comedy, I highly recommend David’s channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/DavidSoComedy/featured). He still has all of his videos up, so binging isn’t a problem if you’re the type, and the changes and overall growth in his content is apparent just from looking at his videos. He’s done quite a few collaborations, and has a good amount of guests on his podcast, so if you see a guest you know and like, you’ll have the opportunity to ease yourself into his content that way. I hope that you'll laugh as much as I do.