#real ogs remember when the show was first airing weekly and we all took this as proof that clare was a lesbian

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Top 10 favorite Youtubers/online entertainers

The internet has amassed a whole new generation of entertainment unforeseeable by previous decades. Nowadays the average joe can go from an untrained, self taught sketch artist to a mass recognized celebrity that regularly touches the hearts of millions of fans who check in on youtube everyday to see their latest content. Of course just like every medium of entertainment you get some stinkers who exploit some sort of algorithm in place or shoot to the top for content theft or straight up harassment of people in public, but we’re not gonna pay attention to that because frankly the internet is pretty negative by itself. This list is going to be comprised of my top 10 favorite online entertainers!

Now, let me set some ground rules before I go into this list; this list order is NOT NECESSARILY in order of objective quality. It’s more governed by how early I discovered these creators, how long I’ve been fans of their content, how regularly I check in on their channels, how often I rewatch their stuff, what kind of impact they had on me when I first discovered them, etc etc. Pretty well everybody featured on this list has a youtube channel and earned their claim to fame through there but that doesn’t mean they aren’t featured elsewhere as well. Also, being that I am an animator and overall Animation enthusiast (check out my youtube channel @TomboTime for my cartoons and follow me on twitter @Tomjvank) A few of these entries are very animation specific or at least benefit the animation community in some way. I’m not apologizing for this bias as I truely think Animation is the greatest art medium in the world, but just keep that in mind as we go through. Also, you can bet your ass I’ll be leaving links to their channels so you can check them out and subscribe if they sound interesting. Enough jibber jabber, let’s get started!

#10. Epic Rap Battles of History

You know this list is going to be good when we kick things off with the exceptionally talented comedic rap duo of Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD. One of the most highly viewed series of videos in the history of Youtube and rightfully so. An extraordinarily clever idea about pitting two historical and/or culturally important characters against each other executed beautifully through great costumes and props, progressively higher and higher production value and hilarious and clever lyrics written by the duo as well as collaborative recurring artists like Zach Sherwin and Dan Bull. These guys are great rappers, great lyricists, wonderful actors, great directors and overall just charming guys who you can tell put every fiber of their being into this wonderful series of comedic gold. They top themselves every season in production value and creative lyricism, and while not EVERY line of theirs is a winner and often times their videos can have something about them that doesn’t feel right, they are still undeniably some of the best entertainers around for whom I have nothing but respect for. Oh and uh, if you guys are reading this Peter and Lloyd, I humbly request that you guys do Robin Williams vs. George Carlin if you plan on making another season. It would make my life.

Here’s the link to their channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/ERB

and here’s a link to my all time favorite ERB video: Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hitchcock. I’m a tad biased being a film buff, but I love this video for it’s amazing constantly changing themes, great lyrics referencing the immense history of every director involved, a hilarious ending sequence and the INTENSE attention to detail when they pay homage to each of these directors by imitating their most frequently used camera angles and tricks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wYtG7aQTHA

#9. Jontron

The “Ech” man. The often imitated but never duplicated OG not-so-grump, Jon Jafari. Rather recently breaking the 3 million subscriber mark on his youtube channel (congratulations Jon). Jontron is well known for his excellent line delivery, deadpan expression, facetious demeanor and just shear wit represented in his stature and his video editing. He critiques video games as well as terrible movies, but let’s be honest; that’s not the real reason why we watch him. The real reason we watch him is because we just can’t wait to see what unpredictable response he’s going to have to whatever media he has put up for mockery. Jontron goes in unforeseeable directions with his humor all the time and it makes every video of his refreshing and new. And it never gets stale; his routine only gets better with him. I think he’s funnier now then he’s ever been before. I was heartbroken when he left the Game Grumps as all other fans at the time were, but I’m so glad he went in the creative direction that he did.

Link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JonTronShow

My favorite video of his would have to be his review of Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf. Particularly the moment where he gets bottles thrown at his head in slow motion and then immediately forgets what joke he was building up to. The guy is a champ who will do anything for a joke and goddam if it doesn’t make me squeal with laughter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2zAR8vbfIw&t=389s

#8. ItsJustSomeRandomGuy

You remember those old Mac/PC commericals? Y’know the ones with the whole “Hi I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” bit? Well what if you took that premise, you replace the computer brands with Marvel and DC comics, and then you have one talented voice acting man deliver it using action figures? This is one of those premises you didn’t even know you wanted until it was explained to you. This channel has been entertaining viewers such as myself since 2007, near the dawn of Youtube, but unfortunately has suffered a lot of undeserved flack along the way. For one, now that the formatting of Youtube has changed quite a bit this channels old videos don’t fit the entire screen anymore and poor Micheal Agrusso has been trying to fix it for a while. For another, this HORRIBLY underrated channel only has a little over 170,000 subscribers despite it being one of the oldest channels around. If you want witty banter between iconic superheroes roasting each other over their cinematic releases, with dozens of unique and different characters expertly portrayed by just one man, as well as stunningly compelling storylines executed through use of action figures and an old camcorder, this channel is for you. Even with the incorrect video formatting on the older stuff I guarantee it’s a good time.

Link to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy

Not necessarily my favorite vid of his EVER but CERTAINLY a good place to start, check out his vid he made back when the latest releases were Watchmen and X-men Origins: Wolverine. All you need to know is that the guy completely NAILS his delivery as everyone’s favorite Merc with the Mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1R5PhReY5k

#7. The Rubber Onion

Here’s our first animation related entry and our first entertainers to broadcast themselves in the Podcast format. A couple of animators (Stephen Brooks and Rob Yulfo) shooting the shit and talking about life making cartoons and watching cartoons, as well as getting some titular guests from the industry including Tomm Moore, director of my favorite movie Song of the Sea , Don Bluth, creator of such classics as Secret of NIMH and and The Land Before Time, as well as a guest coming up later in this list (foreshadowing), these guys not only make stellar podcast hosts that ooze with charisma themselves but they also have very compelling chemistry with each other that’s entertaining to listen to. Chemistry between people is something I’m always really drawn to and has impacted a lot of my choices on this list. Now these guys have the smallest channel on the list with just under 6000 subscribers, so trust me when I say these guys deserve all the love they can get. As always, here’s a link to their channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/rubberonion

And if you got 3 hours to kill, why not listen to their hilarious halloween special where they go over some “animation horror stories” with many of their guests from 2016? It’s a roller coaster of emotions, some are hilarious, some are uncomfortable, and some you might wanna skip if you’re squeamish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ-GPtusFOI

#6. HotDiggedyDemon

First animator on our list and one I have no shame in saying is quite possibly the most talented and exceptional on the site of Youtube! You can tell that creator Max Gilardi LOVES cartoons, not just by his medium of choice but by the familiar tones they carry from some of the most classic tv shows and movies that ever aired. He’s got stills that remind me of those close-up grossout gags from Spongebob, he’s got some wild off model expressions like Ren and Stimpy, he has dark and gritty off the wall humor that feels like Invader Zim amped up to eleven and he has thick linework and character design that remind me of all the great Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network greats. The man can do it all and always puts in a tremendous amount of attention to detail to all his work that does NOT go unappreciated. The man is just shy of a million subscribers on his channel which, for independent animators in this day and age is quite impressive. I say that because due to a change in the Youtube promotion algorithm animators are unfortunately handicapped as a result of not being able to produce long form content and a daily basis and therefore can’t compete with Let’s Players and vloggers, despite undeniably being some of the most talented creators on the site. Luckily, Max had the clever idea of producing “Brain Dump”, a weekly series of movie and tv show reviews he puts together while integrating both 2d and 3d animation alike to keep every episode as appealing to look at as any of his cartoons, which are also packed with witty dialogue and dark gritty implications. It’s propelling his steady climb to a million subs and I say more power to him!

link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/hotdiggedydemon

By far my favorite video of his is “The Greatest Idea ever!” Not necessarily his most well animated (in fact it’s very crude in comparison to his newer stuff), this is a toon close to my heart that is ALL in the delivery. It has a hilarious premise, great buildup, a nice sense of suspense and a hilarious payoff. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAr-6VliDBU

#5. TeamFourStar

Y’know, Dragonball is cool and everything, I’m not denying that, but . . . what if we took the most well known attributes of every character, amplified them to a million and integrated hella witty dialogue throughout the whole thing? That’s what you get when you see TeamFourStar’s brilliantly hilarious abridged series of Dragonball Z. These phenomenally skilled voice actors of Takahata101, Kaiserneko, Lanipator and other guest stars are some of the most comedically brilliant people around on the internet. Fight me on this, I dare you. Every episode of their abridged series (including the movie specials, ESPECIALLY the movie specials) are jam packed with effective line after effective line after effective line. They pump out more hilarious material then an entire room of SNL writers, it’s unfathomable. Usually creators track records have blemishes here and there, it sort of comes naturally for creative people, but I can’t think of a single TeamFourStar vid I ever watched that wasn’t just jam packed with great jokes. By the way, their Hellsing Abridged series is hella funny too, but is significantly cruder and off colour in comparison. they more then deserve their fanbase of over 2 million subscribers.

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamFourStar

My favorite special of theirs has to be their movie special of Super Android 13. Friend and fellow youtuber  of TFS Lyle Mcdouchebag put it best in saying it’s “Pound for pound the funniest video TFS has ever done”. Also this episode guest stars the also greatly talented Mick Lauer, better known as RicePirate as Android 13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH3X2U9t2P0&t=3s

#4. Jacksfilms

Jack Douglass is an exceptionally hard working man. Reading thousands of comments for his daily series YIAY, coming up with original content every week like PMS and YGS, and on some occasions spending days on end editing together huge collaboration videos. It’s a wonder how he pulls it off, but man does it ever deliver. He pretty much always has a clever method on hand for making the current algorithm work for him, and what’s more I appreciate him giving support to Animators along the way, particularly RageNineteen with whom he frequently collabs with. Also he’s made some of the most on point and hilarious satire on the site. It’s just too bad his fiancee (congrats Jack) is funnier them him (sick burn). It took him some time to build up his channel to 2 million subs but I’m glad he finally got what he deserves and then some.

Link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jacksfilms

For a video to check out I GREATLY recommend YGS 100. It’s an hour long of youtuber collaborations (chances are your favorite is featured) reading some of the worst grammar the internet has to offer. It’s the video Jack put the most love, sweat and tears into and it’s a great waste of your time. Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEmPk7uAQ34&t=70s

#3. Game Grumps

Once upon a time in 2012 an unexpected coupling of internet entertainers happened. Arin “Egoraptor” Hanson and Jon “Jontron” Jafari. I was well aware of who each of them were at the time but had no idea they were even aware of each others existence, and so naturally I had to check out how they worked together as a duo. They complimented each other greatly with off the wall humor and giggly antics that made you feel like you were right there with him playing some Goof Troop. Eventually Jon decided to leave to pursue his own creative goals in New York and was replaced by the lovable, charming and downright hilarious Dan Avidan (more commonly known as Danny Sexbang), the one half of Ninja Sex Party. What followed was over 3 years of hilariousness, down to earth moments between the two that resulted in some of the hardest moments I’ve ever laughed in my life. They’ve been quickly evolving with all sorts of spinoff shows as well as guest stars (one of which is a later entry in this list) and amassing over 3 million subscribers and countless sold out shows across the states and bits of Canada. They have exceptional improv talent and a charm that keeps them going. Not to mention they are a frequent employer of talented animators whom they get to animate some of their most hilarious moments, which I highly commend them for. Anything that gives talented people work is okay in my book (well . . maybe not anything, but GG certainly).

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9CuvdOVfMPvKCiwdGKL3cQ

If you want a dosage of everything great about the grumps, watch this first part of their Wind Waker playthrough. Wind Waker is one of their best examples of just how goddam funny they are so I can’t recommend it enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjShcaf9jOY

#2. Super Best Friends Play

I just love everything about these guys. I love their chemistry. I love how ernest they are. I love how smart they are. I love how witty they are. I love Matt’s derailing one liners and his perpetual Simpsons references. I love Pat and his proneness to anger as well as his deadpan delivery. I love Woolie and his exceptional knowledge on gaming and insightful commentary on what makes a game or movie interesting. And I love Liam (who will be missed) and his sudden but explosive wit that leaves the rest of the room dying with laughter. These guys are everything I love about the Game Grumps, only they’ve been around for way longer (and I’ve been a fan off them way longer) and they tackle way more then just games. They do entertaining podcasts, streams, and their skits are delightfully awkward. They’re just immensely charming dudes who did the premise of a comedic gaming duo before the Grumps made it cool. Plus they give talented animators frequent work, most notably 2snacks. They promote independent games and developers and often times play huge parts in their success (like Shovel Night, T.E.C 3001 and Skullgirls). They may have less then a million subscribers, but make no mistake: they are absolutely the hypest gameplay on youtube (also they’re the whole reason I say “hype”).

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSw1tcher

My favorite video of theirs is their bloopers/outtakes of Punch-out (a blooper reel of another video they released on Machinima). I can’t help but get caught up in their giggly attitude and, quite honestly, the jokes they come up with here are way funnier then anything they put in the official release (but the official release is still really funny).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOwQXNxcRRM

before we get to number one, here are some honorable mentions: Ten Second Songs, Peanutbuttergamer, The Rageaholic, The Nostalgia Critic, JelloApocalypse, Rooster Teeth, Ninja Sex Party, Egoraptor.

#1. Harry Partridge

All of my entries are people who have greatly entertained me over the years, but only one has impacted my life in a way I would never undo. Here we have the man who inspired me to take up animation as a career and to whom I owe for everything I know and all the success I’ve had thus far; Harry Partridge. Harry Partridge is a masterful 2d hand drawn animator with stunning angles, fluid character motion, great lighting, theater like poses that read so incredibly well and sort of a disney afternoon or 80s ninja turtles-esque charm with a dark adult twist. I’ve always admired his work and immense skill not just in animating, but in directing, writing, music and voice acting. He’s a jack of all trades and always has high value in everything he does, even if he doesn’t update nearly as frequently as he would like. His online animation tutorial series “Happy Harry’s Hu-Ha 2 How To’s” , is tremendously helpful in that it allowed me to see for myself how truly easy and accessible animation is for someone like me in a very humorous way. I have the utmost respect for this guy, and when he complimented my demo reel on twitter I fanboyed like you wouldn’t believe.

anyway, here’s a link to this channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/HarryPartridge

and here’s a link to my favorite cartoon of his, “Irving the Socially Awkward Bee”. It’s definitely not his best in animation quality or sound or anything like that; it’s very crude. But much like HotdiggedyDemon’s “The Greatest Idea Ever!“ it’s all in the execution. It’s a hilarious joke that makes me bust a gut every time I see that poorly drawn bee gently float on screen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m353UIbP5cU

so there you have it. My top 10 favorite online entertainers. I hope you enjoyed it, either because some of your favorites made the list or because you want to get into some great new content. I promise all of these channels are worth a look.