Top 10 Favorite YouTubers

By: James Southworth

A little while back I made a post on this site calling out Logan and Jake Paul as the scumbags of YouTube. I still stand by that, perhaps even more firmly than ever before. But, I also don't like all the articles that are so negative about YouTube in general. There are so many YouTubers that are absolutely amazing. So, I figured that I'd talk about YouTube in a positive light, because some of the great people on this platform deserve praise. So, here are my top 10 favorite YouTube creators!

10. Rocking With Robby

Out of all the creators here, Robby is the newest, but I think he shows promise of becoming a very popular music critic. He's been on YouTube for only over a year, and he already has over 3,000 subscribers; he's getting ready to hit the 4,000 subscriber mark very soon. I think Robby is a breath of fresh air in the music critic scene, as he talks about primarily rock music in a very fun and interesting way. I like the way his reviews are framed, as he talks about each track of a particular album in great detail, and does a good job justifying and discussing his opinions on every album. Even though Breaking Benjamin isn't close to being one of my favorite bands, his passion for them is certainly infectious; you can just tell the love he has for their music. I like hearing him talk about the band because of how much he has latched on to them. Robby also has created a Facebook community which is refreshingly lacking in toxicity. He's made the community a place where everyone can openly talk about rock music with one  another without fear that people will unjustly tear their opinions down. I'm always hesitant about joining Facebook groups, but this one has proven to be a very rewarding experience for me. Robby only continues to improve as a creator, and the fact that he is new makes me excited to see where he goes next.

9. Leon Lush

I've only been watching this guy for a couple of months, but he's quickly made his way up into my top 10. I've gotta say I'm very impressed with the way he edits videos, as his stylistic choices in editing often lead to some of the best comedy I've seen on YouTube. He has a lot of long takes on his facial expression, and some visual edits as well that are absolutely hilarious. This guy is just a natural comedian in general, making him one of the funniest people that I watch in general. He doesn't use outdated jokes, and does a good job at making his own series that are creative. A lot of commentators like him focus on commenting on how cringy the video is. Leon does that, but what he's most known for is reading the comments below the video and commenting on what people say, while sad piano music plays in the background. It makes for an effective formula that hasn't gotten old yet. He also has a series called Insufferable Instagram where he points out Instagram celebrities that are not that good. At just under 200,000 subscribers, this guy is incredibly underrated in my opinion. Go check him out; I think you'll be pleased with what you find!

8. Chris Stuckmann

Even though Chris may not be the best movie reviewer out there (you'll be seeing more movie reviewers as we go up in my list), I still find his style of reviewing really interesting. He is clearly not interested in being looked at as a deep analytical critic, but rather one that is your average person who so happens to have a real passion for talking about movies. I think that's a nice change of pace, as there are so many reviewers out there who want you to have their "correct" opinion. I've tried my best to model my own reviews in the style of Chris's, so you could say he's an inspiration of mine. The reason he's low on the list is that I do think recently he's not been as strong in his reviews as he has been in the past. I could see his enthusiasm for reviewing in the past, but now he's a bit monotoned; perhaps he just needs to take a break because he's been doing YouTube for such a long time. Still, I enjoy most of his reviews, especially his Hilariocity series where he talks about movies that are so bad they're good/really funny (examples: "The Room", "Alien: Resurrection", and more recently "Truth or Dare"). Last year, Chris hit the mark of one million subscribers, which I think he deserves. I like that he's being more recognized as a critic by the movie industry as well, as he was recently invited to the Critic's Choice awards. There will always be a place in this list for Chris.

7. Daz Games

Out of all the types of YouTube channels out there, one of the most saturated markets is let's play channels and reaction channels. Daz Black categorizes into both of these types of channels (he's more primarily a reaction channel), but I think that he knows how to make his content much more engaging than his peers. It certainly helps that he's funny, and has some very killer punchlines that he seems to be able to naturally come up with on the spot. Daz was a Vine celebrity as well. I can't stand Vine comedy for the most part, so almost everything about this guy would've made me originally think that I wouldn't be able to stand him. But he is a vast exception to the typical rule, as even his vines are pretty funny and unique. Perhaps this is due to him being one of the pioneers of Vine, and he even won an award last year for being the Best Viner (very deserved, in my opinion). Daz does a variety of reactions, with his best ones being to young child singers. My absolute favorites of his though, are his reactions to the Worst Porn Storylines. The key to his reactions is that he doesn't just reiterate the same jokes of the video, but rather he makes his own jokes. There's more of him in the video than there is of the video he's reacting to, which is what reaction channels these days need. His game play is also very engaging, much better than the likes of Markiplier or Jacksepticeye (two Youtubers who are great people, but I don't generally like their content). He also makes some original short films which are really good. He's almost at the two million subscriber count, and he's quickly growing in popularity. I can't wait to see what he does next.

6. I Hate Everything

Out of all the YouTubers here, this is the only one where I'm not sure what he looks like in real life, because he doesn't film his face. His videos are entirely based on whatever movie he's presenting and other visual content. But, it works to his advantage. IHE's (also known as Alex) videos are on average upwards of 30 minutes long. For a typical popular YouTube creator, that is a pretty long amount of time to try to keep your audience engaged. But Alex does it, mainly by way of his expert editing skills. Every video he creates is visually engaging and interesting. There's hardly a moment where I'm not interested in watching it. Alex's dry sarcastic sense of humor only serves to make the humor better. He's overall a pretty relaxed guy, but in his discussions of bad movies, there are some where he gets angry to a very funny degree. It works so well, and I think Alex knows this, because the raw anger is not typically a part of his personality. Even though he hasn't done videos of this style very recently, he also does a "I Hate" series where he discusses trends that he can't stand. I love his video where he deconstructs the "D**n Daniel" meme in particular. His name is a creative hyperbole, because he really does generally review things that he doesn't like, but he is not an unreasonable person. He lays out his points in a concise way, and doesn't make ridiculous claims. I think if you like a more analytical style of movie reviews, then this guy is for you.

5. Ralphthemoviemaker

Ralph and IHE are in every close competition with one another, which is fitting because they frequently collaborate with one another and are very close friends. Ralph has a somewhat similar comedic style to IHE, though he is usually the type to let a joke go on for quite a few minutes. This comedic form works so well for him, because he lets a fairly simple outline of a joke become something so distorted and ridiculous that you can't help but laugh at it. Ralph discusses a variety of films, talking about some that he likes, and others that he can't stand. Of course, his most well-known videos are the ones where he talks about horrible things. Often those bad films he talks about were not well-known previously, and he makes them well-known. For example, he talked about this awful show on Food Network called "Mystery Diners" (his best video in my opinion), and this video spurred on so many memes, and in general the show actually gained some popularity in streaming. I love how he makes his reviews very cinematic in visual style. This is probably due to the fact that he actually makes films himself, and a movie he made actually got accepted to a prestigious film festival recently. He knows the art of film, and so is able to critique it in some ways that other movie critics can't. He is pretty brutal in his opinions, but his honesty is refreshing to me, and his usage of very effective comedy makes it easier to understand his opinions.

4. H3H3 Productions

About a year ago, Ethan and Hila Klein of H3H3 Productions would've probably made the top of my favorite YouTubers list. However, recently their videos have not been as strong as their past ones. They're still decent, but the comedy in them feels a bit weak and obvious. I do like the podcasts that they do, although I haven't watched that many of them. I still think that endeavor has worked well for them, as both of them are great interviewers. What really keeps these two in my list is their previous videos, and the fact that they are still very likeable personalities. There are so many of their videos that are known throughout YouTube ("Vape Nation", "Papa Bless", "Gamer Gear", etc.). So many of their videos have resulted in some of the best memes I've ever seen on Twitter and Facebook. What works best about their comedy though, is that they're usually not seeking to tear down whatever cringy YouTube video they're talking about. In fact, often they're trying to bring appreciation to the creator. They've even gone to meet and form relationships with many of the YouTube creators they've criticized. It impresses me that they try to reach out beyond their videos to these people and let them know that it's all in good fun. Because of that, Ethan and Hila are two of the most liked people on YouTube, and one can understand why. They've been on this site for a long time, and are friends with some of the biggest creators, such as Pewdiepie. Even though their videos now are weaker, I still love these two. The fact that they stand for all creators and have been defenders of Fair Use only adds to them being two of the most genuine personas on the platform.

 3. Philip Defranco

In this intense and divided political climate, it can be so hard to find a news source that doesn't hold an obvious liberal or conservative bias. Thankfully, I was able to find Philip Defranco, who is still my most primary source of news to this day. I like how he makes his news show like a conversation, laying out the facts of whatever stories he's talking about, and then asking the reviewers what their opinions are on the stories he's presenting. He'll let his honest opinion come through the stories, but only after he has laid out all the essentials of the story. He doesn't let his bias infect the story, but rather offers it later. I think this format works, as it makes the viewers more trusting of Philip in the way that he presents news. His quick editing style and well-presented evidence makes his videos feel like they go by quickly, even though most of them have quite a bit of content to digest (around 15-20 minutes of it on average). I also like the section in Philip's news where he talks about things that he loves, as he has introduced me to a lot of cool YouTube content. Because Philip is such a prominent presence on YouTube, he's become very vital in the fight for monetization on YouTube. This has been a very relevant issue today, and Philip is always one of the first to start a conversation with YouTube about trying to change it. He makes his frustrations about the platform known, while also keeping a friendly rapport with them. I invite you to check out what is one of the most balanced sources of news out there!

2. Pyrocynical

I don't know if there's a YouTuber I've ever laughed at hysterically more than Pyrocynical, aka Niall. His brand of comedy is often so ridiculous, and can verge the realm of surreal and obscure memes. He is always creative in presenting his brand of comedy, I'll certainly give him that. Niall is also extremely fond of using self-deprecation, which works to his favor over and over again. He used to make montage parodies, something that is now considered cringe worthy by a majority of people. He makes jokes about those videos to this day, which makes the relationship between him and his fanbase one where the fans know that they are ok to joke around about his content as long as they don't go too far. The thing  I appreciate most about Pyro is how he has created a wide variation of videos. He used to have no face cam and created commentary videos with gameplay, where he talked about bad YouTube videos. This formula was very popular a couple of years back, but it died out pretty quickly. Unlike some commentary channels, Pyro evolved and decided to do more facecam. This made his comedy work much more effectively, as we got to see his facial expressions and he got to do more visual comedy. I also enjoy some of his game play content, and his videos where he analyzes a particular game for about an hour or so. The key to his channel is variety. He doesn't upload that much anymore, but whenever he does upload, his content is always quality and very funny.

1. ARTV/Beyond ARTV

Out of all the channels I've talked about here, this is the one I've followed the longest. I've gotten to see Jon of Album Review TV (aka ARTV) evolve over the years into quite the impressive music critic. Jon has a personality that's really easy to attach onto and like. He does a good job of balancing comedic and serious moments in all of his reviews. He started out as an admittedly awkward guy who wasn't sure what he was doing (he started out YouTube at a very young age), but he's grown so much, and is now clearly very confident in his reviewing style. I like his stream of consciousness, mostly non-scripted review format. He says things as they come to him. But, he doesn't ever come across as confusing, always doing a good job of transitioning into the next song he wants to talk about in a clear way. He clearly has a lot of creative ideas for series, as he also has a second channel called Beyond ARTV, which is just as good as his home channel. He has a top 10 series, Ranked series where he ranks a particular band's albums from worst to best, Seven on Sunday where he counts down seven things having to do with a particular music topic, and many other series. It's impressive the amount of things Jon comes up with, and that makes both of his channels very interesting. He frequently collaborates with his girlfriend Infinity on Hannah, who is also a really good YouTuber and a superb video editor. She edits many of Jon's videos, and the way her and Jon work together makes for content that is nothing short of high quality. There have, of course, been reviews I've disagreed with Jon on, but he does such a good job of presenting his opinion in a balanced way so I just can't complain. This guy is on his way to 100,000 subscribers in both of his channels; he's incredibly underrated him. Please watch his content, as well as all the other great YouTubers I mentioned in this list! What are some of your favorite creators on YouTube?