800 Day Addiction

What's up guys, welcome to Views, the podcast where Jason and I just got back from the Streamys. I want to say thank you first of all because I, I was nominated for 11, which is absolutely nuts, and I got to take home 4, which I'm so, so thankful for. So thank you guys for that.

Thank you for making David the biggest loser of the night because you lost 7 of the 11.

Really? That's how you look at it?

You're a glass half empty kind of guy?

You're the one that tells me to do better all the time, so why don't you do better and and win all 11.

Holy shit. What was a playful joke turned into something really serious.

Yeah, that's this podcast.

I wrote the intro music. All right, guys, it's The Views Podcast. I'm David. That's Jason. Today we're joined here with Natalie and Casey Neistat.

Casey's a former YouTuber and entrepreneur.

I posted 3 videos this week. Why would you say former? It hurts my feelings.

I don't know, I th— because—

How about you could say former daily vlogger?

Former daily vlog— okay, this is the most fucking interesting thing in the world.

Okay, go.

And I, every time somebody like asks anything about you and they don't understand who you are, I go, "Yeah, he used to daily vlog." How long did you daily vlog for?

I think I did 800 episodes in a row.

800 fucking days in a row!

You never missed a day.

I never missed a day.

I don't know if people listening understand what that is. So for 800 days in a row, so almost 3 years, he posted a new video every day. And who was editing those?

It's all me.

100% all you.

That's like he ran a marathon for 800 days in a row.

But it's— yeah, it's actually— it's probably exactly like that. What was your sleep process like? When were you editing? When were you waking up?

How far ahead were you ever?

Never ahead.

Never ahead. Day of, day post.

I mean, it's really interesting watching you, David, make your vlogs because it was— mine was— were so deliberate. Like, I got to a point where I'd shoot maybe 30, 35 minutes worth of footage for a 10-minute episode. Wow, and you're shooting like 5 hours for a 4-minute episode. So I always knew, like, even when I was saying to camera, I always knew it was always really deliberate. Yeah, so my editing was complicated. It took a long time, but like, I knew exactly what I was doing. It never felt like a fishing expedition, like the way you're sifting through your footage looking for those nuggets of magic.

Sure. And when would you go to bed and when would you wake up? Because that was interesting to me.

Yeah, typically like get really slow at the edits by like 10 or 11 at night, and then I'd go to sleep and I'd wake up at like 4 in the morning. Because at 4 in the morning with like a pot of coffee, your fingers move so fast across the keyboard, and I'd be like twice as productive.

Every day you'd go to bed at 11 and wake up at 4? Yeah, usually for 800 days.

Yeah, my upload time was 8 AM every day, and I remember like I would hit that so on the nose that it— by 8:01, the like tweets being like, where's the vlog, would begin. Wow. Yeah, and the minute it was posted, my brain shifted and it was done. Like, you don't watch your old videos, do you?

I do, but I know exactly what you mean.

Where it's like, I haven't thought about it.

You don't think about it, you go on to the next one.

Immediately your brain has to be on to the next one.

Yeah.

And that would start at like, probably like 10:30 or 11 in the morning. So between 8 AM and like 10 or 11, I'd like run and like—

And how many miles a day would you run?

Like 10. What? What the fuck? Ain't that fucking insane? Well, that's when you come up with the ideas for the videos. I need like that hour and a half of running to like figure out what today's video is.

And how are you not tired?

I don't know.

And then I met Casey and I was doing 3 a week, which was a fucking crap ton. And but Casey was like my idol and I met him and he came up to me and like he saw a couple of my videos and he goes, I need to talk to you. And I go, yeah, what's up? I was like so fucking excited to hear what he had to say. And he goes, you need to go daily. Start uploading daily and your channel will blow up. And right after, like, I didn't even think, like, I went, I went like to my own little corner and I texted all my friends in a group chat and I was like, guys, I'm going daily. And I remember like, I don't know who it was like Corinna or Carly or someone responded in there and they were like, are you sure you can handle this? Are you sure you can go daily? And I was like, yes, Casey said we have to go daily. I know this is going to be a lot of work on all of us, but we have to give it a shot. I was so fucking excited to do it and I didn't even, I couldn't even do it.

To qualify that though, like your, I was watching your videos then you were doing like 150, 200,000 views a video.

Yeah.

And there were— no one on YouTube was doing anything like what you were doing, but your growth was kind of slow.

Sure. So it's always been slow.

Yeah, it was slow then. And like, I knew the way people were reacting to my content was because like every day they'd want to know what happens next. Like, what happens next?

Yeah.

And my thinking with your content was like, your content was not as intensively produced as it is now. Like, I see where it requires for you to make a bit now. Back then it was like way more casual.

Yeah.

So I just thought if you turn the fire hose on that, like, you would have blown up way faster.

Sure.

But it probably would have killed you, and then I would have literally died because I was going—

I was posting 3 a week, but at the same time it felt like I was doing every day. And then I remember I talked to you when I was like, Casey, I think I want to do 2 a week. You were telling me, you're like, when you stopped daily vlogging, what did you tell me that it felt like?

Yeah, I mean, I don't remember the language I used, but I know that like I used to fight because I had to go 7 days a week, and like my wife and our marriage counselor was like, how about just 5? Just 5. But the minute you realize you don't have to do 7 days a week, the entire like bubble bursts, like this weird thing in your brain. So my advice to you was like, yeah, stop doing 3 a week. You'll be more human. You'll sleep better. You'll be a happier person, but you'll never get it back.

There's nothing more accurate than that.

You'll never get it because I knew that.

I knew that when I was like, I'm about to drop to 2 and I know that that I'm not going to be able to even sustain 2, because I was always procrastinating. Like, that's— I was always like on a treadmill, like nonstop running. And then when I lost my rhythm, like everything fucking fell apart. And you told me something, or maybe I don't know if I came up with this, but like once I— when I stopped posting 3 times a week and I went to 2 times a week, it felt like I left a different world and entered civilization.

You became a human again.

I think I said it. It felt so fucking weird. It felt like I literally felt like a person, and I didn't like it at first. I was like, I almost felt like I had like no purpose anymore, 'cause I felt, when I was doing 3 Week, I literally felt like a machine. I had no purpose but to construct and put these videos together. And then when I gave that up, I was like, I literally felt like my hoverboard gave out and I landed back on Earth or something. And I'm looking around me and I'm like, I can like smell the flowers again.

That's like when you leave town, that's how I feel.

The way that I characterize it, like those 800 days, the way I characterize it is like it was the most miserable, trying, lonely, angry time in my whole life, but by far the most fulfilling. Because like this, like life's really hard, but when you know exactly what you need to do and then you do it, it's really satisfying. So to wake up every morning and know exactly what I needed to accomplish that day and then to accomplish it was amazing.

Yeah.

So when I, if If ever I took a day off, you're like, what's my purpose today? And when the cadence and the return is that high and that literal, like you have a video, you have something to show for that day, or in your case, like every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you have something to show. When you remove that from the equation, like what am I doing? What's the point? Like, what is my purpose at all?

Did you feel like you were putting the videos, I mean, I know the answer to this, but did you feel like you were putting the videos before everything?

Everything, my kids, my family, my health, my life, my happiness.

You'd say even you'd go as far as kids?

Wow.

And I will tell you, um, like, I stopped putting my, my kids in the video, like, when my daughter turned 1. Like, I just don't— I don't like putting kids in videos. And, um, it— that really, like, affected me because I didn't know how to, like, capture or share that aspect of my life that was my family. And then I felt like, like, the episodes were more disingenuous because I was, like, hiding a big part of who I am from the audience.

Yeah.

Do you think David has a problem with balance in his life?

I don't know. I think David's is a way different scenario than what I dealt with, because for me it was all the content was about me.

And like, I think the hardest part of it was I was so jealous of that. I would always say like, I wish I can just go out by myself and fucking just do it and get it done on my own like Casey does. I was like, I just want to get on my board and fucking shoot the day away.

You don't have a board.

I don't have a board, but Casey had a board, so I was like, I want to do that. No, but I always like, I wanted a job that that 100% depended on me. Like how much work I put in, that's how much I got out. And that's what I was jealous of Casey. But I also really loved what I was making, so I wasn't complaining. And I could have easily switched it around and been like, okay, I'm just gonna vlog about me. But that's not what was fun. But I always admired that Casey can get exactly done what he wanted to get done.

[Speaker] The easiest place for me to make an episode was just to go into my office, 'cause I could always find 8 minutes of interestingness there. But what I was saying is it's like, When it becomes just about you, you're always like pulling the interestingness out of yourself, your personality, your life, your relationships. Like you're pulling, you're externalizing all of that. And after a certain amount of time, it was like, there's nothing that you've left for yourself.

I saw a video of yours where you were in a car and you were like, I am creatively depleted. I have nothing left. Do you remember this video?

I remember saying that. I couldn't tell you which video.

Yeah, I don't remember what video it was, and I remember seeing it and being like, whoa, same. Like, yeah, same. And also like, he's really showing everything, and I thought— I was like, wow. And that's why I fell in love with you.

The best—

wow.

The best way to describe like being in that, like, the intense video mode, like you were doing daily, that when I was doing 3 a week, is like, it is— there's not a better word to describe it than addiction.

I feel like it's an addiction. Absolutely. It's a codependency. Yeah, like you can't exist.

That was like, that was my purpose. Like, that's how I was plugged in to my purpose on earth, was me making these videos. And, and the more, the more people would come up to me and go, how the fuck are you doing this?

Like, why are you posting so much? That would only fucking fuel me so much more. When someone comes up to you like, you should get some sleep, like, that would— when someone tells me that, I go, fuck, like, I'm doing something right. If you, if you can notice that I'm working so hard that it looks like I'm not sleeping, that makes me want to fucking go 30 times harder.

And then, uh, there's a weird hero complex there.

But the thing you're on, like, a high.

Yeah, the thing that's different about your, your content is that because you're not giving yourself up, you're drawing from, like, external sources, outside sources. I feel like yours is scalable in a way that a vlog about someone's life could never be.

Where do you think YouTube stands in terms of television? I feel like you have, like, a well-defined thought on that.

I think that like people love to say TV's dead and all that, but I think that like the real threat to regular media is the fact that like your little sister and your little brother, like to them, what they watch on their phone is just what they like. And they don't identify it the way that like we do, the way that Jason and I do, which is like, this is TV and that's a movie and this is YouTube content. Like to my daughter who's 5, it's just like, that's just, she just watches what she likes. And JoJo Siwa was like her favorite show. And to her, like, the fact that that's on YouTube and not Netflix or not Nickelodeon means nothing. She has no idea, right? That's her favorite show.

But in like 10, 20 years, do you think that YouTube is like some sort of bubble that will pop, or do you think it's—

you think—

I think it's just gonna like— I think it's just gonna keep getting better and better for creators, I think. But to me, the only thing that like— the big question is from a purely like capitalism standpoint, which is like, there's no way that David Dobrik— how are you, 23?

Yeah.

There's no way that like a 23-year-old who's just one guy should be able to have an audience that's like— I don't know what, what MTV does for viewership right now, but I would say your audience is probably 5 times what that entire network's audience is. And I just think that like they're gonna have to fight back. Like these established entities are gonna have to fight back to reclaim some of like what they've given up to creators. Otherwise, they're just gonna kind of lose, and those are really valuable businesses.

How would they fight back?

I don't know, you know, like I think that like the late-night shows, the Jimmy Kimmels, the Fallons, like those guys have done a really good job. Yeah, look at the number. They're like, fuck it, we're just gonna go to where the eyeballs are, and the eyeballs are on YouTube. So they like compartmentalize little bits of their show, they put it on YouTube, and it slays. They're doing millions and millions of views. That's more views than the actual broadcast shows get. Like, that's smart. That's really smart that they did that. They're going to where the eyes are. And I just think, like, they did that not because they wanted to— it's more valuable for them to keep that stuff on TV— but because they had to. And I think, like, as that happens, you get more and more challenging for the little guy to compete because they have more resources.

So you like JoJo Siwa?

I'm a huge— you guys laugh. I am deadass a huge JoJo Siwa fan.

No, every—

every—

I love JoJo Siwa. She's an impressive—

I've been to her shows, I got her CDs.

Confuses me so much. I don't know how she does it.

She's just really mature for her age. Yeah, she's like more mature than I am.

The crazy thing is too, if you meet her, it's not her parents, it's not— it's her.

It's her. No, I spent New Year's Eve with JoJo Siwa last year, and my kids— she invited me and my kids to go to see some Queen cover band. We had like a great time, and she's just force of nature. She's just like one of those—

that would be a place JoJo Siwa would invite you to, a Queen cover band. Crazy mature thing for JoJo Siwa.

I think she's great. I really think she's amazing.

Oh, I thought it was funny. We were in the car the other day, Case, and, uh, and David was going to maybe go to Las Vegas, and at the last minute his friend called and was like, hey, I got a private jet. And David was like, oh, okay, let's go. So he calls Natalie and he's like, he's like, good news, we don't have to fly, you know, regular. We're going to go on a private jet. And now he just goes, oh, okay, great. And I just never heard anyone so not excited about a private jet.

Like, what are we doing here? Well, it wasn't that.

It was just the fact that I knew that now you have to go to Vegas.

Now I have to go to Vegas.

Oh yeah, that's what it was.

It was like, now that there's no excuse—

oh, oh, you can't pass up.

And the cherry on the cake was that we were going to Vegas at 11 and leaving at 3 AM, so we were there for literally 2 hours.

Our friend Dylan Francis is a DJ, and sometimes he invites us to shows. And so his private jet took off at 11, and the crazy thing about private jet is you can literally go, hey, I have extra room, you want to come?

And it's so easy to board a private jet.

Yeah, you don't need an ID.

You can get there 5 minutes late. Yeah, and the plane will wait for you.

And the plane will wait for you. No, but it's interesting because he— his job is so bizarre because he lands in Vegas at like 11:45 at night, like midnight, and he goes on at 1 AM and he DJs till 3 AM, and then at 3:45 he's back on the flight and he's home at 5 AM. So at a time when you're— you're probably going to bed at 10, Dylan is packing to get on his flight, just going to work, and he'll be back before you wake up.

Like, that's crazy. Like, that's such an odd job.

The fact that his commute is in a Gulfstream. Yeah, it's fucking sick.

Yeah.

Casey got a private jet the other day because just there was a scheduling conflict and he needed to get one and he got the entire private jet to himself and there was no one to fly with him. So he asked my high school teacher and he was like, you want to come to L.A. with me?

I have like 9 seats left on this jet. And my high school teacher was like, oh, okay, I guess. Yeah, I'll call off work. And which is really funny.

So my high school teacher spent a week in LA because Casey had room on his private jet.

Yeah, I mean, the whole story is I had like a, I had a work thing in LA that I had to make it back for, and my fee for the work thing was the same exact price as the private jet. So I made no money, but I fulfilled all my obligations, and I got to give your high school teacher a ride.

What's the craziest thing that's happened to you with like work? Or like, like I showed up in Dubai, they had this for me, this happened, and then they gave me $100,000 headphones.

You know, I mean, the craziest thing, like I've always been really obsessed with flying on airplanes. Like, my dream when I was a little kid was to someday fly in first class.

Yeah.

And like, my, my financial goal in life— I have one singular financial goal in life, and that's to never have to fly coach again. And I'm not there yet, and I don't know what that looks like or what it means, but like, ever since I was a kid, I've always been obsessed with planes. And like, the idea of first class just seems so wild.

Yeah.

And I was just in the Middle East, and I was there with Etihad, which is like one of those fancy Middle Eastern airlines, and they flew me back and they have one seat on their gigantic plane, like the double-decker A380, and that seat is called the Residence. And this seat, no shit, like deadass, the seat is 3 rooms. You have a living room with 2 couches in it. You have a hallway that takes you to your bedroom.

Wow.

And the bedroom has like a bed in it that 2 people could comfortably sleep in. You could definitely, if you're there with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, you could definitely sleep with someone in there. There's a lock on the door. There's no way anyone could see in. And then the third room is a private bathroom. You don't share your bathroom with anyone on the plane. You have your own bathroom. In that bathroom—

How many people fly on this plane at once?

You know, like 400 or whatever, but there's only one of these. You see what I'm saying? Oh, I see. So for everybody else on the plane, it's regular. And then for one person And you were in the seat? I had it for one way. The other way I like—

How many hours was the trip?

14 and a half.

There is one fucking— there's hundreds of people sitting in middle seat.

And on the same— just beneath me. And the shitty thing is there's like a dozen of them could have come up into my room and hung out with me. And it would have been way more comfortable. I had a shower with 10 minutes of running hot water with a timer on it so I know when I'm running out. I split it up into 3 different showers. I took a shower before my nap, after my nap, and then before I landed. They gave me a bathrobe.

That's fucking crazy.

They gave me a menu.

What's the price on that?

So I looked it up when I got back. Yeah. And it was like $26,000 for one way.

Wow.

But you asked me the craziest thing. Like, I talk about— actually talked with Jonah about it, weirdly. It's fucking sick. Which is like, just like all the shit you do, and even like hanging out with you, David, the shit you do now is way crazier than the stuff that I do now. But like, just to stop and take inventory and be like, whoa, this is my job. Like, yeah, like I was on that plane and I was like, this is such a dream of mine. I'm like almost 40 years old, took me like my whole life to achieve this dream. And like, wait a minute, like this was like, this is my work. Like I'm on here for my job. So like it's, it's not like the, the money or like getting the cool cars or getting to ride, like meet famous people. It's just like the whole picture. It's like this is the world that you've created.

Yeah, it's nuts.

I was just getting started when I was your age. I couldn't imagine what it's like when you're 23.

Does money buy happiness?

I made a whole movie about this, but my summation of that movie was that when you have money— you have money, David— all you still have problems in life. We all— we have problems in life. Everybody in this room is— except for Dima— everybody in this— except for Dima and Natalie. But what I mean is, like, when you get to a point in life where you— where you've got enough money so you can pay your rent, you don't have to worry about— you pay for food, you don't have to worry about it— when you— when you have money, you still have problems. Yeah, my wife and I have trouble, like, we're parenting kids is hard. I'm like, I broke my shoulder. Like, I have real problems in life that I have to overcome. But when you don't have money, there's only like one problem, and that's the money thing. Does that make sense? Like, I don't know if I'm articulating that right, but like, when you're broke, all— like, money will solve all of your problems. Like, I've been so— I was so poor when I started. So like, look, like, when I had a kid when I was very young, and when I had a kid, like, we were on welfare. And if I didn't get diapers and milk from the government for free, Like my kid wouldn't have had milk and I wouldn't have diapers to put him in. Like I was that poor. So like I have a real appreciation for it. And at that point in my life, money would have solved every one of my problems, every problem I have. So like, does money buy happiness? It's like, no, because you get new problems, you get new problems. But those— the fact that those problems aren't connected to something that's like you can stare down every day, it's a really different perspective on life.

Yeah. I think the way, the way I answered yesterday is like the top percent of the world that are the wealthiest are definitely not the happiest, but also the bottom, the most poor people in the world are also not the happiest either. So I think it's just to each his own. Every person is different, whether you have a lot of money or not. You saw the problem. So that question is just kind of weird.

We were in a $100 million house last night, or David thought $80 to $100 million.

So the house was like $80 to $100 million. And I was talking to this guy's friend. I was like, So this house, it's, it's huge. It's in the middle of Beverly Hills. Like, I mean, like, yeah, it is the most prime spot. It's like on a cul-de-sac.

It is the street in Beverly Hills.

Like, point, like, 20 bedrooms. Like, there's more staff at the party than there were attendants. Like, this, it's fucking huge. And I was talking, I was talking to the guy's friend, and I was like, what is this like? What is it like living here? Like, what is this concept? And he's like, I hear his parents on the phone like once a month talking to the neighbors and acquiring houses next to them so they can just knock it down and build a fence further just to extend their property. And he was telling me that every time they, they buy a new house next door, it's $30 to $40 million just so they can expand their square footage a little bit further.

Like, that's crazy.

Does that make— so here's what, like, does it make you happier Like, I think there's a real point of diminishing return when it comes to money, especially wealth.

Sure.

Like, I know, like, when I was that poor, all I fantasized about was like, I want to own a jet, I want to own a yacht, I want to like— I want to drive like the fanciest cars, and I want all these things. And the minute I could afford food and didn't have to think about paying rent, I immediately stopped being motivated by money. You just don't— I just don't care. Motivated by like, I want to have fun, I want to be healthy, I want to spend time with people I like, like It goes like, there's no way that them extending their property line an extra 30 feet like increases their happiness.

Yes, but I feel like it's just, it's just a hobby at that point. It's just like a statistic.

It's just an insane, insane—

it's, it's, it's— yeah, it's a lot to us, but to them it's like, it's literally like me spending $1,000 on, on getting, you know, first class on an, on a trip. It's— but it's insane, like, like the different levels of like wealth there, there is. And it's just—

yeah, for your, for your audience, like We're in Los Angeles, which is like, there's such weird kind of money and wealth here that you're confronted with every day.

It is the weirdest thing. You have the very, very extremely poor people, and then you have the fucking top, top, top, like, richest people.

Yeah, and that's a really weird thing to reconcile.

Casey, one of the craziest realizations of, wow, fucking money is insane, is when I went to visit you in your hotel room at VidCon when I like first met you, and I asked you to grab a water from your hotel, like little room. And I asked you, I was like, do I Venmo you? Like, do I PayPal you? Like, first I asked if you had cups so I can like fill up tap water. But you were like, just grab it from the mini fridge. And that was fucking insane to me. I was like, you want me to go in the mini fridge, I'm gonna pull out a water, it's gonna charge you $6 for something I'm doing and you don't want me to pay you back? That was crazy to me. And that was like such a big goal of mine. When I saw you do that, I was like, holy fuck.

Like, I wanna be able to have that kind of freedom.

Like the fact that I could be in an airport with Natalie, this is my favorite, and I go, Natalie, can you go get me some waters? Like, go get me 6 waters 'cause it's gonna be a long trip. And then I'm not thinking about each water being charged on my credit card. Like, is the most like freeing feeling I experience. It's just like the financial freedom of just being able to like be comfortable wherever I'm at.

When you were doing your 800 days, were you chasing money or fame or making followers? What were you after?

No, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, look, I started it because I had just started my tech company. And I wanted a way to like share what I was doing in my tech company. I needed to like— I needed an audience to care about what I was doing. So I was like, I'll start a reality show about my tech company. But it turns out like, you know, 5 dudes that are like computer programmers writing code in a room is not good content. And that's when like day 1 I was like, no, I have to make this about me, you know? But I, I didn't monetize my channel or any of my content for a while. Really? Yeah, cuz I like— I didn't— I wanted like YouTube for me. I didn't want it to be pure. It wasn't about making money.

What did you do for money?

Um, I like directed TV commercials and things like that. I just didn't have much on top of vlogging. Yeah, that's when I was like— like I was in— I was in a lot of debt, lived off my credit cards a lot. And I remember like the summer before I turned monetization on, on my YouTube channel, and I only did it cuz someone was like, you have no idea how much money you're leaving on the table. Before I turned on, I was like $180,000 in debt. Credit cards, personal loans.

And then you turned on ads, like monetization.

Yeah. And I remember like the first month it was like $8,000 and I was like, oh my— wow. I had no idea. I did 100 million views without monetization turned on.

Wow. Just to add to the whole wealth thing, there's a thing called the black card. Basically, you have to be invited. What happens? You have to be invited to have this card and it's like a titanium card. It's like pretty—

yeah, it's like the— it's like the Black card that Jay-Z raps about. I remember the first time I saw one. Yeah, I was like 25 years old and it was in New York City and I was having dinner with some fancy people and like I just saw it like land on the table and I was like, I didn't even know they were real. I thought they were like unicorns, leprechauns in the AMX Black Card. And then like I saw it and I was like really embarrassed and like I asked my friend, I was like, can I, can I ask him if I can touch that? And it's like this heavy weapon.

Yeah, it's very hard. Yeah.

And there's no way to, like, apply for it or get it.

Yeah.

And you were lucky to get invited to, to have one. And how did it— like, what was the packaging it came in when it arrived at your door?

The only reason why I have one is a friend of mine's, like, friends with the head of Amex and, like, hooked it up for me.

Okay, great. Yeah.

Okay. But when it comes, it comes in a box that's enormous. Like, huge.

How big?

You know, it's probably like— it's like 2 shoeboxes.

Wow. For a credit card.

For a credit card. And then a human being delivers it to you. My first one, a human delivered it. Wow. He was like, Mr. Neistat? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, I'm here with your Centurion card. And I was like, are you a courier? And he's like, I work for American Express. And I was like, we're going to need a sample of your blood.

And what are the perks with it? You were listing some perks off.

There are some pretty silly perks, but if you travel a lot, it's It's like you can definitely get benefits, but it's like when you check into a hotel, they immediately give you like one of the best rooms they have, even if you pay for it. They upgrade you immediately, like 2 upgrades, 2 levels of upgrade, like guarantee you instead of having to check out at 11 AM, like check out at 4 PM. So you get like an extra half day in your hotel room.

That's fucked.

With hotel or with airplanes, like if you buy one business class ticket, you get one for free.

Isn't there an AMEX card too where it's like I I want, uh, an AK-47 and a bucket of chicken wings. Yeah, and they'll bring it like right now.

All the concierge—

no, is that the black card?

And they'll bring it to your hotel room?

Yeah, whatever you need, they'll do anything for you. Like, it also comes with, um, something called helicopter— this is so silly— helicopter evacuation insurance. So if you're in a foreign country or somewhere where you can't get good medical care, they'll just send a helicopter in to pick you up and fly you to a near city where you can get the medical care you need. And that's like a free— that's like, hey guys, my name is Jeff, big fan of the podcast.

Thank you.

You guys are talking about the, the black card, and one time I was actually— this is, uh, prior to the Vlog Squad days— I was at a party. I was going into a, a club in Vegas. You know how the pool parties, they get just mobbed? So it was really hard to get into. And this guy, he dropped his black card on the floor, like in front of the hostess, because you couldn't even get their attention to get like a table reservation. And this guy just drops it out and he's like, whoops. And you just saw the black card fall on the floor. And then it worked. His plan worked. He got everybody's attention and they got him in from the black card. The power of the black card, just from flinging it on the floor and going, whoops.

Because you have to like to get the black card other than you. I mean, you know somebody, but you have to be spending like, what is it, like $1 million a year?

It's something insane. What is it, Dima?

So I looked it up. So you have to have an Amex card for a year. You have to spend $400,000 to $650,000. Just in general.

My ex-wife can apply for it.

Yeah.

And you have to have a million income grossly.

How many Instagram followers?

It says you need 15,000.

I'm good.

I actually have a VIP card at one of my banks that I go to, and I get a dollar off every product that has lasagna in it.

Oh, it's kind of like an Amex Black. Yeah, it's similar, but just for pasta.

No, just anything that has lasagna. Not all pasta, only lasagna.

Oh, Dima, this isn't time to brag.

Yeah, but I just wanted to feel like I was part of the group.

I would bet that if we could go into the underbelly of Amex, that I'm the poorest person.

Yeah, Casey told me about Amex and he called. I got so jealous. I'm like, Casey, call him right now. Call that number on the back of your phone and see if I can get it. And they're like, we don't know if we can do this, sir. And Casey was hyping me up.

It's a big deal.

It's really funny.

He's like, I'm sitting next to one of the most popular humans on the face of the earth. This is the most interesting thing about YouTubers is their I say this all the time, they're the most relevant irrelevant people in the world.

That's true.

There's not a person or group of people that are so loved by so many people but also completely unknown to others.

Nope, you're exactly right.

No one has a stronger love for a person than people that watch YouTubers, but then the rest of the world's kind of just confused about them.

Like that time in Miami when we were trying to get in the club and I told the guy, this guy was like, this party's been here 15 years, Puff Daddy comes here. And I was like, well, this is David Dobrik. I showed his Instagram. I was like, look, you know, verified.

Jeff did that. I got so fucking embarrassed of it.

But it's a different town. It's not L.A.

It's like, you know, sometimes when Jeff did that, I literally grabbed Natalie by the arm and I go, did he just fucking do what I think he did?

Okay.

But I only did it because he told me Puff Daddy—

now, Puff Daddy, huge star. But, you know, you guys, P. Diddy, you may know him as. But you look at his Instagram, he's only getting maybe— I know I hate to have to go into the likes.

No, listen, listen, I didn't—

I didn't hear him saying this.

I didn't hear him like hyping me up. All I saw was I'm like, okay, Jeff's talking to the bouncer. Maybe he'll handle it because he's from Miami. So maybe I'll talk to him.

I could have showed my own Instagram. I'm doing pretty okay. But he said P. Diddy and he compared him to you and he's— P. Diddy is not as relevant as you right now.

Nowhere near.

He ran the fucking marathon and he did all that stuff a while ago, but that's the last stuff he really did. He's in his 50s now, but it's just a completely different thing.

You, me and P. Diddy are completely different people.

Like, you're right, he would have got— he would have paid for the table.

He wouldn't have tried to sneak in.

We're over there trying to just fucking sneak in with—

and he has a black card, he could have used that.

Granted, when we go into clubs, we roll 30 guys deep, like at least. Yeah, like it's 30 dudes and Natalie and Jason.

I'm the hard sell. Natalie gets in no problem.

I got so scared when, when Jeff whipped out his Instagram. I was like, I was like, he's fucking— remember, Jason, you were there, right?

Yeah.

I was like, that guy's reckless, he's reckless. And Jeff's like— Jason was like, yeah, I mean, that's how Jeff sometimes, like, you know, he's still got the Miami in him.

And I was like, I was so terrified. Like, I hate—

dude, I hate when I'm standing like at a party and I can't get in. And it's so crazy because you can tell how much people love YouTubers because I'll be standing outside a party, one kid will walk up to me and be like, you can't get in? Are you fucking kidding me? You can't get into this party? What, do they not know who you fucking are? And I literally have to go, I'll go, dude, please calm down.

Like, you're the only one here that feels like this.

I've seen that happen.

Yeah, and then I'm never allowed wherever we are. That is like the scariest moment.

Every time we go to a party and someone starts screaming, "Oh, it's David Dobrik!" I have to go, please, please, please be quiet.

You're going to ruin my chances of getting in. Let me just try to just sneak in behind somebody because it's so tricky.

In fairness, the reality of what you're— the crew, what we're all like, or you guys are all like, it's like 8 bros standing outside. We're the worst dressed anywhere. All I think is that strip club we were at in Miami where it's like filled with the most beautiful dancers, like dudes all wearing suits. And then there's 8 of us surrounded by a guy who has no socks on and he's showing us his 6 toes.

We are the worst dressed.

The most exciting thing in that club were the 6 toes. We're just staring at some dude's fucking foot.

Ian from SeatGeek, you know, that's a lot like Tom from MySpace. I think you're the new Tom from MySpace.

David has made me a little mini celebrity, which I appreciate.

I see those likes on your tweets.

Yeah, I love the likes. It's really—

Ian has changed his name on Twitter from just Ian to Ian from SeatGeek.

Do you know Ian's last name, David?

Yeah, is it—

does it start with an S?

No.

B. Oh my God. Oh, Boswick.

Do you know Natalie's last name?

Boswick.

But it's really Ian from SeekGeek.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm fully leaning—

Do you know Ian's last name? Yeah, SeekGeek. From SeekGeek.

Do you know Natalie's last name? Yeah.

Yeah, what is it, Dave?

Dobrik?

LLC.

Dobrik LLC.

Natalie, get me chipotle.

Natalie, get me chipotle. Dobrik.

No. Well, Ian, we've been working with you for a while. The one question I have is why do you never give us the numbers for how many downloads or how many times my promo code has been used?

I want to put you on the spot.

Yeah. If I told you those numbers, you'd ask me for too much money.

I knew it.

I fucking knew it.

I mean, it's like Netflix is never going to give the people on Netflix their numbers. I'm not going to give you your numbers.

Guys, we're having a serious—

we're like, we were having a meeting right now with Ian.

I think Ian needs to pay me more money. Natalie, what do you think?

I would also agree Ian needs to fork up the cash.

Yeah, and how many cars have we bought you?

Ian, none of those are for me.

How much?

The Ferrari wasn't for you?

How much have— okay, come on, low blow, Ian. Ian, no, I think, I think we need to figure out a way to expand the budget, but I feel like you're a little bit nervous. I don't know what it is, and I think the best way to negotiate is on the podcast right now, live in front of millions of people.

I mean, I know how you perform perform.

Yeah, yeah. And you, you can't tell me any sort of numbers on how many codes are used, like monthly? Ballpark it for me.

It's enough to buy you 14 cars at this point.

Oh my God, I think it's 14 cars and then some, maybe another 14 cars.

Listen, the 2020 deal is going to be big.

His voice has totally changed.

Wow.

I literally, on the way here, Greg, who is also here from SeatGeek, I told Greg that, uh, The last thing I want to do is do a face-to-face negotiation with David. I didn't think it would happen on the podcast. I really didn't see that coming. I mean, I was like, Greg, the one thing we have to steer David away is the 2020 deal. Because one thing about David is he's the worst person to negotiate on the phone or in person because you just want to give him all the money. But then you also have like the facts that you can't give him all the money.

Sure.

How was it the first time we met? Remember when we had that? Remember when we first like met in person and we had a talk? About how the brand deals were to go. Do you remember that?

Yeah, you walked up to me and you pulled— we were in the middle of a party, we're in the middle of this like weird after-party to something, and you pulled two chairs up and you sat me down and you had a face-to-face with me and you were like, how are we going to make this happen? I need exactly this much money and I need it now. An unnamed other brand didn't do it, SeatGeek did. Yeah, remember that in your 2020 deal, SeatGeek was there for you since before the cars, since before for the Nickelodeon Awards.

The first time I really talked to Ian about like a, a big deal, there was another brand sitting right next to him, and I, and I had them, I had them both sit down next to me at a party, and I was like, I want to, I want to find out a way where like we can have a collaboration where you're a like a bigger part of my videos, like where you're almost a character in my videos. And the other brand just could not get it done. They were like, we're gonna pass, we can't do this. And Ian was like gung-ho about it, so he's like, yeah, I'm gonna do it. And now we've made, I've made I mean, over 15, 16 different videos with them where we're surprising people with tuition, cars, all kinds of things, trips. So that turned out great. And I actually got a call from the person that was running the other brand that like passed on this whole thing.

And he was like, that's one of my biggest regrets in my business life is that that day I didn't jump on it and Ian jumped on it instead. So, yeah.

So good job, Ian.

So.

Credit to Ian from Seeki.

If you can switch lives with me, would you? Like, if you could, you be a YouTuber, would you be a YouTuber rather than be on the business side of things?

No, I would crack under the pressure. Like, I see how stressed you are about trying to get like the content and the vlogs, and like I have anxiety about it. And then in my very brief appearances in content, I led to about like 10 different panic attacks. I've realized I'm not cut out for this content life. Um, I'd rather just be Ian from SeekGeek on Twitter and just clout draft off you. So like when you tweet like your videos, I'll be the first reply underneath it trying to make some funny little joke that I get likes off of and then eventually follows.

Sure, that is pretty good.

When you, when you get a new job, will you be Ian from Verizon or—

I think that's an open question. There's gonna be bidding on what that is.

There's gonna be some serious negotiations.

Yeah.

When Ian gets married, his wife is going to become Lauren Um, Ian, do you have to—

the game—

Ian, be honest, when you go and— when you go and get tickets, is it 100% of the time always SeatGeek, or do you go on Ticketmaster?

It's always SeatGeek.

And before SeatGeek, like before you were at SeatGeek, were you using SeatGeek, or was it— was there not SeatGeek yet?

I don't remember a world where SeatGeek didn't exist. SeatGeek is in my DNA.

And you think you're gonna be with the company forever?

Yeah, forever.

That's Ian from Seek Geek. Ian, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Um, okay guys, thank you guys for listening to the Views Podcast. My name is Jeff. We'll see you guys later.

Bye.