Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 19 Superwoman - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: February 7, 2014

Lilly Singh, known to her fans as “Superwoman,” joins Rhett & Link this week to discuss the advantages and hardships of being an extreme minority on YouTube, how one of her videos led to her trans...formation from religious Sikhism to spiritual acceptance, and how her career online has led to amazing professional and personal opportunities. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 This, this, this, a unique background, an empowering voice, and a hilarious impersonation of her parents. We discussed with her involvement in the religion of Sikhism, how YouTube made her lose her religion, and why she needs a security team when she meets fans in her parents' homeland of India. Also, we did something that maybe we shouldn't do. At least we did it for the first time and that is we gave her uh our input our advice on her love life well so we'll see my advice is better see how she takes that uh we'll get into that in a second but first i i've been holding this story red i didn't want to tell you what happened to me my airport experience i wanted to share it with
Starting point is 00:01:04 all of you out there and with Reddit at the same time. So I just don't like for you to hear a story and then have to act like you're hearing it again. But I am very good at that. I've saved this one for all of you together. Have you ever seen an angel? I've seen paintings. Have you ever? In angel? I've seen paintings.
Starting point is 00:01:26 Have you ever? In real life? Yeah. Some people think they have or maybe they have. Other people maybe have been angels. Have you ever been an angel? I don't know if that's how it works. That's the intro to my story for you.
Starting point is 00:01:40 I believe that in some way I've been an angel. Isn't that a song? There's that country band Alabama has the song, I believe there are angels among us. Oh. And that is kind of what I'm thinking about. Oh, I believe there are angels among us. I was one of those angels to somebody. Okay, here's what happened. Okay. My interest is piqued. I flew to Google headquarters for a panel to discuss what we do, but things are so busy that we decided that Rhett was going to stay back
Starting point is 00:02:16 and work on some other stuff, kind of divide and conquer, so to speak. And I am just not in the habit of checking flight information ahead of time. I just assume everything's going to work out just fine or that they'll text me or something. So I get to Burbank Airport to fly to San Francisco. I'm flying back the same night. It's just first time I've ever done that. I felt like a businessman. I'm getting on a plane for a meeting, they get right back on a plane and come back. To and fro in the same day. I'm getting on a plane for a meeting, and they get right back on a plane and come back. To and fro on the same day.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Yeah, I get to Burbank, and I get up to the ticket counter, and, of course, nobody's there in Burbank. There's no lines. That's the beauty of flying out of Burbank. And I get up there. I was like, okay, 10.30 flight to San Francisco. Sir, it's been canceled. Okay. Canceled. Problem.
Starting point is 00:03:05 Not delayed. Ain't even happening. Did they say you're going to have to fly there with your angel's wings? No. I said, well, I mean, I've got to basically be there in a couple hours, and then I'm flying back. There's no way this could happen. What can you do? They said, well, there's no other flight out of here.
Starting point is 00:03:23 Can you get to LAX? Which is, at that time of day, at least an hour drive to drive all the way across LA to get to LAX. Huge airport. Then you got all those problems. I was like, well, yeah, I mean, if you could do that. So she booked me on a flight out of LAX. And I'm going to get back in the car and just drive there. I said, well, you got to change my return flight because I'm flying back tonight.
Starting point is 00:03:43 And I'm going to get back in my car and drive back. So she said, I don't think I can do that. But then she was able to work her magic and do both of those things. Potential angel candidate right there. Okay. About the time that I'm wrapping up, an old lady kind of walks up, almost hobbles up, I'm just going to be honest, to the kiosk next to me. She says, 10.30 flight to San Francisco. I'm sorry, that flight's been canceled. Immediate physical bodily reaction from this woman. I thought she was going to start crying.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Oh, no, I have to meet my daughter. She said, well, there's a 3.30 flight. I cannot wait that late. She wasn't being clear, a jerk, but she was distraught. But she was legitimately upset. What was the engagement? I don't know. She's talking to the woman at the kiosk.
Starting point is 00:04:41 And the woman at the kiosk said, well, that's the best we can do. I mean, I can book you out of LAX. She's like, well, how would I get to LAX? And I look at her. I said, this angel right here. You can ride with me. And I just,
Starting point is 00:04:56 and it's just one of those moments where I didn't even really think. I was just like, wow, we're in the same situation. She needs to go to the same place. She's upset. She's an old lady. And you know the saying, help an old lady across the street.
Starting point is 00:05:13 What about help an old lady across Los Angeles? It's even better. It takes more work. So I said, I can take you. And she turns and looks at me, looks up and down thinks for a second and she says well i'll take that risk that's what she said yeah so i'll take that risk and i was like okay you just did it you looked at me and just did a risk assessment and she kind of laughed and the the two girls behind the kiosks started laughing and she she said, you look like a fine young man.
Starting point is 00:05:46 Okay. It's a good start. I was like, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'll meet you right back here in a few minutes and then we can get in my car. Oh, you're really
Starting point is 00:05:54 gonna go home. And we can drive. So then I went. Had to lighten the load before you added an extra passenger. So I went to the restroom and then I came back
Starting point is 00:06:02 and I just had this feeling of, like, I don't know, maybe, like I was, oh, all of a sudden I'm in the middle of doing a good deed. Are you? This makes me feel amazing. Do you do good deeds so seldomly that this just gave you a feeling of exhilaration? And then we're walking out. I took an old lady to the airport twice last week. You did not. I'm like taking her luggage for her. We're having her go up the parking deck, and she gets in the car, and she's talking to her daughter on the phone, and she's like,
Starting point is 00:06:32 well, this fine young man, nice young man has decided he's going to take me across Los Angeles, and I'm still going to be there. I don't know what time, but I think I'm going to make it. And at that point, we're already driving. She's on the phone with her daughter, and I'm thinking, yeah, you should tell her that I'm also going to chop you up and eat you for dinner. Like, that's the joke that went through my mind. You kept that to yourself, though. A cannibalistic serial killer joke.
Starting point is 00:07:04 You should have kept that to yourself right now, in your biscuits. I don't know why I thought that. I guess because I was surprised that she would just ride with a total stranger across Los Angeles. You're just a man who needs to get to San Francisco. I mean, how bad can you be?
Starting point is 00:07:20 Well, I could be a serial killer. Serial killers don't take flights like that. You know, I just don't believe that. But would an angel think the joke that I thought? Serial killers plan out things over months. They don't just like say, I'm going to go to the airport. Maybe my flight will get canceled and I'll take somebody to the... No, this is totally circumstantial.
Starting point is 00:07:41 She has no reason to be suspicious other than the way you look. Well, I appreciate everything except the last thing you said, because I am torn between thinking I'm a potential serial killer or like an angel in disguise. So, you know, we had a lovely hour-long conversation. What was she getting to, though?
Starting point is 00:07:59 What was so... She was visiting her daughter. Her husband had recently passed away, so she wanted to spend some time with her daughter, like R&R. I don't know why she was in such a hurry to get there, honestly. Oh, wow. It would have been better if you had said she had to get to a wedding. No, she didn't.
Starting point is 00:08:15 I'm sorry. Or the birth of a child. I have to be honest. But we had a lovely hour-long conversation, and it's just funny because when we get there, she said, I want to i want to pay for valet and and i was i don't think there's valet parking at lax and it turns out there wasn't but she still gave me a 50 bill wow and um uh i was glad at that point that i didn't
Starting point is 00:08:38 say the the serial killer joke out loud because i got the 50 helped her helped her check her bag and get in there. We were on the same flight and she made it. And then I got home, told my wife, and I got some brownie points, if you know what I mean, from the wife for being, you know. So I'm not telling you people in order to get any sort of, wow. I'm just seeing how your world works. Any sort of credit. I feel like I know you well. But okay, I see how it works. See how it works. What do you mean?
Starting point is 00:09:11 When you do a good deed, you surprise yourself. You have thoughts of what it would be like if I was a serial killer in this instance. Yeah. And then your wife gives you favors when you do good deeds. I mean, this is... I need to be rewarded for being such a... Wow. You need to be better self-motivated, I think, is the answer here.
Starting point is 00:09:31 It felt good to be an angel. I think I'd like to do it one day. Okay. Full-time angel. Just call John Travolta. I recommend that. Okay. Well, you did something good.
Starting point is 00:09:43 And, you know, I think it's appropriate that you did one good thing this week because our guest this week on Ear Biscuits is very much about doing good. That's kind of her message. Lily Superwoman Singh, she's garnered over 2 million subs and 176 million views in the past three years thanks to her comedic vlogs. A couple of examples. How Girls Get Ready has 4.5 million views, and Types of Kids at School has 4.4 million. So here's our conversation with the angelic, question mark? This is super. The superwoman. Superwoman. Yeah, just keep, you know, whenever you move, just keep the mic wherever you are.
Starting point is 00:10:30 Gotcha, gotcha. Just keep it right there. Yes, sir. If you can't hear yourself, we can't hear you. It's kind of like looking in a camera. If you can't see the camera. Yeah, if you can't see the camera, the camera can't see you. I have to tell that to adults all the time in group pictures.
Starting point is 00:10:46 You think an adult would know that now? I don't think adults know how to take pictures or am I just referring to Indians right now? Maybe just Indians. Well, tell us more about that. Indians can't take pictures. It's as simple as that. My mom tries taking pictures of me with my cell phone. True story, once we went to India,
Starting point is 00:11:01 I went to every historical place. My mom took a picture of me at every place, and I came home with an empty memory card. 100% true story. What happened? Because Indian parents do not understand the concept of you have to push the button down a little bit, and then push it down all the way. So it's just, she pushed it down a little bit each time, and no picture got taken. She focused a whole lot.
Starting point is 00:11:22 Yeah, she focused a whole lot, and no memories were captured. True story. That's kind of sad, because lot. Yeah, she focused a whole lot and no memories were captured. True story. That's kind of sad because, I mean, was that a big trip? Yeah, it's the last time I went to India, so it was like nine years ago. And that scarred me and I've never gone back, except I'm going back next month
Starting point is 00:11:35 to take all the pictures again. Right, you're going to recreate all those scenes. Yep, I'm going to eat the street food, going to get the diarrhea, going to relive all the memories. Oh, you had diarrhea? Everyone gets diarrhea in India. It's a rule.
Starting point is 00:11:47 And you were asking your mom to take photos of this. That's the only thing I wanted photos of. Focus, mom. Don't just focus. Exactly. Focus. I'm so focused right now. But it's interesting because when you take pictures, it kind of helps to solidify memories.
Starting point is 00:12:01 So in the absence of those pictures, do you feel like you're starting to question whether it even happened? 100%. Or does it get fuzzy? If I don't take a picture of my cheesecake, I feel like I've never eaten the cheesecake on Instagram. That's my issue. It validates that I ate that cheesecake. And if I don't have a picture of that cheesecake, I never ate it. And I feel that this is a symptom of culture.
Starting point is 00:12:25 Seriously. We're dependent upon pictures to supplement our memory. And that's why I only take family pictures with Snapchat. I take pictures of myself with Snapchat, of course. Yeah, that's not what Snapchat's for. In all family pictures, in all promotional pictures, it's all Snapchat. And it just lives for a little bit because I want my memory to hold it. I don't want my MacBook to hold it. That's interesting.
Starting point is 00:12:51 I'm not like that at all. My Instagram holds everything. Well, what happens when the grid goes down, Lily? Then I stop living life. And that's pretty much it. I don't even know how it existed before Instagram, to be honest. The only reason I do things these days is because of Instagram. And it's sad, but it's true.
Starting point is 00:13:06 The other day I got courtside seats to a basketball game. I know nothing about basketball. Nothing about basketball. My first thought was like, holy crap, this is going to be an awesome Instagram picture. Like that was my first and probably only thought throughout the game. What did you snap? I took a picture of one time the basketball hit my leg. I took a picture of that.
Starting point is 00:13:23 I took a picture of my tickets. I took a picture of... When the ball hit your leg. I took a picture of that. I took a picture of my tickets. I took a picture of Kobe. When that ball hit your leg, you were actually poised to take a photo? No, you know what it was? It was rolling slowly, and so I kind of took my camera, and I was prepped for when that ball hit my leg. This is an NBA basketball game? Yes, yes.
Starting point is 00:13:39 And this was when Kobe Bryant was having a conversation with us, and I was like, can you just stop speaking so I can take a picture right now? Of my leg and a ball. Exactly. Stop being rude, Kobe. God. Oh, wow. True story. I went to an NBA basketball game, but I was in the upper deck. How did you get courtside seats? This was a meeting. I actually also came
Starting point is 00:13:58 late and got there at halftime, so that seat was empty. True story. Actually in Drake's seats, so that's how ungrateful I am. But it was a business meeting for a movie that someone wanted me to be in. And they're like, hey, let's have a meeting. I'll come to the basketball game. So it was really cool.
Starting point is 00:14:13 Let's have a meeting courtside. And then I came in. It was courtside. And I was like, oh, crap. I came late. And I'm one of those douchebags. I came late. Taking a picture of my knee.
Starting point is 00:14:20 That was a power play. It was a power play. I'll show up at halftime. So how long have you been on YouTube? My first video was three years ago. It was a power play. I'll show up at halftime. Exactly. So how long have you been on YouTube? My first video was three years ago. It absolutely sucked. It was mostly because I bought a new blazer and I wanted to show it off, so I made a YouTube video. A jacket. Blazer.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Or like a car. A Chevy blazer? Oh, God, no. It was legitimately just a blazer from RW and Co., which I don't know if you have that store here. I don't think we do. It's a fancy store. It was a fancy, it was $70. I was like, Frank, I'm showing this off.
Starting point is 00:14:49 So that's why I made the video. No, it was just gray, but it was like sophisticated. Okay. It was a fitted, sophisticated blazer. So that's why I made the video. But it was a vlog about the blazer? No, it was a spoken word piece about religion. It's so like nothing I've ever done before.
Starting point is 00:15:06 I was literally standing there with a piece of paper talking about something, and that was my video. So your motivation to make the video was, I look good in this blazer, but I've got to talk about something worth talking about. Yes and no. My motivation to make it a video was the blazer. The message, though, I was like, should I do an audio? Should I record a spoken word?
Starting point is 00:15:28 You know what? So the video factor was decided by the blazer. But the actual message was because I was a little bit of a different person when starting YouTube. I was very religious, and I was very about that. And to be honest, I feel like YouTube's kind of changed that for me a little bit. And I'm not that person anymore, which is why that video's not up anymore. I was about to say, we just went and tried to find that first video. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Not tried to find that one, just saw what your first video was, and it was not that one. It was not that one. So you took it down. Yeah, I did take it down. Now, what's the religion? So the religion is Sikhism. Okay. Which you could say Sikhism, depending on where you're from.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Well, if you say Sikhism, then that's what we're going to say. Right, because usually when I say, I have to say the ism part, when I say Sikh, I get a lot of concerned fan emails that are like, wait, what's wrong with you? I'm a Sikh. Yeah, you're Sikh. So, you know, that whole thing happens. But it's Sikhism, Sikhism, which is a religion from northern part of India, mostly, Punjab. I'm trying to say facts. I really don't know anything. But yeah. religion from northern part of India, mostly, Punjab. Uh-huh. I'm trying to say facts.
Starting point is 00:16:26 I really don't know anything. But yeah. So this is a minority religion in India, right? Yes, and a fairly new religion as well, worldwide. Newer religion. As in how new? As in, you're asking me facts. I don't know. I'm going to say a couple hundred years.
Starting point is 00:16:43 Okay. Yeah. So pretty young religion. Yeah. And what are the basic tenets? The basics of this religion are, so one god, doesn't matter what religion you follow, whether you follow goddesses, gods, they believe in just one overall being. That's imageless. And they don't believe in rituals.
Starting point is 00:16:59 They believe in, they don't believe in rituals, but they believe in certain things to follow. So it's a little bit confusing. I don't know everything about it. So characteristic traits would be wearing a turban, not cutting your hair, stuff like that pretty much. So being a monotheistic religion in India where there's Hinduism, which is obviously not that, very polytheistic. So how is it different when people when people meet you and they okay she's from an indian background do they just assume things about your religious affiliation 100% they assume i'm a vegetarian but i am which is kind of not helping my case um vegetarian my
Starting point is 00:17:39 parents are super strict i'm not allowed to drink have fun party do my eyebrows shave my legs um things like that i get a lot of that and that's obviously not true about you well it is it depends how religious you are and what you the thing about religion why i discovered that religion is just not for me it's because everyone interprets it their own way and having said that everyone interprets it their own way but then also judges people in their own way. So really, I feel like religion is just whatever you want it to be. And people forget that sometimes. I'm very curious that you said that as you became a YouTuber and developed this career that you have now, that that seemed to be the driving force in kind of moving away from, I guess, what was your religious upbringing.
Starting point is 00:18:21 Right, right. So I'd like to put a pin in that. I'd like to come back to that. was your religious upbringing. Right, right. So I'd like to put a pin in that. I'd like to come back to that. But let's go back to the beginning of your story here.
Starting point is 00:18:32 Not even YouTube. I'm talking about where were you born? Where were you raised? What was that like? So I was born and raised in Scarborough, which is a pretty ghetto little suburb in- India. Scarborough. And Ontario.
Starting point is 00:18:45 And Canada. In Canada. So I was born and raised there. I went to a ghetto school, which explains a lot of my ghetto-ness in my videos. And I love to embrace that. Define ghetto school. So ghetto is like... My neighborhood had a lot of... When the ice cream truck came around, it was like the excitement of the weekend.
Starting point is 00:19:04 And if he wasn't jumped and robbed, it was even better. So you're saying it was like a poor neighborhood or it was a dangerous neighborhood? Kind of like my school, the area my school was in had a lot of crime, a lot of violence. It was like we were never allowed to do anything in school, never allowed to hold events, never allowed to have school trips because it was considered this dangerous area with a lot of crime and gangs. And just it was that area that was always on the news. It was kind of that, you know, the media made it into that area that was like, don't go there, you're going to get jumped or shot or something. So did your parents move from India to Toronto?
Starting point is 00:19:36 I have that typical story of arranged marriage. So my parents had an arranged marriage. My dad came to Canada first, sponsored my mom over, and then they had my sister and I. And what brought your parents over? The same thing that brings every Indian to Canada, which is like, oh, the dream, man, the dream of getting a job and just better opportunities and stuff like that. So what line of work was he in or is he in? So my dad, when he first came to India, had like three jobs.
Starting point is 00:20:01 He was a furniture salesman. You said came to India? Sorry, came to Canada. He was a furniture salesman. He was a to India? Sorry, came to Canada. He was a furniture salesman. He was a security guard. My mom worked at a factory. Currently, my parents run a line of gas stations. So they have a chain of gas stations that they manage.
Starting point is 00:20:15 Okay. And so their marriage was arranged. Yep. And were they in the Sikh religion as well? So that's why you were brought up that way? Oh, yeah. When you are in an arranged marriage, you have no options like that. It's like you had to be the same religion from the same village
Starting point is 00:20:30 and went to the same school and be from the same side of this river. It's very particular of who you have to marry. So at what age did they get married? Oh, I think my mom was young. She was probably like, this is a valid question, probably 20. Okay. Which is pretty old for something. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:45 People get married at like 16. So what was that like? Five years younger than you. Yeah. What was that like? At this age, my mom had two kids. What was it like growing up in a household where, you know, your parents are in an arranged marriage? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:59 There's a lot of built up, you know, when I was your age, I never got to do that. Never got to date., never got to date, I never had any choices. And so it's like, because I struggled and went through this, your life also has to be hell because of that. So to be honest, though, my parents are super cool. Like my mom's, I think, kind of given up on me in a way as well. So I don't think that's ever going to happen to me. They'll never force me to get an arranged marriage. And my parents, to be honest, when I was growing up back to the whole religious thing, I was way more religious than my parents. My parents were never really super religious to begin with. How did that happen?
Starting point is 00:21:29 I don't know. I feel like it's just something I connected with growing up. I went to the temple way more than my parents. They never really taught me anything about Sikhism, to be honest. Everything I learned on my own and it's just something I really connected with for a certain amount of time. And what's the age difference with your sister?
Starting point is 00:21:45 Six years. She's older or younger? Older. She's older. She's that normal sibling that's married and has kids and is very normal. So she wasn't really into... Not at all. No, no one from my family with the exception of my grandfather, but he was even in India
Starting point is 00:21:58 when I was growing up. So I really have no idea how I went down that path. No idea. And then, so how devout were you? What are some clear... There was a period of time when I used to go to the temple every day. I just loved it. how I went down that path. No idea. And then, so how devout were you? What are some clear... There was a period of time when I used to go to the temple every day. I just loved it.
Starting point is 00:22:09 I used to go every day. I used to be listening to religious hymns every day. I just, I don't know. It was like for a year, two, three. The first time I became vegetarian in my life was religious reasons. Now I'm a vegetarian. It has nothing to do with religion.
Starting point is 00:22:23 So the Sikh religion, vegetarianism is part of it. Again, it's interpretation. Some people say, it doesn't say anywhere in there you have to be vegetarian. Some people are like, no, of course, page 54 of this, this, this, it says vegetarian. If you're a baptized Sikh, then I believe you do have to be vegetarian. Again, I could be totally making that up, so don't
Starting point is 00:22:39 bombard my Facebook with religious text right now. So just like Christianity, there is a baptism? Yes, yes, yes. So I imagine it's a different baptism. Yeah, it's the same kind of process, same kind of rebirth. It has the holy water. You're getting kind of reborn into this new light, same kind of concept.
Starting point is 00:22:57 So what was it like? Obviously, your parents come from one culture, and then they come to the West, and things are very different for them. Right. But they're basically who they're going to be. You're born here, so you're born in the West, but you kind of gravitate towards this religion, which represents your culture. Right. But at the same time, you're going to this ghetto school, you say.
Starting point is 00:23:19 Right, right. So what was happening? How were those things balancing out? A lot of the confusion was happening. In my school, I was a really big minority as well. In terms of culture, I was one of like 10 Punjabi people in my school. So I did have a lot of issues sometimes with racism, which is weird because the other kids were also brown,
Starting point is 00:23:36 but just a different type of brown. And I think that might have been one of the reasons why I started to identify with my religion and culture is because I didn't see it at my school. So I was like, I want to learn more about it and identify and figure out who I am. And that's probably one of the factors that led me towards it. But yeah, so there's a lot of confusion. Were you shunning some of those Western things that maybe now you're embracing more? Not at all. Not at all. To be honest, I was still very open-minded about pretty much everything.
Starting point is 00:24:02 The thing about growing up in my family is, like I said, I wasn't religious, but it's still very open-minded about pretty much everything. The thing about growing up in my family is, like I said, it wasn't religious, but it's still very cultural, two very different things. Religion and culture clash severely. There's things in the Indian culture that are very, very super sexist and super elitist and super everything that are nowhere in religion. So that's one of the reasons why I've gravitated away from religion because culture and religion clash too much,
Starting point is 00:24:24 and I believe it's all hypocritical that's what I believe so but I thought you were saying that it was the the cultural uh things that were added on to the religion that created the sexism but you're saying that it's more the religious beliefs I'm saying I'm saying inevitably people over time connect culture and religion when they shouldn't be connected so you'll have people who follow a holy script that's all about equality and all of this. But those same religious people will be like, but my daughter can't do this and my son can. So those two become intertwined. That's the biggest problem I feel with religion. Okay.
Starting point is 00:24:57 So if you were the devout one, I mean, your parents were saying things like you've got it so much better than I do. But you were saying, but I'm denying myself certain things or I'm going I'm more religious than you right so were you imposing more uh rule keeping on yourself so your parents didn't have to do that or what was the relationship there it was really just kind of a non-existent one to be honest it wasn't even like I imposed my religious beliefs on my family or they did to me they were kind of like oh-existent one to be honest it wasn't even like I imposed my religious beliefs on my family or they did to me they were kind of like
Starting point is 00:25:26 oh she's going to the temple great she's out of the house god damn that's beautiful for us it wasn't even like I connected the two in any way my parents obviously weren't opposed to me
Starting point is 00:25:33 going to the temple they didn't really care it was just a little bit indifferent to them I always had that choice it was never like Lily you have to follow these beliefs
Starting point is 00:25:40 and you have to do this even right now as a non-religious person my parents will never be like you need to say you're sick and you need to follow this you need to go to the temple never they'll never do that but were they having issues with some of the other cultural things that you were experiencing 100 culturally my parents hate me okay so tell us you know what kind of things were you doing that they started having a problem with when i started doing youtube videos and even
Starting point is 00:26:01 growing up i used to dance i used to be professional Bhangra dancer and hip like a hip-hop dancer um I make YouTube videos right now and I'm put myself on the internet culturally coming from an Indian background my parents hated that when I first started dancing I was literally told like you cannot dance because you're a woman and it looks really bad and people will judge you for that you can't make YouTube videos because like who which family is going to want to marry like this woman who makes these YouTube videos? And so there's so many things like that. As a child, when you started showing interest and started doing these things that they may have disapproved of,
Starting point is 00:26:32 how did they enforce that? Or how did they try to enforce it? When I started dancing, my mom literally said no. She tried to make it so I couldn't. She's like, you are not allowed to go do it. And it was literally me going, I'm going to do it. And just a huge fight and just getting her to understand eventually but even now sometimes there's things where if i was to bring home
Starting point is 00:26:50 someone that i wanted to marry one day that wasn't the same religion and culture that would be an issue that would be a battle in itself so there's things like that there's a whole bunch of my parents are super cool my mom knows all the lyrics to drake but at the end of the day she's still an indian mother and she has lots of cultural things she believes in that I'm just like, mom, no. Maybe she should do a lip sync video or something. That might go viral. She probably could. She knows every lyric to Drake.
Starting point is 00:27:13 Every song on the radio. She's so cool. She's super, super cool. If you don't put it on your channel, we'll put it on ours. Let's give her her own channel. Let's do this. And that's why it's a bit frustrating because she's so cool in so many ways, so lenient. Now she loves YouTube things. She's just so cool.
Starting point is 00:27:28 But then there's certain things that are embedded into them that they cannot change. Now you mentioned your mom. Yeah. How is your dad responding to these things? Oh, I can literally say my dad is my number one fan. Legitimately number one fan. He knows how many subscribers I have at any given moment. If you ask him, he'll know the exact number of subscribers I have.
Starting point is 00:27:46 He knows how many views any of my videos have. He knows which collaborations. Cute story, he knows what I tweet. He doesn't even have Twitter. He doesn't even know what Twitter is. You know how he figures it out? He goes to my video, goes to the description, clicks the link to Twitter, and then reads my tweets
Starting point is 00:28:00 because he doesn't understand that you can just go twitter.com. So he goes through that whole process to check my tweets. Now, it's funny because when you're talking about your dad and your mom, I've realized that I am picturing you playing your dad and your mom. Because you do a lot of that.
Starting point is 00:28:18 One of the first things that Rhett and I both said when we were watching your videos in prep was happy slip. Just, you know, how you reminded us of her, just the way that she would play characters. And I guess, you know, she's not a white girl. Maybe it's just kind of a subverted racism thing that we're thinking. Yeah, I think you're totally racist.
Starting point is 00:28:39 But how she would play all those. Is she an influence? I feel like in terms of the characters, one of the biggest influences would be Jenna Marbles. I feel like she does a lot of characters. Also, growing up in the YouTube community... But she's white, though. She is white.
Starting point is 00:28:56 You can't be influenced by her. Sometimes I feel like I don't always judge people by the color of their skin. Just sometimes. And growing up, there was also these two YouTubers in Toronto who are males and they're Indian and they're a big influence for me as well. Who's that? So they're JustRain and
Starting point is 00:29:13 AK. You've probably never heard of them maybe, unfortunately. They're just, they're well-known in the Toronto community and probably in the rest of Canada and India, obviously, but they influenced me a lot because they did a lot of the characters and a lot of the rest of Canada and India obviously but they influenced me a lot because they did a lot
Starting point is 00:29:26 of the characters and a lot of the which is I will always admit because people always pin me against them and if they're listening to this
Starting point is 00:29:32 anyone listening to this will probably be like oh right now the teeny boppers because in Toronto we are kind of those three brown YouTube kids and everyone pins us
Starting point is 00:29:40 against each other so when I say like yeah I got inspired by them it's usually a huge huge deal. Cause people compare you and they try to, and I just don't care for that. So yeah,
Starting point is 00:29:49 a hundred percent. I've gained a lot of inspiration from them. Yeah. And I think, you know, like Link said, we're picturing you playing the characters of your parents. And that's something that,
Starting point is 00:29:59 you know, you're pulling on that cultural heritage and, and you're the way that your parents perspective and you're finding comedy in that that people are really connecting with like how did you make that choice that okay i'm going to you know i'm not going to be ashamed of my background i'm going to kind of leverage my background and my culture cultural heritage to kind of you know create my content i feel like there's two things i go into that. One is I want to show people how no matter that my parents are Indian or whatever, they're probably exactly like your parents.
Starting point is 00:30:31 And that's an underlying message in all my videos and why I started showing my parents even more or those cultural kind of stereotypes even more because I love in the comments of people like, my parents are this, they're Asian, they're black, they're white, but they're just as crazy as that. And so the first time I showed those kind of cultural stereotypes was because I didn't know anything else. That's what I wanted to show because that's what happens at home.
Starting point is 00:30:53 And then when I started to see that everyone connects with that, I'm like, this is no longer me showing my Indian parents. It's me showing my parents that everyone else connects to. Right. That was kind of like a very deep spiritual thing I went through. One of the many lessons YouTube has taught me is that everyone is different and everyone is the same.
Starting point is 00:31:09 So, when you started making your YouTube videos, let's go there. So it went from dance to, and you won that battle. At what point
Starting point is 00:31:19 did the YouTube videos come into the equation? So I danced all through my, the end of high school and all through my university life. I never did YouTube in school while I was still in university, which I feel is a blessing because I feel like I would have totally just dropped out.
Starting point is 00:31:32 So I got my degree, and it was in between deciding whether I wanted to do my master's or get a 9 to 5 that I decided to make YouTube videos. So it was literally like, dad. And what was your undergrad degree in? It was psychology. So I was debating doing my master's in counseling psychology. And I remember doing the applications and I was like, I frigging hate this. I don't want to do this at all.
Starting point is 00:31:51 So I literally went into my parents' room and I was like, listen, I don't want to do my master's. I want to make YouTube videos. And after the ambulance came and left and all that jazz with my parents' heart attack, I'll never forget my dad was like, listen, you want to make YouTube videos? Just do it the best. Do it better than everyone else. Do it to the best of your ability and just rock it. And since then, I've been attempting to rock it because I'm like, damn, my parents are only going to be cool with this for so long. I need to become a superstar or this is not going to work.
Starting point is 00:32:20 No, that's interesting. It's an interesting way to see it. You know, especially thinking about, like, our story of the way that we got into YouTube at a time where it was no one was thinking about it. No one knew that it could be a career. It was just, like, a place to put videos, and then everybody kind of started realizing it. But you came to kind of a crossroads in terms of your career. Right.
Starting point is 00:32:37 And one of your options was YouTube. So how did you—what had happened before that to give you that perspective that YouTube could be a career? At that point in time, I had a few videos on. I mean, like, they were hitting, like, one of my videos, like, 40,000 views, around that kind of range. And at that point, I had done my research. Like, I was a big fan of Jenna at that time, was a big fan of Ryan, big fan of Epic Mealtime. And after doing that research, I didn't think that, oh, YouTube's going to be my career. Even right now, I don't think YouTube's going to be my career. Even right now, I don't think YouTube
Starting point is 00:33:05 is going to be my career. I wanted entertainment to be my career but I thought YouTube would be a platform for that. So at that point in time, I had done my research and I think I even
Starting point is 00:33:13 had met up with Harley. Harley was one of my big inspirations in the sense that I was a little small YouTuber and I made a video once that kind of mentioned Epic Meal Time and he followed me on Twitter
Starting point is 00:33:23 and I remember fangirling so hard. He came to Toronto, and I DMed him saying, hey, do you want to just meet up? And I had the most inspirational, memorable conversation with that guy. He's so frigging intelligent and smart. Did you have a date with Harley? Not a—I wish I could say it was a date, but my manager and my other friend were there cock-blocking the whole situation. I could say it was a date, but my manager and my other friend were there cock blocking the whole situation. No, it was literally just I was like, I really would love to meet you and just like talk YouTube because I don't know much about it.
Starting point is 00:33:51 So he was so kind. He literally met up with me in just the lobby of his hotel. We had a drink and just the best conversation ever. And from that, I remember being like, holy crap, I'm inspired and this is totally possible. He was talking about his merch, talking about all his conferences, conventions, why he does this full time. Just the whole business aspect of it that I've never seen before. I was like, you're more than a beard and bacon. I don't get it. Did he use the cheese analogy?
Starting point is 00:34:14 No. Okay. He did that when he was here at this table. It was inspirational. You can go back and listen to it. I feel like everyone should have a conversation with Harley. I think he's one of the most inspirational people I've ever met. Maybe he could be a counselor, which seems ironic.
Starting point is 00:34:27 A Jewish camp counselor. On several levels. Which he mentioned his camp experience. Okay, so when you made that decision to just put YouTube videos up, before that decision to go for it, leading up to the 40,000 views here and 40,000 views there, what was the initial motivation I know you said okay I've got this this uh new suit new blazer I'm gonna make a video
Starting point is 00:34:51 were you a part of the like an observer of the YouTube community at the time not really not really at all I think I became more of an observer of the YouTube community when I got involved in the YouTube community and even right now there's a lot of YouTubers that I should know that I know nothing about um it was more so ever since a young age, I just loved entertainment. I used to dance, as I mentioned. I loved, I think I even used to make little silly videos with my cousins when I was growing up. And I could just never imagine myself having a nine to five job. Even today, like I could never ever imagine having a nine to five job working for someone else doing anything that's not just absolutely weird, silly, and fun. I could never do it.
Starting point is 00:35:26 So it just kind of fell into place. I was like, there's this thing, YouTube. And when I was growing up in high school, there was no YouTube. We had no idea what YouTube was. And it was like a self-discovery where I saw a video and I was like, oh, my God, what is this thing? And slowly I was like, YouTube, I want to do this and just got into it. So you were studying Jenna and Harley and other people. got into it so you were studying jenna and harley and other people and then what was your application um just to really start making it a career to kind of go for it i can honestly say if my first
Starting point is 00:35:56 couple videos hadn't been received so well i might have never made another one i was blessed in the sense that i really hit a niche market where this brown girl came on YouTube that was outspoken and everyone was like, what? And so I feel because of that was received so well because there's no other. Well, I hope I'm not making this up. I can't think of another Indian female YouTuber does what I do. So I really hit that market where people started sharing and they're like, this is like nothing I've seen before. And that happened when I started making my first comedy videos. It was after I took that first video down and I tried comedy, it was received super, super well.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Right. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, you mentioned an interesting thing there that one of the things that sets you apart that you're a brown girl who is stepping up and speaking in this way. I like that you weren't scared to say brown girl. I appreciate that. stepping up and speaking in this way. I like that you weren't scared to say brown girl. I appreciate that.
Starting point is 00:36:48 Culturally, there may be this whole cultural heritage there that is saying you shouldn't be talking like this. You shouldn't be portraying women in this way or whatever they might say. So do you kind of feel like a rebel? I would love to feel like that. I do feel like that. I think being the whole brown girl has its pros and cons. One huge con is that no matter what I do, I will be, hey, that brown YouTuber who will always be classified as that brown YouTuber and always be clumped with the other brown YouTubers.
Starting point is 00:37:13 And that's what she does. That's like the defining trait. It's a big pro because I'm going to be completely honest. If I wasn't that brown girl and I was just that girl, there's many those girls on YouTube. So I don't think I would have gained that traction in the beginning that I did if I wasn't that brown girl. So, I mean, did you observe that the audience was kind of insulated and it started in that community? 100%. I see even the majority right now of my fan base is still brown.
Starting point is 00:37:39 And that's inevitable. And I feel like that's okay because I feel like that's, like I said, inevitable. And I'm not one of those people that's like, no, I don't want to, I don't want my fan base to be, I've talked to a lot of people and they're like, I don't want my fan base to be just this.
Starting point is 00:37:52 I don't, but if it's a majority of brown people, that doesn't bother me at all. I understand why that would be. So do you see a big representation in India? Fun fact, my top five countries, one of them is India,
Starting point is 00:38:03 but across the world, my demographic is females aged 13 to 25. The only country where that's not true is India, in which it's older men watch my videos. Really? Yes. Factual, factual proof. What do you think is going on there? I think all the perverted uncles in India are like, ooh, and they're just perving on me.
Starting point is 00:38:23 And I think next month when I go to India, they're all going to be there perving on me in person. Well, you know, okay, this is a, you know, you're the psychology major, so you tell me. But it seems interesting that, you know, I'm following, you know, you know better than we do, but I read the news, and I see some of the things that are happening in India, and there's still just rampant oppression of women.
Starting point is 00:38:45 Right. To think that maybe the dudes that are happening in India and there's still just rampant oppression of women. Right. To think that maybe the dudes who are upholding that culture are privately reveling in a girl who is totally rebelling against everything they stand for. How does that make you feel? You know what? That's a lot of deep thought. I think that anyone that does those acts of stupidity that you mentioned isn't that deep to think that far to be honest um i think it's important to mention that just on that note that you touched on is that india does get a lot of that kind of media that's like oh look we're so behind in the times but
Starting point is 00:39:14 almost every country is like that and i feel like before all my fans are like oh she's just hating on india that's an important thing to remember is that okay you're saying it's not representative it's not representative of india of, we see so many stories like that, but it happens in every country, unfortunately. I feel like there are a lot of issues in India. That is definitely one of them. I feel like I get most of my love and hate from India. I'll just say that. Most of my love and hate is from India.
Starting point is 00:39:38 I get a lot of that sexist stuff that's like, if you ever came to India, we would disown you. You're just an absolute disgrace embarrassment to punjabi people but then i get like a whole bunch of fangirls that are like yes come to india i'm gonna freaking wear my hat backwards just like you right so it's a mix and so i mean you're going back and i mean do you have plans to meet up with fans 100 it's actually a youtube fan fest I'm going for. So it's a whole orchestrated meet and greet performance type thing. And I'm actually really curious to see how my fans in India differ because I've been to Australia, New Zealand, all over North America,
Starting point is 00:40:14 and I'm just so curious to see what their feedback would be because they're probably going to be the biggest critics, to be honest, and the biggest lovers at the same time. So I've never gone to any country and experienced in-person hate before and I don't know if I will in India but I kind of almost want to see what it would be like to be honest I want to see if there's gonna be an enraged like uncle that's like no my daughter spoke and it's because of you like I really curious are you gonna have security with you 100% did you not hear my demographic. Like, I'm really curious. Are you going to have security with you? A hundred percent.
Starting point is 00:40:46 Did you not hear my demographic facts? A hundred percent I'm going to have security with me. But I feel like it's going to be interesting. I love India. I love it. I don't love everything that happens in it, but as the place to go, I love it. I kind of want to go.
Starting point is 00:40:59 You should go. Yeah, we can be your bodyguards. Just prep your bum hole. Wow. Oh, because of the food. For the diarrhea, yeah. The food. Just prep your bum hole. Wow. Because of the food. For the diarrhea, yeah. The food. Yeah. Not anything else.
Starting point is 00:41:08 Yeah, not what you were thinking. I mean, I at least look intimidating. Now, neither one of us could actually do any harm to anybody. I can furrow my brow. I can intimidate. I'm going to have to side with the tall man over here because he looks like he could step on you and me both at the same time. Even when I furrow my brow? Yeah, even when you do the epic rap battle of manliness, I feel like.
Starting point is 00:41:32 Wow. Yeah, that was me at my most manliness. Yeah. That's all I got. You peaked at that point. Puberty went through him. Didn't you hear him? No, that was me.
Starting point is 00:41:42 Was that you? Really? I can't remember who raps what. Oh, God. him no that was me was that you really i can't remember who raps what oh god uh so your fan base has i mean it it has certainly shifted i would i would think or at least it's you know you've got you've got this community that is the the core of your fan base but you i mean you're you're you're observing that you're reaching out more right yeah um I feel like that has happened more in the last year where I go to meet and greets and I see white people and I'm like, oh, my God, freaking amazing. I'm not going to lie, that feels pretty good.
Starting point is 00:42:12 Not that I'm not down with my brown homies, but it feels good to know, like, oh, my content is actually spreading to more people. And I've noticed that more and more and more that more multiculturalism is happening at meet and greets and performances, and it's awesome. And I think that's because when I first started making videos, it was very Indian mom, brown mom, brown this, brown that. I have some of those videos sometimes,
Starting point is 00:42:31 but now it's like girls on their period, not brown girls on their periods, right? I've just made my content more global because I want it to be received globally. I don't want to make content just for a specific group of people. Well, and I think it's consistent. I mean, even with some of the, what you're standing for and some of the things that you're doing are to tear down some of those barriers. So it makes sense
Starting point is 00:42:54 that, okay, guys, I know we kind of built this thing together, but this is for everybody. I mean, one of the things that you say is this peace and strength without fear, without hate, one love. I mean, one of the things that you say is this peace and strength without fear, without hate, one love. How does that manifest itself in your videos? That is honestly something that I came to believe through YouTube. I honestly think my YouTube journey has made me the person I am spiritually. So the tattoos I have that say without fear, without hate, because of my YouTube journey. The one love thing because of my YouTube journey.
Starting point is 00:43:33 I just, when you read all the comments and you see the world come together on a website and on a web page, you're like, holy crap, there's so many people in the world and they believe so many things and there's so many things going on. I just want to bring people together, show them that we're different, but the same, like I mentioned earlier. So, I mean, can you give us a couple of points of how that happened? I mean, I know that I read that something about the fact that you were having a bout with depression when you started your YouTube channel. So even if you could tell us about that and then where you were spiritually at that point
Starting point is 00:43:55 as well, what was the depression? So when I went through depression was actually before I started making YouTube videos. Just depression of, you know, I fell out with a few friends. I had school. I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I hated my last two years of university, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:44:10 Not because I wasn't good at school. I just hated school. I didn't want to be there. So I had a lot of trust issues growing up, a lot of trust issues with friends. Fell into depression for like a year. Had a really hard time getting out of it. So it was a gradual thing, a lot of factors. It wasn't like one catastrophic event? No, no, no, no, no, no, not one catastrophic event,
Starting point is 00:44:29 just life weighing down on you in general. And I remember being on vacation with my family in Dominican Republic and just sitting literally on the beach alone. And I was like, you know what, I think I had like one or two videos out. And I was like, I feel like I want to do this YouTube thing full time. And one of my really big deciding factors was, I don't know what it was. I can't even remember. I remember one morning I woke up in the middle of or towards the end of my depression. I woke up and I just felt good. I don't know what it was like. It was random. I hadn't felt good or happy in so long. And one morning I woke up and I was like, I feel better today. And I don't know why something switched in my brain.
Starting point is 00:45:08 It might have been like a movie I watched or something that happened. And so one of my deciding factors was, holy crap, what if one of my videos could be that thing that switches something in someone else's brain? And because of one of my videos, they're like, I feel better today for some random reason. So that was a really big deciding factor. And that's why all my videos have that underlying happiness motivation because I want to be that switch for people and I am that switch for a lot of people which makes it awesome because I do get a lot of emails that are like your videos have changed my view on this or that so the depression played a huge role in the direction of my videos um in terms of the how I became the spiritual more one love I actually and you guys are lucky because I've never talked
Starting point is 00:45:46 about this sly sly ones you are I made a video where I talked about alcohol and I had my character religiously dressed up so he was wearing a turban and there was he was drinking and there was a huge backlash from the Sikh community that were like, you cannot portray Sikh people like this. I still to this day disagree with that because I believe there's many people who wear turbans that drink. And they should also be represented whether or not you agree with that. There's still people and they exist. Whether or not you want to pretend they don't is your choice, but they definitely do. And so I saw nothing wrong with that.
Starting point is 00:46:22 I was told to take it down. I didn't take it down. You were told by your commenters. I was told by an organization actually based within Toronto, a Sikh organization who I'm actually friends with a lot of them, so it's nothing personal. Wow. And by commenters as well who were like, no, you should take this down.
Starting point is 00:46:38 And one of the greatest lessons I learned is that. Well, let me ask, were you making a point of that it was hypocritical not at all it had nothing to do with religion in the video it was simply the fact that that character was wearing a turban and was shown drinking so religion wasn't mentioned at all it was
Starting point is 00:46:57 implied by his headdress and so I discovered then and I regret it so much I made this whole video after explaining my point of view on it. And I regret that so much today because when I look back at that video, I realized that out of the 10,000 comments, it's maybe 10 that were like, oh, you shouldn't do this. But those are the 10 that stuck out to me at the time. That's the way it works, right? It works.
Starting point is 00:47:19 That's the way it works when you're starting out. So I made this whole video. I also deleted that video explaining my situation because I learned through this process that I don't actually have to explain it because I believe in that's good enough um but that really opened my eyes to that I'm actually not a religious person I'm a spiritual person and I think that's what I was really confused about growing up is that I don't believe in religious rituals I don't believe in following rules I believe in spirituality I just believe in being a good person I believe in one God I believe in spirituality. I just believe in being a good person. I believe in one God. I believe in just honesty and those general values. And those are the ones I'll portray in my videos, not any religious ones. So I think the greatest thing that ever happened to
Starting point is 00:47:55 me through YouTube is learning that I'm spiritual, not religious, because it's transformed me into this just overall happy, put together person. Now, still being in Toronto and still being probably around some of those people that you got to know through your religion, how have they responded to this transformation and what would you hear them saying to you after you just said that? Well, that whole group of people, like I said, I'm friends with a lot of them.
Starting point is 00:48:22 I see them at a lot of events and I sometimes a bit too much of a unicorn where I'm like, if you believe whatever you want to believe in, I support you because I support people who believe in something. Like just stand for something. Whatever you stand for, more power to you, man. Just believe in something. So I see them all the time. A few of them probably definitely hate me. And that opened my eyes even further because I think some of the biggest people who have given me a hard time because of religion are the people who tweet about telling me I should kill myself. So that just kind of shows how valid your opinion is when you're telling me that you're a disgrace to our religion because you support this. You should go kill yourself and you should not be.
Starting point is 00:49:01 So what does that say about you and your religious beliefs, especially when I look at your activities and you're way worse than you ever preach to me so i've just learned that i just feel like a lot of religion has hypocrisy based in it so right yeah i find it also inspiring that you know coming out of a place of depression through YouTube. I mean, one would think that opening up yourself to the scrutiny of anyone's comments is just fertile ground to begin depression. Right. But you seem to have found strength in the midst of opening yourself up to this scrutiny. It's weird how that works because anyone who's starting youtube knows when you first see those comments they burn those first 10 videos those comments burn um and i don't know what it is
Starting point is 00:49:52 like you know since younger i've always had that strong will when i want to do something i will do it no matter what and sometimes really super annoying because i'm always stressed about stupid crap i don't need to be stressed about but a lot of those comments did bother me but i feel like right from the get-go i've been so blessed that a lot of my stuff has been received surprisingly positively there's a lot of people have come up to me and said when you go to meet and greets like don't you ever have people that say nasty things to you and I'm like never I've never ever in my whole career had someone come up to me in person and say anything terrible to me which is a huge blessing because I know that that's the opposite for a lot of youtubers so so do you see yourself as a comedian or do you see yourself as a spokesman
Starting point is 00:50:30 I hate saying the word comedian one because I really don't think I'm funny and I swear that's the truth two is because I don't like categorizing myself into comedian I always say entertainer but then I always say um platform on youtube because when I say entertainer people think I'm a stripper so I always have to clarify that I say entertainer because I like to do comedy I love to act I love to rap I love to host I love to just entertain in general but do you also feel kind of the weight of people's expectations in terms of I mean the people that you're inspiring being a spokesperson in that capacity of, I don't know, either,
Starting point is 00:51:07 either represented a community or representing a certain type of person that you want to inspire. Right. I got over that whole situation and debate when I decided I'm not going to be religious anymore. And I've applied what I've learned from that to everything else. I have this rule and I had to literally sit down and talk to myself to discover this rule.
Starting point is 00:51:24 It was, don't ever go out of your way to try to seem like a role model. Be yourself. And if people want you to be their role model, that's their choice. A good example of this is, I will never lie and be like, oh no, I don't drink at all because I know it's frowned upon among South Asian females. A lot of people say, oh, South Asian females shouldn't drink even though their fathers are usually always drunk. But it's frowned upon. I will never lie and be like, no, I don't and you shouldn't and it's bad. No, because I do drink from time to time.
Starting point is 00:51:53 But am I going to post an Instagram video of me being drunk? No. That's the rule I have where it's like, because I wouldn't do that anyways. I'm not going to promote it. I'm not going to lie about it. So what do you think is,
Starting point is 00:52:03 because there are people who would post a picture of themselves being drunk so cool is that where is that coming from where do you think that that internal standard is i think that's coming from me just wanting to be myself and me not wanting to do anything i do for anyone else because that's one of the reasons i got depressed not living for myself I want to do everything I do for myself and having me in the center and if I want to do something and I believe in it I'm going to do it and a key example is that whole religious thing that happened I could have taken that video down could have could have totally caved but I didn't because I'm like I believe in this and that's what I'm going to do what are some of the you know because you've got such a an interesting story and there is so much
Starting point is 00:52:47 um you know all the stuff that we've been talking about all the emotions what kind of opportunities has that led to outside of youtube it seems like you would just be getting contacted by all kinds of people who wanted opportunities like it's unbelievable um i never thought i would do stand-up until I got an email saying, hey, do you want to do stand-up? And it's the most intimidating thing you've ever done. But I've done stand-up. I did a movie last year, which I did my first small role in a feature film.
Starting point is 00:53:15 I got to meet Kunal Nair, who was Raj on Big Bang Theory, who I've become friends with. And I'm like, what? How does this make any sense? Like, I watch you on TV. So I got to do that. I got to be a rap feature on an Indian artist's track, I listened to growing up. I was a huge fan of. And again, I was like, how did this happen? I met so many cool people. I got an ice cream date with MIA because she DM'd me. I was like, what is going on in my life? Paris Jackson, Michael Jackson's daughter, and I talk because she's a fan of my videos. Like, what is my life? my life like I don't understand so many opportunities what kind of ice cream did you get yeah you know I bought her son macaroons and I got chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and she's just the
Starting point is 00:53:54 most awesome person to ever I think the greatest thing YouTube has ever done is two things take me to awesome places like New Zealand Australia these places I never, ever go if it wasn't for this journey and meeting awesome people. And Michael Jackson's daughter. Yeah. I've not met, but we've had a thorough conversation on Twitter. Wow. Yeah. Well, 140 characters at a time.
Starting point is 00:54:14 140 characters, but multiple times. Multiple hundred. I think she even threw an emoticon smiley face in there one time, too. Well, what about, you know, definitely like those sort of celebrity perk type things right but what about people expecting you to oh i want you to show up and speak about this issue at this place like some of those weightier responsibilities that once you kind of establish yourself as a voice you know when you when you have your background it just seems like people would be like oh we need to get her to come in and speak here or do or do this 100 i feel the first thing people will look
Starting point is 00:54:50 at when you are a youtuber of this nature is not what you do so much it's how many people you do it towards so a lot of people message me like hey so blatantly my music's not doing so well you have two million subscribers let's do a collab track. And I'm just like, delete. Because look at my content, first and foremost. But having said that, I do get a lot of emails that are like, speak at this convention, speak about depression, speak about sickism, speak about people getting killed in this part of the world.
Starting point is 00:55:15 And again, my same rule is if I believe in it, I will do it. I am not a spokesperson, though I'm an entertainer. If I speak about certain issues while entertaining that's fine but I do not want to be a spokesperson because my job is to make people laugh and smile and I feel in my in my own way that is my social service being that switch for people who are upset who are sad because I think a lot of people times people forget when they email me but in this country people are starving in this country people are dying I totally get that and in my personal life you know I sponsor a child I don't as much as I can
Starting point is 00:55:46 not things I need to constantly advertise but as an entertainer I feel wrong picking certain issues and ignoring other ones so my view is to I'm gonna promote one love healthy living loving yourself because those are just as important as all the other issues and maybe that's because I have a personal connection with that which is probably true. If you're a YouTuber who grew up in poverty, you're going to make YouTube videos probably that address poverty. When you're a YouTuber that grew up dealing with racism,
Starting point is 00:56:13 you're probably going to address that a bit more. Having said that, all those people that gave me backlash because of my religious video are probably people that grew up battling those religious issues. Me, I battle depression, So my videos are about happiness and love. And I think that's fair. And as an entertainer, where are you going to take this? Anywhere and everywhere, preferably not homelessness and the unemployment line. Honestly, I'd love to act. I really, really enjoy being on set and I'd love to rap more,
Starting point is 00:56:41 not because I'm super good at it, but because it makes me feel the best out of everything I do. Right, because you're saying right now, you specifically said YouTube is not my career. Entertainment is my career. YouTube is a platform for that. So are you like, okay, well, if I could suddenly be a movie star, I'm out of here? No, and this is heavily inspired by Harley.
Starting point is 00:57:05 I'll never forget when he told me this. He's like, I think people who get bigger deals and then stop making YouTube videos are stupid because you have a huge fan base there. That's where you started and you should try to remain connected with that. And that really resonated with me. Of course, my whole life,
Starting point is 00:57:18 I might not be able to make two videos a week, but I really hold a strong value to never just be like not making YouTube anymore anymore because I'm a movie star I want to be hopefully a movie star that's like hey guys I'm making a video this month check me out on YouTube I would not want to neglect those fans who got me to the place I'm at right yeah do you have a sense of growing pressure with such a accelerating fan base and the numbers getting to where they are in the millions and millions is there is there a pressure in what to keep delivering
Starting point is 00:57:52 oh yeah 100 i feel like if i don't release a video monday and thursday people will be outside my house ready to kill me um there's definitely a pressure um i feel like it's almost scary and i was talking to this i don't remember who maybe Davey I was talking to him saying I feel scared that I might get to a point where it doesn't matter what I release people will like it and a lot of people might get confused by that saying isn't that awesome you can put on anything and it'll get like a million views like no because I don't want my art form to get to that point I want to make sure I have to feel like no I need to impress with this video and do awesome with this video. And so,
Starting point is 00:58:26 I feel like I put that pressure on myself where it's like, I can make it in just another Brown Parents video and it will probably hit a million views.
Starting point is 00:58:32 But I don't want to make just another Brown Parents video that's going to hit a million views. So the challenge is figuring out how to expand
Starting point is 00:58:39 yourself for yourself. Exactly. 100%. Do you have an answer? It's constantly just trying new things experimenting um what I'm doing in LA actually is collaborating something I've not done at all really in my career thus far except with a few people I'm not really in my element
Starting point is 00:58:57 when I collaborate so I literally thrusted myself into an uncomfortable situation collaborated with a whole bunch of people who I secretly fangirled meeting. So that was difficult as well. And that's just one way where I'm like, I'm going to up my content and collaborate with people that people would never think I would do it with. And I get the impression based on when you were having communications with Stevie about coming in here that you're up at all hours of the night. All hours of the night. I gotta say, 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Yes.
Starting point is 00:59:23 What are you doing texting somebody at 3 a.m.? You're crazy. Always. You know what it is? I have this theory that if you don't lie down at night and you're not absolutely exhausted, then you're not doing something right. So I need to be absolutely exhausted when I go to sleep. I have a really big issue with being lazy.
Starting point is 00:59:40 I feel really guilty doing it. I feel really guilty being lazy. So you're working? You're not like partying? Yeah, I'm working. Even when I'm, oh God, no, I feel really guilty doing it. I feel really guilty being lazy. You're working? You're not like... Yeah, I'm working. Partying. Even when I'm... Oh, God, no, I don't... I, first of all, partying is tiring. Like, I get tired partying. I think I
Starting point is 00:59:53 was telling my friend the other day, it was like 10 o'clock at my house, and people were over, and I was like, oh my God, I want to like just lie down, because I get tired partying. I like to work. I like to... So at 3-8, when you sent Stevie the text, and you were still up at 3-8. I will get tired from working. I will get tired from partying. I like to work. So at 3 a.m., when you sent Stevie the text and you were still up at 3 a.m. I will get tired from working. I will get tired from partying.
Starting point is 01:00:09 Yes. Well, I would say that I appreciate the sentiment. I always want to go to bed extremely tired. Yes. I'm not your doctor, but I will just say on behalf of the medical community, you should get eight hours of sleep. Having said that, though, you'll never receive a text from me at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. Because you'll be asleep. I'll be asleep.
Starting point is 01:00:29 Okay, so. Only 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. You just shifted a little bit. I just do a lot of, you know the excuse creatives use? They're like, no, I'm just more creative at night. It's just because we're effed up and we do stuff at night. So you're nocturnal. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:41 So I just have a little bit of a shifted clock. Okay, I get it. So when you all told me to come in here at 11, I was have a little bit of a shifted clock. Okay, I get it. So when y'all told me to come in here at 11, I was like, damn effing retinly man. Okay, I get it. I remember listening to, I think it was the Black Sheep growing up rap group. You're making this
Starting point is 01:00:55 reference right now? He was bragging about going to sleep in the early morning and waking up at noon and I was like, so that's the schedule of a rapper. I want to be a rapper. That's the schedule of the great right there. How about this? You know, single, you're single, right?
Starting point is 01:01:12 Single, attractive girl on YouTube. I'm whatever you want me to be. So how has this affected your love life? Thanks for saying I have a love life. That's really sweet of you. Honestly, my love life is interesting in the sense that it is literally whatever people want to be. I could right now, right here, be like, I have a boyfriend.
Starting point is 01:01:30 This is his name. And then I can post an Instagram picture with you. And you will then be my boyfriend. Okay? Like, I posted pictures with my cousins with a caption saying, my cousin. And then people have been like, oh, it's her boyfriend. So I feel like when you're in the public eye, what you say doesn't matter. Like, does what Rihanna and Chris Brown say matter at all to what we think?
Starting point is 01:01:49 Not at all. We'll think whatever the hell we want to think and we'll run with it. But we really want to know. You really want to know? I will say that it has affected my love life in the sense that people see this strong, intimidating female and guys are scared of me. I'll say that. Wow. Guys are scared of me. I'll say that. Wow. Yeah, guys are scared of me.
Starting point is 01:02:05 Like literally running from you? I think guys especially, and this is me calling out all brown guys, are a little bit intimidated by a South Asian female who's outspoken and who's also, sometimes my confidence, I'm a very confident person, sometimes too confident, and I think that deters a lot of guys away from me. Do you think, if you had to make a prediction, would you think you'll end up with a brown guy? I think I will end up with a guy. I really don't care if he's brown, to be honest. That doesn't bother me at all. I feel like if I did end up with a brown guy, I would like it because we
Starting point is 01:02:42 probably have more in common than someone else, and especially then my mom wouldn't go through depression. But I feel like he would really have to be a brown guy that gets out of that idea that South Asian females should be quiet. Like I would never, if he's like cultured like that, then hell no, that's not happening. Right. Yeah. So there's no candidates right now. Well, I don't know.
Starting point is 01:03:03 You two are pretty good looking. I always do this. I always do this. Well, I don't know. You two are pretty good looking. I always do this. I always do this. Well, we're taken. We're married. There's no... There's people that I've constantly coupled up with. And I just realized I said that in a totally defeated way.
Starting point is 01:03:16 You're married. We're married. You're married. We're married. Happily married. Good. Good. I'll stop hitting on you then.
Starting point is 01:03:23 Sorry, wives, Mr. and Mrs. Rhett and Link. I said Mr., by the way. I'm sorry. I made one of you gay. This is just involuntary. Mr. and Mrs. Rhett and Link. Well, you put it in the right order. I'll tell you that much.
Starting point is 01:03:36 Here's a question for you. Let's reverse this for a second. If you had to pair me up with someone, what would you describe the guy as? Let's put you on the spot for a second. Wow. This is... What are the characteristics? a second. Wow. This is... What are the characteristics? Okay, if I was playing match...
Starting point is 01:03:48 White bodybuilder. White. Perfect. I love it. If I was playing matchmaker for you, which I don't play matchmaker with anybody. I mean, so this is not a good idea. Uncharted territory. Let's just start by saying this is not a good idea.
Starting point is 01:04:02 That was a Black Sheep lyric one time. Right, right. Let's just start by saying this is not a good idea. That was a Black Sheep lyric one time. Right, right. I would say that, well, my prediction would be that you would end up with someone who comes from a similar background but has experienced the same revolution in their life. Wow, I like that. Because it just seems like there's... And what is that revolution?
Starting point is 01:04:23 Well, you've stated it pretty well. Okay, good. So I'd like Parallel path. You know that's the best answer I've ever received to this question. Best. Maybe we should start a dating company.
Starting point is 01:04:32 That's not it. But then he is half Let's make him half something. Half. Half. Oh, golly.
Starting point is 01:04:41 Indian half. Spartan? I'm down with that. We can't breed him. I mean, if that... We can't create him. Oh, well, then screw this. Because then he would be a baby now.
Starting point is 01:04:51 So we're not... I mean, and that would be highly ethically questionable if we started a dating company and it involved cloning or breeding people. I'm okay with that. I mean, if you could get two different ethnicities in one, that's a score.
Starting point is 01:05:07 Well, who's really one ethnicity? I can really tell you I don't care about it at all. Like, at all. I know my parents hate that, but I don't care about it at all. I don't care what ethnicity the guy is. I don't care. Well, we're not of much help at this point. I think I may be digging myself a hole.
Starting point is 01:05:22 I really liked your answer of experience the same revolution. I think that's very important. What about my answer? Kind of shallow and... Yeah, yeah. Well, okay. Yeah, that was good too. But you do anticipate
Starting point is 01:05:32 some difficulties with your parents and you also, you specifically call out your mom again when you think about that. Mom and dad, no. I just say mom more
Starting point is 01:05:41 because she's my homie. Okay. Not that my dad's not my homie. How do you think that's going to go over? I think my parents have come to a point in life now, especially because of my career choice and just everything I've done is so unconventional where they've kind of given up,
Starting point is 01:05:53 but not in a totally terrible way. Where if I come home, they're going to know, we're going to tell Lily not to do this. She's probably still going to do it. So let's just start freaking accepting it right off the bat. That's what it's going to be, literally. They know that. Because they did everything to stop me from dancing.
Starting point is 01:06:06 I still ended up dancing. They did everything to convince me not to YouTube. I'm a YouTuber. I think they've accepted that Lily is that daughter that's going to do what she wants to do. Right. Which sucks because my sister is the opposite of that. But I've already accepted that she's the star child,
Starting point is 01:06:19 so it's fine. Well, you've buttered them up a little bit with all the choices that you've made. Yeah. Bringing home, you know, a half and half guy at some point. You know what? I feel like the greatest thing about this is that I've proven to my parents that I made the right choice because they're so proud of the YouTube thing now. Right.
Starting point is 01:06:35 And I think now they'll kind of trust my judgment. So I could bring home a half Spartan and it'll be fine. Spartan. Seeking half Spartan. Put that on Craigslist. Well, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and hearing your story. Of course, thank you so much. It's time for you to sign the table.
Starting point is 01:06:48 Oh my God, I'm signing the freaking table. And that's our conversation with Superwoman. The conversation has landed, but Superwoman has flown away. She's no longer here. I learned a couple of things. I learned to connect. Connect. You learned.
Starting point is 01:07:09 I learned to connect. Wow. And I was about to tell you something about pronunciation and I came up with a word called connect. Okay. I learned the correct pronunciation of sickism. And the incorrect pronunciation of correct. Connect.
Starting point is 01:07:24 Okay. But I also learned that I should potentially start a matchmaking service. Just because my advice sucked doesn't mean your advice is great. I mean, she was impressed, but basically all you did was you said in a very eloquent way, you're going to end up with someone who's had the same journey as you. It was profound, though. In her eyes. It sounded profound.
Starting point is 01:07:52 I mean, did you see the look on her face when I delivered that? I felt like I'd feel my calling. I need to be, well, maybe I should be a fortune teller because I really just told her her future is really what I did. I did not match make her. Make her a match.
Starting point is 01:08:07 You know, I could wear a turban. I don't believe in fortune telling. I can't. Well, of course, but it's all a scam anyway to make money. You know, if this doesn't work out. I can't support you in that. If you want to start a dating site like rethelpsmingle.com or whatever you want to call it. I don't know.
Starting point is 01:08:24 Rhett helps you mingle. I don't know. Rhett Helps You Mingle. That's not bad. More power to you. Emphasis on you with no emphasis on the us. But you're saying you, I don't want you to be a fortune teller with me.
Starting point is 01:08:35 That would be weird to walk into like a fortune telling duo. You know, you definitely immediately seem outnumbered. You feel like you're the victim of something.
Starting point is 01:08:45 No, I'll do the fortune telling thing with you, but you'll have an earpiece and I'll be in the other room Googling whoever you're talking to and feeding you miraculous information about them. That's good. I like that. And say, just rephrase something about their own life in terms of that's who they're going to want to be with in the future. And that'll impress them. If we're going to do this, we probably shouldn't let people hear this plan because then we can't take advantage of anybody.
Starting point is 01:09:10 Oh, you're still listening out there in Ear Biscuit Land? Oh, okay. Thank you for doing that. I didn't know you would hang on this long. But we will be here next week to give you another one of these where you can learn how to pronounce or not pronounce things or whatever. We value the time
Starting point is 01:09:30 that you have spent with us. And in the meantime this week you will have good experiences. You'll have bad experiences. You'll probably eat something. sleep. You'll sleep a little bit. But you should sleep more.
Starting point is 01:09:47 That was your fortune. I was predicting your future for the week.

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