Garrett Watts might be the most unpredictable creator on YouTube, and thats why fans live for his rare uploads – Business Insider

captionGarrett Watts is a YouTuber beloved by many.sourceJack Dytrych

When Garrett Watts joined our Zoom call to have a chat about his life and career, hed forgotten to change his background back from a blue and pink psychedelic pattern hed been experimenting with earlier.

I cant even take myself seriously, he laughed as he tried to get rid of it. Hang on, hang on. Everythings going to be cool. Its all good.

The image disappeared to reveal a poppy painting on the yellowish wall of the Washington Airbnb Watts was staying with his friend Andrew Siwicki.

Were up here in this honeybee themed cottage in nature, he said. Were just, like, hanging out with the trees Weve just been making stuff up here and goofing around a lot. We did a fire pit last night. I love it. I love camping and nature and all those sorts of things.

Watts normally lives alone in LA in a tiny house with his terrifying but iconic doll Benjamin and a garden where he leaves out cakes for various wildlife. He started building a following on YouTube about four years ago when he was given a gentle nudge by his friend, and YouTube royalty, Shane Dawson, who also hired Siwicki as his cameraman.

Watts cant remember exactly when he and Dawson first met, but it was on the dating app Tinder. They quickly realized theyd be better off as friends as there wasnt much of a romantic spark.

Watts, Siwicki, Ryland, and Morgan Adams formed a group that became hugely popular among fans for their adventures and experiences Dawson has been uploading to his channel since 2016. While Siwicki remained mostly behind the camera, Watts built a career with his wonderfully chaotic energy in front of it.

But before I could question Watts about any of that, he asked me how I was coping during the lockdown in London. He said hed only visited once, a couple of years ago, when hed stayed in a massive abandoned retirement home in the outskirts of the city.

I do a lot of couch surfing, he said. So I was staying with this hippie guy in there and his girlfriend. It was very interesting. It had been shut down a couple of years previous, but there were still some tenants who they said didnt have to leave. So there were still some elderly people living in there that were capable enough to live on their own.

Watts also wanted to show me one of the possessions that had made the trip to Washington before we got going a cuddly baby Yoda.

My friend Sean from Florida, he sent me this, he said. His girlfriend crocheted this baby Yoda and he just sent it in the mail cause hes a nice guy. Its so thoughtful. Im not even a huge Star Wars fan.

Its easy to see how Watts has a loyal following of over 3 million subscribers. You cant help but be taken in by his whimsical excitement for life, and how he seems like one of those people who picks up friends wherever he goes. Even with our interview, it was his idea to talk over video, simply because its nice to see another face.

He is captivating, but not in a way that feels performative. He has held onto a wonderment for things that most of us lose as we grow up, which makes him someone you want to have in your life. His channel description says, I dont care about fame, numbers or ego. I just wanna have a great time with you, and he leaves us with no doubt its true.

Inside the effervescent exterior, theres also a lot of wisdom. It might be something to do with his absolute lack of envy for anyone else on the planet.

Its like Im just missing some part of my brain that is able to compare myself to other people, he said.Its like thats the silliest thing in the world. Im a different human with different parents and upbringings and interests and all this stuff, and no ones going to do what I do, and everyone has different strengths.

His thoughtful nature maybe also partly be thanks to the long, haphazard journey he took to being an internet celebrity, which began when he was just 17.

He originally moved to LA to pursue being a director, but as is the case with many showbiz stories, he ended up doing a lot of other things. He was a wedding DJ for a long time, worked on at least 100 production sets, waited tables in at least 15 different restaurants and cafs, and even managed a pizzeria-slash-art gallery at one point.

Ive done everything possible before YouTube, which I really appreciate about myself, he said. Because I see some of these kids who are super young on YouTube on social media, not just YouTube theyre 15, 16, 17. I always want to shake them and just be like, Go live your life, do something else before all this stuff happens.'

He doesnt mean it in a condescending way, hes just grateful he had world experience before delving into the world of being an online influencer.

It just makes you respect so many different facets of every industry before starting something like this.

Watts created his YouTube channel back in 2012 to make content for a drag queen called Miss Coco Peru. Hed been a fan of hers since watching Girls Will Be Girls a parody movie about what its like to be an actor in Hollywood so he was more than happy to help. Being the actual YouTube star was never part of the plan.

It was an option for sure, Watts said. Like everyone in high school watched YouTube and knew all these YouTubers and stuff, but I didnt. I was a sucker for like old movies and all these different things, so YouTube wasnt part of my ambition.

He only really considered it a viable career path after he was laid off by Will Ferrells production company Funny or Die about three years ago, and Dawson, who was already a YouTube veteran, gave him some career advice.

He just gave me a really good push to be like, dude, what do you want to do? Watts said.

I was a Viner at the time too, and I already had the channel, so it just was a really healthy catalyst to get it moving. He kind of gave me a swift kick in the butt to help me with that.

Dawson told him YouTube was a creative space where he could do anything he wanted, which was really interesting to someone who was tired of doing literally every job on the planet, Watts said.

I just ended up having a really good time with it, he said. And thats still this ever-ongoing process of just figuring out how that evolves and what that turns into.

Sometimes it turns into documenting his attempts to wake up at 5 a.m. every day for a week, enlisting his friends to help clear out his house, or making a hit song about being a baby in 24 hours. Fans love his frenzied jumble of quick-fire thoughts and hilarious moments of self-awareness, but amazingly, Watts doesnt actually consider himself funny.

Ive never felt funny, he said.

Its just this weird thing where I feel like in my videos all I do is work with at risk of sounding pretentious like a flow of energy. I feel like its just like inviting people into my headspace.

It feels a little bit intimate in that respect, just being like, Hey, come in here for a second, or for 30 minutes or 20 minutes or something, and just see like what goes on in here.

Its pretty difficult to put Watts into a box not that youd want to as his videos are not quite comedy and not quite vlogs. As he puts it, hes just having a good time with a theme.

I guess what Im saying is Im very lucky that people find me funny in any respect and I hope it lasts, he said.

Watts doesnt struggle with letting the audience in because hes drawn barriers hes comfortable with. Hes not one of the influencers, of which there are many on YouTube, who lays out everything in their lives for their followers to see their homes, their emotions, their relationships, and so on. Hes even traveled to different countries in the past without even posting about it anywhere.

This is partly because its just not in his nature to immediately want to show off his life to the online world, but its also a conscious choice because he doesnt want to be part of the toxic culture on social media where everyone tries to make their lives seem perfect.

Everyone just highlights the 10 moments in their life and it creates this horrible illusion that their life is a 10 all the time, Watts said.

And its not. For every story that you see, think of the influencer or the friend or the family member whos just chilling. Theyre not in France, and theyre not at a music festival, because most of them are probably sleeping in and trying not to be sad that day.

He said hes also seen it too many times where the internet consumes someone completely and they lose part of their identity, and hed rather keep a certain side of his life to himself.

YouTube is something about me that I love and I appreciate deeply that people watch, but it is one thing about me, Watts said.

Its so much more important for me to maintain my relationships with my family and my friends and work on myself and do things way more so than it is to be some rockstar YouTuber.

Fans of Watts sometimes worry about him because there are sometimes months-long gaps between his videos. They dont understand why hes not uploading as often as other creators do, because he could post a video of something as mundane as ordering lunch and millions would love it anyway. This leads to them often coming to their own conclusions about his absence.

When you give someone something, like an Instagram post, theyre going to comment 18 seconds later under that, Are you dead?' he said. Its just like never enough. And I didnt set those expectations.

He was once asked in an interview why he was so cagey and distant on the internet.

I was like, am I so cagey and distant, or is everyone else just like hyper-visible? he said, Like, who defined that?

Watts is super aware of how long his breaks are he uploaded just three videos in 2019 and uses a self-deprecating wine lady character in his videos who judges him and voices concerns about where hes been.

I understand my failures so intimately, and no one has to remind me of those more than I do myself every day, he said.

When you fail, sometimes you just have to laugh it off, and make the most of it basically. So yeah, shes my little way to know that I am in reality.

Watts also doesnt really see the value of ambition when it costs every waking moment, and has never subscribed to the hustle culture narrative thats popular among creators right now. Thats why he doesnt see his upload schedule as a major flaw although he admits he could probably split the difference better.

He sometimes wonders what it would be like to stick to a regular upload schedule and give viewers more and more of himself, but he doesnt want to be someone whos defining his worth and career from what other people think.

Its just like, Ill just do me, and if that works for you, rock on. If it doesnt, also rock on, he said. Im just content with my little slice of the internet and Im really grateful for the people that watch me.

Watts also thinks bending to other peoples expectations might destroy the reason some people watch him in the first place hes a bit of an oddball who isnt like other YouTubers.

The only reason that Im at all alluring on YouTube to anyone is because I have that mentality of being like this guy who doesnt care for a G-wagon or being in party vans in Vegas and stuff, he said. Im not shading any mentality on YouTube or anyones content or anything, because people love that, and I get that.

He has no interest in the materialism that characterizes traditional celebrities and influencers. He prefers his possessions to be unique with a story behind them.

I cant stand going into a clothing store where theres 60 pairs of jeans stacked on top of each other and you grab them and go, Oh, this is my personality!' he said. I like everything to have a little bit of soul power.

Even the poppy picture behind him?

The poppy picture! he said. Its this silly cottage. I dont know I think you asked about my upload schedule and somehow I turned it into talking about the soul power of store clothes.

Watts mind darts around a lot, which probably explains his never-ending list of ideas. He has an ungodly note of his phone full of them which he has to scroll for nearly a minute on to reach the bottom. He just doesnt seem to have the time to materialize them into existence.

This may be because he hasnt found the best place to discuss all his passions. He said hell be working on that over the coming year, delving into other online content like game streaming and podcasts. He wants to be able to dedicate time to slower, more meaningful conversations about things like his deep obsession with music and love of miniature building.

People will see different sides of me because theres a lot of different sides of me, he said. That is my own version of being like, OK, how do I kind of rekindle this thing that I love about myself and refresh it a little bit.

Watts still has a lot of love for YouTube and sees it as part of his future, but hes probably not going to be making promises about his uploads anymore. Hes learned now that you really can do exactly what you want if youre willing to try, and it comes from a place inside rather than any external pressures.

Other peoples expectations will get you nowhere, he said. In fact, theyll lead you down a pretty dark road.

He sees younger people in the spotlight and within his own family looking at themselves through the digital gaze, and just wants to hug them and urge them to stop.

Take whats in your core and output it to the world in a way that has like fervor and passion and do that well, and then people will like it, he said. I just want to always remind people that their stuff comes from them.

Everything is a relationship, he said, from romantic partners, to careers, to creative endeavors, and each and every one of them requires care.

It cant be like an abusive thing in your head, he said. Those forces require a lot of other energies. And youve got to figure out what those are Im starting to speak like some sort of witch now.

Weve gone a bit off-topic again. Watts takes you down some twisty-turny detours when you talk to him, but he has such a zeal for it all youre more than happy to go along for the ride.

At several points during the call, he forgets the initial question I asked him because his curiosity for everyone and everything leads to infinite distractions. Talking to him is a bit like being led through a box of unopened ideas by an imaginary friend, which inspires you to absorb even a hint of his irrepressible enthusiasm.

Trust me, it would have been great, he said of one lost train of thought. And even though Im not sure how we got to the end of our conversation, or where it was going, I know great is exactly what it was.

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Garrett Watts might be the most unpredictable creator on YouTube, and thats why fans live for his rare uploads - Business Insider