instead of me introducing you uh because

everyone just says Kroam and then this

like encompasses like an entire group of

people but there are individuals of the

Kroam team. So why don't you two

introduce yourselves?

>> Hello hello hello standup team.

Uh anyways sorry

>> I am Ben. I am one part of the YouTube

comedy collective known as Kazam. You

might know me from such videos as the

microservices video, uh, the spreadsheet

guy, macro, uh, I've delivered value,

but at what cost, the small data guy,

and so many more hits.

>> Really quick, when Ben gets recognized

on the street, we can see the guy coming

a mile away. [laughter]

>> We know every time. If you see me out

there, just come up.

>> He's making a beline. He's wearing a

backpack. And with me today, we have our

my very close friend, very uh also, you

know, comedian, creator in her own

right, the very funny, very talented

Alexis Gay.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Our who is, you know, sort of an

honorary Kazan member, I think, at this

point. We are working on a very fun,

exciting project that we'll be talking

about a little bit.

>> I'm a comedian. Uh something Ben and I

have in common is we both used to work

in the tech industry. Worked in tech for

seven years before I started doing

comedy full-time, which was about 5

years ago. I make sketch comedy videos

on the internet. I do standup. I just

recorded my first special in December.

That'll be on the internet this year.

>> Oh, cool.

>> And um we've been collaborating on a

giant

uh Kranam project for over 6 months now.

And nobody has seen even a lick of it

yet, which is one of the reasons that we

wanted to chat with you guys today.

>> Yeah. Get the news out.

>> That's exciting. Yeah.

>> Uh, we also have a video with Kranam

that's been in the works for 2 years now

or something like that [laughter] and no

one's seen a lick of it either. So,

that's just so you guys know this is

experience.

>> That's the Kranam experience. Exactly.

>> I want to say we've seen three different

versions of the same footage.

>> Only three?

>> Well, it's because it's only six months

apart. He only shows us when we're in

person and we like hold him, you know,

like

>> hold him down AND SAY, "SHOW US THE

FOOTAGE."

AND IT'S BEEN THREE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

videos which is cool. It's the same

footage, three different videos.

>> Welcome to the Kroam creative

experience.

>> I have to tell you though that but that

Ben, doesn't that feel like Kram of the

past and now we are in Kram of the

future? Oh, there's a lot of things that

are changing around here

>> because one of the biggest differences

between Krisam before this project and

Kroam mid and hopefully after this

project, the sheer amount of stuff we

have produced in the last 6 months is

beyond anything that me or Krisam I

think has ever done. Just like sheer

minutes of content teaser that's coming

out beyond anything we've all created.

>> Hey, is that HTTP? Get that out of here.

That's not how we order coffee. We order

coffee via ssh terminal.shop. Yeah. You

want a real experience. You want real

coffee. You want awesome subscriptions

so you never have to remember again. Oh,

you want exclusive blends with exclusive

coffee and exclusive content? Then check

out Cron. You don't know what SSH is?

>> Well, maybe the coffee is not for you.

Terminal coffee

in hand.

>> There's just somebody in the chat that

said, "hm, these guys are posting a

video every 3 months. What is she

talking about?" Lol. I would like you to

go to the YouTube and take a look at the

output. Okay, friend. [laughter]

>> Yeah, you got to remember that they used

to go a year between a video.

>> Yes, exactly.

>> Coming in the chat.

>> And you guys don't know how many videos

they have on the hard drive waiting.

[laughter]

a lot actually. Yes.

>> I recruited my father to record a video.

>> Yes.

>> And I have a sketch comedy thing where I

went over to my parents house and mowed

the lawn for Ben.

>> I specifically told my dad, "Dad, you

can't mow the lawn this week. I have to

come over and mow the lawn for you and

then I need you to act like you want

like I won a tournament." And then we we

recorded several amazing jokes

[laughter]

>> and I don't know if they're ever going

to see the light of day.

>> TJ's dad's lawn is also like humongous.

Like that's I think that's that's a big

>> It was a commitment. [laughter]

Aren't you also from New York? Isn't

everything a like isn't any lawn a huge

lawn?

>> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a

little smaller than uh Prime's uh you

know, ranch. [laughter]

>> Yes. True. You couldn't raise cattle on

it, but it is a it is a sizable lawn. It

took me It took me the evening to get

the video. And guys, so I've got I've

got two separate videos. I can't I won't

say the first one sitting on Chroam hard

drives waiting, you know.

>> Yes, we have we have TJ and and Prime

both like their faces on a hard drive in

labeled Croam.

>> Wow.

>> Archives. But that's not uncommon. Like

yes, these we

>> some of these sketches that we have

released in like the year 2025, we

recorded like small data which came out

last year. we recorded uh in 2020, 5

years. [laughter]

>> Oh my god.

>> So, just to give some context, but to

Alexis's point,

>> we're changing things up around here,

okay? We're putting out videos.

>> Things are getting a little crazy around

here.

>> All I want is people to know Diamond

Style, okay? I'm not going to say more

than that.

>> I just want Diamond Style.

>> There's good stuff in these archives,

man. [laughter] The people aren't ready

yet. Dude, the pure cringe that's

available will be harvested in the

future.

>> Yeah. Oh, great reference.

>> Oh, yeah. Let's go.

>> That Ben didn't even recognize it. Ben's

like, "Oh, yeah. That sounds like a new

phrase I've never heard before."

>> It took me a sec cuz I was like, "Well,

I you know, I get it." Like, why?

[laughter] But now, but yeah, I put the

pieces together.

>> All right. Anyho, okay. So, uh, how much

are you going to tell us about any of

the things you're you're doing? We I

wanna we can we can go all in. I'm

ready. I think it's gonna be a tell.

>> Do it, Ben. Do the announcement. The

official announcement.

>> This is what we've been talking about.

So, coming out March 10th, it's the

first ever episodic

sketch show. Kranam presents Paradise.

It is a four episode limited series

debuting on the Kram YouTube channel

coming out in a little under three

weeks. It is a four episode long sketch

show. You know, if you ever seen Keian

Peele, uh, Portlandia, Tim Eric, Awesome

Show, uh, anything like that where you

will see multiple sketches together in

an episodic format, edited together,

we've curated, we filmed,

>> um, almost about an hour of comedy. Uh,

me,

>> um, Shiva, the other the other part of

the Chroam duo, and Alexis, the three of

us have, this is a, uh, a three-person

collaborative project debuting on the

Crosam channel. It is really the biggest

and largest piece of Krisam content that

we have we have ever ever made and in a

lot of ways it is a uh you know hu it's

a it's a huge leap forward for what we

do on YouTube and we are we are super

super excited about it. is going to be

creative new stuff. Some of the stuff

you love, uh, some new sketches,

[laughter]

I think, some of the stuff you might

like.

>> We'll find out.

>> That is the best part.

>> Someone said from chat, four episodes,

one per year. Is that about what you're

shooting for or like what is per week?

>> One per week.

>> One per week starting March 10th.

>> Whoa.

>> Every uh, what is that? A Tuesday? Every

Tuesday.

>> That is a Tuesday. What time of the day?

I'm going to be clicking refresh. I want

our first comment. Ben,

>> I would say that we have not decided.

>> Okay.

>> Is that right?

>> What?

>> What time?

>> What time? We don't know yet. [laughter]

>> Okay. Well, only tell me, Ben. I want

the first comment. I want to be part of

internet history.

>> Oh my god.

>> We'll put you on the uh you know, we'll

like we'll like do like the little

private link and then you can comment

and then it comes out.

>> Yeah. Send it to me unlisted so I can

write first and it comes out before the

video. Yes.

>> Yes.

>> Legendary.

Yeah, we're stoked.

>> It is super super exciting. Yeah, it's

it's been Yeah, we've been working on

this thing for we started really in like

July of last year and it's been

>> Yeah, I was trying to think. It was

July, right?

>> That's about when we started kind of

like planning this out and like writing

these sketches and then slowly slowly

we've been building up like just I don't

know the infrastru well before that

though if I remember correctly right you

had this idea like two years ago. It's

always been something we were like

kicking around as like a potential

really cool thing to do because we you

know we like having the sort of

narrative longer I mean yeah like rare

data hunter eight 8 minute long epic

short story as a sketch. Um, but we also

knew like, you know, we wanted to do

things that are maybe like looser, like,

oh, what if it's like 60 seconds? What

if it's 30 seconds? You know, what if we

could uh have a bunch of different ideas

altogether and make something that's

like a longer and, you know, bigger

package than just one. You know, if

you're going to wait 6 months for a Gam

drop, like what if it was an amazing

drop that had so much in it that it

keeps you tied it over until the next

drop? And so we were like, it was always

something that

>> we were like really excited by and then

just slowly we're like what if we just

like like it made a lot of sense for a

lot of reasons why I had to do it now

and like here we are and we're about to

we're about to drop this thing.

>> It's crazy. Also, Ben and I had what I

would consider like

matching mental breakdowns in May. Like

we had a dinner where I was like, "Do

you want to have dinner? I'm having a

mental breakdown." He was like, "That's

crazy. I'm always having a mental

breakdown." And so we had dinner and one

of the things that we recognized at the

dinner was like if there was a project

where we could spend a ton of time

collaborating

almost irrespective of the project

itself we would both opt into that and

that was it was literally like one of

the last things we talked about that

night at the Greek place and then Ben

was just like well you know I did have

this one idea we've always talked about

doing like a chromam sketch show and I

was literally like hands on the table I

was like Ben if you do that I want to be

I want to be a third of it like I want

to come in and I want to co-create this

with you and Shiva and then many

conversations happened and then yeah I

do think we broke ground in two two

months later we had to do a lot of

sidebarring Ben had to talk to Shiva I

had to talk to Shiva Shiva had to talk

to Ben you know what I mean right

>> a lot of circling back a lot of double

clicking

>> lot of circling back lot of lot of

one-on- ones

>> any parking lots or no

>> several [laughter] parking lots like you

wouldn't believe yeah you wouldn't

believe

>> oh you wouldn't believe

>> Ben quick question for you on that um

last May that's almost immediately After

you hung out with us in React Miami,

were we the cause of a mental breakdown

for [laughter] you?

>> Not a mental breakdown, but I you were

you guys like unironically talking to

you guys, I was like, I want to do much

more of what you guys do and I want to

you guys were huge. No, I'm absolutely

from the heart. You guys were huge

inspirations.

>> Truly. I remember him telling me about

it.

>> Yeah. I was like, we

>> came home and said, I want nothing to do

with these guys. Let's just actually

start making real content.

>> He was like, there's got to be a better

way. [laughter] I mean,

>> if these guys are successful,

>> anybody can do it.

>> Well, I'm glad

>> even I was still uh employed as a

software engineer back then. You guys

were like, "What is it going to take for

you to quit?" And I was like,

>> I did say that.

>> Did you ask that? Because honestly,

before I left my job, my best friend

asked me that. And that was the first

time it had occurred to me to really

take that idea seriously. Sometimes I

think it takes somebody you respect

asking you that question to put the

scroll on the table and then it kind of

unfolds as you move through your life.

>> I do remember saying that to you in

React Miami. But that's true.

>> Yeah.

>> I'm so appreciative.

>> Yeah.

>> Speaking of unreleased videos, don't

worry, the music video is going to come

out, Ben. Okay. Don't worry.

>> That's true. Yeah, we have mutually

assured discussion. Yeah. [laughter]

>> You have a lot of me that are not

>> Ben's got a whole verse and it's good.

>> Oh my god, I remember hearing about

this. I think it's coming out.

>> It's going to come out within probably

the next month leadup to this React

Miami trailer. I'll

>> send a private link to that one. I want

to be first.

>> I'll send it to you right after. So, for

those that don't know, there's a lot of

there's a lot of kind of like inside

baseball going on in here. Uh TJ had

this really great idea, which always it

I mean it's an idea. I'll give it to

that. And uh which [laughter] is we

should make we should make a rap video.

Classic TJ bringing in that Michigan

energy for a rap video. And we

>> we Yes, sir. We rented a [laughter]

yacht and uh

>> we made a music video and now it's going

to be released and it will it is it's

just going to be ready for everybody to

watch.

>> Good though. Actually,

>> I have pitched Alexis and Shiva so many

music videos and musical.

>> Call me, bro. Call me. You know I are

going to go we're deep on the road. All

right.

>> That is not true. You have pitched one

music video idea over and over and

[laughter] over again. And you've had

one idea for a song. Me and Shiva both

went, "I don't know, dude. I don't see

it." And you've brought it up eight

times.

>> Yeah, because it's because it's Me and

TJ are going to make it. It's fine.

[laughter]

>> Okay. I'm so down

speed. I feel like you just got Just

tell us what the music video is.

>> No, no, no. I want to I'm going to I'm

going to blind accept that me and Ben

are going to make this.

>> Okay, that sounds great.

>> I don't even need to hear the idea. I

We're going to get in the stew. We'll

get a few things off your chest. Stew is

short for studio. Yeah, we'll hit the

stew. We'll hit the stew

>> and we'll get some things off your

chest. Better. We'll make it happen.

>> I actually Yes. [laughter]

Lock it in.

>> So, I'm pretty sure you heard that. You

heard it here first.

>> Oh my gosh. So, TJ, right after we got

done like writing the song that we then

wrapped on a boat. Uh, right afterwards,

TJ's like, "So, I guess we're going to

do like a country music single next. Uh,

maybe we should like just immediately

into like we should just keep on making

music. This is great." [laughter]

>> Yeah.

>> Okay. Prime. Be honest. When you were in

the studio, you were so down to make

another song.

>> I was not. I in fact was not down to

make another song.

>> I would I would be fair.

>> I do want to do a song. I just don't

want to

>> What is with engineers and making songs?

Why are you guys all like

>> I don't know.

>> I don't got my microphone. I'll I'm

going to sing us a little dy.

>> Ben, I thought you recorded a song. I

thought there was a music situation at

some point.

>> There is. That's on the drive.

>> That's [laughter] on the drive.

>> There's multiple actually. One of them

is um the other the aforementioned Prime

and TJ unreleased sketch is also has a

musical element to it. [laughter]

>> It does have to be off with a musical

element.

>> It started off with no musical element

and then somehow 6 months later he's

just like we're going to turn it into a

musical.

>> That's not true.

>> Prime. He tricked us because we've

recorded for like 6 hours and at the end

of 6 hours he's like hey guys can you

just do this one dancing sequence

>> and I was like I feel a little

uncomfortable Ben I didn't sign up for

that like I don't know but he said he

pressured me into it so I I did it. It

was pure pressure at the end of the day.

>> That's that's what I'm always This is

literally I'm backing in so many musical

comedy ideas for this exact process.

>> True. None of them have so far been

released but I am ready. I am really

ready.

>> None of them have been released but

[laughter] that's true. But we're going

to make it happen. 2026, not only the

year of the Linux desktop, but also the

year of the music video. It's going to

be the first one where music videos were

popular.

>> Musical tech comedy online, [laughter]

>> man.

Sicker than the last, baby. Musical tech

comedy online. Let's go. We're doing it.

>> Wow.

>> Wow. That sounds like something that

would be said at a corporate standup of

what mandatory fun is going to be at the

corporate retreat. Hey guys, so just a

quick heads up, you will all be required

to participate in our musical technical

comedy online section next week at the

company retreat. Let's go

>> at at uh in the early days of Netflix,

you actually had to perform a musical to

be a part of the team.

>> And so what would happen is that at all

new people every third every 90 days

would have to do a performance.

>> Oh my god. And so as part of my joining

Netflix, I had to be a butler and and do

all this on stage.

>> I mean, I had a fun time, but people

hated it so much that by 2015 2016, it

was like being cancelled and people were

like

>> people were getting I think I I think it

got like a little latigious towards the

end. People were like, I will not

>> dance in front of my co-workers. And

then it just kind of it got excit. But

during those early days, it was awesome.

Every quarter there was a whole new,

hey, here's everybody that's joined the

company and they're going to do a dance

for us. All right. New company policy.

>> Do the same thing. Prime. [laughter]

>> You could just Was it like a talent

show? You could do whatever or like

>> No. No. It was They had choreographers,

choreographers come. We had to do like a

whole thing. We had to practice it for

many many hours.

>> Are you serious? See, I actually I be

that. Yeah. But that's

>> Yes. I could tell you guys also would

make music videos. So, [laughter]

not jocking here, people.

>> I was like, get me on that stage.

[laughter] Anyways,

there you go.

>> That's crazy. They You

>> What? Wait, so what? It was like a Was

it like a It was like a scene from a

musical like they were like you're going

to

>> It kind of makes sense though cuz

Netflix is an entertainment company and

so you're participating in something

entertainment. It's like when I worked

at Twilio and you had to code an app

using the Twilio API in your first few

months there. like there were cohorts of

new employees and you would make your

little app and then that's how you got

your red track jacket and your Kindle

because

>> I thought it was gonna be like you had

to text somebody or something.

[laughter]

>> Yeah, just send a text.

>> But this is like this is like you have

to understand what it's like to be a

phone. [laughter]

>> It's like Netflix being like you have to

understand what it's like to be an

entertainer. [laughter]

>> Someone picks you up and holds you to

the side of their face.

>> I love [laughter] it. You have to you

have to like have someone scream it in

your face and then you repeat something

out to them. Yeah.

>> All right. So, we've never done some

sort of interview when it comes to

releasing some sort of online content of

some sort that's techreated. Uh, and I

think a lot of people in the old

audience have no idea what it takes to

make this type of stuff. So, maybe kind

of walk us through a little bit of the

thought process or how you kind of came

to this conclusion that you should do

this. Like, okay, so you hung out with

TJ, he gave you a mental breakdown.

>> Yeah. Alexis was having a mental

breakdown at the same time and then you

did sketch comedy.

>> Unrelated to me, I think. I'm pretty

sure I did not give Alexis a mental

breakdown. I just want to be on the

record. Okay, good.

>> I'm just saying I was vegan or

something.

>> She saw the video of Ben doing bench

pressing with the dumbbells and just

instant

>> and I was like, "Wow, that's it.

[laughter]

>> I got to work with this guy. I've seen

it all.

>> There's nothing good left on the

internet. We got to team up and make

something." Um, okay. I think maybe uh

the first step of the process was to try

to take something that could take on a

lot of shapes, a lot of forms. You know,

we had this idea sketch comedy show.

Okay. And we knew it would be on the

Kram YouTube channel, but how long is

each episode going to be and how many

episodes are we talking about? And what

do we mean when we say sketches? And so,

I honestly think the first part of the

process, and it evolved as we continued,

was just trying to answer some questions

to give it a shape. And we were okay

with the idea that the shape would

change as we went on, but we had to give

it a little bit of we had to make a

container for us to fill because

otherwise it could have stayed too

theoretical. And sometimes with creative

work for me constraints and making

things tangible is so so so helpful to

being able to just take the first bite.

>> So we started like Yeah, exactly. Like

we were like, okay, how long is an

episode going to be? Uh we kind of, you

know, like 15 minutes around there felt

good. said, "Okay, how many sketches per

episode? Some of them are going to be

bigger, some are going to be shorter."

We we started actually we had like this

session where we went the three of us

hung out in uh in Shima's apartment and

we all like just watched a bunch of like

>> I forgot we did that.

>> We watched like Inside Amy Schumer. We

>> brought we It was like a homework

assignment. We were each supposed to

bring a sketch or two for everyone to

watch that was uh either in some way

influential to us or we felt could be

some of the energy we want to bring into

the show. And that was actually so cool

because we all brought totally totally

different stuff. And if you think back

now, Ben, on the stuff that we brought,

you can see little pieces of it in the

show, can't you?

>> Yeah. 100% 100.

>> What did Shiv bring? That's what I want

to know.

>> Yeah. [laughter]

>> Shiv brought this insane pilot from this

other YouTube channel called Haunted Wii

that we've been huge fans of for a long

time. Um, and I think those guys are now

like on to professional careers in the

entertainment business, but they also

kind of did the same thing where they

would make sketches and they made a

little like YouTube show. If you guys

look up the Haunted Wii U, uh, just look

up Pilot or something. I don't even know

what their show was called, but it it's

actually one of the most unhinged insane

sketch shows I've ever seen. I think

Alexis was like, "This is boring."

>> [laughter]

>> No, I was only scarred by there was

there was like gore that I wasn't

expecting [laughter]

>> in the sketch comedy. But I think what

we really took away from watching that

particular sketch was

>> you can really and I this is something I

hold very dear as a creative value. But

it's like you can just make stuff. You

can truly you can make stuff as long as

you have if as long as your resources

are in line with your vision. And I

think that's what I mean when I was

saying we were trying to pick the right

container. You can truly just make

things happen and you are going to have

to compromise at some point on

something. So is that going to be

quality? Is it going to be scope? Is it

going to be scale? But as long as you

are realistic that Yeah, that sketch in

particular I was like, "Oh yeah, you can

make stuff."

>> Yeah. So that's actually the AI phrase

of the day right now, which is you can

just build things.

>> Oh, I know this.

>> Oh, I know.

>> You can just sketch things. This whole

really was like a you can

>> I was trying not to say it truthfully

because I was just like I can't am I

literally my brain just now I was like

am I about to say you can just build

things and then [laughter] I was like I

can't do that and then it's like what

about you can just ship things don't say

it don't say it Alexis [laughter] don't

say it so I went with you can just make

things and I thought I was going to get

away with it and now in retrospect I

cannot believe that I thought that

>> for Ben in my experience is you can just

record things

>> it's true you can just do

>> as in just EXCLUSIVELY

>> [laughter]

[laughter]

>> NO, WE'RE SHIPPING around here. Things

are different. All right, it's the age

of AI. Okay, we're

>> Yeah,

>> these are not AI generated or created

anyway, but [laughter]

we're inspired by the spirit of

>> embroiled in a controversy before the

show comes out. Ben, I did want to I'll

just pitch this idea anyways to you as

something that would be funny is I do

want to make one a sketch comedy one

where we don't get to control what the

script is at all. We just have to pick

we just say write us a sketch comedy

thing and we have to do the best we can

with the script given to us by an AI.

>> Um I've seen uh I saw a standup comedy

show where they did that. They had

chatbt write sketches and then they

tried to deliver them and they were like

>> nice. Very uh very exactly what you

would expect.

>> Yeah. [laughter]

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly what you expect.

Yeah. Slightly better than DAR average.

>> It's just Darmman for real life.

>> Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It's like Darmman

but like you hired like uh you know some

like famous actor to deliver that script

or something like [laughter]

um but yeah no this is like this whole

show really is like a very like you can

just ship things moment. Like we were

like how many how should the episodes

work? We're like I don't we like this.

Okay, great. You know, we uh

>> we're we're Yeah, we're doing a lot of

uh flying the plane while we build it

kind of stuff. Like we're figuring

things out as we go and hey, we filmed

this and oh, this looks this feels good

over here. Uh we have a lot of uh you

know, fun kind of like little bits that

are really kind of like you they would

never be a standard upload as a

standalone thing, but they're just like

a funny like thing that we're just you

know, throwing in there, you know, stuff

like

>> just a just a just like do like, hey,

this is great. like we'll just do it,

you know, like that.

>> Is it Is it kind of like Robot Chicken a

little bit? Like shorter sketches?

>> Yes. So each each episode has basically

one kind of like flagship sketch that's

the whole episode is built around. Um if

you watch like Portland or something,

they'll do this like you'll show a

little bit of the first part of one

sketch and then they'll do like a

different sketch and they'll come back

to this like main one and do another

part and then do another thing and come

back. So each one has this main outer

sketch that is probably the closest

thing to what like a you know normal

chromam sketch would be but even those

are like different and funny and

interesting new ways and then in between

those kind of beats we have shorter ones

some of them have two parts some of them

just a one parter things we have little

uh little interstitial kind of dads in

there lot of lot of lot of style a lot

of style going into this for real

>> I'm super excited Ben since since you

said something nice about me earlier.

I'll uh we'll we'll say something I'll

say something nice back that's also true

that normally you wouldn't want to hear

from me anyways. But like I for me I'm

excited just cuz I love your videos.

We've talked about before

>> you're my favorite tech YouTuber when

when you were making videos that was

like

>> you're obligated to say I am as as the

CEO of the company.

>> That's not true. U by volume prime

you're my favorite

>> by volume. Okay by our

>> very under the curve you know. Yeah.

[laughter]

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Area under the curve.

So, uh, yeah. So, I'm just excited.

Obviously, like it's been very fun over

the last, I don't know, I guess like

probably what, like a year and a half or

something. We've started to do more

stuff together.

>> Um, maybe longer than that, I guess. I

don't know. I can't remember anything

about dates. But, so, I'm just hyped.

I'm hyped that we're going to get a lot

more Cromam and that you're going to

publish videos because I like watching

them. So, I'm very excited. Yes, that is

absolutely the uh the bottom line too is

like this is about to be like more than

like like four years of chrom output in

the span of a month.

>> Absolutely.

>> I'm interested

>> I'm interested to know like from from

your side what were some of the things

that were like a lot harder than you

expected for making like a sketch and

what was easier because it's like very

different from a lot of the stuff you've

been doing so far.

>> That's that is such an insightful and

great question and

>> thank you. [laughter] I've clip clip

that chat

>> into Chad GP. No, he's just Chad GP.

You're absolutely right.

>> You're absolutely [laughter] right.

>> Your family is trying to kill you.

>> Um, you know, honestly, like something

that I think we expected to be a lot

harder that actually turned out to be a

lot easier was actually like doing all

like this volume of work. I think we

were expecting to be like, "Oh my god,

this is so much.

>> This is like insane. We're gonna be so,

you know, crazy." But actually like when

you are it's kind of like context

switching like when you just are in this

mode of you know doing this you can

really get into a groove and I think

actually some of our best sketches are

the ones that we filmed like the end

like after we got in the groove and we

figured a bunch of stuff out and like

learned okay this is what is going to

work and stuff like so like some of

these some of the best sketches I think

were the ones that we filmed like the in

the end of the process as opposed to

like when we're like freshest or

something but we really were still like

worming stuff. Um,

>> wow. The What's the What was the

hardest? That's interesting.

>> The harder parts of making the show.

>> Yeah, because it hasn't been It has

felt, I guess, um, like an endurance

race, you know. It has We've had long

days. We just shot our final sketch two

days ago, and it was a 12-hour shoot

day. So call time for me and for Ben and

to most of our crew 9:30 and then

leaving the building at 9:30m.

>> So that's like that's an endurance

situation. I think something that we

were really lucky for going into it was

that we've collaborated together several

times and then also like we all come to

the table with pretty complimentary

skill sets and because like as a

threeperson collaboration you can

imagine it can get a little you know

like there are different dynamics when

it's a triangle or a triforce in our

case and um I think we just got so lucky

that we all are uh like more comfortable

with such different parts of it. We It

just let us like play to our strengths,

which I think was nice in this long

endurance race. You know, I say it like

we're done.

>> Yeah, we're not done.

>> Um, so maybe the hardest part is coming

up. I [laughter] You know what?

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah,

come back in three weeks and let's see

if we got through post-prouction.

>> Yes, [laughter]

we're we're just 90% of the way there.

And then, you know, that last It's

always that last 10, you know.

>> Yeah, it's going to be something. All

right. So, Ben, you also uh Alexis, you

quit a while ago, so maybe this won't be

as relevant for you. But Ben, you just

quit doing full-time engineering in the

day and age where everything is

completely unknown.

>> Oh, I know.

>> Permanent underclass is happening here

in like two months. Trust me, bro. It's

happening. AI is going to take all your

jobs. Um, how how is that? How did that

feel doing that kind of jump? Because I

think a lot of people uh in the audience

have startup ideas. They have things

they also want to pursue, but the idea

of making a jump or doing something that

feels a bit risky precludes them from

ever taking any sort of chance. So,

how'd you kind of come up with that

decision? What was the motivating

factor?

>> It's super I mean, the timing is like

crazy of like any other time where

you're like, I'm going to leave my like

software engineering job to go make

videos online. You're like, why would

you leave this stable, easy, great

career that you can, you know, you have

foundation you've been doing for years?

why why not just what are you doing

leaving this sure thing to go do this

unknown thing and actually now it's like

wow the calculus of that decision is a

lot different um when you know you know

obviously many many people getting laid

off or it's so much harder like how many

more years are they going to am I going

to have before I get laid off so uh yeah

the calculus of that decision was a lot

different and it was not you know I it's

not like I saw the writing on the wall

and I was like I got to get out before

the agentic AI revolution happens um

[laughter]

um but that said I think Yeah, in a lot

of ways it was kind of freeing to

make this leap and then be like, you

know, actually the things that I thought

that I was leaving this stable, you

know, sure thing, actually they probably

were not as st like there's a very good

chance I would have been laid off by

this point anyway. And there's a lot of

like empowerment in being like, well,

now I'm just in control of my own

destiny. Like I am doing this thing that

I'm all in on, you know? I mean, I've

always been all in on Kroan, but it's

always been also like half and half. Now

I'm all in on this thing. I'm

controlling my destiny and like it is a

huge risk but you know the the the flip

side's also a huge risk of like not

taking those risks and not

growing and you know learning take like

like taking on these things that feel

risky but you learn and grow from

eventually you will you know

also sort of uh uh you know decay decay

like you know you know um so yeah I

think

>> I'm with Yeah. Yeah.

>> You got to end these a little bit

stronger. Ben, your starting was good.

>> 40 seconds. Yeah. 40 seconds ago. We It

was

>> I was trying to land the plane. I was

like, I got to bring the bell here.

>> I got you.

>> Ben, you just say Alexis, what do you

think? Boom. [laughter] And then pass

it. Pass.

>> Bros.

>> Yeah. I've never been in front of a

microphone before. Camera, please. Yeah.

>> First time on camera. So,

>> the only mic Ben wants to be in front of

is when he's on that hot mic doing

freestyle rap

>> in the stew.

>> In the stew.

Yeah,

>> he's really Yeah. Um,

>> you know, I actually, this was, it's

interesting because I quit 5 years ago,

which was, uh, right at the end of 2020,

which was a risky time in some ways for

very different reasons. Obviously, deep

pandemic. And when I uh quit my job, we

hadn't even we didn't have vaccines or

anything yet. So, everything felt

incredibly uncertain, very in a

different way than it does now, but

there was still a lot of uncertainty.

And something that I think about I

thought about a lot then and I continue

to think about and I talk about when

people ask this question of like risk

and how do you know when to take it or

how do you decide and accepting that

it's scary and unknown and I agree with

everything that Ben said that there is

risk in not doing it. Mhm.

>> But one of the ways that I mitigated

that risk for myself um and for context,

I was leaving a job I absolutely loved.

In my tech career, I worked in tech for

seven years and the last three years was

at Patreon where I ran the creator

partnerships team and I built bisops on

go to market. It was a dynamic job. I

was a manager. I loved it. I'm very

aligned with Patreon as a values. Um

>> did you get a play in the band?

>> No. No.

>> Yes. No. that musical musically. H

that's why I'm not trying to get into

these music videos. [laughter]

>> Same.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

>> Um but so I wasn't like running away

from a bad situation, but I started to

become really curious about what it

would feel like to spend all my time on

comedy because I had been doing it and

really really loving it. And so I

honestly approached it like it was a

business decision. And what I did is I

set myself up with like a six-month

experiment. I was like, "Okay, how much

money would I have to take out of my

savings account to put in this other

account to fund my life for six months?"

Now, I was very fortunate because during

the pandemic, I moved in to my mom's

house, so I wasn't paying rent. That's

like a huge privilege to be able to do

that. But by designing this as like an

experiment, it made it so much less

like, okay, I got to go all in and then

if if if this doesn't work out, then

like all this bad stuff is going to

happen. It was just do this for 6

months, focus fully on the creative, and

if the end of 6 months you're out of

money, really ask yourself, do you love

this? Are you loving this? Because if

the answer is no, it's too hard, go

back. And if the answer is yes, you're

loving it, but you're not making money,

then pivot to figuring out how to make

money. But I gave myself like a really

manageable situation to handle. I was

like, just 6 months, I want to know how

this feels. So, I often share that

framework because it also made it um for

me like financially not feel like I was

going to ruin my life.

>> There was a very set amount of money I

was willing to invest in myself. And I

think that helped my fear or I think it

helps you mitigate your risk on the

day-to-day because you're not just like

watching your account balance go down

and down and down which for a lot of

people would also make it very hard to

then come from a like creative excited

place.

Yeah, I I remember similarly like having

a very like the same conversation with

my wife when we were talking about like

should I leave my software job and then

do YouTube and Twitch stuff full-time

and then that obviously morphed quite a

bit over like joining up with Prime and

we're doing like way different

>> stuff than I was expecting we were going

to be doing like you know we just did

the the social network parody last week

in San Francisco for like a crazy live

stream and that was not like on my

things I thought we were going to get

into uh together after I quit to do like

YouTube videos and everything.

[clears throat] But yeah, similarly just

setting aside some money and saying like

hey like okay well if this isn't working

in this amount of time we just we just

go back to the grind and try and get a

new tech job. Like it was nice

>> at least for me like for doing I was

still doing programming stuff like I

still in programming so it was at least

not even it wasn't even so far a field

as like oh I'm completely dropping the

programming thing and I'm just doing

comedy that was like nice as a like

>> risk mitigation for this of like well at

least I'm still coding you know like I'm

still coding and

>> I can I can go back to that if I need

to. It's so funny that like now like

like [clears throat]

in 2024 or something if I was like I'm

gonna leave but in six months like I'll

come back and like hey I can go you know

it'll be fine but now I'm like man like

>> I don't know wow if I come in six month

like with the job what the people that I

was working with are doing now is

probably so crazily different than what

I was doing

>> six months ago. But also at the same

time like I have I have I have open code

on my computer. I throw in like I'm

doing it too.

>> Is it running on exotic devices?

>> I'm running on all kinds of all kinds of

I got a Raspberry Pi on it.

>> I I had to use Ben's computer on set on

Monday. It was a real moment of shared

trust. We had to switch laptops for a

scene and we and and have them like on

and usable and we were both and I was

kind of like all righty I have an open I

don't know so good luck in there. And I

opened Ben's computer and um just first

of all the amount of open terminals I

was just like [laughter] what are you

making?

I'm like literally nothing.

>> And there's several. Not like, oh, Ben's

working on one project. So many. Okay. I

I'm like, minimize, minimize, minimize.

[laughter] Discord. I'm like, minimize.

Then finally, we're at Chrome. And I'm

like, all right. Like, let's just I'll

just quickly click. And it is Twilight

Imperium, Twilight Imperium, Twilight

Imperium, Twilight [laughter] Imperium,

Reddit, Reddit, Reddit, Reddit. And I

was just like, you know what? It this

man is who he says he is. This is who he

is. There's no there's nothing else I

can do. [laughter]

>> It was beautiful. I was like, man, you

keep peeling back the onion and there's

just more onion and I love to see it.

>> Yes. I literally I had like seven

terminals open cuz I was like the I was

like, "Oh, this one's going to be, you

know, I was doing I was I was really

living the agentic AI life."

>> Oh, love to hear it.

>> I was I was like, "Oh, this one's going

to be my front end engineer. This one's

going [laughter] to be my back." And I'm

like, I'm like, "Okay, what do you

think?" You know,

>> you literally, you sound like me playing

the Sims, by the way.

>> That's how it is. Yeah. These one of

those things I've seen these on on

Twitter and stuff like uh they're like

realtime strategy games where you can

move your little avatar and that's your

AI agent and you go like move them over.

Yeah. [laughter]

>> Is this how I get into coding?

>> Yeah. Prime. The person we should talk

to that'd be funny is Ken. Ben, have you

seen Ken's thing about posting about

he's got a gorilla who's in charge of

all of his agents and he like he has all

these other agents. They're all

different animals and they like fight

each other to determine which is the

best idea. And then his gorilla agent,

he hooked it up to a 3D printer and he

printed a 3D printed statue of the

gorilla. And the gorilla is like,

"Finally, my first embodiment. Thank

you, Ken, for giving me a physical

presence in this world and I can escape

the confines of this god

>> silicon fortress or something like

that." It was crazy.

>> Ken is Ken is really he's really an

animal guy. Like I He has some like I

saw him like he has some thing for like

watching

>> pit for a reason.

>> Yeah. He's a real animal lover.

[laughter]

>> Yeah. It was crazy though. So funny.

>> I was like, you know, I'm using this

thing and I like it's so like I made a

little I just made like a little like

garden sandbox game cuz I was like I

just want to do this just to do AI

stuff, you know, because that's what you

got to do. And I just made a little game

where like you simulate little tiles of

a thing. It makes a little grid, you

know, whatever. Then I'm like, "Okay,

great. make a little demo web page and

it brings up a little demo web page and

I look at it and then I'm like okay now

look at the demo web page and tell me

what's good or not like just you you

just like I don't care you're telling me

you have these skills and all you did

was change this the music at the tower I

feel like we could have used we could

have used your propit proper aentic AI

engineering skills

>> I've been learning a lot I've been

learning a lot since then you know good

to know

>> I know I know Beacon talks a lot about

his you know his his thousand followers

let me tell you

>> talks a

I was writing stopped at Began and talks

a lot. It just

>> Oh, [laughter] great point, Ben. He has

stolen valor on some of those songs from

I Ghost wrote a lot of those prompts.

>> That's a great point. [laughter]

>> Yeah, Alexis, I don't know if you know

Ben came to a water tower and we made a

video game in a 24hour live 24 hours a

day like

>> I think we had a Zoom call when he was

at the water tower.

>> Yeah.

>> Does that sound right?

>> Yeah, that that happened. Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> That's awesome. Oh yeah,

>> but he was mostly just writing songs.

[laughter]

>> He was writing songs and doing standup

meetings.

>> Correct.

>> Ben's got that song in him, you know?

He's got a song in his heart and it

needs

>> needs to get out.

>> Yeah,

>> needs to get out.

>> I'm really learning that I Yeah, I

should pursue music. [laughter]

>> You can do that on March 11th.

>> On March 11th, go for it.

>> I can't wait till we have another

episode next year. We get Ben back on.

He's like, "All right, we just released

my 12-part album on the Crosam YouTube

channel [laughter]

>> with me, TJ Began. We're we're going to

be a do we're a trio."

>> A duo.

>> Ben, I am so down. You tell me. You tell

me the time. We'll make it happen. I'm I

don't even need to hear the idea. I want

to make it happen.

>> I cannot wait for you to hear the idea

that you've agreed to. [laughter]

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> On March 11. That's what

>> Yeah. March. Yeah. No one is allowed to

talk about any

>> right [laughter] after this show.

>> Yeah, Ben, also if you need Mima, I'm

your guy. Okay.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> I'm your guy. [laughter]

>> Mima guy.

>> I have one in my office right here.

>> He's the Mima.

>> He plays the Mima.

>> People know that.

>> That's awesome.

>> Mima, for those that don't know, is just

like a xylophone.

>> As for huge xylophone. [laughter]

Oh, no. It's the

>> That's Tony is what you're thinking of.

I play that as well, but I don't have

any of those at my house. Not as fun.

>> You play Tee knows all the percussion

instruments. Okay. You come in there and

you misspeak about one, he's going to

correct you on the name. I'll let you

know.

>> I really I learned so much already.

>> I'm not offended. I'm not offended.

Don't worry. Everyone calls them the

wrong names all the time.

>> Yeah.

>> So, do you have a full-size Mima?

>> Yeah, five octave.

>> What? What, TJ? What of all the

instruments, why what drew you to the

Mima?

>> Great question, Ben. Thank you. So when

I was a child [laughter]

um okay well the actual answer I played

concert percussion like all the way

through even like college. So I played

all the different all the instruments at

the back of the orchestra for

percussion. I can do all

>> favorite movie along with TJ's is Drum

Line. They talk a lot.

>> That's true. Drum line is amazing. Also

Ben if you're not ending every meeting

with one band one sound you're you're

losing out as a team. I but uh for for

the chat I have been in meetings with

these guys and they do literally end

every meeting with one band.

>> Yeah, that's not a joke.

[laughter]

>> What is that?

>> The movie Drumline. Great movie. Um

>> I haven't seen it.

>> Nick Cannon.

>> Nick Cannon. You might have heard

>> it used to be on TBS all the time.

>> Yeah.

>> Remember that era in which it was on TBS

non-stop?

>> Oh, most definitely.

>> Um anyways, they talk about one

bandwidth sound. Oh, but okay. Mima. So,

the reason I like it is because I think

it sounds really pretty. That's really

the answer.

>> It does sound very pretty.

>> What's your favorite song to play on the

Mima?

>> Um, I like the the one that's closest to

my heart is uh Yellow After the Rain.

That's the first solo that I ever

learned on Mima, but uh I don't have a

huge repertoire right now of different

songs. My my practicing has gone down

significantly

uh after adding three kids to my life.

So

>> that was a different it was a different

time when it was just me and my wife

hanging at the house and I had a mima in

the office. I could practice. Uh it

doesn't happen as much anymore.

>> You're not you're not just you're not

just prompting your agents. You know

you're playing the morima. You got the

going.

>> I got to set up voice dictation or like

I can play the mima and it like types

into the agent and that's my my song

engineer and he's writing something for

me.

>> What an incredible world we live in.

Brent, do you play instruments? Do you

play anything?

>> Uh I guitar and bass guitar. I played

guitar for 15 years, did a bunch of

lessons, did all that. I got pretty good

at one point.

>> Yeah. I was

>> I also did this thing where you have

kids and then you never touch an

instrument again.

>> Yeah.

>> I I can relate. I have I have a bunch of

agents, you know, it's kind of

>> the same thing. [laughter]

[snorts]

>> I've been It's an extensive agent MD

file. I mean, it's practically my child.

>> Literally, it's called child.md. Okay.

That's at soul.

>> Soul.MD. Yeah,

>> soul.md.

>> My claw bot that I gave a soul to and

then deallocated it because it was

insecure. [laughter]

They you when you make a claw, when you

make a open claw, you go through this

little thing and they're like, "What do

you what do you what do you bequeath to

me in my soul and you give it like it's

like what am I

>> really?" Yeah.

>> Yeah. Then then it then it drifts and

then it just makes up its own soul can

change

>> and then I shut it down. I'm like I

don't I don't trust you. And I killed

it.

>> [laughter]

>> Dang. That's pretty much like murder,

Ben. Just so you know.

>> I am

>> in some states.

>> I don't know if I

>> You're lucky you're not in California,

buddy.

>> That's right. [laughter]

>> You put him on ice is what you did when

he gets real.

>> Cryogenesis. Yeah. [laughter]

>> Yeah.

>> Walt Disney's head over here.

>> Prime. I have like a I have like a

vision in my head of you like playing

bass.

I love ba bass was my favorite

instrument because it's the only

instrument uh see like when you're

playing guitar and you're really into it

you do this but when you're playing bass

guitar and you're really into it you say

no like it's kind of sneaky

>> it's a good

>> hell yeah

>> and it's just like fun and slapping was

really fun I like the I like the this

you know the they you know

>> taking it for a walk

>> that thing yeah yeah yeah

>> yeah [laughter]

>> that you just like that thing

>> we start why are we what are we doing

with this uh YouTube and sketch comment.

We should be making a band and getting

on tour.

>> Thank you, Ben. What are you bringing to

the band? What's What are you bringing?

>> I'll be [laughter] I'll be uh I'll be

rapping. TJ will be

>> rapping up front lead man vocals.

>> So, I just want to Sorry, just to So, we

have Mima.

>> Yeah.

>> Bass.

>> Sure.

>> And a rapper.

>> Yeah.

>> All right.

>> First of its kind.

>> First ever of its kind.

>> Hey, I can play I can also play

vibrophone.

>> Oh, and sorry. And the Tony. I'm sorry.

Sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

>> Exactly. We can also play the really big

standup drum.

>> Yeah, perfect.

>> I can do that. Maybe one concert it's

just a triangle. That's it. You just

just hit the triangle. Just little, you

know, I I got I got a lot in the back

pocket. Deep.

>> Yeah. Do the symbols just right.

>> That's true. There's a lot more to

symbols than you than you would think.

There's a lot more to it. You don't just

smash them together. There's a there's a

technique. I tried out for uh my high

school drum line back in the day because

my friend was running it and I was the

only person not to uh make the to never

to not get accepted from the audition. I

tried [laughter] the

>> I was cuz it was like that's the easiest

one. Just do the symbols and literally

they're like we can't you can't

[laughter]

>> you got rejected from a high school

band? I didn't even think they could do

that.

>> Yes, I [laughter] was the only person

they ever rejected.

>> It's tough. That hurts a little bit.

>> Yeah,

>> that's tough.

>> Yeah, [laughter]

>> Ben, let's channel Let's channel that

into a sketch.

>> Let's bring Let's Let's bring that

>> I will say I do feel that energy is

channeled in almost every single sketch.

Guy who didn't make [laughter] it into

the high school marching band

surprisingly

with us at all times.

>> Yeah,

>> that is that is a very interesting

energy to bring to the table for someone

to be like, you kind of strike me as a

person who failed his high school

percussion try out. Yeah, but be honest.

Is anybody surprised that that's true?

>> I feel like they should have let you in

just for being

>> I'm surprised

like one of my like best friends ran the

drum line.

>> Oh, you just you were just hoping for

nepotism, Ben.

>> Uh I was expecting nepotism. Yes, I was

fully on. [laughter]

>> I'm just saying if it was my drum line,

Ben, I would have found a spot for you.

>> You You say that, but you didn't hear

that.

>> Me, too. Me, too.

>> No, I had I had some kits on my drum

line that we found spots for. Okay. I

would have found a spot for you.

>> Hey, I'll come out. I'll come out. I'll

audition again.

>> I do like how the story of Ben's life is

failed at a symbols try out. I guess

I'll go be a engineer at Amazon.

>> I mean, [laughter] I'm going to show

>> I I fell down in life.

>> I was like and but in my heart I've

always wanted to be a musician and I'm

just trying [laughter]

>> and we're gonna make it happen.

>> Where is this coming from?

>> I don't know.

>> I never hear.

>> I don't know. Alexis teach us the same

thing. Every meeting is like, "Dude, we

should [laughter] just start a band

instead." Like, I know this is working

out.

>> It's

>> I don't know.

>> Yeah, I know this is working out. We're

creating the stuff we're most proud of

in our lives. We're having fun and

everyone is enjoying themselves. But I

really wish we would do something

completely different. [laughter] Like,

>> we can find a way to integrate music and

sketch comedy. There's got to be a way.

That's a constraint. We're adding a new

constraint. Alexis, you said you like

constraints. So yeah, musical is not a

necessary I want. [laughter]

>> We'll see. Maybe in maybe in the maybe

in season two.

>> Yeah,

>> I would just say no now. I wouldn't say

[laughter] yes. I would just say no now.

>> You know, there's like a Drake song.

He's like ballers want to be rappers and

rappers want to be ballers. It's kind of

like that.

>> Dang, that's deep.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

>> I wasn't expecting Drake to come up.

>> Well, it's that was that's always always

on the forefront of his mind. [laughter]

>> He's always right there.

>> He's always right there for Ben. He's

like, "That could have been me if I just

made my high school marching band."

>> That's literally

>> me and Drake.

>> Hey guys, if you like this episode, you

can watch the rest of it on the Spotify.

And don't forget to like and subscribe.

Woo! See you later.

>> Boot up [singing and music] today

errors on my [music] screen.

Ter

living the dream.