Kassem Gharaibeh is a man of many talents with an interesting story behind him, and an exciting new project on the horizon. After years of working retail and performing live stand-up, Kassem became a viral star on YouTube, went on to co-found Maker Studios, and won a 2013 Streamy Award for Best Host. Now, he is joining G4's line up of hosts for the network's hotly anticipated relaunch.
In an exclusive interview with Game Rant, Kassem spoke about his journey to stardom, how he came to be involved with G4, and the unique perspective he hopes to bring to the network. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Game Rant: You’ve had quite a journey in entertainment, and life in general. From working retail, to winning the 2013 Streamy for best host, to co-founding Maker Studios. Can you tell us a little bit about those adventures?
Kassem Gharaibeh: Well, I can you, retail was among the most exciting. No, just kidding. I think what makes my story relatable is that I worked a regular job for a long time, and kinda spun my wheels in college, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. What kind of interests I had, you know? I took an Improv class at my local college. Had a great teacher who really encouraged me to do more comedy. And without spinning my wheels for a while, you know, working to just pay the bills, I never would have found my place, I don’t think.
Working at Best Buy specifically… Well. I’ve always been a gadget guy. Technology has always been important to me. I’m an early adopter. So I buy a lot of technology that doesn’t have the bugs worked out yet. I pay for that opportunity. That’s one thing that I think translates over to what I’m doing now.
Essentially I went from retail to live performance. While I worked at Best Buy, I joined an early YouTube star and he held my hand through the community. At the time, I didn’t know YouTube was anything more than a place to upload clips. And he showed me this viral cat video that had a 100k hits, and how he interacted with his fans, and produced videos routinely and my eyes were opened. So we started shooting short videos together. We’d spend an afternoon making the video, then he would upload it and we’d get one hundred-thousand views over night. And that same night, I would go do stand-up at empty Chinese restaurants for people who were there to eat, and not, you know, listen to comedy.
It was clear to me there was something happening that I should pay attention to. So I decided to go all-in on the internet. There were a couple lean years there, where I really needed that next paycheck. I pulled money out of my 401K, which they tell you never to do, but I just didn’t have an option at the time, and it gave me enough money to fill the gap before I started making some legitimate money on YouTube. This was probably around 2009.
What happened then was probably not too dissimilar to what happened to G4 in the early days. There were people who saw something before a lot of other people did, and we kind of doubled and tripled down on it. I was lucky enough to start a studio, and at the time, the sole purpose of that was to provide resources for more content. Cameras, and computers, and green screens. Investors came in and that company ended up growing, becoming bigger, and being sold.
By the time 2012-2013 came around, I was kind of feeling burnt out on YouTube. There were a lot of people who still thought it was very fresh, but I was kind of tired of playing...whatever YouTube game there was to play. So I started to scale back the amount of content I produced. Because, to sustain that level of, YouTube celebrity, or whatever you want to call it…it took a lot. And it was starting to take a toll on my mental health. There were a lot of things I wanted to do outside of YouTube. I wanted to pitch shows traditionally. Do comedy. Stuff that a lot of people saw as going backwards, but I wanted to branch out beyond YouTube.
That’s my very quick backstory and come up story.
GR: How did you come to be involved with the G4 relaunch?
KG: I’ve always been a gadget guy, a comics guy, I liked video games and I was also a G4TV viewer. You know, X-Play and Attack of the Show! hit me right in the sweet spot. In my early twenties seeing shows dedicated to the stuff I was into, on TV, was like, mind blowing. And the fact that they were interactive, with the G4TV web-forums… at the time they were very cutting edge ways to interact with audiences. And I was the target demographic for that stuff. I was so impacted by their formats and the personalities they had.
So when there was talk of a revival of G4, it was one of the few things in a long time that I was, really, really gung-ho for. It was something I really wanted. So I talked to my management about it, I talked to people behind the scenes about it, and I really tried to showcase why I would be in a good position and serve everyone well. Like sure, I have hosting experience, but there was always a comedic side to G4 that I just loved. It was irreverent. It was not afraid to make a bad joke. It built inside jokes with audiences.
That’s really what I aspired to do on YouTube, and what I really want to do for G4 moving forward. That is so appealing to me as a creator. And on top of that, being able to engage with the community over YouTube—you know, in ways I’m familiar with, but also in newer ways—doing things with Twitch, and Discord…. I just logged into G4’s Discord today, and it is so vibrant and active. The fanbase is so self-aware. And having access to that is just inspiring.
G4 tried to do this stuff before, but they were a little ahead of their time. The technology just wasn’t there yet. But now there have been so many shifts and we have a like, a perfect storm to embody what they wanted to do in the past.
GR: Can you tell us a bit more about what you will be doing for G4? What do you personally want to bring to the network?
KG: I think what I can bring... part of what I did on YouTube was interacting with people at conventions, and man on the street stuff, which I really want to do with G4. Some of the best episodes of Attack of the Show! and X-Play were when they were at E3. Or they were at the Tokyo Gameshow, and I always looked forward to what they would bring back with them.
To me, that’s when I’m at my best: Interacting with the public. Like, Goldenboy is one of my favorite commentators with e-sports. He has such a vast knowledge of video games, and I have no problem admitting that’s not my area, but I do feel like everyone who has been announced so far brings their own specialty, and my specialty is audience interaction. Improvising live. That is my strongest muscle, I think.
GR: G4 was a touchstone of gaming culture in its heyday. Are you looking to any of the previous hosts or shows for inspiration, or do you have fond memories of the original network?
KG: Engaging with people like Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira, has been so surreal to me, because I’ve only seen them on television. Sessler is my favorite games reviewer, and being able to sit down with him on a live stream with him for two hours, discussing comic books and games is... There’ve been moments where I’m like, floating outside my body and it’s like: “you’re in the middle of a live stream with Adam Sessler. Maybe you’re staring at him a little too hard.”
GR: You've already touched on how G4 was a bit ahead of its time as a TV network. Now that we’ve switched to a more online paradigm, how do you think that will affect the relaunch of G4?
KG: Well, I think you’ve already started to see some of that with B4G4 content, which has largely been on YouTube and Twitch, and I would assume that will just keep moving and evolving. In terms of the programming itself, though there are format changes, G4 has always been good at engaging with their audience, and we now have more tools to do that. Instead of you know, dialing a phone number, getting through a phone screener, or faxing something live to a guy in a bear costume.
There are so many different places we can put a single piece of content that gives us the ability to engage with the people we specifically want to engage with. While, with TV, you have an idea of the demographic on that channel, but on Twitch we have the ability to really snipe our viewership. There’s an endless stream of possibility with the current landscape we have now.
GR: Are there any topics you’d personally like to cover on G4 apart from gaming?
KG: Yeah! I personally really enjoy lots of pieces of pop culture that include TV, movies, and comic books.
On the video game side of things… you know, yesterday there was a stream with Sessler going on for like 20 minutes about the most off-beat games that I have never heard of, and while that really interests me, there’s not a lot I can give except a random joke here and there. But where Sessler and I really cross paths is in comic books. We’ve had a lot of great discussions about titles we’ve both had affinities for, and I think we’re going to try to incorporate that in upcoming streams.
I’m also really into paranormal stuff, and I really hope whoever’s in charge will let me sort of spread my wings, but realistically we’ll have to see how the audience deals with that first [laughing]. But there is a lot of potential stuff I’ve been involved with that we can fit into the Deep Lore. So, I can plug into film, comics, and TV right away, then hopefully branch into some more eccentric topics.
GR: What comics are you reading now?
KG: I just finished Paper Girls, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s what I thought a show like Stranger Things had the potential to maybe be? But the themes were more interesting to me. The use of time travel to have different versions of characters, you know, older and young. When it first came out, I was like “Is this gonna be a teenie-bopper comic?” but as a 37-year-old man I really enjoyed the read, and there was a ton I related to. I just bought The Department of Truth at Sessler’s recommendation. We were talking about comics, he asked if I had read it, I hadn’t, so I just bought it right then on Amazon, and it’s being delivered today. That’s something I’ll be reading over the weekend and discussing on Monday’s stream.
My favorite comic book is Transmetropolitan. That’s my favorite comic of all time. It’s something I really hope to see adapted to TV or film. Probably a TV series one day, god willing. Saga is really great, you know, whenever they decide to make issues. Sweet Tooth. Anything by Jeff Lemire, I’m a sucker for, and I’m anxiously waiting for the Y: The Last Man adaptation they’re working on.
And you know, all these titles are important, because they are what influence TV culture. That’s what happened with The Walking Dead. Some people can argue about the quality of the life of the TV series, but you know, it’s made a giant impact in TV and film. Like there were zombies before, but there weren’t really zombies before. And I just like to stay current. This medium allows for a lot of stuff you cannot show on network TV, and some stuff you can show on cable TV, but with mixed results.
GR: Streaming, YouTubing, and general online content creation have become highly aspirational careers, but as it gets more popular, it becomes harder than ever to stand out from the crowd. Do you have any advice for creatives starting their career?
KG: My advice would be… something that I’ve noticed is, standing out is important, but when I was starting out there were like six buckets of things you could do. There was news. There was comedy. There was beauty. Y’know, maybe sports and fitness?
Now, just yesterday, I watched a 45-minute video of somebody reviewing a backpack? And I was like, “well, this is probably a very niche thing, it probably doesn’t get a lot of...” but he had 250K views. And 100K subscribers. His whole thing is reviewing backpacks. If you are passionate about something, and you can convey that passion in a way that also meets a certain level of production quality. You can carve out a lane for yourself.
You don’t need a million subscribers to support yourself. If you’re on YouTube, you get revenue there, but if you’re also on Twitch, there are donations. You can funnel people to a Patreon. There are so many solutions now that we didn’t have back in the day. So I don’t know if that popularity we had back in the day, is really needed now.
I know there are people who say it’s impossible to make it online now, and it is hard, because there is a sea of people doing so much. But if a guy can get a 100K subscribers on a bag review, it really shows you there’s an opportunity for anyone. If you go to Twitch’s IRL channel, or just chatting, there are people sleeping with 10 thousands concurrent viewers. I’ve seen people cooking. I’ve seen people just walking around… I think there is something to people forming a relationship with the person that they like that creates a very close relationship. It’s weird, because it is kind of a close relationship even though you don’t ever necessarily meet.
GR: Are there any fellow content creators out there whom you enjoy and deserve a shout out? People our readers might not know?
KG: Should I shout out this bag guy? [Chuckling]
On Twitch, SushiDragon, is one of the most technically savvy people I’ve ever seen. He utilizes a ton of cameras, green screens, and... You’ve really got to see him to understand what he does. It’s like he does music videos with quality video editing, but it’s all done live. He’s really funny. And he’s always one of the people I show people, when I am describing what is possible online versus, what you think a YouTuber or Twitch gamer is. There’s also CodeMiko. She’s a developer who has created a fictional character she controls live. Those two I think are specifically on the bleeding edge.
And there are users like Alli Speed, who are personality streamers. She has what she calls “The Feral Fam” on Twitch. She is somebody I’ll put on when I just want to hear a voice in the background. She’s just so wholesome and she is a good friend. Layne Pavoggi is also in that category, who streams games and is a friend of mine. And I’ll just put on because... I dunno if that means I’m lonely, at home or not? But I put these Twitch streamers on in the background at home, and I think these people just deserve more viewers. And if they already have a ton now? Even more wouldn’t hurt.
GR: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about you or your collaboration with G4?
KG: I’ve mentioned this on the subreddit and on YouTube, but I am an old G4 viewer, and I want the things I loved about G4 to come back. But I want the company to do it in a way that reflects what’s happening right now. I love the new faces that have been announced. And I think the ones that have yet to be announced, people are really gonna enjoy. On the inside, I understand what they want in terms of the old stuff. Our goal is to bring everything they loved about old G4, to preserve that original chemistry, add in some new faces, and do everything bigger and better than before—if that is possible—and I think it is.
[End.]