With over 1 billion channels on YouTube worldwide, how can you possibly know which ones to waste your valuable time watching? With so many channels to choose from, it is impossible to hit even close to all of the best. Regardless, here are a few of my favorite channels to help get your foray into the best time-waster on earth started.
Movies
I can usually tell if a movie is going to be good or not from the trailer. Still, I’ve been disappointed enough times that now I seek a little guidance before spending that hard-earned $11.50 to see a movie. That’s where Jeremyjahns comes in. There are a ton of channels with the same style—lone person talking to a camera—but none of them are quite as witty while still being smart and insightful. Plus, he has an interesting and unique rating scale that features such gems as “A good time if you’re drunk” and the top mark of “Awesometacular.”
The movie-parody genre is also well represented, with such well-known channels as Cinemasins, Screen Junkies and How It Should Have Ended. You know that one friend who points out every little plot hole and flaw in every movie you watch? That’s Cinemasins, a channel completely dedicated to picking apart movies, good and bad, while their witty, sardonic narrator reads off the “sins.” Screen Junkies is the most diverse of the three, offering live shows, debates and discussions of movie news. However, the reason the channel is so well known is their hilarious “Honest Trailer” segments, fake trailers that parody well-known movies. They are even narrated with a perfect movie trailer voice. Then there’s HISHE, a completely animated channel. It originally focused on parodying movie endings, but eventually began to incorporate the rest of the movies as well. This channel has a soft spot for superhero movies.
Others worth checking out: Nostalgia Critic, Red Letter Media, SchmoesKnow, Chris Stuckman
Video Games
Some people are good at video games. Some people suck at them. Then there are the type of people like penguinz0 who are fun to watch just because of the off-the-wall things they say while playing. The man behind the channel has never shown his face and has over 1 million subscribers. Known online as Cr1TiKaL, his videos are simply him playing a game and commenting on the action. The sheer variety of games he plays, plus the hilarious commentary makes the channel well worth a watch.
The Game Theorists is a channel dedicated to blowing the minds of gamers. Just about every popular video game has a number of theories dedicated to it (particularly Nintendo games for some reason), and this channel sets out to research and prove the validity of these theories with deep (almost unreasonably so) research on the topic.
Others worth checking out: Dorkly, SeaNanners Gaming Channel, PewDiePie, various Minecraft channels
Miscellaneous
Plenty of channels don’t have a particular theme. The most popular channel on YouTube to date is ERB, home to the Epic Rap Battles of History. The battles pit two famous people in hilarious wars of words set to surprisingly catchy music. Collegehumor offers some of YouTube’s better sketch comedy (including a hysterical Dark Knight parody series). For those classic “who would win in a fight” debates, there is ScrewAttack!, a channel that breaks down two powerful fictional characters’ abilities and chooses a winner based on their research. The guys over at Dude Perfect will wow you with some awfully impressive basketball trick shots, then make you roll laughing at their “stereotypes” videos. When I was compiling the list for this article, I had no fewer than five people suggest Jenna Marbles. And why not? Her personality-laced vlog style videos are hilarious and have helped transform her into not only a YouTube star, but a pop culture icon. I was also told that makeup and cooking channels are big on YouTube. That led me to Tanya Burr. She’s British, and has a cool accent. Her channel also taught me a bit about cooking, fashion and how to apply makeup for a Friday night out. Yes, I’ll only end up using two of those.
Happy YouTubing!