Shane Dawson
I have a P.O. Box that I get about 50 letters a day that my mom picks up, and a lot of weird gifts I like to show on my videos.Collection: Mom
Love who you want to love. Life is short. Nobody's going to hate you for it.Collection: Love
I'm not saying that I don't like the stuff I put out into the world, because I genuinely enjoy my videos and think they are funny. What I'm saying is that I embrace the fact that I have a punchable face, and that if I could punch myself without feeling it, I would.
I'm not really gay, and I can't sit here and say that I am, because that's not real and that's not genuine. But I also can't sit here and say that I'm straight. This is something I've come to the conclusion through therapy and from being honest with myself. I am bisexual.
I've been wanting to do some type of video about the idea that YouTubers have to have some kind of personality disorder, something right, to do what we do. Putting ourselves on camera all the time, being so open on camera all the time, having conventions with our name in it. There has to be something.
I can honestly say that I am open to love in any way. I guess that makes me bisexual.
YouTube opened up a lot of doors.
I get it, okay? I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be giving Jake Paul a platform.
I want to know the psychology of a YouTuber... do you think, to be a YouTuber, you have to have something off?
No matter what somebody thinks about your videos or whatever, everyone can agree how much work it is.
I started making videos when I was, like, seven or eight.
I lost a lot of weight, when I was 18, on Jenny Craig.
I started pitching shows and sold a show, 'Losin It,' about my Jenny Craig days. It never was made. I think it didn't work, partially because I didn't write it.
'Mad TV' is one of my most favorite shows of all time and is a huge part of my obsession with sketch comedy.
Anybody could be a sociopath. Anybody.
I'm proud that I don't make crazy jokes anymore.
I'd wanted to be a director since I was five and had been making videos since I was a kid. Then YouTube came around during high school. I was making videos, and it was just a place to put them, like storage.
YouTube has a stigma about only kids watching it. That's true. It is mostly kids and teenagers who watch it. But I've never made videos for teenagers. They should not be watching my videos.
Howard Stern is one of my idols.
I love interviewing people and getting them to talk about things they've never talk about.
I was not really worried about what people thought of me or how offensive my jokes were. I was just kind of saying whatever I wanted, and that gave me the reputation of being this crazy, loose cannon, you know, psycho guy. It still kind haunts me to this day. Like, 'Oh, Shane Dawson - that guy's nuts.'
On YouTube, you know, if you say something, you know, that triggers somebody, it becomes a whole controversy, a whole thing - and all the comments and everybody's upset, whereas a book, there's no comment section. There's no - there's nowhere for the audience to, you know, get mad at you for saying something.
I kind of made the decision early on to be extremely open about everything and just pretend like all of these people watching were my close friends that I could tell stuff to and be honest with.
I hate when people cheat.
I'm just an innocent guy with a dirty mouth, I guess.
For the record, I don't really hate myself, but I do hate the way I portray myself online.
Online, I'm this loud, outrageous, confident guy who acts like nothing bothers him, and he has the whole world at his fingertips. In reality, I'm a shy, quiet guy who would rather spend his nights lying in bed watching Netflix than being a valuable member of society.
If you go through my Instagram feed, it's like a flip book of me thinking I'm way more attractive than I am. It's nauseating.
I think competition turns people into what they normally wouldn't be.
I think I'm used to competition. YouTube is a daily competition. I'm used to that, and I'm used to hate coming from everywhere on the Internet.
I have kind of a thick skin.
I don't think I'll be doing daily videos forever.
The biggest thing I learned is directors don't make a lot of money on a movie.
I always wished that I was gay, that I was just 100 percent gay - for so many reasons. No. 1, that means I would know who I was. No. 2, it would be a lot easier for me to be accepted by people because I wear wigs and dresses on the Internet, and I'm feminine and all these things. It'd be so much easier to be just like, 'Yeah, I'm gay.' But I'm not.
There are a lot of coming out videos of people who are gay or lesbian, and they're so confident. But it made me cry because I'm not that. I don't know who I am 100 percent.
I was morbidly obese. It was a way for me to create a shell around me so that nobody would look at me.
Everybody loves a Keurig.
I love podcasts, so I thought I'd try one.
I thought I'd be on TV and movies - that's what I really wanted - and I can't believe I didn't need to do that. I did it on my own with just me and my camera. That's very, very weird.
It sounds super cliche, but staying true to yourself and what you are works.
Make the videos that you want to watch. Don't think about who is going to be upset or offended.
I think Jake Paul doesn't know who I am.
I have spoofed celebrities before, but it's hard for me because I picture them watching it.
For me, it's always fun to have people that do the same thing as you or and have the same work ethic as you. A lot of my friends have YouTube channels, and I use them in my videos, and I'm in their videos.
It's fun to be around people who don't think I'm creepy for making videos in my bedroom on the Internet.
People who don't know me are going to be surprised by how much I don't take myself seriously.
I know what I do for a living is ridiculous.
I didn't think I could pull off a novel.
Not everybody is either gay or straight.
You don't need to figure out exactly who you are right now. Just live your life.