Interview · moment 2 of 23
Introducing Joe Santagato and the Elite Daily Days
from Behind the Youtube (with Joe Santagato) · #52
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Tim welcomes YouTuber/podcaster Joe Santagato and they reminisce about Elite Daily's cheap viral content mill, including absurd prompts like 'what is a fuckboy' and comparing trans people to kale, plus Joe's awkward gig auditioning broke comedians for videos.
- 2:25Tim did videos for Elite Daily, including one called "What Is a Fuck Boy."
- 2:50Elite Daily's format: show up to a nice office with studios and green screens, then get assigned absurd prompts like "Which Disney character would you like to fuck."
- 3:01Tim refused to write jokes for the videos, preferring to wing it because the premise didn't seem worth the effort.
- 3:47The whole operation was driven by whatever was trending that week, with no creative vision beyond capitalizing on the moment.
- 4:27Elite Daily paid fifty bucks per video, which Tim now sees as evidence of how tragic that period of his life was.
- 4:43Joe had to conduct auditions for Elite Daily at 21 years old, evaluating comedians ten years his senior who came in rattling off jokes.
- 5:07Joe compiled a list of comedians in the New York City area and had them audition by answering questions while he sat behind a desk judging their jokes.
Joe SandigatoElite Daily