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The Create Unknown

The Create Unknown

By: Unknown Media & Studio71
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 The Create Unknown interviews the most successful online creators to reveal how they got started and how they keep going. iDubbbz. Vsauce. Casey Neistat. iJustine. PsychicPebbles. We talk to the YouTubers, artists, and streamers who exemplify our mantra of “Make Something. Mean Something.” Part high-level analysis, part hopelessly stupid, Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor from Vsauce2 dissect the complex business, the unpredictable drama, and the uncertain future of creating online. We’ll see you in The Create Unknown, Space Cowboys. For advertising opportunities please email PodcastPartnerships@Studio71us.com We wanna make the podcast even better, help us learn how we can: https://bit.ly/2EcYbu4 Privacy Policy: https://www.studio71.com/us/terms-and-conditions-use/#Privacy%20PolicyUnknown Media, LLC & Studio71 Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Social Sciences
Episodes
  • It’s Time to Start Slowmaxxing

    It’s Time to Start Slowmaxxing
    Apr 21 2026
    Thanks to MAINGEAR for speeding up everything for us. Check out the VYBE line that’s making up the core of Matt’s new studio -- and use code CREATE for a free additional year of warranty on desktops: https://maingear.com/ref/656/ Join Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thecreateunknown We’re kicking this week’s episode off with about as simple a premise as it gets: it’s time to SLOW DOWN.: We’re diving into what it actually means to “slow-max” your life, and why it feels like everything around us is pushing in the opposite direction. We start by giving a shoutout to our Canadian friends from Archspire who have gone fully independent with the band’s newest album. As great as it is, it leaves us wondering, what really happens when creators take on everything themselves? On paper it sounds liberating, but what is there a deeper level of complexity we’re actually signing up for? After that we take a big swing and stake our claim on the term “slowmaxxing,” the idea of deliberately choosing slower, more involved activities. We pick apart the benefits of doing things that were once commonplace: cooking from scratch, reading, building something, even just putting your phone in another room. But, if those things were so normal before, why do they feel harder now than they used to? And what did we lose when convenience removed all the friction? We dig into small, almost forgotten rituals like sharpening pencils, making popcorn by hand, listening to full albums, etc., and we dissect how those tiny processes used to anchor attention in a way that’s disappearing. Is that just nostalgia, or were those steps actually doing something important for how we think? To round things out, we zoom out for a real “big picture” perspective. If everything is faster, easier, and more optimized, why does it sometimes feel worse? Why does scrolling for hours leave you with nothing, while slower activities actually stick? And if the “fast” version of everything is becoming more common, is it actually… better? Or are we slowly forgetting how to engage with anything at all? Big thanks to our patrons, we’ll see you next week. You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: discord.gg/vnRnr3rCzt Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownApple Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS: Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Executive Producer: Ben Webster Editor: Spencer Vann "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media. CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 55 mins
  • David Zucker’s 15 Rules of Comedy

    David Zucker’s 15 Rules of Comedy
    Apr 12 2026
    Thanks to MAINGEAR for speeding up everything for us. Check out the VYBE line that’s making up the core of Matt’s new studio -- and use code CREATE for a free additional year of warranty on desktops: https://maingear.com/ref/656/ Join Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thecreateunknown What actually makes something funny? And why do so many modern comedies feel… off? This week we’re finding the answers with comedy film legend David Zucker. It all starts with a deceptively simple idea: what if the secret to comedy is actually doing LESS? From there, we get a peak inside David’s brain and find out his entire philosophy for comedy. If comedy can be broken down into principles, why does so much of it still miss? And are creators overcomplicating something that used to feel effortless? We also explore the shockingly harsh reality of making comedy films in the modern media landscape. Why is it so hard to get the right movies made? Why do financiers push for big stars, even to the detriment of the project? And what happens when studios try to reboot something like The Naked Gun without fully understanding what made the original work in the first place? After that, we branch out into the creative process at large, and the myth that great comedy comes from chaos or being “out of your mind.” What if it’s actually the opposite? Structured, disciplined, and kind of… boring? Well, if you’re as curious as we are, you can find out all that and more in David’s newest course “Master Crash.” By the end, we’re left with a single question… if everyone can be funny now, what separates the wheat from the chaff? Big thanks to our patrons, we’ll see you next week. You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: discord.gg/vnRnr3rCzt Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownApple Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS: Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Executive Producer: Ben Webster Editor: Spencer Vann "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media. CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • The Death of Normal Life

    The Death of Normal Life
    Apr 4 2026
    Thanks to MAINGEAR for speeding up everything for us. Check out the VYBE line that’s making up the core of Matt’s new studio -- and use code CREATE for a free additional year of warranty on desktops: https://maingear.com/ref/656/ Join Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thecreateunknown We open up this week’s episode with a bang by examining the earth shattering, barrier breaking collision of worlds between American and Japanese Twitter. With such an explosive cultural exchange happening before our very eyes, it makes us reflect on our own experiences in Japan, and leads us into some careful consideration of the culture shock and stressful social situations that ensued. After that, we dive into a much bigger topic that’s been brewing in our minds: the idea of a “Real World Summer Camp.” What would it look like to teach kids the kinds of skills that used to just…happen naturally? Even simple skills like navigation, talking to strangers, or figuring things out without a screen seem to be falling behind across the board, which raises a bigger question: are these skills actually disappearing? We also dig deep into the “free range kids” philosophy, and the recent shift away from independence. If kids aren’t being exposed to the real world in the same way, what kind of long-term effects does that have, if any? And is this overcorrection, or just the natural result of a changing world? From there, we get into the multitude of experiences that actually build confidence. Grocery shopping, cooking, talking to older generations – there are a massive number of these small interactions that seem insignificant, but they probably matter more than you think. We also explore the important, yet ever-blurring line between “internet life” and real life. If so much of growing up now happens through screens, are we missing something fundamental? What do you lose when everything becomes messages instead of experiences? By the end, we’re left wondering… is this something that needs to be “fixed”? Or are we just watching a new version of reality take shape in real time? Big thanks to our patrons, we’ll see you next week. You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/ Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/ Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: discord.gg/vnRnr3rCzt Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownApple Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS: Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Executive Producer: Ben Webster Editor: Spencer Vann "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media. CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 38 mins
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