The Story of Key of Awesome

Mark Douglas’s pioneering work on Barely Political and Key of Awesome is one of YouTube’s most unique stories -- and Mark’s going through every detail with us. He’s been on a break for a few years now, and that’ll probably stop when he commits himself to being in a jam.

Mark’s passions have changed a bit over time, but now Kevin’s going to threaten harm to get Mark’s album done. What could go wrong?

Kevin realized the difference between hanging out with funny friends and actual professional comedians. Mark got started because he didn’t really have an outlet for his humor and nowhere to use his jokes. YouTube gave him that outlet, but it’s absolutely changed over the years to the point where traditional comedy might not even be necessary anymore.

When Mark moved into music, everything got a bit more complicated. Producing parodies required meeting certain standards of fair use, hiring actors and actresses ran up budgets, and even Journey slapped complaints on him. Add in having to respond to current trends and feeling trapped and it was time to relax for a while. It’s time to stop when it’s time to stop.

Mark’s singular professional life has taken several twists and turns, and we can’t thank him enough for coming into the Unknown to put it all on display. Thanks as well to everyone who showed up for the live episode -- and a special thanks to the Patrons who make this show happen each and every week. You really are the best.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown

The Key of Awesome: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKeyofAwesome/videos

Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw

Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownApple Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS: Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "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