#78 - I Talked to YouTube's Favorite Prankster [Andrew Hales, LAHWF]

Welcome to the Talk to People Podcast.

This is your host, Chris Miller.

This episode features a conversation I had with one of my favorite YouTubers in the world, and that's Andrew Hales.

You may have seen his YouTube channel before.

At points, he's been one of the biggest YouTubers in the world.

He has millions of subscribers.

Lahwf, go find his YouTube channel, it's really good.

He focuses on social experiments and conversations, which means he's super good at talking to people.

He presents himself as this awkward introvert, but truthfully, he's a mastermind when it comes to interacting with people, especially breaking interaction with strangers, like breaking that silence.

I was about to say violence, breaking that silence and initiating interaction with a stranger.

I went on his YouTube channel probably a few months ago and I was looking through the comments and they were all positive.

Really, he just does a good job at creating great community online.

He's been doing it for over a decade and we had a blast in this conversation.

If this is your first time listening, watching, I'd love for you to like, comment, subscribe, leave a review.

Whatever you're doing for whatever platform that could help boost this.

Remember, life is better when you talk to people.

I hope you prioritize the people in your life.

And without further ado, enjoy this conversation.

Bow bow bow!

My name is Chris.

This is the Talk to People Podcast.

I'm here with Andrew Hales.

You've been doing the Chatting with series.

What inspired you to start that?

I just like talking to people.

I like...

There's a lot of...

It's really sustainable and, you know, everyone's got a podcast.

Yeah.

So it's like...

But, I mean, yeah, I've always been curious about other people.

And it's just something I feel like I can also...

I can have fun, but also monetize and yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah.

I have a hard time with, like, regarding preparation because I do think it's important to honor the guest by having questions and having a general idea.

But I also think most of the time, people are more likely to resound with conversation they feel like is authentic.

Yeah.

There's definitely a balance.

You don't want to sound like a robot reporter just spitting out question after question, you know, and you want to mix in your personality somehow.

But yeah, it's definitely you want to be respectful to and like research them and know stuff about them beforehand.

How do you get started with YouTube?

Let's see.

I was 22.

I was doing Italian ice at fairs and stuff, selling that through a push cart, you know.

And the plan was just to buy more push carts and capitalize and you know, happily ever after.

I was doing YouTube on the side and just, you know, pranks, whatever stuff I thought was funny.

Almost bigging up chicks, awkward handshakes, whatever.

And then we did holding people's hand.

And that blew up to like five million views in a week, and I made like 30 grand.

And I was like, oh wow, I got to do this.

And I sold my push cart and I started, I was really diligent about it.

I did it every Monday for like a year.

And by that point, oh yeah, got up to a million.

That's yeah, that's pretty much it.

It was definitely mostly entrepreneur.

Yeah.

Does any part of you wish you stuck with Italian ice?

No, of course not.

No.

No, YouTube's been like the biggest, best adventure of all time.

Yeah.

Any part of you nervous whenever you went to watch a show that was five million with holding someone's hands?

I know some people will create stuff and be like, oh, I wasn't expecting that many people to watch it.

No, yeah, definitely wasn't.

It was a surprise.

But yeah, I was so excited.

I didn't sleep for like two days.

I was on some new stations.

It was on like the front page of Yahoo.

It was just, yeah, I think it blasted.

Like, I gained like 80,000 subscribers, I think, within a week.

But yeah, it was like one of the best weeks of my life.

So, yeah.

Do people start approaching you in person?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, in the height of my heyday, like, it would be at least like once a day.

But yeah, I never felt like famous, for sure.

It's just, you're just really popular on the internet, and it's kind of like being a linebacker on an NFL team.

Like, not everyone knows your name, but that group of people does, you know?

Yeah.

So.

Great game last night, and everybody else is like, get out of the way, big man.

Everyone's like, who's this guy?

And it's funny, because their friends would always be a little annoyed, like, oh, are you, am I supposed to know who, are you famous?

Am I supposed to know who you are?

It's like, chill, man.

One of my, I had seen this video that you made, you've made a couple of them, of chatting with a fan, like, this person drove 20 hours or 10 hours, or, you know, like, 55 hours.

And I was cracking up, because there was one time where the video that I saw, he was, like, when you guys first met, he was walking up to you, and you, like, it looked like you, what's that called?

Pat-go-down.

I don't know, you never know.

I don't know, he's, there's a lot of psychos out there.

I want to make sure he didn't have, like, a knife or a gun or something.

It's scary.

I get paranoid.

And maybe I've been watching too much true crime or something.

I don't know.

I drove 50 hours to see this guy, and now I'm going to stab him.

I mean, no, I think there's been some stories that had like crazy fans, like assassinating people and stuff like that.

I don't know.

Yeah.

I have to look it up, but.

And then you all had the conversation, and he was giving you feedback about your content.

And-

It's like, thanks, man.

Some people are just, yeah, they definitely might have this sense of entitlement or something.

Like, hey, man, I don't like it when you do this, and you should only do this.

And I'm like, sorry, and you can't please everyone, you know?

Yeah.

Because in some, this is just a question for a question, because I don't really, I'm just like entertaining things in my head right now.

Do you feel a sense of obligation to the community to make certain content or certain way?

Is there any of that?

Or is it mainly I'm going to create what I feel like creating?

It's been mostly, I just want to do what I want to do.

But no, there's definitely times when I'm like, let's just give them what they want.

And it'll be, I need money focused.

But for the most part, it's I've been doing what I want to do.

Like, I definitely don't recommend switching up the entire format of your channel at like 2 million subscribers that have subbed for pranks, you know?

So, that's not, like, they'll build, they're going to teach, they're going to, I'm going to be a case study in universities 10 years from now on how not to do that, you know, for your YouTube channel.

Like, this is what happened to this guy when you do that, you know?

Here's my favorite prank channel, and it's chatting with someone who has Crohn's disease.

Right.

It's like, you're going to, but at the same, I mean, at the same time, I feel like I could, if you have a new vision, that you feel like you could, you can execute and you have a new passion and love for something, and you grow and people change and it's tricky, you know, you don't want, if I kept doing the pranks and forcing myself to do them, they would have come very, became very stale, you know?

But I don't know.

The guy who may have had a gun, you did a few pranks with him.

And one of my favorite things was, you all were chilling, talking.

And he's like, oh, I don't, you did like a post-game interview with him.

Like, hey, how'd that feel?

And he was like, oh man, like that was a lot.

And you're like, yeah, exactly.

Now imagine doing that for five years straight.

Yeah, it's emotionally taxing.

A lot of people say, oh, it's hard to watch your videos sometimes, they're so cringe.

It's like, yeah, like, try living it.

Like, it's in real life, it's, I'm definitely not immune to the, all those energies, you know, of talking to other people and experiencing that embarrassment.

Something I've wanted to do with my channel is to, like whenever I have a conversation like this, to make it, and I've seen different people do this.

Like, you know, the Jay Leno back in the day, like the late night show or Jimmy Fallon nowadays, he has the conversation, but then he'll do a segment and then it'll be potentially like entertainment, something like that.

So having a conversation, one of the things I'm trying to get into is street interviews, just because if the whole entire purpose of this is like, talk to people, life is better when you talk to people.

I do think showcasing what it looks like to interact with strangers is important because most people in the world are strangers to us.

But like having something, having a conversation about a certain topic, then asking people on the street about that topic, and then maybe having like some vlog style type deal and putting that together in a video.

Yeah, just to make it more of an experience.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean, I think that will definitely add value and add quality.

You haven't done that yet?

I went on the streets to talk to people once, but I need you to coach me on how to be...

I mean, most people are harmless, you know?

What I say is, let's see, my pitch is like, hey, do you want to be in our video real quick?

It'll take 30 seconds.

Okay.

Isn't that smooth?

Yeah, that's very affordable to a passer-by.

Right.

And so, yeah, you just do that enough times, you'll get enough people, and it's easy.

Did you take videos down off your channel ever?

Did you ever feel embarrassed, or did you ever feel like, oh, I don't agree with that anymore, or was there any artistic revision when it comes to your YouTube channel?

Yeah, of course.

I love unlisting videos because like a good 40% of them, 50% of them I don't like.

So yeah, later on, I'll usually give them at least three or four months, and then I'll quietly unlist them.

Yeah.

So that no one has to ever see them.

What's the trend with those you don't like?

It'll just be low quality.

It'll be something I didn't have my heart into, and got low views, and the response is usually pretty meh.

It's like, might as well just make this one disappear.

You know?

Poof, like Thanos.

Poof, no one.

Yeah, Mandela effect.

Right.

I swear there was a video here about him talking about Blaine.

Yeah.

So.

But I think, you know, the Internet's forever.

So there's I think there's some websites on there where people can find stuff, whatever.

So they relist your videos.

Yeah, I've found some stuff.

I found some sites where it's like, it's like some random Chinese site, and all my unlisted videos are on there.

So.

So that's incredible.

Yeah, no, the Internet's forever.

And there's the way back machine, which is crazy.

I don't know.

I don't understand that that well.

The way I understand it is it just like takes a copy of everything on the Internet.

And it's like always doing that.

And so you can go back to like 2007 and look at your MySpace page.

And I don't know, not always, but yeah, it's it's pretty incredible.

So say I were to post a picture of me and like a shirt I just got, but then the next week I take it down.

I could theoretically go back to the way back machine and still see the picture.

I think so.

Yeah.

Wow.

That is wild.

All right.

Let's talk about humanity here.

You've talked to a lot of people, particularly strangers.

What do you find yourself most surprised by whenever you go out there on the streets and talk to people?

There's always all this anxiety before filming a video for whatever reason.

And then I'm always surprised when people are actually very nice and open.

And none of my fears in my head came true.

That's about it.

I mean, I guess, yeah, I'm just surprised that people can, are usually more nice than I think they are, and more patient, you know, especially with a lot of the pranks.

A lot of them are so patient.

Just with my bullshit, you know.

Did you have people pull pranks on you for their YouTube?

Yeah, I've had a few, very few and far between, but yeah.

And they're just like, yeah, you inspired me, whatever.

Like it will be like a Venice Beach or something, which is littered with people filming all the time.

Same with like Broadway now with Nashville.

There's always like one or two guys with their cameras doing street interviews.

It's like, it's getting competitive.

Yeah.

And what are your thoughts if someone said, hey, would you go film a social prank video next week?

Oh, like with them to collab, you mean?

Yeah.

Just in general, like how would you feel about that?

Would you be excited for it now?

Yeah.

I mean, I, yeah, I mean, I definitely have dreams of grander and making some big come back with like pranks or something.

You know, I'm still chasing the dream.

I think I always will.

But I don't know.

I mean, it depends on the person, but yeah, and my mood.

Sometimes it's like, I don't know.

But yeah.

Have you seen a big, like I'm totally new to the, but like a few months ago, they started paying me ad revenue.

So I'm totally new to this.

Hell yeah.

Yeah.

Have you, what's been the change with ad revenue?

Like, I know you said 30 grand for that five or for that first, did you say five million views?

Yeah, I got about five million and and but that blew up like my previous 10 videos.

It was like a 10 million month of views.

Wow.

So, yeah, I think the CPM was definitely higher back then.

And those were short videos to like one minute, 30 seconds.

And nowadays, anything under like five minutes is going to be like 50 cents per thousand views, I think.

But yeah, there's a lot of different factors with the AdSense, like the finance videos do make like 10 times more money because the ads that are more expensive on them in that market, you know?

Yeah, the viewership has money.

Yeah, that, and like the commercials paying for whatever on those types of videos are more expensive.

Longer videos make more money because, yeah, I mean, you understand that.

Like, if it's longer than eight minutes, you can actually physically put in more ads.

Yeah, but I just have YouTube do that, like automatically where they think they should or whatever.

The season matters.

December is when a lot of people cram videos because the ad sense is higher.

November, December, and then it just drops in January.

And then that's when a lot of YouTubers will take breaks because it's like, might as well.

So that's the season.

Right.

Off season is the new year.

With your body of, you have like the large library, is your channel pretty self-sustaining from videos that you've made years ago?

Do you still see revenue from those?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a great thing about YouTube.

A lot of it's very passive, especially if you can make some evergreen videos that keep growing and find that spot in the algorithm where they keep getting 100,000 views every month.

Yeah.

I'd still say it's pretty solid.

Which videos are you most proud of?

Myself deprecating rap video.

I worked really hard on that.

And I think I'm proud of it because it was creative.

It's like one of the few that I could, you know, you can definitely say it was creative, you know.

Interviews aren't, they're not necessarily creative.

They're more like on the journalist side of things.

Wait, what?

Yeah.

Awkward laughing.

That's a favorite prank of mine.

Have you seen that?

I don't know if I have.

Do you just go in or while people are talking to you, do you laugh at like weird moments?

Yeah, something like, yeah.

I didn't really, what did I say?

I'm like, hey, I'm Andrew Hales.

This is laughing when you're not supposed to.

Oh, gosh.

Yeah.

And so I feel like that one came out really good.

Confessing things that people made conversation.

Are you generating these ideas while you're chilling in the shower or does it get to a point to where you've created a flywheel?

Like people are putting ideas left and right, and then you just cycle through them and pick out.

Yeah, there was a time when I had a long list of stuff I was planning on doing.

But yeah, mostly in the shower, hanging out with friends.

Yeah, ideas, they come out of nowhere.

Well, you least expect it.

And you just have to be sure to write them down, you know?

Yeah.

And now there's these documentary videos.

The Downfall of Lahwf or the Spiral of Lahwf, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I got like three different ones.

It's awesome.

So seeing this narrative, like, how does, what is all, like, I haven't been there.

And this is the beauty of talking to people, is I get to be able to like hear from you because you've experienced something different from me.

So like, what's that like experiencing these videos where they're talking about your downfall publicly?

It was like super scary at first.

I was like, oh no.

I like, I thought I was getting canceled for a second.

Like, I don't know.

But luckily, most of them were pretty nice about it.

Pretty much just the gist was like, oh, he partied too much and he's broke now and blah, blah, blah.

And I was like, okay, great.

Like, that's not that bad.

You know, I can still make a comeback.

And it was also kind of flattering because it's like, especially from when Sunny V did something on me, it was like, it's like, man, I got big enough that Sunny V did something about me, you know?

Right.

Yeah.

So it was kind of like an ironic trophy in a way.

I don't know.

Yeah.

It's like, I mean, it is, it's a documentary about you.

Yeah.

So it was kind of flattering in a weird way.

What's also kind of cool is, and this was totally accidental, but it kind of blended in with this, the Fight Club kind of thing where it's like, what is it going to hope was freedom, and throwing your commercial, or I mean, your career away kind of thing.

Yeah.

And I was kind of like living this Tyler Durden character.

As a poor man working at Taco Bell.

But no, I'm definitely ready to get rich again.

Come on, Billy.

Could you hear that?

What's Billy barking at?

I don't know.

You probably got someone walking in front of the yard.

Yeah, it's fine.

Sorry.

What were we talking about?

Did you ever go play basketball?

I tried out for the team, like, soft merging.

Yeah, I never made it.

I'm talking that local basketball at.

Oh, I did.

I went there and no one was there.

Oh, yeah.

So, yeah, and you haven't gone back.

I, yeah, no one was there for some reason.

It's just one of those days, I guess.

But yeah.

Do you think the signs actually still up to date?

Like, do you think they still play basketball?

I have no idea.

Yeah, I just haven't kept track of that.

Yeah.

I haven't I haven't been really shooting hoops a lot lately.

It's been so hot.

I might do that today, though.

It is so hot.

So is basketball your favorite sport?

Yeah, I mean, next to skateboarding, but that's not really a sport.

Yeah, I'd say basketball is my my number one sport.

OK, sure.

Did you play soccer this morning?

Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah, I did.

We had we had 10 guys or eight guys.

So it was a small group, but it was still fun.

We got a guy who showed up who used to play professional soccer.

And whenever he plays, it's very clear that he's tapping into like 10 percent of his tank.

So that's an interesting experience, right?

Like you got the guy who works as a aeronautical factory inspector.

He works in a factory and is inspecting pieces of an airplane.

And he has to go against a professional before he goes to work.

Oh, wait a minute.

He goes against a professional soccer player because he comes to soccer too.

Right.

Yeah.

So we have all of these guys, like a factory worker, a doctor, a pastor, you name it.

And then we have a professional soccer player or former professional.

So it's like it is really cool.

The diversity.

Yeah.

It's one of my best communities.

Like, I've been trying to do things the past years that are more entrepreneurial.

I was working in this corporate job and I quit because it was so much travel, and my wife and I were getting married.

It was just tough, man.

I'd be in the hotel room.

I didn't want to, I'd be like playing video games for like hours just by myself.

There's a lot of stuff that were negative to me, but I was so lonely.

But like during the day, I'd be in the suit and tie.

But I was away from everybody.

I worked for like military bases.

So military bases are always in the middle of nowhere.

And there was no one around.

It was during COVID.

So that was certainly a tough season.

So I quit.

And I told my wife like, hey, I'm going to start looking for the next thing.

But then I started podcasting and my mom, she like got sick.

And there are things that happened that I was like, okay, I need flexibility.

So the past two years have been like podcasting and trying to create, like I started to create videos and then working on a company and doing the communication consulting.

But I'd say the most valuable thing I've created over the past two years has been the soccer group.

Because so many people have come up to me and said, thank you so much for making the soccer group.

It has improved the quality of my life so much.

And now I'm able to like make friends.

And I got people telling me, my doctor told me I'm in better shape now than I have been in years.

So that's really fascinating because I haven't made a dollar.

I haven't gotten a view, but the impact is crazy.

Yeah.

I mean, if you can, like.

You know, rejuvenate that part of childhood where you're, you know, you're you're so out of breath and sweating and water tastes like crack, right?

And that's obviously like wonderful for your health.

And I, yeah, I I'd love to.

I need to figure that out and find like a group that I can play with.

Would you consider creating one?

Yeah.

You what?

You didn't use an app.

I have group me, but initially, that's right.

I just if you go to morningsoccerpickup.com, it's I'm sharing my screen real quick.

But I just made this website on Canva.

And let me put it over here.

And all it is, window.

Oh, that's tight.

I don't know if Riverside can do this.

All right, check it out.

I can put us down here.

Yeah.

Or I can put us up here.

Wow.

But play soccer before work.

There we are.

Morning soccer pick up every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5:45 a.m.

on Rock Shark Park in Lawrence, Kansas, free to play.

So.

Wow.

You made this website?

Yeah.

What happens if too many people come?

Then we keep breaking it up.

So we do like 6v6, because this area right here is.

It's got the coolest field, man.

In Lawrence, Kansas, Rock Shark Park turf field.

Oh, sports pavilion is what it's called.

Sports pavilion.

Man, they don't got it.

OK, here it is right here.

So it's got like all these different fields.

Nice.

Yeah.

So then on there, we could just do small field, small field, small field.

OK, how much did it cost to rent it out?

It's free.

It's a community center.

So it's free to the community.

What do you what's the big like you?

One thing that's clear, like you said, is chasing the dream.

So what excites you right now?

Making videos that people like or making, making great content that people love, you know, that that gets a really great reaction from people.

And feeling like I'm doing my, feel like, feeling like I'm doing my job as a entertainer, you know?

That's probably the best feeling.

How about you?

I'd like to one day have, get really good at a little bit of what I was alluding to, almost like a late night show, and being able to have that.

And I feel like YouTube could be a good platform if I could figure it out, of capturing the conversation, but also showcasing what it looks like to talk to people, and maybe having a few moments in there where I can actually help people, and be like, you know, hey, it's okay to be stressed.

Like lately, I've been pretty stressed, and I feel like it's hurt my content.

Like, because my creativity, how about creativity is a bit more personal rather than content.

It's just dampened my creativity.

And I think a lot of people get lonely because they're stressed.

And when you're stressed, it's harder to talk to people.

But it wouldn't be a late night show because I don't stay up that late.

Okay.

But it would be similar segments.

Would it be live?

Initially, no, but I would love to try it live.

Yeah.

They work hard, like Jimmy Fallon.

Oh my gosh.

That's nuts how they do that five days a week.

It's crazy.

It is nuts.

So but so.

And yeah, that's just such a grind.

You know, 18 hour days probably.

But I got to keep getting the dogs in my corner that are like inspiring me and that are like.

Because I do think that there's awesome things people are doing and awesome opportunity and the ocean so big, right?

Like there is so much.

And even from whenever we had that conversation, like just seeing you've done such a good job at organizing a loving community, right?

Like at times it may not feel that way, but all of my friends who saw the video that we had messaged me and said, somehow you've made it to the positive side of YouTube.

Like the comment section is really positive.

Yeah, they loved you.

Sometimes they just go really well.

And I think what helped a lot too, I mean, it's just you had a great mic and you had a great microphone.

A lot of my, a lot of my guests, they'll their mic will be terrible.

And it's like, come on.

And it's a little distracting.

But you, it's, it truly sounded like a real podcast.

So that helped a lot too.

Yeah.

But they also just loved you.

Well, and just seeing how like the community you've built.

And sure, there's haters or fans or you know it.

Human nature.

Yeah.

Human nature.

But the fact, like the thing that I kind of love about your artistic resume is like, you create what you want to create.

And I think at times I can be really helpful if, I don't know, like you said, the algorithm's on your side, but at other times it isn't.

Yeah.

I mean, I pride myself in having a little bit of artistic integrity and not pandering too much.

But yeah, at the end of the day, it's like, as long as it's good and you like it, that's really all that matters.

And it's something that you would watch yourself.

That's pretty much the golden ticket, the golden rule of entertainment, is just to make stuff that you would watch yourself or listen to.

Well, we're doing it.

You're doing it.

I end every podcast.

Here we go.

I end every podcast with the same question.

All right.

Oh boy.

It's a two-folded question.

The first is, many people view life through days, years, weeks, track it that way.

But I think it's also important to view it through conversations.

Looking back on life, there's some of the biggest conversations we've ever had in our life.

So what's been, looking back in your life, one of the biggest conversations or most memorable conversations you've had?

Probably just, part to hearts with Carly, you know, about our future, about, you know, about what we need to change, what we need to do, which are kind of like half fights, but sometimes that's necessary.

It's like, you know, to get human communication across and.

That's all that's what I can think of right now.

Those like pivotal moments in a relationship where it's like.

We need to change, we need to do this.

And this is our goal and.

I love you, I love you and yeah, let's all right now, let's do it.

So what's one thing you wish more people knew about you?

That's tough, because I do share a lot online.

Just that, if I am in a bad mood, it's not because of them.

I'm just, I'm just super introverted, and don't have the energy right now to talk or socialize.

And they shouldn't take it personal if I'm being really quiet.

So.

Well said.

I feel like a lot of people can relate.

Well, I will end the recording.

Thank you so much, and it was a pleasure.

Yeah, man.

Of course.