Good, quality YouTube channels?
Hey everyone,
It’s my first post here so my apologies if I mess something up.
Recently I’ve been refreshing my YouTube homepage constantly because I feel like it’s either:
A.) Suggesting me things I’ve already seen before
B.) Suggesting me things I have no interest in
So I’m going to go straight to the source and find some good YouTuber Channels I may have not heard of.
I primarily enjoy gaming critiques, history topics & natural disaster docs (kind of random I know), videos detailing scammers (SBF, Elizabeth Holmes, etc) but I don’t limit myself to these, I’m pretty much open to anything as long as it’s entertaining and/or informative… preferably both.
YouTubers I currently watch:
- NeverKnowsBest
- LiamTriforce
- Knowing Better
- Internet Historian
- Ordinary Things
- RennsReviews
- Scott The Woz
- SAWS
- ADoseOfBuckley
- DAngelo Wallace
Any recommendations are seriously appreciated. I don’t limit myself to a specific genre, but longer form content is definitely preferable.
Primitive Technology is one of my favorites! He just builds old technology/tools/structures, starting with nothing but his hands and the tools he has already made in previous videos. He doesn't speak at all, so it's really relaxing.
Make sure to turn CC on if you want additional info on what he's doing.
oh yeah his captions are top-notch
It's just a shame he doesn't put out videos very often. But the bigger shame is all the knockoffs it spawned
He stopped posting for a while because he was working on a television show in Australia, but he's back to a fairly regular cadence now.
If you haven't watched Folding Ideas, his videos seem right up your alley. A lot of the recent ones are pretty long but they earn every minute of runtime and are exceptionally good, deep watches. If you're into scam stuff you'll probably like the Contrapreneuers and if you've managed to miss it, his video Line Goes Up remains one of the best laid-out arguments about the failings crypto and NFTs. He also critically examines film and videogames sometimes, though it's not his focus. If you go back through his history he's got some good short videos on editing in film from before he started doing content that required more research.
Hbomberguy also does a lot of stuff about videogames, though it's not his sole topic, and he's definitely a good choice for longform, that's for sure. Less serious in tone than Folding Ideas, so more jokes, but still very thorough and informative alongside that. I highly recommend his most recent video about the "OOF" sound effect from Roblox, which is 2 hours long and a wild ride. If you like that, scrolling through his backlog and picking stuff based on your interests is worthwhile. He has a fair bit of videogame related content that you'd probably be into.
Hbomb also has a stellar video on vaccine stuff. The dude is really funny.
Honestly all his stuff is stellar, he's one of those youtubers who I'd watch a video from no matter how much I care about the topic bc I know it'll be fantastic
Captain Disillusion for humorous explanations of VFX, especially those done in viral videos.
Great Art Explained for, well, explanations of great art.
Defunctland for theme park history, and related things like this excellent 90 minute documentary on the Disney Channel theme
Secret Galaxy for brief histories of a lot of 80s and 90s kids entertainment.
From Defunctland I especially liked his video on the Handwich.
https://tildes.net/~food/11tu/the_handwich_disneys_failed_sandwich_of_the_future
If you're into natural disaster docs, I would suggest Practical Engineering - His 'What Really Happened' series is fantastic, covering all sorts of natural and man-made disasters from an engineering perspective.
Moving into some of my favorite channels:
Space & Astronomy:
Dr. Becky - UK astronomer covering current events in astronomy.
Scott Manley - Covers a variety of space topics focusing on hardware.
PBS Spacetime - Covers all sorts of physics and space related topics in great detail.
Mars Guy - Geologist covering the activities of the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers.
Deep Sky Videos - Brady Haran channel covering objects in space, particularly those in the Messier Catalog.
Other Sciences and Engineering:
Applied Science - Does a variety of engineer projects from machining to working with a DIY electron microscope.
Alpha Phoenix - A variety of physics demonstration projects and a few videos about electron microscopy.
Sixty Symbols - Brady Haran channel covering physics.
Periodic Videos - Brady Haran channel covering chemistry.
NightHawkInLight - Does a variety of engineering projects as well as some interesting coverage of Japanese senko hanabi fireworks.
Other:
Computerphile - Brady Haran channel covering computing
Objectivity - Brady Haran channel covering interesting objects, particularly from the Royal Society archives.
Numberphile - Brady Haran channel covering mathematics
I absolutely love Dr Becky's channel. She does such an amazing job at translating rather esoteric concepts so that the average layperson can understand and enjoy them.
I only knew Numberphile; had no idea the same person has more channels. Nice! Looks like I've got a busy Sunday ahead of me!
Edited to add: Alpha Phoenix, if anyone checks that out and you don't like the first video, look a bit further. The quality and topic varies relatively wildly (and occasionally also the format), there's some gems there but it depends on what you like
Indeed!
And he's just as good behind the camera in those other channels as he is in Numberphile, knowing when to let his guests keep talking, but also when to ask them questions and what to ask them, often asking just the question you're thinking of while watching his videos.
Note that some of these channels like Computerphile are more of a franchise model - Brady is minimally involved in that one and it's mostly Sean Riley these days. This is not a knock on Brady, certainly his style laid a lot of the foundation for it and his other more direct work like Numberphile and Hello Internet is great too, but I think for Computerphile it's worth sending the praise in the direction of the person actually running it these days (and for most of its life at this point)
He's got a bunch of channels, mostly in the same format as numberphile where he interviews uni professors on a topic. In addition to the ones already posted, he's got Sixty Symbols (physics) periodic videos (chemistry) and a few other less active channels.
I see we have quite a few channels in common, here's some that I would also recommend:
Veritasium: Videos about physics, maths and engineering. Production value has increased significantly with time.
Steve Mould: Covers interesting and many times counter intuitive classical physics phenomena.
Up and Atom: Mainly maths including many videos on paradoxes.
Be Smart: Another PBS science channel. While I don't always think delivery is great (There's bad puns and the intended audience seems to be children) the topics covered are very interesting.
Reactions: Another PBS science channel. This one is on chemistry, and while I'm not big on the subject I find every video interesting. Also the hosts are so funny.
Qanta Magazine: Showcases the latest advances in physics and math.
Cleo Abram: A journalist covering science topics. I've only watched a couple of videos but so far so good.
Lots of good stuff here. I just want to add that, for those who enjoy numberphile, there are lots of other great math channels out there which are similarly (or maybe more!) entertaining. My favorites are MichaelPenn (truly awesome, for an undergrad and for someone with years as a math researcher); there's a math-version of Space Time which is now defunct but still has lots of gems up called PBS Infinite Series; and last but not least, Grant over at 3Blue1Brown has done so very much for the internet math community, I could never express sufficient gratitude.
There are others of course, but if your math minded then I think those three will all grab you despite specific interests.
This list should last you a year of content binging. It's long so if you can only check out a few, I'd watch Jacob Geller, People Make Games, LEMMiNO, EmpLemon, and Solar Sands.
Gaming
Gaming Honorable Mentions
General Essays/Documentaries
General Honorable Mentions
Niche/Educational
Nice to see some love for Some More News. Cody helps me realize I’m not insane when I see all the batshit crazy going on and the abject apathy that most people have for it.
I watched SMN constantly during the pandemic. I did find I needed to take a break from their content because it was getting me incredibly amped up about all the crazy stuff like you pointed out, but I absolutely +1 on their content. It's really high quality content while still featuring skits and goofs you generally only see in small productions.
+1 for Technology Connections. He's great, when I want to watch a video about a piece of tech from 50 years ago that I'll never interact with in my life, he's my guy haha.
I used to like JCS, but a lot of their videos are based on body language analysis. It is fascinating to see how the criminals react and they don't seem to focus on it like other channels, but every now and then they'll make a weird claim based on how the suspect is acting and somehow extrapolate it into the conclusion of the case - like, you already know that the guy is innocent (for example), so you can start assigning stuff he's done and point to it as if it was in any way actionable information. Do we really want to encourage police to start analyzing and judging their suspects based on their body language more-so than they already do?
JCS is nothing more than pseudoscience at best and dangerous profiling at worst. His content is irresponsibly portrayed and shouldn't be viewed as anything other than uninformed entertainment. "Body language expert" is a made up thing and isn't backed up by any real psychology or evidence. Its little more than cop propaganda true crime fluff.
As someone who's probably not neurotypical (diagnoses cost money that I don't have), the body language stuff kinda irks me, but I have fun seeing how much the cops can get someone to say before they ever think about the word "lawyer."
Remember kids, you have a right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you. Here's an excellent lecture about the fifth amendment, how it protects you, and how even if you're innocent, you should always invoke it.
Münecat did a thorough video debunking the “science” of body language experts and the rest of her content is great as well.
Well, I think that the actual cases themselves are interesting to see. When I watched him I cared less for his commentary and more for the footage itself, which I've since found other channels for.
Kind of terrifying how mainstream the body language shit is becoming.
I am guilty of enjoying their content while knowing the body language analysis is miles from scientific. I think JCS presents cases in a way that is engaging if a bit authoritarian.
Buuuut it's also the case that we can often infer information from body language, and while the claims made in JCS aren't rigorous, they're also not devoid of insight. The word sophomoric comes to mind. Like stereotypes. We definitely wouldn't want to build our opinions of a person, and/or their guilt of a serious crime based on body language, but letting it inform a line of questioning feels valid. And the same level of inference is reasonable in real life.
"Hi there, my name is tomatoanus, also known as the human equivalent of a wet band-aid..."
Max Darrent is amazing for gaming and philosophy inside them mate. Give him a watch.
For those who haven't clicked on Game Maker's Toolkit yet, he's got a game jam coming up around the corner! If you've been meaning to learn how to make a game, it's a good quick deadline to get you moving! I'm currently trying to cram tutorials to tumble into it myself :)
I want to highlight Not Just Bikes in this list and add that Strong Towns is a good related resource; I love their articles, too.
In the history/disaster genre you mentioned:
General recommendations, more responding to the title of the thread:
hmm, how do I describe this one... rambling about technology maybe?) A good example video would be A simple water heater is more clever than it seems I thinkLoosely ranked in order of recommendedness and topic
I second @Ranovex' Primitive Technology recommendation
Edit: bonus one, dashcam videos with german commentary: Fahrnünftig
Since you have a few linguistics channels in there already, I'd recommend a smaller channel run by Dr Geoff Lindsey that focuses on English phonetics and pronunciation.
I personally prefer Dashcam Drivers Germany to Fahrnünftig, the commentary is far less dumb and annoying over there.
Will check it out, thanks!
Edit: that is a lot better indeed!
Are they German dashcams? I thought it was illegal to have a dashcam in Germany. Or is it just German commentary over publically available dashcam footage from not-Germany?
The thing with dashcams is... Complicated. I think the current state of affairs is that you are allowed to have one if it does auto-overwrite the recording after a minute (until you trigger it to preserve the video). Dashcam footage is also admissible in court.
Also, you must censor all published recordings to make everyone unrecognizable (i.e. blur faces and license plates).
PBS space time is my favourite YouTube channel of all time:
https://youtube.com/@pbsspacetime
It’s hosted by an expert in the field who has an amazing voice and wonderful sense of humour, has amazing visuals, covers deep and fascinating topics about physics, space, the universe, consciousness , reality, and more, all in a manner that is both accurate and evidence based, as well as accessible to a broad audience.
Some of my YouTube subscriptions are to channels that are inconsistent with uploads, but I’m fine with that:
If you like Mark Rover, you probably like Stuff Made Here
For both, I'd wish they didn't gloss over the details so much. I imagine if they'd invent the fork, they'd dumb it down to explaining a spear and going "except more complicated" and moving on. Not like I'd want them to give a full tutorial, I'm not there to study, but for how cool the stuff is that they do, it seems very much aimed towards a literal ten-year-old rather than presuming any foundational tech knowledge whatsoever.
Makes me wonder if they have a second channel for those who care about that, since at this point they've done the project and got this information anyway, might as well get another video out of it
Edit: oh and Tom Stanton is also similar, but goes a bit more into detail!
Lots of overlap with folks here, so I'm going to try to list channels I don't already see.
But first, I saw Knowing Better mentioned, and his channel is fucking fantastic.
Angela Collier, aka ACollierAstro. She's an astrophysicist, PhD, but she covers all kinds of cool stuff. Level-headed, super smart, funny, and her ability to relay some pretty difficult info so a layperson can easily understand it really showcases how well she knows what she's talking about.
Pecos Hank, Weatherbox, and Freddy Mckinney for wicked rad weather/storm/tornado stuff. Not only do they capture stunning footage, there's a lot to learn and they have a lot of knowledge to share (especially Hank).
Bent Neatly maybe doesn't have the best production quality, but everything else, his writing and research are top-notch. Documents ghost-y stuff, horrible crimes, internet debacles, and other weird goings on.
Salvatore Ganacci is a Swedish DJ, but idgaf about his music, the occasional video he releases is the most absurd, batshit crazy humor and I love it.
Seasons is the best, smallest channel I can think of. Covers all kinds of stuff I didn't even know I wanted to learn. Plus surfing. No idea how dude only has 2k subs. Fucking change that.
Thought Potato if you want to learn realistic breakdowns of how fictional characters/diseases from videos games and movies would work irl.
I believeHis breakdown of The Flood ishis most popular workone of my favs. I was wrong. Not even close. His most popular is Vampire Biology Explained.Mr. Beat makes history and geography actually fun and engaging to learn. He's a teacher, and I wish I had teachers like him.
TyFrom99 covers internet stuff, and it's one of those channels that comes out of the corner swinging. He's new, but the quality is what I'd expect from someone who's been doing this for a decade.
Bobby Fingers. I don't even know what to say. A dude builds beautiful sculptures and dioramas of celebrities in their worst moments and the commentary is hilarious. He also buries said dioramas in the countryside and leaves clues in his videos so you can go find them and dig them up.
Ghost in the Stacks is my go-to for horror book reviews. I found a recent favorite book, Slewfoot, through him.
Jeffrey Kaplan is a philosophy professor and that's what his videos are about. But they're not dry and heady, this stuff is aimed at every day people, with practical applications.
HealthyGamerGG is a psychiatrist with yogic influences, who focuses on helping gamers not suck at life, but it applies to all of us. Some of his insights have helped me with myself, my son, and helped me understand and parent my son better (both of us have adhd). How many channels have had an actual, positive impact on your life?
LEMMiNO covers all kinds of mysteries. It's like Unsolved Mysteries without the kitsch, updated for modern-day.
Brick Immortar covers maritime disasters. I don't even care about boats, but this channel's quality is so good I sure do when I'm watching his videos.
I feel like Jacob Geller shouldn't need an introduction. Excellent research and writing. He uses games and a jumping off point to explore all kinds of interesting, deep topics.
BobbyBroccoli Who knew there were so many scandals in acedmia, and who knew they'd be covered so well?
Dime Store Adventures Dude finds all kinds of wild stories from early America to present to us weekly. Primary focused on the northeast US. They should teach this stuff in history class.
Oki's Weird Stories It's right in the name. Excellent research on weird ass stories. The King of Stolen Valor is amazing.
Soup Emporium Want to know why Koko couldn't actually talk, Yellowstone won't explode, and Hellen Keller was a fraud? With a bit of xennial humor? This is it.
Second Thought drops very well thought out video essays from a socialist perspective on why late stage capitalism sucks and how we can make things better.
I don't want to fill my list with a bunch of political stuff, but if you like Second Thought, check out his channels tab to find more quality content in the same vein.
CJ the X makes bombastic video essays that have shown me how pop culture can be deeper than I ever thought. His tagline im not talking 2 fast ur listening 2 slow sums it up very well.
Morbid Zoo may be my favorite channel. Period. She's taking a break right now to focus on her doctorate, and she's been granted permission to post her dissertation in video essay format on her channel. The channel started as essays analyzing movie/game monsters, and while staying true to herself, has evolved into much more. Her video on why the 1982 version of The Thing is better than the new one (and it's not CG) is by far her most popular, and while it is very good, I think her video about The Witch may be her best.
Not for everyone, but Jim Lill is doing more to find the objective truth (via experiments) behind what makes guitar tone than anyone who has come before him imo. Invaluable if you ask me.
Gemini Home Entertainment and Local58TV make ARG horror videos. Local 58's You Are On the Fastest Available Route is seminal. I normally don't even care about ARGs and I think these two are astounding.
JCS wishes they could be what Matt Orchard's channel has become. And Matt Orchard started as a JCS-inspired channel. So many have tried and failed (including JCS themselves), and yet Matt has made something truly his own. In Human Form gets an honorable mention, but to be honest, I wish he made enough revenue to hire someone else to narrate. Research and writing are great though.
Vagrant Holiday hasn't posted in a long time, but if you want to watch a dude travel and go where he shouldn't, with a side of sarcastic humor, there's plenty to binge if you haven't seen it yet. There's no upload schedule, and no monetization. It's a passion project.
Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't is another channel that covers a topic I thought I had no interest in (botany, duh), but I do now. Millennial humor, with a hammed up Chicago accent showing you how fucking rad plants are.
Sytropyro Lasers are rad. Also this is weird, but... Coming from someone who is about as straight as they come, Jesus Rollerblading Christ this dude is beautiful.
Rare Earth My running joke with the creator, Evan, is how he makes me cry over rocks all the time (hint: it's not the rocks, it's humans). He manages to shut up the misanthrope in me like no one else. I'm not going to tell you who his dad is because his videos stand on their own merit. But his dad is also cool as fuck and you've almost certainly seen him do some cool shit.
If y'all want more, I can post more, but I feel like that's months of really, really good content that I don't see mentioned a lot.
Edit: Added links, fixed a few errors.
Can you link the Seasons channel please? I get all kinds of odd results when I search that term on youtube.
SeasonsYT
You were not kidding about Matt Orchard, I like how he explains things more prominently rather than just letting the interrogations tape play. Thank you for the recommendation! I'm going to check out the other channels too
The Coldest Case Ever Solved I think is his best work, and he hasn't quite topped it yet. I don't want to spoil anything, but the way he makes the viewer complicit when he makes his point is both masterful writing, and also serves to drive that point home like a swing from a sledgehammer. I've seen big budget Hollywood films try a similar thing and not pull it off as well as Matt did all by himself.
I'm also glad to see it's (deservedly) his most popular video now. It used to not be.
It's gotta be Contingency for me. That video is incredible. (link if anyone else is looking at this)
You have wonderful taste. I came here just to link Angela's channel, so it's nice to see someone beat me to it.
I didn't know about Matt Orchard and ever since I noticed JCS being a little too eager to tell me what to think I was looking for a more professional channel. Incredible stuff.
There has been lots of great suggestions so far but here are a few I haven't seen mentioned that are worth a look:
Veritasium is a an educational channel that covers a range of topics from math, science, history and all sorts of curious phenomena.
Mathologer is a maths focused channel which provides indepth and thorough solutions for very tough problems. The channel is hosted by a math professor from Australia and is a joy to watch.
Summoning Salt makes really entertaining and in-depth documentaries about the history of speed runs for a variety of different videogames. You don't need to be familiar with speed running or even the games in question, he does an excellent job of keeping you interested and explaining how the various strategies have developed over time.
Matt Parker's channel Stand-up Maths is also a very fun way to learn about math. He takes a trial-and-error approach which makes math feel less intimidating.
As a sidenote, I can also recommend his book Humble Pi. It's about math mistakes across different disciplines and eras.
Just wanted to toss another recommendation in for Summoning Salt. I binged a lot of his videos recently and they’re very entertaining. His editing is also on point.
Technology Connections is one of my favorites. He talks in depth about the history and evolution of modern technologies. I never thought I'd be riveted by someone explaining how a coffee maker works, yet he makes it super fascinating.
Toldinstone - short videos on mostly ancient Rome but also some ancient Greece too. I believe he has a doctorate in the subject, he's really knowledgeable and I like his style.
Stefan Milo - archaeology. He does only about one video a month but they are super well researched and put together.
Company Man - he talks about a company's history in depth, from beginning to present day.
I also have a few fashion historian YouTubers I follow:
All of them have their own take on fashion history while being very well-researched.
Also, this guy manages to work in some really fun wordplay into his scripts that's always enjoyable to look out for, most commonly extensive cases of alliteration, often a whole sentence, or puns subtle enough to go unnoticed if you're not paying careful attention.
Yes, he's such a great writer! I have always enjoyed deadpan humor and really well-crafted puns, so he's an auto watch for me. It's the perfect balance of learning and entertainment.
Your list of fashion historians is top notch, except I'm not really familiar with Nicole Rudolph. Does she specialize in a specific era?
She mostly focuses on nineteenth century through the 1920s. Her Historically Accurate Cosplay series is delightful - including a few videos on making an outfit like Gonzo's in A Muppet Christmas Carol.
She has a bunch of interesting videos on shoes and shoe making - including making her own flapper girl shoes.
I believe she and Abby Cox used to be coworkers at Colonial Williamsburg, and she started making period-specific clothing then. This video is a good overview of that, and also gives a great timeline of when/why she started her YouTube channel.
Thank you so much!
Stefan Milo is fantastic, I was going to recommend him too. He's great at telling stories through an anthropological lens.
I discovered him a few months ago while on the hunt for archeological podcasts and yes, you said it perfectly - his story telling is great!
He has a way of putting you in the places and times that he is talking about. He is also an engaging interviewer when he has experts on. It can be hard to pull academics down from the clouds to make the subject accessible to your average viewer and he's good at it!
Echoing a previous comment I made on @kfwyre’s recs thread specifically on Nebula. Most of these are available on YouTube but I recommend nebula if you can afford it as it will be highly curated!
https://tildes.net/~misc/131l/tildes_video_thread#comment-7izi
Wendover's channels: Jet Lag: The Game (really excellent!), Wendover Productions (Logistics)
Alt Shift X (TV epics explained; great GOT / Westworld content)
Not Just Bikes (Urban Planning)
City Beautiful (Urban Planning) (ft. Nebula exclusive series - I hear they're great, but I haven't watched them yet!)
Adam Neely (music theory)
Practical Engineering (Civil engineering)
In Nebula Originals: Wendover's documentaries are excellent (The World's Most Useful Airport, The Final Years of Majuro, Alaska's Silent Summer, The Colorado Problem); that last one is ESPECIALLY relevant now.
Working Titles is pretty fucking cool - I've not watched many of them, but the ones I have are neat!
In no particular order, here are some from my subscriptions I enjoy watching:
+1 for DDOI, forgot to mention that one in my post. Not super interesting or anything, but if you're not sure what to watch next, this is 2-3 minutes of fun while you contemplate
Some of my favourites, in no particular order:
Interesting that multiple people recommend Not Just Bikes here. I felt like after the tenth video on the same topic, telling the same story and teaching the same lessons, and me being from the Netherlands too, it got really super repetitive. The dude is obviously right, but like, the point has been made successfully
I always found it insightful, even if a bit repetitive. I'm an Australian and our country has some unique challenges compared to others, like massive distances between cities, and very low population density outside the capitals. We have a very car-centric lifestyle, and it's interesting to see how we compare to the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands (the countries primarily featured on the channel).
Edit: Also, I'm not going to lie, it's cathartic to listen to people talk shit about Rams and other oversized utes. They're turning into a status symbol here, even though they literally don't fit into our parking spaces. People go into debt to buy them, install lift kits and massive bullbars, then only use them to get the groceries or pick up their kids from school. They're turning into a huge annoyance on our roads.
Glad to see Adam Something mentioned in this thread! I really like his channel. IMO his channel has Not Just Bikes vibes, but a bit "edgier" and "terminally online" - which I have a soft spot for.
Coffeezilla (scambuster)
Miniminuteman (history/archaeology/ancient scambuster)
LEMMiNO (history/general knowledge)
Casual Scholar (history/geopolitics)
Captainmidnight (pop culture critique)
Faultline (geography)
Qxir (history/crime)
Something Different Films (geography/economics)
Versed (geography/geopolitics)
Veritasium (science)
Kamome (geopolitics/history)
SideQuest (history)
James Jani (scambuster)
The Operations Room (history/war/battle reenactment)
The B1M (engineering/megaprojects)
Technology Connections (technology/engineering)
Stated Clearly (science/evolution)
RobWords (linguistics)
RealLifeLore (geography/general knowledge)
Rare Earth (geography/human interest)
Plainly Difficult (history/crime)
neo (history/engineering/geopolitics)
kurzgesagt (science)
KhAnubis (geography)
Folding Ideas (documentaries)
Epimetheus (history)
Eddache (pop culture)
ColdFusion (politics/economics/technology)
CGP Grey (general knowledge)
Captain Disillusion (scambuster/video editing)
Wendover (geography/logistics)
Formatted list with links
Can't mention Wendover without Extremities :)
And similar to RobWords, I would add Xidnaf. Dead channel but I like the videos that it got. Also Langfocus (introductions to languages) and Ecolinguist (comparisons between languages)
Miniminutemans videos about Netflixs "Ancient Apocalypse" are super good. I highly recommend them, especially if you've seen "Ancient Apocalypse". His videos are very thorough in how they break down every argument brought forward by Graham Hancock.
Similar to SideQuest would be History Matters. Similar format, short form animated videos on history.
Another scambuster is Jim Browning. White Hat Hacker that targets scammers, he also tries to help the victims by either telling them flat out that they are being scammed.
I recommend pretty much anything from the Dorktown series of SB Nation. Even as someone with practically no interest in sports, Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein have a way of presenting interesting stories in a way that is entertaining, accessible, and informative. Their video 222-0 (https://youtu.be/doZzrsDJo-4) is a great place to start, and if you dig it, there’s a ton of great content from there.
For gaming, have you tried Jacob Gellar? He makes some interesting videos about video games, or space lasers, or monkey head transplants… Whatever floats his boat at the moment, but I’ve discovered some pretty interesting games through his videos.
Todd in the Shadows is a great channel as well if you’re down to learn a bit about music. He has two ongoing series: One Hit Wonderland, where he digs into the bands and stories behind one hit wonders, and Trainwreckords, where he looks into what went into infamously bad or disastrous album releases that just about killed bands or careers.
Thank you so much for the recs! I’m not much of a sports person myself, but I love good stories and history about the topic… just never much into the actual games lol I’ll definitely check out these channels, they sound right up my ally
I have seen Todd In The Shadows though, I love his content about one hit wonders. I think about the “This is why I’m hot” one a lot because I remember that song coming and going and never hearing a peep from that guy again lol, so I like how Todd explains why they got famous/what happened afterwards. I liked his one about The Cranberries too.
Check me out. I'm currently working on a horror video game review series that also talks about my anxiety/depression. I'm still working out the kinks of sound and video editing.
My first was a month ago and it is A World of Horror. A point and click horror game
The second video is on The upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The stories are connected and each video is about 7 minutes.
Check it out and let me know what you think!?!?
hey dude! I got a lot of recommendations that I'm going through but wanted to check yours out cause I love supporting up-comers. This is really good stuff, I subscribed. I gotta check out the World Of Horror game, that sounds like something that would be insanely fun to play, and I also like your use of the Friday the 13th NES music. I'll make a request here if that's cool with you?
Please if you ever have some time, do a video on the NES Friday the 13th game. It still holds up pretty well, it's frustrating as shit but I think you'd do good work with that one. Good shit man, I like your content, consider me a fan!
Hey dude thanks for commenting and subscribing. I'm currently in the process of doing a video with multiple games and I'm sure I can put that in there. Thanks again for checking it out!!!!
How has no one mentioned Dustin @ Smarter Every Day yet? In-depth videos explaining interesting science in a way that lets everyone understand. Also he builds a 1000mph baseball cannon. Can't beat that.
I'll second some of the channels from other comments, Technology Connections, Stuff Made Here, Veritasium, Mark Rober, and Practical Engineering. All of those are fantastic.
Brainy
Fun / Offbeat
Damn, I miss "Every Frame A Painting".
If you love cinema, and you ever even dream about being a writer or director someday, that channel is a timeless must-watch.
Just in case any fans here missed it, here is the script for the would-be final installment.
I watch a lot of music and music theory content. Some of my favorites are Rick Beato, Charles Cornell, Adam Neely, Jens Larsen, and 12Tone.
I’m gonna have to check those out, I’m a musician who’s pretty well trained in music theory so that sounds like it’s something I can get into. It’s funny I’m getting a lot of music channel recs haha, I perform often so I don’t spend a lot of free time simply enjoying music content for once
I also enjoy music theory content and really love Adam Neely's dives into interesting musical concepts. I've tried watching Rick Beato before and he's always come off as kind of an older rock dude who's set in his ways and doesn't give newer music, particularly pop and hip hop, much credit. Do you feel that's a fair assessment?
I’m probably the wrong person to ask because I usually agree with his takes on modern pop and hip hop. I don’t find much of it musically interesting.
It's a shame. Beato has such a vast amount of really useful knowledge to share, which he certainly does. But the other half of the time it just feels like watching oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg.
I could be wrong, but I feel like Adam's heart isn't in YouTube anymore, and he's kind of mostly phoning it in now. And that's fine. He's a musician first and foremost, and he still releases an occasion really insightful video, and there's still an extensive catalog to watch. But I feel like the really good videos are fewer and farther between now.
You all are amazing, I have a lifetime of content to go through! Thank you everyone, I’m checking out a lot of these over the next week
I don't think anyone has mentioned Ben Eater yet. Amazing videos about how computers work at a very low level. Famous for his "8-bit breadboard computer" series.
I just recently started watching Jet Lag: The Game and have been really enjoying it. I also watch The Always Sunny Podcast which is highly enjoyable.
James Hoffman
Great coffee-related content, including reviews, general advice, and oddball experiments. If you're even just a bit interested in coffee, his videos are great for understanding all sorts of different aspects of the hobby.
Some assorted videos I'd recommend:
Lazerpig: Military equipment history (?). I can't recomend him enough. Here's Why the A-10 sucks: part 2. Also one of his latest videos covers other youtubers you should watch. Some good recommendations in his list!
The Cursed Judge: Video essays about gaming.
Ahoy: Video essays about gaming. I also can't recommend him enough.
Hbomber guy: Video essays about gaming and other things. Here's a 2 hour video about the Roblox OOF sound effect where you're like ...why would I watch a 2 hour video... then you watch the whole thing.
Munecat: Video essays, sometimes about scammy type things. Not my favourite but not bad.
Casually Explained: Comedy. He causally explains things.
Mister Forthright: Crazy old man. He passed away so is no longer making content, but its pretty good stuff.
Building Integrity: Structural engineer (or some sort of engineer) talking about building collapses and other things.
SmarterEveryDay - Destin (often with his high speed camera) looks on various things and how they work.
Steve Mould - Very good explanation of various things with good demonstrations or analogies.
Mark Rober - One hell of a smart guy. He makes various contraptions like dartboard where you can't miss or stone skipping robot (throws stones on water) or snowball machine gun.
Engineering Explained - You wanted to know how something on a car works? This is the channel. Not funny, but very thorough and goes through the numbers.
Stuff Made Here - Self-aiming bow, unpickable lock, baseball bat with a twist... This one is really smart and humble guy making unbelievable stuff.
Mustard - Very thorough videos about old technology, mainly things that transport people. What was the DeHavilland Comet's flaw? What is Buran (soviet space shuttle)? SR-71, Shinkansen, ekranoplans... Really good stuff.
Brick Immortar - Goes through various accidents and why they happened.
EEVBlog - Mainly electronics, but does some debunking stuff and shows the numbers.
RandomGaminginHD - Humble englishman that goes through the pain of trying old stuff with new games. Thank god he does that! Nobody from the big boys cares about how Spiderman Remastered or RDR2 work on GTX1650, this is not the story here, though.
LGR - You want old PC tech? This is the channel for you. Good humor too.
Modern Vintage Gamer - Self explanatory, isn't it? No, it isn't. He goes not just through games but also platforms, hardware, how and why it got hacked etc. I think he had to drop Nintendo stuff though due to Nintendo being Nintendo.
Techmoan - It's hard to describe. Well, say... Old audio stuff. He may seem like audiophile, while he isn't really. In some videos he fixes old turntable or walkman, in others he shows some unusual gear, in others he debunks snakeoil with style end elegancy.
8bitGuy - All you ever wanted and needed to know about Commodores and other PCs of the era. Also makes games for these computers.
NileRed - You want to make stinkiest chemical in the world? Or see aerogel being made? Or Uranium glass? Or making artificial sweetener from pee? You are on the right channel! Has also NIleBlue as secondary channel, also worth checking out.
Colin Furze - English plumber went mental. He makes crazy stuff, but goes through the making process on camera, you can learn things from there.
Spiffing Brit - If the game can be glitched, this is the guy to know how. Makes absolutely hilarious videos and drink Yorkshire tea.
And there goes my favorite electronics channels in no particular order: ElectroBOOM, Bigclivedotcom and Diodegonewild.
I've seen 74 Gear and Mentour Pilot mentioned and I would like to add Captain Joe to this list.
I could probably go on and on, but my time is limited and yours is too :-) If I remember someone who absolutely should be on the list, I will add the channel into EDIT under this paragraph.
EDIT
Tom Stanton - Great videos mainly about anything that could fly, sometimes other stuff, everything technical and well explained.
Veritasium - Very smart guy. Almost to the point I would say controversial. He can ask a question in such a way you will have something to think about for a year! And sometimes he provokes (in a good way) other great Youtube creators into reaction and then you have like a few weeks of great videos from various creators on the same topic but with different viewpoints!
Mattias Krantz - Musician gone engineering. His creations are unbelievable, I highly recommend to at least have a look at the channel. Speaking of...
Wintergatan - Musician gone engineer in different way. Love his marble machine!
I've also seen Technology Connections mentioned, which is channel extraordinaire.
I also like videos from Jimmy Broadbent (sim racer gone real racer), Super GT (almost the same story), some of Car Throttle (kinda Top Gear made by amateurs) and Overdrive (also kinda Top Gear).
I have paid subscription on Floatplane for all Linus Tech Tips related channels and I occasionally watch Gamers Nexus, JayzTwoCents and Der8auer for PC related news.
We have very similar taste:)
Quick additions if you like the list above:
Tom Scott - Witty Brit. Does fulfilling content on how things work.
Operation Doughnut - Dumb American. guns, cops, shootings, questionable politics, but good content if you're into police work.
German in Venice - Adorable German. Shows us the lives of the average person on skid row while featuring shots of current Hollywood. Tons of nostalgia from better times in Hollywood and Los Angles.
Louis Rossmann - Tech repairman turned current affairs commentator. While I've been a fan for years, he's become especially important since the turmoil over on Reddit.
All things Conan O'Brian - Your source for Conan's career
Real Appalachia - Everything Eastern Kentucky and the rest of Appalachia. Tough times out there, but these two wacky folks bring out the best of a very specific part of the United States.
Stuff You Should Know - Basically a channel for all things that YSK.
Netflix is a Joke - SiriusXM brings you Netflix comedy.
Don't Tell Comedy - An unaffiliated group of famous and not so famous comedians who get together everywhere from basements to ballrooms, from bars to your backyard.
Tom Scot really should have been on my list! And Louis Rossmann as well!
You might enjoy This does not compute which is something inbetween LGR and Techmoan with major vintage Mac component.
I think that was me; thanks for the addition, will give CJ a watch :)
Please do. I like him the most from these three. He's got great attitude that clicks with me. So much I hae bought his book and spent extra to have it autographed.
You may have already seen lots of things he describes though if you watch ie. Mentour for a few years.
I've CTRL+F'd all these to check that none of them have been posted yet.
Here's how I'm gonna do my list, in no particular order or category sorting, sorry, I'm gonna link the channel, put a short description, and if I can think of one, recommend a good video to have your first experience from the channel.
The Cosmonaut Variety Hour
Mostly nerd media focused review-type content, with a somewhat loose and informal "did I like it and nerd out over it?" tone, covers a lot of movies and TV, but for me the true standout videos on this channel are the "Why You Should Play X (warhammer, fighting games, D&D for examples), And How" series, which is admittedly rare among the channel's content overall.
This Warhammer video lead me to the next channel actually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhZLE_2m6c8
Play On Tabletop
They play tabletop games, mostly Warhammer 40k but other games do appear from time to time. I am not that familiar with tabletop gaming, but as far as I can tell they know the games well, play rules to the letter, and commentate plays descriptively. Really neat production tricks too with their highly intricate play fields, lighting, clever filming and editing tricks and even sometimes voiceover and sound effects to enhance the experience.
This one is a bit older but showcases a really awesome play field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLUpWayWGtA
Self-made Island
Super Mario World (and sometimes SMB3 and other games) romhack playthroughs with no commentary. Was a great way to find new romhacks to play, used to upload very frequently, now has had long stretches of inactivity. Still good, when they do post though.
Try this extistentially depressed romhack to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7oE55BgCVI
My Life in Gaming
These guys are known for their coverage of retro gaming, though they will touch on newer stuff from time to time as well. They specifically like to target stuff like FPGA systems (Analogue and MiSTer), ODEs, video scalers, emulation, and original hardware, in particular with a focus on settings, signal / output comparisons and the like. Might be the highest production quality channel on retro gaming overall.
A good intro, and first of a 3 part series: after that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0AOzKwStM0
Nightmare Masterclass
This guy does analysis of internet-based horror content. He typically spares his viewers the worst of any types of jumpscares or shocking moments from the original by keeping the commentary rolling despite what might be showing. He very often has a political angle that I'm not always certain is truly present in the original work, but art is interpretive anyway, and he often picks up on things that definitely are there which I don't always notice, myself. The guy wrote his own soundtrack for his analysis series on Petscop instead of relying on the original OST. Serious effort! Can't recommend something specific as this channel is at it's best if you're familiar with the work he's analyzing so it depends on you.
Core-A Gaming
Highly educational analysis videos focused on Fighting Games and the Fighting Game Community, often hilarious, extensively researched, educational, stunning metaphors, and often cross-applicable even if you're not into Fighting Games. Two recommendations here because this channel is that good, a pair of videos with super different purposes.
This video is the most cross-applicable to other gaming and internet communities besides just FGC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8055HIDm1A
This video presents itself as Analysis but is secretly a trojan horse for a general Fighting Game beginners' tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R0hbe8HZj0
Dan Corrigan
I haven't skateboarded since my early teens but the pandemic made me super thirsty for nostalgia for my youth, and so I did the rounds on all the bigger skate youtube channels, and Dan's is, in my opinion, the most consistently entertaining. He's well connected, so there's always great skaters on the channel, his commentary and general personality is very witty, playfully sarcastic, and fun. The videos are super casual, feels more like hanging out with the crew than watching a more contrived video with a concept or objective, and in my opinion for skate content, it's all the better for it.
He's close friends with Andy Anderson, who definitely would appeal to an older, more nostalgic demographic if I'm reading the Tildes community right, so try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NaVT3S1HO4
EDIT: Sorry, one more came to mind.
Michael Saba
Anime and Video Game video essayist who is more media literate than me, which I find very helpful because he also catches on to things that go over my head. His Nier video is his most popular for very good reason, and his Kill la Kill video helped me understand the point better and get over the show's "fanservice" through understanding its purpose. Problem is, they're loaded in spoilers, so need to be watched after you're familiar with the original work.
Therefore for my recommendation, try this video on City Pop & Future Funk music instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Althvag63pw
Alright, some of these have more subs than others.
Food:
Chinese cooking techniques. Just an insanely talented dude showcasing authentic dishes with straight to the point recipes.
Yunnan cuisine in rural china. Fascinating stuff, amazingly filmed, featuring a very large dog.
Creative:
Surreal animation. Has a full-length series called "Interface" which I failed to parse - maybe you'll do better.
Simple, deep, and well articulated video essays on obscure, nonsensical, or inane subjects, but sometimes about more normal things like language. Oh, also good for conlang enthusiasts.
This is probably the channel I'm most uncomfortable to be still following because I have conflicting opinions about it in my mind. It's essentially semi-surreal trolling, and showcases some insane corners of the internet that I had no idea existed. Is it morally okay to do that to these communities? I don't know. Maybe it's not so deep.
This will probably more appeal to the gen-z crowd; Olivia does introspective philosophy on trends and culture, as well as general philosophy on current events. Very comforting aesthetic and a wonderful voice.
A channel (mostly) about gender, women, and analysis of (mostly online) queer culture. Also has directly trans-related videos talking about the experience.
Educational:
A geologist dad that uses minecraft to teach about rocks (and a little bit of color theory).
Chris and Alyssa are invaluably compassionate people. A channel about children/adults with disabilities, injuries, diseases, and mental illness, sharing their stories and experiences.
I've never been too interested in gaming or engineering, and it feels like when a YouTube recommendation thread comes up on Tildes it's a sea of very similar channels. These are some great channels I wasn't familiar with and will definitely enjoy, thanks for sharing!
NileRed, he isn't as active anymore but he has a bunch of videos. He's a chemist and posts really high quality vids of him doing random interesting chemistry stuff. If you watch the vids in order you can see his progress as he upgrades his lab :D
Smarter every day
Acorn to Arabella
C90 adventures
Half as interesting
Polyphonic
Practical engineering
Scishow
Tom Scott
Vox
Wendover
I can't believe I had to come down this far to find Tom Scott! He's always super interesting and informative, and there is like 10 years of content!
Tom Scott is so well-known, it's a bit like advertising for planet earth on our moon :D at least that's why I didn't mention them in my list (I'm not the person you were replying to, but in another comment I mean). There's some people you just can't miss on the internet, unless you're one of today's lucky ten thousand
He also did a series of third-party hosts when he went on vacation. I got in to a number of them. Calum is one I can think of right now, but there were a few others I don't think I'm subscribed to.
Sampson Boat Co. - Guy buys a 110 year old wooden sailing boat and rebuilds it from the keel up.
Bad Obsession Motorsport - Two guys rebuild a classic Mini Cooper by shoving a v8 engine into it.
Hand Tool Rescue - Old rusty and broken tools get turned into fancy new tools.
my mechanics - Magical pair of hands restores cool things.
Upvotes for Binky. Easily one of the best "car build" channels on YouTube. You might like Wesley Kegan as well. Not the same format as Bad Obsession, but he does some crazy shit with seemingly limited resources.
https://www.youtube.com/@WesleyKagan
I'm surprised no one has called out RedLetterMedia https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTNhL_yO3tPTdQ5XgmmWjA
The why files
Kings and generals
Brew
Mr ballen
Kyle Hill
Decoding the Unknown
The boys
Casual scholar
Jonny Harris
Sunnyv2
Nixxiom
Into the shadows
Cold fusion
MeatCanyon
Epic history tv
Thoughty two
Aunty donna
Fairbarin films
Josh strife hayes
AstralSpliff
The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
I like Simon Whistler in general but sometimes he gets a bit shouty and I worry he gonna have an aneurysm. Dude needs to chill a bit lol. Kyle Hill’s Half-Life Histories is a great series.
I didn’t realize the dollop was on YouTube, I’m gonna have to check that out!
Simon has so many channels.
I like some of his more serious channels like warographics and into the shadows.
If you like general learning channels, try out Simon Whistler (aka Fact Boy, as the fans call him) and the rather large number of channels he hosts. Here are a few of them:
TodayIFoundOut - General information videos on a wide variety of subjects
Megaprojects - Building projects that exemplify human ingenuity
Sideprojects - Sister channel to Megaprojects; less mega but still cool
Biographics - Significant people from history
Geographics - Significant places on Earth
I really like watching one of these channels while I eat. There's always something interesting to learn, feeding my mind while I feed my body.
Besides ones that have already been mentioned, channels I subscribe to or regularly watch are...
Boylei Hobby Time - He makes fantasy dioramas with good breakdowns and instructions on the builds
Cracking the Cryptic - 2 English sudoku champs solve custom submitted Sudokus, and sometimes play puzzle video games
post10 - A dude in New England who just goes around to clean up drainage, culverts etc.
You Suck at Cooking - Funny cooking channel
CTC preserved my mental stability during COVID lockdowns.
Here is a sampling of the main channels I look forward to videos from!
Wristwatch Revival: a great watchmaker repair channel. He does really deep and thorough explanations as he fixes up broken watches. As his channel has grown and he became more well known he’s getting access to rarer timepieces.
Pal2tech: photography channel focussing primarily on fujifilm x-series cameras and techniques.
Omar Gonzalez Photography: also photography channel with a focus on fujifilm but a smattering of others, as well as techniques.
Pitch Meeting: comedy channel where a guy played both the part of screenwriter and producer and pitches Hollywood movies to himself in a comedic way - usually highlighting inconsistencies in the movie.
LockpickingLawyer: maybe one of the best lock pickers. Has a massive catalog of videos of picking locks and discussing physical security.
How To Cook That: cooking channel that focusses on misconceptions and scams in other cooking channels and videos. Has a few interesting sub series.
The Crafsman Steadycraftin: a maker channel. He does all sorts of stuff but has a strong interest in figurines and demonstrates a wide range of making skills like molding and casting, 3D printing, painting, etc.. Amazing videography.
Espen Kraft: synthesizer music channel focussing on vintage 80s synthesizers and production techniques.
RedMeansRecording: came for his awesome Op-1 videos, stayed for his brilliance across the board. If you’re into synthesizer music you probably already know this one.
Dirty Blue Tube: all about making watercolour pigments and paints.
Venus Theory: fairly technical but generally approachable music theory deep dives.
Nadav Art and Wood: this guy does wood carving and voiceover storytelling that is just a treat to watch. New channel so not much content but well worth it.
DUST: frequent sci-fi short films. Sometimes starring known actors. Many good ones here.
My personal favorite is Overly Sarcastic Productions, which has a mix of ancient/classical history, myths and folklore, and media analysis. As the name indicates, they have a tendency towards sarcastic humor, but I like it and the quality is good. I generally prefer the mythology videos because Red is a very good artist, but the history videos are also high-quality; If you're interested in Norse mythology at all, their video on Loki is a good example of the channel.
You've got a ton of other suggestions to sort through, so I won't add more, but I'll second some other people's suggestions:
This thread is awesome and I've already subbed to a bunch of suggestions! A lot of high brow stuff in here already, so let's bring it down a notch with some of mine.
Studio Binder - breaks down all different facets of movie making. A must if you're a movie geek.
Project Farm - independently tests all sorts of tools and automotive products.
First We Feast - if you somehow don't know about Hot Ones by now, you need to check out celebrities being interviewed while eating super hot wings.
Animagraffs - 3d animations of how things work
Ronald Finger - his restoration projects are fun and hilarious, even if you have no interest in the subject
Rick Beato - breakdowns of songs and song writing. What Makes This Song Great is especially good
Fail Army - let's get real, sometimes you want to turn off your brain and watch people fail at stuff
Loads of great stuff here! Thank you for starting this thread, OP!
I'm responding more to the title here, but I'm sure OP can find some good stuff in my list. I'll try not to duplicate. With each channel, I'll share a standout video. It's not necessarily the best, but just the video I want to highlight. Maybe it's the best, but maybe it's just recent and indicative of what to expect from the channel.
Computers/Tech
Gaming
Music
Travel
Urbanism
Other Stuff
If you like gaming analysis/critques, personally I've liked both NakeyJakey and Josh Strife Hayes. They've produced some insightful stuff, the former hitting more broadly whereas the latter majorly targets MMOs or older games. Regarding entertaining / informative, Kraut is a really excellent youtube channel with extremely well researched / thought out videos in the 'countryball/polandball' style. I particularly recommend his Mexico or Turkish three part series, those were incredibly enlightening pieces about parts of the world I didn't know much about.
They're really long, but don't feel pressured to watch them in one sitting. In fact, I vaguely regret binging them because they're genuinely some of the best stuff I've seen on youtube.
Dr. Lupo - video game content. All sorts of games, mainly first person shooters. Good sense of humor, awesome charity work.
Freshbaked - Disneyland content if you’re into that kinda thing.
Mark Rober - Fascinating videos about all sorts of random things.
If you like longer form content, and videos about disasters, then Well There's Your Problem might be perfect for you. It's a podcast about engineering disasters, and the events that led to them. More of slideshows than videos, but that just means you can listen to them while you're at work or something.
Also, they're very leftists. If the phrase "crimes against TERFs aren't crimes" resonates with you, give them a listen!
For a channel with more hectic energy, CJTheX. I don't even know how to describe his channel, but his energy is fascinating and addicting. He makes video essays, that fit a general theme of art and expression, and are typically about extremely specific things. He makes a REALLY strong argument for skipping the first 5 minutes of Disney's Tangled. It's worth giving him a chance, and totally understandable if you don't vibe with his energy.
JCS gives interesting and informative commentary on police interrogation footage. It's pretty cool seeing how deep a grave you can dig just by talking to the cops, and not saying "I want a lawyer" as soon as you see a badge.
Wow. The others have listed so many. So I've only got a few left to share.
Educational:
The Canvas - A channel to learn about Art History. I like it because he does sometimes lean into the history quite a bit.
Entertainment:
Almost Friday TV - Very high quality sketches. Honestly, they're all great.
Aunty Donna - Also a group that does comedy sketches. They've got a show on Netflix, but their most recent is Coffee Cafe which I think is better. But you would have to be in Australia.
Brian David Gilbert - Got to know him through his Unraveled series where he slowly loses his sanity while figuring out game lore. But he does other things now and they're great too. Does unraveled count as educational??
Great idea for a thread. My favorite subreddit was/(is....) r/videos.
Happy to bookmark this thread in Tildes and continue my protest.
I'm really glad to get so many great recommendations, I was nervous about possible negativity due to my Reddit conditioning but this is a really chill forum
Glad to help. I'm also really digging Tildes so far.
People like you and I, and the ones who came before us are the early adopters, we get to set the tone. Hell this thread could be the pioneer of the new r/videos.
Two that hasn't been mentioned here yet:
Jay! How could I have forgotten Jay! His is one of the funniest youtube channels ever
https://www.youtube.com/@NoLabCoatRequired - Science
https://www.youtube.com/@kylehill - Science
https://www.youtube.com/@MarcelVos - Games
https://www.youtube.com/@scottmanley - Space
https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectFarm - Home DIY
https://www.youtube.com/@pbsspacetime - Space
https://www.youtube.com/@SabineHossenfelder - Physics
https://www.youtube.com/@weirdboyjim - Tech DIY
https://www.youtube.com/@Splattercatgaming - Games
https://www.youtube.com/@Zeal8bit - Tech DIY
https://www.youtube.com/@InDeepGeek - Lore
https://www.youtube.com/@astrumspace - Space
https://www.youtube.com/@MartyT - Home DIY
https://www.youtube.com/@ArvinAsh - Science
There's a lot of great suggestions in this thread already, so I just want to mention straybob - a very small and very cozy travel channel, with surprisingly good quality for its size, and not nearly well known enough in my opinion!
I love straybob, his C90 travels got me hooked many years ago now.
Seems like a lot of the channels I'd suggest have already been mentioned like Defunctland, 8-Bit Guy, LEMMiNO but from skimming theres maybe a couple that haven't been mentioned.
A Film in 3 Minutes - A very small channel that I'd love to see get the attention it deserves. A film analysis channel that discusses a films themes, design, background, production and legacy in just three minutes. Great little bite sized pieces of content.
Tasting History with Max Miller - Fun channel where the titular charismatic host cooks meals from all periods of history from all over the world, offers background on the meals, cultures or events that featured these meals heavily, and then finishes each episode off by tasting each meal.
The Great War and World War Two - Incredibly educational YouTube channels that follows WW1 and WW2 week by week.
Adam Hattan - Fun and knowledgeable Disney vlogger from the UK.
There are a LOT of comments here so apologies if I'm duplicating any suggestions, but based off your list we have a lot of overlapping interest so I'll share some of my favorites!
Ahoy! (Excellent gaming and gaming related video essays/documentaries. You've likely already watched several of his videos.)
Adam Millard (Best description I can give is that he's like GameMakersToolkit's old content before he got a bit too preachy and in the weeds for my taste. Excellent game design video essays and recommendations.)
Atomic Frontier (Tom Scott but younger, seriously that's exactly what he is. Kid has a big future!)
DefunctLand (Insanely high quality and interesting video essays/documentaries on theme park related stuff. Definitely highly recommended.)
GeoWizard (Fun little channel of a bit of whimsical brit who goes on missions and adventures to walk across countries in a straight line, amongst other wacky things. Addicting content and hilarious personality.)
Joseph Anderson (Incredibly long and incredibly detailed critiques of many popular games. This is a channel you'll likely either love or hate, if you don't like long form content don't bother with it.)
Kilian Experience (A bit hard to explain, makes silly gaming video's amongst other silly content but all you need to know is in this video, please do watch.)
LEMMiNO (Another insanely high quality long form content youtuber. Does long video essays on interesting historical mysteries.)
Mandalore Gaming (You can't not love Mandy, he's a youtube gaming critic of the people. Seriously though he has some amazing videos, I recommend diving into this one where he explores one of the wildest adventure games of all time.)
SovietWomble (Quite possibly one of the most loveable brits on Youtube, with a group of hilarious friends to boot. The bullshittery series is a staple of Youtube history for a reason, you have no excuses not to watch.)
I could go on and on but I'll limit myself to 10. These are such amazing content creators who I fully think deserve as many viewers as they can get!
VWestlife is a really fun channel if you're into old computers or electronics I love the deep dives into whatever the creator is interested in making a video about. I am especially fascinated with the videos on various radios and radio technologies.
https://youtube.com/@TheHistoryUnderground
For history, I enjoy The History Underground. The guy visits each place that he is discussing and his videos have really great production quality. I like the guy and he does a good job of getting the viewer into the scene of how the history unfolded. I've been on a WW2 kick lately and he has posted a lot about his visits to areas in Germany. Unfortunately he just had all his equipment stolen in Athens last week, so his new content will be slow for the near future, but there is plenty of old content. I think he has done a lot of Civil War material, but I haven't been interested in that war yet.
https://youtube.com/@MarkFeltonProductions
I like Mark Felton Productions for WW2 documentaries. He delves into lots of details of the downfall of the Nazis. He is a prolific British author.
https://youtube.com/@HistoryforGRANITE
I like this for history and up-to-date research ancient Egypt
"I primarily enjoy gaming critiques"
I really enjoy Now in the 90s.
They're ten to fifteen minute videos about the games that came out "this week" 30 years ago at the time each video is posted (Fridays).
Sortedfood: a channel that I have been really into lately. It’s a group of guys from the UK that are learning how to cook. One guy is a professional chef, and there are three “normals” that are learning stuff. They do various challenges, like the under 10min burger challenge (make a burger in under 10min), or pass it on (each of the guys gets 15min to work on a dish, before the next guy takes it over with absolutely no communication as to what they were making)… there are a bunch of different things. Super entertaining and informative at the same time.
How Ridiculous: Aussies dropping stuff on other stuff. Slightly chaotic but very entertaining. Dropping stuff off a dam in Switzerland, or off a tower, or out of a helicopter. Dropping a giant sword off a tower onto bulletproof glass, or even dropping a giant axe on a bunch of fire extinguishers.
Sebastian Lague: Posts videos of his coding prototypes, exploring concepts like procedural generation, simulation, marching algorithms and many more. His content isn't great for learning how to program, but his visuals and pacing is terrific. He tends to focus more on the concept of what he's trying to do then the how which makes for much more watchable content.
Stuff Made Here: Similar to the above, but for manufacturing and automation. For example a pool stick that aims for you. Doesnt have any of that obnoxious pandering to younger audiences or "the algorithm" like others in his space do.
I don't know Sebastian, but from your description, Pezzza's Work sounds very similar for anyone looking for more channels in that direction
Love Sebastian's stuff, the slime mold video is lovely, I kind of want to get it as a screen saver.
I think my favorite series is the little procedural solar system. It looks so pretty and I love seeing it develop little by little.
I'll post some tinier lesser-known ones:
Real Deal Productions S.S. Wilson's (one of the producers of the tremors movie) personal youtube channel, he's got a long-running series where he's digitizing behind-the-scenes VHS recordings his dad made during production and has found a ton of lost takes, footage, shooting locations, and techniques they used then forgot. Great for fans of the movie or anyone that is a fan of practical movie effects.
3kliksphillip Youtuber that has been around forever, started making Source mapping tutorials, but has expanded out on his sub-channels to covering all sorts of tech topics, and just just fun to listen to, I don't play counter strike at all anymore but he always manages to make an entertaining video anyways.
KidLEavesStoop does deep dives into obscure topics about media
If you like absurd comedy and learning history at the same time, check out Puppet History on the channel Watcher. It’s a bizarre concept, but it somehow works and is incredibly hilarious.
Along the same chaotic vein is Mythical Kitchen. They do wacky and weird experiments in the kitchen and occasional menus from historical time periods. They’re an offshoot from Good Mythical Morning, but way better in my opinion and great for a laugh.
Other folks have already mentioned Simon Whistler and Kyle Hill, which are nice junk food factoids for the brain. I use them as background noise for when I’m working.
Frontline from PBS uploads full episodes to YouTube occasionally. PBS actually has a lot of great content on YouTube including NOVA and Spacetime.
Some More News is akin to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight with a more leftist bent and can be more funny in my opinion. Also has a puppet. I guess puppets are in?
One I haven't seen mentioned yet is ChubbyEmu. He is a doctor and makes videos of what happens to a body after a lot of pouring things into it that the body shouldn't have. He uses actual cases of course with identifying info scrubbed, and explains everything well for laymen like myself to understand.
I was checking all of the replies to see if anyone had already mentioned Chubbyemu! I love watching his videos for the educational case study content, but also leave his channel with many new fears unlocked haha. I've told quite a few people, "Don't eat gas station nachos. I watched a video one time where this guy..."
You've got lots of good recs here but led me add two more:
Answer In Progress: I just discovered them last night and binged a bunch. They ask strange science and tech questions and then just go down the rabbit hole. I watched one of them try to train an AI to do parkour last night.
Noah Caldwell-Gervais: The king of videogame video essays. He basically just writes dissertations about different video games and reads them out with gameplay behind it. My first video of his was a history of Resident Evil that was 7 HOURS.
Also +1s for Game Maker's Toolkit, People Make Games, and Tom Scott.
two I subscribe to that I don’t see already posted.
I will not read every answer and cannot link the channels besause of time restrictions, so sorry for the potential uselessness of my answer. Here are some excellent Channels that deal with Maths, Science and Engineering/Technology:
Heere are two Bonus Channels:
I jsut watched an 80 minute long video on the video game Ico from this channel! I then checked out their other videos and its all recommendations of small and niche video games that I mostly hadn't heard of but sound pretty cool
Stumbled across this after watching a Matthewmatosis video on the same game
I immediately thought of Acorn to Arabella: https://www.youtube.com/@AcornToArabella
It's a wooden boat building (for now) channel. But wait! I wasn't interested in wooden boat building either, I gave it a chance a few years ago now though and it has become one of my weekly habits, it's that good.
It's the story of a climber from Massachussets who decided to build a sailing yacht from trees harvested on his own land. This guy has never sailed before (and as far as I know is still taking lessons despite the boat pretty much being completed as of this week and ready to launch).
It started off basically enough, self filmed and probably more interesting to the wider woodworking community but really took off at pace three years (I think) ago when their content started to get wider attention due to the ambitiousness of it all, it was a two man effort to begin with and these guys were basically just winging it deciding to build a yacht as their first ever boat building project.
Even if you have zero interest in the specific topic you will probably find something to like about it, as the project develops into this epic multi-year effort it gets better and better, they bring on a pro to film and edit which allows pace to gather and the community of volunteers grows. It almost becomes a social venture with 10 year olds working alongside octogenarian retirees enjoying the chance to practice their trade again, it's astounding even if you're not a sailor, woodworker or anything even closely related. Just fascinating content and beautifully produced.
If you were to go back to the beginning and watch every episode I would recommend that but the past 3-4 years are when it really hit its stride with better editing etc.
It's a channel that proves why YouTube is great. No TV network could commission such a long running project with many episodes over 30 minutes long. No TV show would be able to garner such good will and generate such community interest, nobody is volunteering to bring a TV funded project to completion and nobody is commissioning what - on the surface - seems like a show about such a niche topic.
IMO The tally ho project is more impressive, very similar idea and start but much better craftsmanship and videography
I've recently been watching Andy Ward's Ancient Pottery
It's a guy handmaking natural pottery and explaining and showing the process.
I also rediscovered a lot of lego technic videos and the genuine engineering that goes into them is astounding. I had never even heard of a "worm gear" before but it comes up in most of those videos.
I like to unwind while watching Martijn Doolard. Definitely a more quiet experience than most of garbage on YouTube.
Lots of awesome recommendations in here! I'll try not to repeat any channels I've already seen mentioned, but here's a few channels I find humorous, educational, inspiring, or all of the above:
Love me some Sam O'Nella Academy. Just wished it updated more frequently, but the entire backlog is great.
Not quite your preferred topics, but you may enjoy these nonetheless:
I've recently gotten into Richard Thompson's channel as well, for his videos detailing how-to's for artists, as well as watching him paint homemade animation cels on glass.
One channel I haven’t seen mentioned but I really thoroughly enjoy is https://youtube.com/@FrenchGuyCooking his channel combines engineering, cooking, storytelling and great video editing work.
I'm too lazy to write descriptions for each one
Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/@RennsReviews
https://www.youtube.com/@NakeyJakey
https://www.youtube.com/@Nerdslayergaming
https://www.youtube.com/@bigbosstube
https://www.youtube.com/@magicmush2893
https://www.youtube.com/@g0atmoth
https://www.youtube.com/@slow_start
https://www.youtube.com/@habie147 : VR games
https://www.youtube.com/@EZScape : Speedrun (won't upload anymore sadly :( )
https://www.youtube.com/@BeamNGCrashSimulations : High quality videos of BeamNG
Cooking
https://www.youtube.com/@aragusea
Music
https://www.youtube.com/@ronaldjenkees : My boy Ronald jenkees
Other
https://www.youtube.com/@EddyBurback
https://www.youtube.com/@JamesJani
https://www.youtube.com/@Holstead
https://www.youtube.com/@FutureProofTV
https://www.youtube.com/@Coffeezilla
I'll once again advocate for Pseudiom; long-form videos (at least 20 minutes) about this and that of some degree of obscurity. He has a few series running, each about a different subject; at least one is likely to strike your fancy.
If you like Warhammer, World of Darkness, or Half Life I highly recommend Alfabusa. Fantastic comedy series for each of those franchises, though warhammer is on indefinite hiatus thanks to games workshop being shit.
here you go:
SEA long form chill space videos
Nexpo dark/paranormal
Jim Browning tracks and identifies scammers.
exurb1a existential crisis/psychology/philosophy type videos with humor sprinkled in
My favorites are all posted here already, but I havent seen this one:
https://youtube.com/@TheraminTrees
A channel led by a psychologist. Usually about abuse in religion or families. But also about any kind of manipulative behaviours and how to detect them. For example in relationships, at work, etc.
He was in a family of extreme religious and abusive parents he had to free himself from. He made a few episodes about that too.
Very interesting and eye opening. It kind of explained my gut feeling about some people I couldnt find proper words for before.
Picking some of my favorites... I'm going to separate these into 2 sections, the first will be general / more well known / more popular channels, the second will be more niche channels I like that are less likely to be heard about outside of specific communities.
More general good stuff:
LegalEagle - lawyer who breaks down current-day legal events
Undecided with Matt Ferrell - popular science generalist who gives good explanations
Veritasium - another popular science / tech subject exploration channel
Practical Engineering - like above, but more focused on engineering-specific topics
LockPickingLawyer - this would go in the 2nd category, but he's become so widely known at this point - basically he picks locks and demonstrates what security products aren't worth the money
Simple History - animated shorts going over history topics
The Problem With Jon Stewart - comedian, turned talk show host, turned political activist
minutephysics - fun animated channel that explains physics concepts
Project Farm - THE GOLD STANDARD IN FAIR, OBJECTIVE, SCIENTIFIC-METHOD BASED ONLINE PRODUCT TESTING AND REVIEW
Smarter Every Day - Destin is among the best science communicators out there - high quality, video field-trips to places and with people that only fame can grant access to, and an amazingly good human being. I don't think I've ever heard him speak an unkind word. Think along the lines of Bob Ross and Carl Sagan. Ex-missile flight test engineer, currently working on his PhD.
Mark Rober - Ex-NASA employee, he's the guy that made the glitter bombs to deter package thieves.
The School of Life - Emotional / relationship education. As someone on the Autism spectrum, this has helped me understand some things I couldn't grasp before.
CGP Grey - often science or history, but sometimes random topics or even a fairy tale nighttime story
...
Ok, this next list is the less well-known channels, many more of the niche-subjects here.
CovertGoBlue - a Magic: The Gathering Arena streamer, and my personal favorite
Adam Savage's Tested - Adam Savage, the guy from Mythbusters. He builds props, does Q&A sessions in his workshop, fascinating guy.
EEVBlog - Dave is an Austrailian Electrical Engineer who explains electronics, fixes stuff, and runs the EEVBlog forums which is an AMAZING resource for discussion on doing electronics work and repairs.
Steve Lehto - another lawyer on Youtube, less known than LegalEagle, but provides good case and subject analysis
Louis Rossmann - electronics repair shop owner and right-to-repair advocate
DeviantOllam - A personal recommendation on this guy, he runs a security company, is part of the online security / pen-testing / lockpicking community. Gets paid to break into places, is an ally/advocate for the LGBTQ community, and another all-around good human being.
Skallagrim - HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) stuff, lots of analysis on historical weapons arts, swords, mocking or praising movie fighting scenes
HAK5 - hacker news
This Old House - lots of home maintenance and DIY stuff
James Hoffmann - if you want to know anything about any aspect of coffee, go here
Bens Appliances and Junk - Want to know how to fix a washing machine? Want to know what appliance brands to never spend money on? Go here.
Erutan - a personal favorite singer of mine
MALINDA - another YouTube singer I appreciate - listen to her rendition of Hoist the Colours
John Hammond - cybersecurity videos
Peter Carter - climate scientist and realist - depressing at times but important
Xyla Floxlin - modern day renaissance woman - engineer, DIY maker, Miss America beauty queen...
TheNotSoCivilEngr - security subjects, pentesting hardware, red-team subjects
Malukah - YouTube singer, does a lot of covers of game and TV music, wonderful voice
Lindsey Stirling - violinist, performer, integrates the video performance into her music quite well - give Shatter Me (with Lzzy Hale singing) a watch
3Blue1Brown - mathematics channel
DorianDotSlash - linux subjects
Tolarian Community College - Magic the Gathering with The Professor
The Drug Classroom education on psychoactive substances
DEFCONConference a useful video archive of the presentations and lectures given at DEFCON, a premier security convention
sexplanations - a channel devoted to talking about sex, sexual health, relationship issues and the like
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Phyics - physics lectures and concept explanations, some videos in English, some in French
...
Um... shameless plug? I have a channel neverendingstudent but I don't know if I'd be of interest to anyone. Some electronics stuff, some toolkits, some field survey stuff, nothing at the level of recommendation of any of the above channels.
I just recently discovered Simon Roper. He is an archaeologist who primarily makes videos on the evolution of the English language.
Some examples of videos I've enjoyed recently:
A London Accent from the 14th to the 21st Centuries. I was born in the US and now live in Australia, and it was interesting to me how much more similar the 1766 London accent is to the modern American accent than the modern London accent is, and how much the 1886 London accent reminds me of the modern Australian accent.
Leftovers from Older English. This gives several interesting examples. One I particularly enjoyed was how usage of the negation word "ne" gave rise to phrases like "hob-nob" ("have and not-have" which had a meaning similar to the modern "give and take") and "willy-nilly" ("want and not-want" which had a meaning similar to "[something that happens] whether I want it to or not"). There are some good comments with more examples under this video as well.
'And then I was like...' An exploration of the recent expanded usage of "like" and similar uses of "like" in other, older dialects. There are some interesting anecdotes in the comment section here as well.