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[traffic sounds and light music]
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Dan: Hey.
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Um, can I sit here?
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Sophie: No. Sorry.
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[background talking]
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[funky beat begins]
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Ladies and gentlemen, formless blobs
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and content detecting algorithms,
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please welcome your host: Daniel Howell.
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[cough]
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Hello internet. I'm Dan and welcome to the
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pilot of my new show,
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Dystopia Daily with Daniel Howell,
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where the show may not be daily
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but every day on this planet is
an endless goddamn nightmare.
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That's right, I am back, and this time
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for the first time in my life
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I am finally gonna do it -
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- not, y'know, it - have sex -
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I'm gonna do YouTube. Properly.
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I am finally just gonna give the people
and the algorithm what they ask for,
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collaboration, reaction, interaction,
self-flagellation.
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I am here to create some fucking content
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and I am doing it my way.
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Welcome, to the world of Dystopia Daily.
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Not filming in my bedroom,
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crossing some weird personal boundary
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in this space that perfectly represents
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my spirit - just - no, don't film
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too close to any of the materials.
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I can be free to express myself
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and create the content that I've always
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dreamed of, in the committed confines
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of a limited series with a defined
structure
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- so - get ready,
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which I guess you are 'cause you have -
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um - already started watching,
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and we've started, okay - um...
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Give it up for the house band, everyone!
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Yes, th-
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[cheering]
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[funky music]
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[fingers crack]
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[playing keyboard normally, then badly]
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[panting] [cough]
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On with tonights show, [clap]
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I would like to open each episode
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of Dystopia Daily with a monologue
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about the times that we live in,
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something topical, personal,
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controversial, sexual - maybe, I -
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I don't know, whatever -
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there are simply too many things
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happening out in the world
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and also deep inside me that make me
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wanna scream, maybe do a little cry,
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and this is the platform for my agenda.
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So, where do we start? Well,
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society is crumbling, the earth is dying,
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and I'm having a complete
existential crisis - what's new?
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[sigh], yeah, after over a decade of being
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one of the most ... there people
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on the internet, I am completely broken.
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Er - on a personal level that no one
fuckin' asked about,
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I don't know what I wanna do
with my life because
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I don't know what I want!
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More attention? God! Please no!
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Oh - money? Yeah I've been ruined by
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stupid leftist YouTubers and
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twitter accounts and now I'm some bloody
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low-key socialist that can't live without
the guilt.
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Is it just sex?
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Is that what this whole relentless
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quest to entertain and build my name
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is for? Just an insidious plot to get
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in some hot celebrity's pants?!
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Then what?! What's after the nut!?
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Okay, TMI - um - let's pivot.
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Ahem - err - career,
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so previously on this neurotic bitch
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after having my dreams disintegrated
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by an uncaring corporate cog in a machine
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and thusly relearning how to be
cripplingly depressed for a while,
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after I literally wrote a book about
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looking after your mental health.
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Look! - I am allowed to knowingly
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self-destruct and not take
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my own advice - hm?
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Guess I can't just also -
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ask for sympathy if I should know better.
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Hm. Er - well, I'm now picking myself up
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and tryna turn my life around...
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again. I'm a full adult now,
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supposedly. I tried not to shave for
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a bit to see if it's possible for me
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to not just look like a very
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tall and sad child, so, heterosexual men
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don't just immediately stop watching me
after judging me, and, [laugh],
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who knows, er, turns out apparently
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I've still got another ten years before
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I have the kind of sexy full coverage
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'I'm a man now' stubble that members of
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One Direction had when they were twenty.
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Am I still getting taller? Am I just gonna
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be, what, seventeen foot six?
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Dunno what I'm hoping for,
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I actually tried an Insta filter that
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gives you a beard to try and visualise
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this and, um, yeah I didn't look rugged,
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I look like a stock photo of a
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serial killer - what was I talking about?
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What I'm doing! Right, um, the problem
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with everything I aspire to do with
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my life, off social media, is it has to
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be on someone else's terms and their
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timeline which is fine, but I can't
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just wait, like a mouldy turkey dinosaur
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cryogenically trapped in the bottom of
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a bloody drawer because of you, okay?
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Some of you sorry shits have been
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following me for a concerning amount
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of time, since I was bright-eyed and
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wearing colour, can't begin to think about
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how I've insidiously influenced you
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and ruined your productivity over
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the years - and some of you have now
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grown up to be me where I was back then
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and I'm looking back at my attempt at
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young adult life like, [laugh], you do
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not know what you're in for, it is gonna
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be a trainwreck, sorry not tr- um -
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r- rollercoaster - uh - that has ups.
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Everyday I am tempted to just go live
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in the woods but you keep asking me to
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come back, trapping me in this liminal
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hell where I can neither fully follow my
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dreams of just frolick in the forest
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and finally be free, so fine!
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I will log into my account and I will
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give you content, thank you for your
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continued support!
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You hear about so many YouTubers,
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musicians, actors burning out,
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and honestly who bloody cares?
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What I wanna know is what happens
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after that, do you just - oh -
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wake up one day in a pile of ash and
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decide to rise from the embers like a
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phoenix, if someone makes a danisonfire
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joke I swear to God, I'm gonna crawl
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through this camera like the girl from
The Ring and I'm gonna
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choke you the fuck out, right?
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Except some of you weird fuckers'll
probably enjoy that and I don't know
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who you are or where you been,
what you been touching
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so I'm just gonna keep my hands
to myself.
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A more appropriate metaphor is like
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er - a shit Jesus coming out of the cave
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after dying, except He doesn't have like,
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the super God powers to roll the boulder
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and He's just quite physically weak
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and sweating heavily and He nudges
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the rock an inch every twelve hours.
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The small problem that I have to overcome
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going forward is that I have developed a
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total phobia of social media.
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Which as someone who is reliant on
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two apps to live is a bit of a
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fucking problem.
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On 'bird-app' where everyone is angry
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but thinks they're very smart and funny
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and have important opinions,
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I feel like I cannot tweet without it
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a ~refined joke~ or some hot take
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that I've spent literally hours
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workshopping, and when it takes me hours
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of iteration to end up posting something
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like this, you know I've got a problem.
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Honestly, Twitter is just a place to lure
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and trap the world's narcissists that
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think the rest of humanity needs to hear
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them so they can just argue with
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each other in an echo chamber, thinking
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that it's where all the most important
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conversations happen.
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If you're watching this and you don't
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tweet, you are normal.
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I'm obviously not.
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On Instagram my problem my lifestyle
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is voluntarily already isolating and
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lockdown, 'cause I'm a fucking nerd.
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For real though, what is Instagram for?
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I feel like you're either a style icon
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serving looks or someone sharing snippets
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into their exciting everyday lives
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so that their followers just get to know
them better.
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I don't get dressed or go anywhere
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so I'm not serving looks,
and I don't do anything!
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I sit inside eating pizza and playing
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Mario Kart, so what the fuck am I posting
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on my stories?!
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I debated this once, had a little meltdown,
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and posted this... [gasp]
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And I really don't know where to go
from here,
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I might just go full cheeks out
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for the lads, just to feel something.
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Whenever I post a video there or anywhere
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else, people keep asking me to make a
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fucking TikTok, where they prefer to
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doomscroll their content now
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and I think as we've established
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on my unethically long, self-indulgent
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story time why I quit YouTube,
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I have a weird relationship with
this place.
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Firstly, turns out YouTube didn't delete
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my channel after posting that,
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which is nice. In fact it got
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spotlighted number one worldwide,
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which was interesting.
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An unusual power move from
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someone inside YouTube.
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More of a power bottom move, really.
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YouTube has a sub kink, apparently.
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Hey YouTube, d'you want me to drain your
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bank account? Feel like that'd be fair
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at this point. At the very least,
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get on all fours, and you are not allowed
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to touch until I say so. Alright,
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get on trending.
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Anyway!, thanks to the nice people that
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work at YouTube apparently,
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I appreciate your kindness, considering
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the position of absolute power that you
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have over my life. But!, as a creator,
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I am so desperate to have the respect
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of my peers and the snootiest of
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some subscribers that do make it clear
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they are here for a good time,
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not a fun time, that I am am afraid
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to upload anything unless it's a fucking
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feature film. I did - um - a live gig
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for charity in London after Pride,
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where in a dank cabaret bar, I stood
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in front of a bunch of drunk lesbians
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heckling me, through a heartfelt and
[crowd member: "Penis!"]
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probably inappropriately humourous
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set about hating rainbows and corporate
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pride and posted it on my side channel:
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danisnotinteresting, which has since
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made things weird between myself
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and Anthony and Wilbur.
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Did I make it weird? Yeah.
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That is an hour of unhinged and horny
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high quality content that I reccommend,
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I will link below and at the end for
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your viewing pleasure, but I was afraid to
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post any of that on this main channel
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in case, I dunno, it somehow wasn't
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something even bigger and better than
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'Basically I'm Gay' and you all said:
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"Dan, what the hell are you doing,
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why are you like this?"
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I have somehow, pushed myself into
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a corner where I can't create a clip
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unless I've got some kind of bomb to drop
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or trauma to mine for content.
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And much like our planet, I have got no
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natural resources left, I am old,
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uncomfortably warm, and some weird
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pale thing just keeps orbiting me.
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This is the burnout.
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I'm tired, I'm terrified, I care
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way too much about what people think
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and what it all means.
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Have I just done too much?
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Have I seen too much?
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Have I lived a thousand lifetimes
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of extreme existence online and my fragile
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human psyche just simply cannot
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comprehend it anymore?
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Or have I just let various paranoias
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mutate unchecked and trap me in a prison
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of my own toxic thoughts?.
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I am in terminally online rehabilitation,
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just tryna learn to shitpost again
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and find some fuckin' serotonin somewhere.
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So this show here is immersion therapy.
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They say the best way to face your fears
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is head on, so I am here, and I'm queer,
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and I am just gonna force myself
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through the tears.
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So brace yourself for dangerously
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uncensored ranting here,
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I have DMed at least twenty-five people
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to get some really special guests on
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that we can have some amazing, insightful
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conversations with, y'know, really connect
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and have a good time.
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I'm gonna experiment with the idea
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of making the types of videos that
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normal YouTubers do, to see if I can just
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get over this.
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And I want to interact with you,
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the viewers, that scare and inspire me
so much.
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This is it for me, hail Mary,
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I've got big plans, and high hopes
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for this show, so either this goes
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perfectly, first time, or I will just
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live on a remote island writing erotic
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fiction under a pseudonym and
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self-publish on Amazon.
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Which let's be honest, I'd probably
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be better at...
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'So many Ds, so little time.':
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A One Direction reunion self-insert fic
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by - Haniel Dowell. Tags: POV, group,
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shame, tentacles, anthro, fire,
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humiliation, broken hands -
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watch out Liam.
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Right - er - yes, now, a word from our
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first sponsor, um, so, er, I couldn't,
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er, get a proper sponsor in time, so,
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today, I am the- the sponsor.
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Hi! Hashtag ad. Do I - do I have to say
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that if I am the person?
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I'm doing a whole world tour until 2023,
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it's a show called 'We're All Doomed"
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about all the worst things in the world
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and how humanity is on the brink of
collapse
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but tryna laugh at it all so we can cope
with the pain.
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I'll also probably overshare, maybe have
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an emotional breakdown, and interact with
you live.
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Um- in- in like a comedy way, interact.
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Obviously.
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If you're watching this in 2024, there's a
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reasonable chance the world will have
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already ended, 'cause of, uh, y'know
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[unintelligible], so this won't matter,
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but I'm sure you can watch the recorded
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special on... Roblox, or some kind of
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metaverse trapped in.
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There's an NFT embedded in your nipple,
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I don't fucking know.
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Seriously, I've been working on this show
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for months, it came from a deep, urgent
place inside me,
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it's a show I made to just give me
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something to head towards, to save my own
life,
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it's probably the most, er, not
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self-deprecating, destructive,
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possibly offensively funny, and, um,
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biblically epic thing I've made so far,
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and I can't wait to do it with you in
real life.
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[mumbles]: No, I'm not going to
acknowledge it.
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Unlike this dystopian digital shit,
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nothing makes me feel alive, and real,
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and meaningful like being in a room
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full of physical people just laughing,
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forgetting the stress and having a good
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time together, so if you come see me,
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we are gonna party like it's the end of
the world,
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'cause it probably is.
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I'm travelling all across the UK, er,
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America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand...
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Europe places, uh, you can go to
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danielhowell.com to see if I'm in your
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town and get tickets now.
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Unless you're in - er - the Netherlands,
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or Finland, and a few other places
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that have sold out already when this
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record- so I guess I should've mentioned
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those specifically, um, just,
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[unintelligible], I'm probably outside
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your fucking house in a bus right now,
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get a ticket, whatever.
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Thank you! [clap]
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I just wanna show the world and show you
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that even when every part of you
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is screaming not to do something,
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sometimes you should just go for it -
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in a really extra way, because what's
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the worst that could happen, huh?
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No one turns up to your thing after
inviting them,
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you try something and decide that your
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instincts were definitely right and you
do hate it,
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or that the people in your life are weird
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and you don't wanna interact with them -
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that will not happen!
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Do not go down without a fight!
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I am here, and I am gonna fight to
the death.
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If this show inspires you to pick yourself
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back up and do that thing for you,
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hell yeah!
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Unless that thing is a- a bad crime,
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in which case I wanna be clear to
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law enforcement that I do not know these
fucking people.
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So, press all those buttons that make
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the algorithm happy, subscribe to see
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this show, succeed and I will see you
next time,
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unless society collapses,
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on Dystopia Daily, with me, Daniel Howell.
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Dan: We, are going to put something on the
table,
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Phil: Ooh.
Dan: that is a truth we have never dared
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admit to the internet...
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[outro music]