Andrew Marantz

I first encountered him in 2020 while I was covering the Bernie Sanders campaign for The New Yorker, and he was covering the Bernie Sanders campaign for his Twitch channel, which he had just launched. So he started out on a YouTube show called The Young Turks, which was one of the first online shows. Sort of populist left shows.

It's been around forever and that it just happens to have been started by his uncle. Hassan was born in New Jersey, but he grew up mostly in Turkey. So he's kind of been back and forth between Turkey and the U.S. his whole life. And when he landed in L.A., he got a job at the Young Turks. And he eventually went solo on Twitch. And what that meant was just basically streaming all the time.

It's been around forever and that it just happens to have been started by his uncle. Hassan was born in New Jersey, but he grew up mostly in Turkey. So he's kind of been back and forth between Turkey and the U.S. his whole life. And when he landed in L.A., he got a job at the Young Turks. And he eventually went solo on Twitch. And what that meant was just basically streaming all the time.

It's been around forever and that it just happens to have been started by his uncle. Hassan was born in New Jersey, but he grew up mostly in Turkey. So he's kind of been back and forth between Turkey and the U.S. his whole life. And when he landed in L.A., he got a job at the Young Turks. And he eventually went solo on Twitch. And what that meant was just basically streaming all the time.

I mean, I thought I knew the basics of what Twitch was, but I really didn't get just how constant it is. So when I encountered him in 2020, I was, as I put it in the piece, a kind of youngish reporter from an oldish outlet doing the traditional thing of taking notes and then, you know, writing about it days or weeks later.

I mean, I thought I knew the basics of what Twitch was, but I really didn't get just how constant it is. So when I encountered him in 2020, I was, as I put it in the piece, a kind of youngish reporter from an oldish outlet doing the traditional thing of taking notes and then, you know, writing about it days or weeks later.

I mean, I thought I knew the basics of what Twitch was, but I really didn't get just how constant it is. So when I encountered him in 2020, I was, as I put it in the piece, a kind of youngish reporter from an oldish outlet doing the traditional thing of taking notes and then, you know, writing about it days or weeks later.

And what Hassan was doing was he had a backpack on, an IRL backpack with a camera rigged up to it, and he was just live streaming it. And there were all these people in his chat, these kind of commenters who were constantly offering him comments in the chat. He was monitoring them on his phone.

And what Hassan was doing was he had a backpack on, an IRL backpack with a camera rigged up to it, and he was just live streaming it. And there were all these people in his chat, these kind of commenters who were constantly offering him comments in the chat. He was monitoring them on his phone.

And what Hassan was doing was he had a backpack on, an IRL backpack with a camera rigged up to it, and he was just live streaming it. And there were all these people in his chat, these kind of commenters who were constantly offering him comments in the chat. He was monitoring them on his phone.

And people kept coming up to him out of the crowd and, you know, wanting to get selfies with him and get him to sign stuff. So it was kind of half journalism, half kind of celebrity influencer stuff.

And people kept coming up to him out of the crowd and, you know, wanting to get selfies with him and get him to sign stuff. So it was kind of half journalism, half kind of celebrity influencer stuff.

And people kept coming up to him out of the crowd and, you know, wanting to get selfies with him and get him to sign stuff. So it was kind of half journalism, half kind of celebrity influencer stuff.

It's completely incredible how often. I mean, so that year that was 2020. That year he was live on camera for 42 percent of the hours of that year, like all the hours of the year, not waking hours. And he doesn't like film himself sleeping like this is him hosting a show for 42 percent of his life.

It's completely incredible how often. I mean, so that year that was 2020. That year he was live on camera for 42 percent of the hours of that year, like all the hours of the year, not waking hours. And he doesn't like film himself sleeping like this is him hosting a show for 42 percent of his life.

It's completely incredible how often. I mean, so that year that was 2020. That year he was live on camera for 42 percent of the hours of that year, like all the hours of the year, not waking hours. And he doesn't like film himself sleeping like this is him hosting a show for 42 percent of his life.

Oh, yeah. I flew to L.A. and I, you know, took a lift to his house and rang the bell. And, you know, he showed up at the door and he said, all right, sit out of the shot. Don't make any sound. I'll talk to you when I'm done. And then he just sat down and kept going for four more hours. This was already four hours into the stream that day. That was a Sunday. And so...

Oh, yeah. I flew to L.A. and I, you know, took a lift to his house and rang the bell. And, you know, he showed up at the door and he said, all right, sit out of the shot. Don't make any sound. I'll talk to you when I'm done. And then he just sat down and kept going for four more hours. This was already four hours into the stream that day. That was a Sunday. And so...

Oh, yeah. I flew to L.A. and I, you know, took a lift to his house and rang the bell. And, you know, he showed up at the door and he said, all right, sit out of the shot. Don't make any sound. I'll talk to you when I'm done. And then he just sat down and kept going for four more hours. This was already four hours into the stream that day. That was a Sunday. And so...

He's just doing it all the time. And he's getting numbers that are like, you know, that day it was a Sunday. It was kind of a slow news day. He had maybe 30 something thousand people watching him simultaneously, which is like better than some cable networks. And especially in the coveted youth demographic. Yeah. And he was covering the overthrow of Assad in Syria, which had just happened.