As you will know by now, the H3 Podcast is one of the world’s biggest podcasts. I was very happy when the popular cast member, and producer of the show AB Ayad (who also goes by Starkilla) agreed to answer some of my questions. Especially so, being a long-time fan of the show.

It’s always fascinating to talk to people who have achieved such great success in their field. AB has gone from medical-school dropout, to one of the most popular cast members on one of the world’s biggest podcasts.

In addition to his work on the podcast, AB works on a number of other exciting projects. Firstly, he is a fan of boxing, and fought in the first ‘Creator Clash’, which is a YouTube boxing event, set-up by iDubbbz. In his fight, AB received plaudits for holding his own against a fighter who no-one thought he would stand a chance against.

It was also recently announced that AB will fight internet-personality ‘Dad’ in ‘Creator Clash 2’, later this year. It is set to be an interesting fight, especially so, considering Dad recorded the fastest ever victory in a YouTuber boxing event, in the first ‘Creator Clash’. Despite this, AB’s strong performance in his first fight was a testament to his hard work and dedication. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert when it comes to boxing, but I certainly think he has a very good chance at victory come April.

Asides from this, AB also regularly streams on Twitch, oftentimes with his wife Lena. He also has his own popular YouTube channel, with over 80,000 subscribers.

I began by asking AB, how he ended up working for one of the world’s biggest podcasts, in H3. AB explained that:

It’s kind of a long story, but I was a longtime fan of the show, and in 2018 I made a video defending H3 from some of the unfair criticism the channel was receiving at the time. To be more specific, a creator by the name of Gokanaru released a video called “the Death of h3h3productions.” I strongly disagreed with Gokanaru’s arguments, and I noticed that some of the footage he used was manipulated in a misleading way to make Ethan look bad. It was the perfect video for me to respond to because not only was I a big fan of H3, but I also liked the idea of making a longer-length commentary video. So after months of research, I released my video defending Ethan against the arguments made in Gokanaru’s video.

My video had over 90% dislikes and was flooded with hate comments that tried bullying me into deleting the video. There were a few moments where I actually did consider deleting it, but thankfully I didn’t, because it would end up being the video that changed my life. It wasn’t until May 2020 that my video started to get some traction, when Keemstar re-uploaded Gokanaru’s video in a move of desperation against Ethan. This led H3 fans to finding my video for the first time and the support was overwhelming.

The positive feedback encouraged me to start streaming on Youtube because after years of failed videos, my love for the platform and creating content was re-sparked. So I was streaming one night and can you guess who entered the chat? None other than the man himself, Ethan Klein. He said that Youtube recommended my livestream to him after he watched my video defending him. I tried to keep my cool but I couldn’t believe that my livestream with less than a hundred viewers had my favorite creator commenting in it. Ethan hung around for a short while and then left after saying “anyway i am off but thank you for speaking up for me when no body would. that was nice. Even tho i saw you got slammed for it.” He then subscribed to my channel and followed me on Twitter. It definitely felt very surreal.

We remained friendly on Twitter over the next few months until one day I was watching the podcast and Ethan got involved in a new unwarranted beef with another massive creator. I saw this as a good opportunity to display my research skills and knowledge of YouTube. I knew that time was super crucial in this case so I sat in the bathroom of my workplace to type up a document calling out this other creator’s hypocrisy. Ethan was impressed with my work and offered me and my wife Lena jobs. He said we could come anytime within the next few months, but I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity so I immediately quit my job and told Ethan I’d be there in 2 weeks. Just like that, Lena and I packed our stuff and made the move from Michigan to California.

I then asked how he’s found working at the podcast, and whether he has any standout memories. AB replied saying:

Working on the podcast has been a dream come true. I never thought I’d have a job that I'm genuinely excited about. My coworkers are a big part of that, they’ve really become a family away from home and made the move to California a lot easier than I anticipated.

It’s crazy to think about all the awesome experiences I’ve had since being hired. It’s hard to pick my favorite ones. A few standout memories would definitely be the first time we shot an episode of our series “Content Court”, and meeting Marc Rebillet.

Content Court was a very surreal experience because it was an idea of mine that I wrote down years ago, and it was amazing getting to see it come to life on the podcast.

Meeting Marc Rebillet was also a standout moment for me because it was the first celebrity guest I met in person and I don’t think I could have had a better experience. I was super nervous about him coming in. When he arrived at the studio, I greeted him and said I was a big fan and he responded with, “Thanks AB! Feeling is mutual.” Of course I knew he was referring to the show, but the fact that he knew my name before introducing myself was very endearing and helped to calm my nerves.

To follow up, I asked who his dream guest for the podcast would be. AB said:

A dream guest would be Casey Neistat because he had a major influence on me as a creator. Casey has been on the show before but it was before I worked for the podcast.

Touching on his recent ‘Creator Clash 2’ announcement, I asked AB how he feels going into his second fight. He explained that:

I’m feeling a lot better about this fight announcement compared to the previous one. In both instances, it seemed like the whole internet was telling me I was going to die, but this time around I'm definitely more confident. The first time I fought, I didn’t know what to expect but I think I surprised a lot of people, including myself. I thought I might do so bad that I would become a meme or even worse, get badly injured. Thankfully though, I walked out of that first fight without a scratch. So that makes me feel more confident this time around and also the fact that my coach, Wale, will be there with me in the ring, since he unfortunately wasn’t able to attend last year.

Now don’t get me wrong, Dad is intimidating but not as intimidating as people think. It’s pretty clear that his strategy is “intimidate to eliminate” but that doesn’t really work on me. At the end of the day, this is more of a competition with myself and what I am willing to put into my training and preparation.

Finally, with AB currently splitting his time between the podcast, YouTube, Twitch, and boxing, I asked him what his plans for the future are, and what he plans to focus on the most. AB explained that:

The podcast will always be my main focus. I’ve always wanted to be involved in YouTube and never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be working for my favorite channel. Anything else I do on the side is more of a passion project for me. I just love making videos and improving my skill set, and those side projects allow me to do that. Also, if I'm being honest, I’ve always wanted a YouTube play button for myself and I'm super close to getting it!

I really enjoyed talking to AB, especially so, being a long-time fan of the show, who remembers when he joined the podcast. I think his taking the time to speak to an independent, student journalist is a testament to his character. Despite being on one of the world’s biggest podcasts, AB is certainly a man with no ego. I would also also like to thank AB for his thoughtful responses and curation of, and permission to use, the displayed images. He strikes me as a very genuine, hardworking and most importantly, nice person.

I wish him all the best in his future endeavours, especially in his upcoming fight, which I know he is working very hard for in preparation.

Be sure to subscribe to AB on YouTube and Twitch!

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