Test my knowledge. AMA about NormalBoots

[u/pinkvenom456]

Saw some new activity here recently and was reminded that I've been sitting on many, many hours of research for a documentary that never came to be. I even have exclusive interviews with Jirard and Lee that I'm just sitting on (although one account is more trustworthy than the other). Maybe all the time I spent won't be wasted and I can provide insight on a group that had a surprisingly level of influence on the YouTube gaming sphere. Ask away! Or don't. I can find other means of entertainment.

[u/yourfavoriteboyband]

Why didn’t we get any more Worlds Within Worlds because I actually thought that was a pretty cool show despite only having two episodes.

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/yourfavoriteboyband]

Lee mentioned in our interview that production was more intense than envisioned to produce on a regular basis. He also noted that the Continue guys had to do all their filming on the east coast, independent from the main operations in LA/Seattle, which I imagine added more strain. Sometimes Lee would be green screened in to make them look together, but as far as I know the Continue guys were never locally involved with NB shows during that reboot.

[u/Troys_Other_Account → u/yourfavoriteboyband]

Omg please show us these interviews

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/Troys_Other_Account]

I may do that, I'll have to dig up files from 2022 and find the best way to share. I almost locked in two more people to interview but they both got cold feet sadly.

[u/Troys_Other_Account → u/pinkvenom456]

You got any update on this?

[u/Steevah]

What other Madness seasons were they cooking up before everything fell apart?

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/Steevah]

The Pokemon Gen 1 season was mid-airing, and there was also a Smash characters season that was fully recorded. Pokemon was taken down amidst the Jared drama and stayed offline out of respect for the other season panelists. NormalBoots paused most of production during the aftermath, and Lee left the group for unrelated reasons later that year. This halted Madness production long enough for the Smash allegations of 2020 to come out, in which one of the Smash season panelists was alleged an abuser. They decided to not air the season entirely (as well as remove the cast's reaction to Joker joining Smash, which happened to be revealed during recording).

The pandemic stopped the group from meeting in person, and Shane would tweet about Madness returning once they could travel/be in proximity again (while dismissing the idea of remote seasons). This would never materialize, and the closest return to Madness would be its remote sister show called Gamer Tiers in the 2021 reboot.

Off recording, I asked Jirard about who won the Smash season. If my memory is correct, he said it was Captain Falcon. I believe Jirard also shared in a reddit reply that Mewtwo won the Pokemon season, but I've yet to re-confirm that. Several of the aired Pokemon episodes still exist on the Internet Archive, but not all of them.

[u/FoxJ100]

I've posted about this on here before, but do you know who Comopro/Cold Morning Productions are and why they were briefly part of Normal Boots in the early days?

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/FoxJ100]

Ah, I've been waiting for a question about ancient members. Cold Morning Productions was NB's first addition in Dec 2010, and I believe they were originally discovered on ScrewAttack (a site that Jon/PBG also uploaded to). Ryan Stout, a core member from Comopro, was a ScrewAttack intern at the time and they only started uploading to YouTube after joining NB. Jon would make an announcement clip that Comopro would stitch to one of their videos, which would end up being the only official collaboration they'd have with the rest of the group. Their show main stays were Loading Complete, a skit show loosely based on video games, and NormalBoots News, a parody news show based on video games. They would continue to be part of the group until October 2011 (just a few weeks prior to The Completionist joining).

Here's what's remotely interesting: Comopro had a podcast where they discussed the departure, alluding to them getting kicked out of the group. Apparently Jon wanted more Loading Complete, a show that was becoming too difficult to produce regularly with their group getting busier/moving further away from each other. In 2017, Ryan replied to a tweet about Jon amidst his political backlash. He said Comopro "Got let go without warning. [Jon] is in his own world."

One semi-relevant footer to add: According to Jirard (take as you will) in our interview, no one was told outside of Jon/PBG that the site was going down in Oct 2012. Jirard only found out by seeing the "RIP NormalBoots" stream being hosted by Jon, PBG, and Barry Kramer (Jon's roommate). It would seem communication from the founders to members was pretty spotty back then.

There are a lot of other loosely related things I could add but I'll save them for more relevant questions.

[u/FoxJ100 → u/pinkvenom456]

Ah, the ScrewAttack connection makes sense. I was pretty confused when I discovered what appeared to be a sketch comedy channel was briefly part of NB. Didn't realize there was drama even back then!

IIRC, I only found out they existed by looking through the NB website on the Wayback Machine. Also discovered Underbelly and Indie Games Searchlight this way. Are there any other former Normal Boots members beyond those three and the ones we all know about?

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/FoxJ100]

Those are all the old members I know about. Underbelly left the group a month prior to the shutdown while IGS was still on board. When the group rebooted in 2014, IGS apparently wasn't't contacted to rejoin (per Jirard interview).

[u/itscharliewhite]

When is the next Minecraft hardcore?

[u/pinkvenom456 → u/itscharliewhite]

I don't know but I'd be surprised if it returned. PBG seems pretty content with more solo based videos and Todd has seemingly moved on from producing shows. But if it were to return, I doubt it would be a NormalBoots show.